300 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



many good authorities that there are not now more than from fifty to one hundred 

 buffaloes in the whole of Montana, outside of the National Park, where there are 

 probably from two to three hundred head. Hunters lie in wait outside the limits of 

 the National Park, waiting for these animals to cross the line, when they lose no time 

 in dispatching them as soon as possible. A stampede may occur at any time, which 

 may result in all the buffaloes now in the park leaving; and if such were the case, 

 very few, if any, would escape. 



Mr. Hornaday and his party were received by the commanding officer at Fort Kebgh, 

 and furnished with a six-mule team, a driver, and escort. The plan of route is to 

 cross the Yellowstone at Miles City, proceeding up Sunday Creek and Hunter's Creek 

 to its source; thence across to Big Dry River, following it down to the Big Bend ; 

 thence across and westward up Big Timber Creek, and eventually across to the Mus- 

 selshell River, which it is proposed to explore almost its whole length. There is said 

 to be a small herd of from eight to twelve buffaloes in Southwestern Dakota. Skins 

 of buffalo heads are now valued by taxidermists in Dakota at $50 each. Mr. Horn- 

 ad ay's expedition resulted in three skeletons of hull buffaloes and some skulls. He 

 found traces of about twenty bnffalos in all of Montana, and these Indians were fol- 

 lowing closely. The Zoological Garden at Philadelphia contains a number of live 

 buffalo, good specimens, which furnish study for artists and naturalists. Within 

 twenty years the buffalo was considered almost inexhaustible. The trade in buffalo 

 robes within five years was more than 100,000 per year, which represented an annual 

 slaughter of that number of animals. Last year it did not exceed 5,000, and this 

 year, 1886, western robe-dealers are getting their supplies from the reserve stock in 

 the eastern market. The Indian and white man combined will have extinguished in a 

 decade the bison. 



AMUSEMENTS AND CUSTOMS. 



[Nos. 427-501.] 



INDIAN BALL PLAY. 



I have made it a uniform rule, whilst in the Indian country, to attend every hall- 

 play I could hear of, if I could do it by riding a distance of twenty or thirty miles; 

 and my usual custom has been on such occasions to straddle the back of my horse 

 and look on to the best advantage. In this way I have sat, and oftentimes reclined, 

 and almost dropped from my horse's back, with irresistible laughter at the succession 

 of droll tricks and kicks and scuffles which ensue, in the almost superhuman struggles 

 for the ball. These plays generally commence at 9 o'clock, or near it, in the morning ; 

 and I have more than once balanced myself on my pony, from that time till near 

 sundown, without more than one minute of intermission at a time, before the game 

 has been decided. — Page 123, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years. 



427. Ball-play dance, Choctaw. — Men and women dance around their respective 



stakes, at intervals, during the night x^receding the play; four conjurers 

 sit all night and smoke to the Great Spirit at the point where the hall is 

 to be started and stake-holders guard the goods staked. Painted in 1832. 

 (Flate No. 223, page 125, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



428. Ball-play of the Choctaws ; ball up ; one party painted white ; each has two 



sticks, with a web at their ends, in which they catch the ball and throw it ; 

 they all have tails of horse-hair or quills attached to their girdles or belts. 

 Painted in 1832. 



(Plate No. 225, page 126, vol 2, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



Each party has a limit, or bye, beyond which it is their object to force the ball, which, 

 if done, counts them one for game. 



