74 



NORTH AMERICA. 



that two were killed in one season on Cape Fear River. As early as the first di^:covery of Canada it 

 was unknovrn in that country. Theodat, whose history of Canada was published in 1(33(5, merely 

 says, that he was informed, that bulls existed in the remote western countries. Warden mentions, 

 that at no very distant date, herds of them existed in the western parts of Pennsylvania, and that as 

 late as the year ITtiC they were pretty numerous in Kentucky ; but they have gradually retired before 

 the white population, and are now, he says, rarely seen to the south of the Ohio, or on the east side 

 of the Mississippi. Tiiey still exist, however, in vast numbers, and roam in countless herds over 

 the prairies that are watered by the Arkansas, La Platte, Missouri, and upper branches of the Sas- 

 katchawan and Peace rivers. Great Slave Lake, in latitude 60°, was at one time the northern boun- 

 dary of their range ; but of late years, according to the testimony of the natives, they have taken 

 possession of the flat limestone districts of Slave Point, on the north side of that lake, and have wan- 

 dered to the vicinity of Great Marten Lake, in latitude 63° or 64°. As far as I have been able to 

 ascertain, the limestone and sandstone formations lying between the Great Rocky Mountain ridge 

 and the lower eastern chain of primitive rocks, are the only districts in the fur countries that are 

 frequented by the bison. In these comparatively level tracts, there is much prairie land, on v/hich 

 they find good grass in summer ; and also, many marshes overgrown with bulrushes and carices, 

 which supply them with winter food. Salt springs and lakes also abound on the confines of the 

 limestone, and there are several well-known salt-licks, where bisons are sure to be found at all sea- 

 sons of the year. They do not frequent any of the districts formed of primitive rocks; and the limits 

 of their range to the eastward, within the Hudson's Bay Company's territories, may be nearly cor- 

 rectly drawn on the map by a line commencing in longitude 97° on the Red River, which flows inte 

 the south end of Lake Winnipeg, crossing the Saskatchawan to the westward of Basquiau hill, and 

 running from thence by the Athapescow to the east end of Great Slave Lake. Their migrations to 

 the westward were formerly limited by the Rocky Mountain range, and they are still unknown in 

 New Caledonia, and on the shores of the Pacific to the north of the Columbia River ; but of late 

 years they have found out a passage across the mountains near the sources of the Saskatchawan, 

 and their numbers to the westward are said to be annually increasing. In 1806, when Lewis and 

 Clark crossed the mountains at the head of the Missouri, Bison skins were an important article of 

 trafiic between the inhabitants on the east side, and the natives to the westward. Further to the 

 southward, in Nevv Mexico and California, the bison appears to be numerous on both sides of the 

 Rocky Mountain chain. One of the earliest accounts we have of the animal is by Hernandez ; and 

 Reeclius' edition of his observations is illustrated by an engraving which seems to have been made 

 from a rude sketch of the bison, altered by the European artist to a closer resemblance with the 

 European ox. Hennepin, in the narrative of his discovery of Louisiana, gives a very good descrip- 

 tion of the bison, together with a figure, which is apparently a copy of that of Reechus. It does 

 not appear to have excited much attention in Europe until lately, when several specimens were ex- 

 hibited in England, under the attractive title of Honasus. which, though described by the ancients, 

 was asserted to have been lost to the moderns, until recognised in the American animal. The 

 American bison has in fact much resemblance to the Aurochs of the Germans, identified by Cuvier 

 with the bonasus of Aristotle, the bison of Pausanias and Pliny, and the urns of Cssar, and which, 

 down to the reign of Charlemagne, was not rare in Germany, but is now nearly confined to the hilly 

 country lying between the Caspian and Black Sea. 



" The bisons wander constantly from place to place, either from being disturbed by hunters, or 

 <n quest of food. They are much attracted by the soft, tender grass which springs up after a fire has 

 spread over the prairie. In winter, they scrape away the snow with their feet, to reach the grass. 

 The bulls and cows live in separate herds for the greater part of the year ; but at all seasons, one or 

 two bulls generally accompany a large herd of cows. The bison is in general a shy animal ; and 

 takes to flight instantly on winding an enemy, which the acuteness of its sense of smell enables 

 it to do from a great distance. They are less wary when they are assembled together in numbers, 

 and will then often blindly follow their leaders, regardless of, or trampling aown the hunters posted 

 in their way. It is dangerous for the hunter to show himself after having wounded one, for it will 

 pursue him, and although its gait may be heavy and awkward, it will have no difficulty in overtaking 

 the fleetest runner. 



" Many instances might be mentioned of the tenaciousness with which this animal pursues his 

 revenge ; and I have been told of a hunter having been detained for many hours in a tree by an old 

 bull, which had taken his post below to watch him. When it contends with a dog, it strikes violenti} 

 with its fore feet, and in that way proves more than a match for an English bull-dog. The favorite 

 Indian method of killing the bison, is by riding up to the fattest of the herd on horseback, and 

 shooting it with an arrow. When a large party of hunters are engaged in this way, the spectacle is 

 very imposing, and the young men have many opportunities of displaying their skill and agility. The 

 horses appear to enjoy the sport as much as their riders, and are very active in eluding tlie shock of 

 the animal, should it turn on its pursuer. The most generally practised plan, however, of shooting 

 t..e bison, is by crawling towards them from to leeward ; and in favorable places, great numbers are 



