44 
THE BISON. 
to the place where he thought he would come to the 
land, so as to have a nearer sight of the huge animal. 
He arrived at the spot just as the formidable leader was 
coming up the steep bank of the river, and the first ob- \ 
ject that met his eyes when his head was above the ) 
bank, was the man and horse, standing light, before him, ' 
and in his path. The creature halted, in terror and as¬ 
tonishment, while the horse, being panic struck at so s 
sudden and fearful a sight, trembled with fear, and 
would have turned and run away, had not his rider ex- ' 
erted his utmost strength to restrain him. In this strug- 
gle, the horse sunk down on his hams, while the Bison, ( 
eyeing him for a moment, as if he hardly^ knew which ( 
way to turn, was then compelled to go forward, by the ( 
pressure of the herd from behind. He rushed by the 
half-sitting horse, followed swiftly by those he led, and 
was soon out of sight. 
HUNTING THE BISON.. 
The Indians consider the Bison as one of the best gifts 
which the Great Spirit has bestowed on them, and be¬ 
fore they begin to hunt him, make use of several cere¬ 
monies, such as puffing the smoke of their pipes in cer¬ 
tain directions, and which they believe will insure them 
good luck in hunting him. This animal is indeed one 
of the greatest of worldly blessings to the poor Indians, 
as without him they would often starve, there being no 
food in the country where they live, on which they can 
depend, except the Bison. Of his skin their blankets 
and their clothes are made, so that they depend on this 
animal for bedding, and clothing, as well as for food. 
The herds of Bison are said sometimes to amount to 
several thousands in number, and while feeding at their 
leisure, they are spread over a great extent of country, 
each animal going in the direction which the best pasture 
leads him. But when they are passing from one place, 
or part of the country to another, they go close together, 
like a flock of sheep, and are commonly led by an old 
and experienced Bison, who marches at ihe head of the 
whole herd, and the others follow him wherever he goes. 
Going forward in this manner, and being animals of 
great strength, hardly any thing can oppose them. 
They cross mountains, swim rivers, and pass forests, 
without at all interrupting their line of march. 
When a herd of these animals are marching in this 
manner, they move forward like one huge animal, hav¬ 
ing thousands of legs, for they are so near together, that 
their bodies touch each other, and therefore, those that 
are forward, or in the middle, cannot stop, or turn 
around, but must move along with the others. If, there¬ 
fore, the leader happens to go in a wrong direction, and 
comes suddenly to a steep hill, or the high bank of a 
river, those that are forward cannot stop, being pressed 
along by those that are behind, so that a pait of the herd 
must certainly be thrown down the hill, or precipice, 
however high it may be. If, when the herd are so situ¬ 
ated, they should be pursued by the hunters, and urged 
forward by fear, great numbers must perish by being 
thrown down the precipice. 
The Indians, who know all about the Bison, take 
advantage of this circumstance, to destroy as many as 
they want. 
When they are going to hunt them in this manner, an 
active young Indian is prepared, by being dressed in a 
Bison skin, with the head, horns and ears on it, so as to 
make him look like the living animal as much as possi¬ 
ble. On the morning of the hunt, the young Indian, 
thus prepared, goes and takes his place- near a precipice, 
and between it and the herd of Bison. The other hunt¬ 
ers then surround the herd secretly, making as little noise 
as possible, until a signal is given, when they all rise up 
and rush forward towards the Bisons, at the same time 
yelling in a most horrid manner. The animals, confu¬ 
sed and alarmed, know not which way to run, until they 
see the young Indian dressed like a Bison, and mista¬ 
king him for one of their number, and seeing no other 
way of escape, rush towards him. The young Indian, 
at the same time, runs to the precipice, and goingpart of 
the way down, hides himself in some safe crevice in the 
rocks. The foremost of the Bisons now coming to the 
top of the precipice, shrink back with terror, and try to 
turn round and escape, but those that are behind them, 
being frightened by the hunters, push them forward, and 
the poor animals are thrown down and killed. Some¬ 
times the greatest number of a large herd are destroyed 
in this manner. It is said, however, that this wasteful 
and cruel mode of hunting the Bison, is not very often 
practiced, even by the Indians, and is never done by the 
white hunters. 
A part of the above is from Godman’s Natural His¬ 
tory. 
It appears that no part of the earth, which is inhabited 
by man, has been left without some token of the Crea¬ 
tor’s kindness towards him. We may trace this benefi¬ 
cence, particularly in respect to the animals which in¬ 
habit each country, and which appear as if made ex- 
) pressly, for the wants of man, in the countries where 
they live. The cow, is a kind of standard, or general 
) example of this beneficence, because she can live in 
most parts of the earth. But where the cow cannot 
live,or where the people are too savage to take proper 
( care of her, some other animal is made to take her place. 
| Thus, in Arabia, the camel not only takes the place 
which the cow holds in other countries, but of the horse 
\ also. In Lapland, the same purposes are answered by 
the rein-deer. In some parts of India, the zebu is 
