104 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



dog. occupy the same relation to Prairie Indians that do- 

 mesticated animals and the productions of the farm and 

 the forest bear to civilized races. During the greater part 

 the year the Prairie Indians follow the buffalo, and not 

 only subsist upon its flesh, but from its skin and sinews 

 they make their tents, clothing, saddles, bow-strings and 

 dog harness.' The hide cut into strips serves them for 

 cordage, the sinews split into threads for twine. The 

 dried dung is often their only fuel for weeks together on 

 the treeless plains between the Assinniboine and the Grand 

 Coteau, and on the South Branch of the Saskatchewan. 

 Dried meat, pemmican, marrow, soft fat, sinews, dressed 

 skins and robes, all from the buffalo, form their articles 

 of commerce, in exchange for which they demand tea, 

 which is now becoming a most coveted luxury, tobacco, 

 powder and shot, and if possible, rum. It may truly be 

 said that they exist on the buffalo, and their knowledge 

 of the habits of this animal is consequently essential to 

 their preservation. 



The existence of two kinds of buffalo is firmly believed 

 by many hunters at Eed Eiver ; they are stated to be 

 the prairie buffalo and the buffalo of the woods. Many 

 old hunters with whom I have conversed on this subject, 

 aver that the so-called wood buffalo is a distinct species, 

 and although they are not able to offer scientific proofs, 

 yet the difference in size, colour, hair, and horns, are 

 enumerated as the evidence upon which they base their 

 statement. Men from their youth familiar with these 

 animals in the Great Plains, and the varieties which are 

 frequently met with in large herds still cluag to this 

 opinion. The buffalo of the plains are not always of the 

 dark and rich bright brown which forms their character- 

 istic colour. They are sometimes seen from white to 

 almost black, and a grey buffalo is not at all uncommon. 



