58 Clinton's introductory discourse. 



which it is confounded. He would state the. effects that the settlement 

 of the whites, and particularly the terror which accompanies the gun, 

 have had upon wild animals, driving them into the boundless regions of 

 the northwest, and over the waters of the Mississippi ; that the grizzly 

 bear formerly resided in this state, according to the traditions of the 

 Delaware and Mohican Indians, who say that the last was seen on the 

 east side of Hudson's river, and they to this day terrify their children 

 with it ; that the claw of the unknown animal which was discovered in a 

 cave in Virginia, and which Mr. Jefferson calls the Megalonyx, was pro- 

 bably the claw of this animal, who has retreated from the eastern parts 

 of the continent, and occupies that wide and extensive range of country 

 upon all the waters which form the sources of the Missouri, where he 

 exists the terror of the savages, and the tyrant of all other animals, 

 devouring alike man and beast, and defying the attacks of whole tribes 

 of Indians.* 



These descriptions might be increased in interest by referring to the 

 time when the buffalo, which now occupies the prairies of Louisiana, in 

 herds sometimes of fifty thousand, inhabited this state. This animal is 

 supposed, by Pennant, to be the bonasus, urus, or bison, of the ancients, 

 and the stock from whence our domestic cattle is derived, although 

 Buffon is of a different opinion. He must be carefully distinguished 

 from the bos Indicus, or buffalo of India, which is a distinct race, and 

 is in a domestic state in Italy and some other parts of Europe. The 

 American buffalo has also been tamed, in a few instances; and both 

 these animals may be rendered highly useful in husbandry.! The moose 

 and the elk have been confounded together by European naturalists, 



* See Note O. t See Note P. 



