52 



that's it ; 



Mr. Catlin, in his " North American Indian 

 Portfolio," thus describes a buffalo chase : — 

 " The Indian, mounted upon his wild horse, 

 which he has captured, and subjected to his 

 use, approaches the buffalo so that he may 

 throw his arrow, or strike with his lance, as 



near to the heart as possible. The blow is 

 usually struck when the buffalo and the horse 

 are at the fullest speed, and after the hunter 

 has ridden him out from among the herd. The 

 Indians in their native state generally ride, in 



limbs, carrying- in his left hand his bow and 

 some half dozen arrows. He then pulls off the 

 saddle, and often lashes a bear or other skin 

 with the girth to his horse's back, astride of 

 which he throws himself; and in this plight he 

 dashes olf at full speed, the rein in his hand, 

 which is but a small halter of raw hide or of 

 horse-hair, fastened around under the jaw of 

 the horse, and hanging loosely on the neck. 

 He has little use even for this, alter he has 

 directed the attention of his horse to the ani- 

 mal he wishes to pursue, and has separated it 

 from the h^rd ; for such is the extraordinarv 

 training of these little horses, that they will 

 with certainty bring their rider alongside with- 

 out the guidance of the rein, allowing the In- 

 dian to fix his arrow in the string, and to 

 place himself m proper position for giving the 

 deadly shot, which is done at the instant the 

 horse is pressing the animal." 



The.terrific catastrophe of a 

 prairie on fire , 11, is not of un- 

 frequent occurrence. The rank, 

 dried vegetation, igniting either 

 by fermentation, as hay -ricks do, 

 or by accidental causes, suddenly 

 bursts into flame, and, with the 

 utmost rapidity, great tracts of 

 country are wrapt in the devour- 

 ing element. Then every living 

 thing flies from a terrible death, 



war and in the chase, without saddle, and always I 

 without bridle. They make, and use, on ordi- I 

 nary occasions, a very good saddle ; but when 



Ere paring to go into this desperate chase, they 

 alt half a mile or so from the herd, without 

 danger of putting them in motion. Each hunter 

 then throws off his shirt, quiver, and whatever 

 else of his dress may hinder the free use of his 



and travellers are sometimes over- 

 taken and lost. 



After a prairie conflagration, which hap- 

 pened in 1844, a father, who chanced to be 

 travelling with his son at the time, was found 

 dead with his child in his arms. Captain Mar- 



