BUFFALO, 
39 
On one occasion Mr. Kipp, of the American Fur Company, caught eleven 
calves, their dams all the time standing near the top of the bank. Fre- 
quently, however, the cow.s leave the young to their fate, when most of 
them perish. In connection with this part of the subject, we may add, 
that we were informed when on the Upper Missouri river, that when the 
banks of that river were practicable for cows, and their calves could not 
follow them, they went down again, after having gained the top, and 
would remain by them until forced away by the cravings of hunger. 
When thus forced by the necessity of saving themselves to quit their 
young, they seldom, if ever, returned to them. 
When a large herd of these wild animals are crossing a river, the calves 
or jmarlings manage to get on the backs of the cows, and are thus con- 
veyed safely over ; but when the heavy animals, old and young, reach the 
shore, they sometimes find it muddy or even deeply miry ; the strength of 
the old ones struggling in such cases to gain a solid footing, enables them 
to work their way out of danger in a wonderfully short time. Old bulls, 
indeed, have been known to extricate themselves when they had got into 
the mire so deep that but little more than their heads and backs could be 
seen. On one occasion we saw an unfortunate cow that had fallen into, 
or rather sank into a quicksand only seven or eight feet wide ; she was 
(ILiite dead, and we walked on her still fresh carcase safely across the ra- 
vine which had buried her in its treacherous and shifting sands. 
'I'he gaits of the Bison are walking, cantering, and galloping, and when 
at lull speed, he can get over the ground nearly as fast as the best horses 
found in the 1 ndian country. In lying down, this species bends the fore- 
legs first, and its movements are almost exactly the same as those of the 
common cow. It also rises with the same kind of action as cattle. 
When surprised in a recumbent posture by the sudden approach of a 
hunter, who has succeeded in nearing it under the cover of a hill, clump 
of trees or other interposing object, the Bison springs from the ground and 
is in full race almost as quick as thought, and is so very alert, that one 
can scarcely perceive his manner of rising on such occasions. 
The bulls never grow as fat as the cows, the latter having been occa- 
sionally killed with as much as two inches of fat on the boss or hump and 
along the back to the tail. The fat rarely exceeds half an inch on the 
sides or ribs, but is thicker on the belly. The males have only one inch 
of fat, and their flesh is never considered equal to that of the females in de- 
licacy or flavour. In a herd of Buffaloes many are poor, and even at the 
best season it is not likely that all will be found in good condition ; and we 
have occasionally known a hunting party, when Buffalo was scarce, com- 
pelled to feed on a straggling old bull as tough as leather. For ourselves, this 
