THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 293 



who will take the pains to visit these regions. The running season, which is in Au- 

 gust and September, is the time when they congregate into such masses in some places 

 as literally to blacken the prairies Jbr miles together. It is no uncommon thing at 

 this season, at these gatherings, to see several thousands in a mass, eddying and wheel- 

 ing about under a cloud of dust, which is raised by the bulls as they are pawing in 

 the dirt or engaged in desperate combats, as they constantly are, plunging and but- 

 ting at each other in the most furious manner (Plato 105, No. 424). In these scenes 

 the males are continually following the females, and the whole mass are in constant 

 motion ; and all bellowing (or " roaring ") in deep and hollow sounds, which, mingled 

 altogether, appear, at the distance of a mile or two, like the sound of distant thunder. — 

 G. C. I hid. 



425. Buffalo bulls in their wallow ; origin of the "fairie circles" on the prairie. 

 Painted in 1832. 



(Plate No. 10G, page 250, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



Daring the season whilst they are congregated together in these dense and confused 

 masses the remainder of the country around for many miles becomes entirely vacated, 

 and the traveler may spend many a toilsome day and many a hungry night without 

 being cheered by the sight of one ; where, if he retraces his steps a few weeks after, 

 he will find them dispersed, and grazing quietly in little families and flocks, and 

 equally stocking the whole country. Of these quiet little herds, a fair representation 

 will be seen in Plate 106, where some are grazing, others at play or lying down, and 

 others indulging in their wallows. "Ahull in his w r allow" is a frequent saying in this 

 country, and has a very significant meaning with those who have ever seen a buffalo 

 hull performing ablution, or rather endeavoring to cool his heated sides by tumbling 

 about in a mud-puddle. 



In the heat of summer these huge animals, which, no doubt, suffer very much 

 with the great profusion of their long and shaggy hair or fur, often graze on the low 

 grounds in the prairies, where there is a little stagnant water lying amongst the 

 grass, and the ground underneath being saturated with it, is soft, into which the 

 enormous hull, lowered down upon one knee, will plunge his horns, and at last his 

 head, driving up the earth, and soon making an excavation in the ground, into which 

 the water filters from amongst the grass, forming for him in a few moments a cool 

 and comfortable bath, into which he plunges like a hog in his mire. 



In this delectable laver he throws himself flat upon his side, and forcing himself 

 violently around, with his horns and his huge hump on his shoulders presented to the 

 sides, he plows up the ground by his rotary motion', sinking himself deeper and 

 deeper in the ground, continually enlarging his pool, in which he at length becomes 

 nearly immersed, and the water and mud about him mixed into a complete mortar, 

 which changes his color, and drips in streams from ever part of him as he rises upon 

 his feet, a hideous monster of mud and ugliness too frightful and too eccentric to be 

 described. 



It is generally the leader of the herd that takes upon him to make this excavation , 

 and if not (but another one opens the ground), the leader (who is conqueror) marches 

 forward, and driving the other from it plunges himself into it; and having cooled his 

 sides, and changed his color to a walking mass of mud and mortar, he stands in the 

 pool until inclination induces him to step out and give place to the next in command, 

 who stands ready ; and another, and another, who advance forward in their turns, to 

 enjoy the luxury of the wallow, until the whole band (sometimes a hundred or more) 

 will pass through it in turn, each one throwing his body around in a similar manner, 

 and each one adding a little to the dimensions of the pool, while he carries away in 

 his hair an equal share of the clay, which dries to a gray or whitish color, and gradu- 

 ally falls off. By thas operation, which is done perhaps in the space of half an hour, 

 a circular excavation of fifteen or twenty feet in diameter and two feet in depth is 



