THE RANGES OF THE BUFFALO. 



107 



probable from the circumstance that all the early writers 

 whom Mr. Colhoun the astronomer to Major Longs Ex- 

 pedition consulted on the subject, do not mention the 

 buffalo as existing there, but further back. There can be 

 no doubt that the animal approached the Gulf of Mexico, 

 near the Bay of St. Bernard, for Alvar Nunez, about the 

 year 1535, saw them not far from the coast, and Jontel, 

 one hundred and fifty years afterwards, saw them at the 

 Bay of St. Bernard. It is probable that this bay is the 

 lowest point of latitude at which this animal has been 

 found east of the Eocky Mountains. 



Its existence on the west side of the Eocky Mountains 

 is well ascertained, although it was not seen by the early 

 explorers of that region. 



At present it is scarcely seen east of the Mississippi, 

 and south of the St. Lawrence. Governor Cass's party 

 found, in 1819, buffaloes on the east side of the Missis- 

 sippi, above the falls of St. Anthony. Every year this 

 animal's rovings are restricted. In 1822, the limit of its 

 wanderings down the St. Peter was Great Swan Lake.* 



The ranges of the buffalo in the north-western prairies 

 are still maintained with great exactness, and old hunters, 

 if the plains have not been burnt, can generally tell the 

 direction in which herds will be found at certain seasons 

 of the year. If the plains have been extensively burnt 

 in the autumn, the search for the main herds during the 

 following spring must depend on the course the fires have 

 taken. 



Eed Eiver hunters recognize two grand divisions of 

 buffalo, those of the Grand Coteau and Eed Eiver, and 

 those of the Saskatchewan. Other ranges of immense 

 herds exist beyond the Missouri towards the south, as far 



* Major Long's Expedition to the Sources of the St. Peter's River. 



