BUFFALO. 
44 
merely for their tongues, and their large carcasses remain to feed the 
wolves and other rapacious prowlers on the grassy wastes. 
A large Bison bull will generally Aveigh nearly two thousand pounds, 
and a fat cow, about twelve hundred. We weighed one of the bulls killed 
by our party and found it to reach seventeen hundred and twenty seven 
pounds, although it had already lost a good deal of blood. Ihis was an 
old bull and was not fat ; it had probably weighed more at some previous 
period. We were told that at this season a great many half-breed In- 
dians were engaged in killing Buffaloes and curing their flesh for winter- 
use, on Moose river, about 200 miles north of us. 
When these animals are shot at a distance of fifty or sixty yards, they 
rarely, if ever, charge on the hunters. Mr. Culbertson told us he had 
killed’ as many as nine bulls from the same spot, unseen by these terrible 
animals. There are times, however, when they have been known to gore 
both horse and rider, after being severely wounded, and have dropped down 
de«d but a few minutes afterwards. There are indeed instances of bulls 
receiving many balls without being immediately killed, and we saw one 
which during one of our hunts was shot no less than twenty-four times be- 
fore it dropped. 
A bull that our party had wounded in the shoulder, and which was 
thought too badly hurt to do much harm to any one, was Ibund rather dan- 
gerous when we approached him, as he would dart forward at the nearest 
of his foes, and but that his Avound prevented him from Avheeling and turn- 
ing rapidly, he Avould certainly have done some mischief. We fired at him 
from our six-barrelled revolving pistol, which, however, seemed to have 
little other effect than to render him more savage and furious. His ap- 
pearance was well calculated to appal the bravest, had we not felt assured 
that his strength was fast diminishing. We ourseh^es were a little too 
confident, and narroAvly escaped being overtaken by him through our im- 
prudence. We placed ourselves directly in his front, and as he advanced, 
fired at his head and ran back, not supposing that he could overtake us ; 
but he soon got within a few feet of our rear, with head lowered, and 
every preparation made for giving us a hoist ; the next instant, however, 
we had jumped aside, and the animal was unable to alter his headlong 
course quick enough to avenge himself on us. Mr. Bell now put a ball 
directly through his lungs, and with a gush of blood from the mouth and 
nostrils, he fell upon his knees and gave up the ghost, falling (as 
usual) on the side, quite dead. 
On another occasion, when the same party were hunting near the end 
of the month of July, Mr. Squire wounded ahull twice, but no blood flow- 
ino- from the mouth, it Avas concluded the Avounds were only in the flesh, 
