THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
593 
On one occasion a native, after being carried twenty yards npon the 
“ cowcatcher,” was thrown into the branches of a tree, where he preferred to 
pose as a new species of over-ripe fruit, rather than to proceed to “ that bourne 
from which no traveller returns.” Henry M. Stanley tells of a fearful experi¬ 
ence on the part of one of his native attendants. The native, believing the 
buffalo to have been rendered helpless, drew near with the intention of using 
his knife, when the mortally wounded animal made a last herculean effort, and 
seizing the native, tossed him hither and thither until the last spark of life 
had fled, and there remained nothing but a mangled corpse. 
The buffalo is either hunted by mounted huntsmen, or else by the method 
of stalking. The shoulder shot is the only one that is effective, and the 
experienced hunter is always slow to approach the animal after it has fallen. 
The bulls engage in the most 
furious contests when seeking the 
favor of the cows, and the victory 
belongs to the one which succeeds 
in pushing the other backward 
until it relinquishes the conflict 
and sullenly retreats. When 
the buffalo strikes a quicksand, 
it at once loses its fierce cour¬ 
age, and will, in a broken- 
spirited way, allow itself to be 
entombed, even when by the 
slightest effort it might escape. 
The average weight of a bull is 
from four hundred to five hun¬ 
dred pounds, so that the wanton 
destruction which has nearly 
rendered the animal extinct, is 
still less pardonable. 
Hunting the reeds for buf¬ 
falo, although ‘ ‘ extra-hazard - 
ous,” is always profitable, as 
the hunter never fails to find 
a herd; at one time twenty-nine 
were thus shot. Two bulls, 
when fighting, do not remove 
their horns, but exert all their strength to push each other backward. They 
strike for the chest, but it is rare that either is unskilful enough not to 
parry the thrust and to get horns locked with horns. A native disturbed a 
cow and a calf, and frightened the latter, whereupon the cow made a successful 
charge, and after striking him in the back and inserting her horns in the 
man’s belt, swung him round and round until the belt gave way. The cow 
then returned to her calf, licked it affectionately, and the two slowly walked 
away without paying any further attention to the man. Another less for¬ 
tunate native was gored from back to breast. Another, while engaged in flight, 
was overtaken by the buffalo, tossed again and again, and escaped finally 
through being pitched up into the branches of a tree. Another, while with a 
38 
BATTLE BETWEEN AMERICAN BISON AND GRIZZLY BEAR. 
