WESTERN WILD SPORTS. 
153 
flying before their pursuers, it would be in vain for the fore¬ 
most to halt, or attempt to obstruct the progress of the main 
body, as the throng in the rear still rushing onward, the leader 
must advance, although destruction awaits the movement. The 
Indians take advantage of this circumstance to destroy great 
quantities of this favorite game; and certainly, no mode could 
be resorted to more effectually destructive, nor could a more 
terrible devastation be produced, than that of forcing a nume¬ 
rous herd of these large animals to leap together from the brink 
of a dreadful precipice upon a rocky and broken surface, a hun¬ 
dred feet below. 
“ When the Indians determine to destroy Bison in this way, one 
of their swiftest-footed and most active young men is selected, 
who is disguised in a Bison skin, having the head, ears and 
horns adjusted on his own head, so as to make the deception 
very complete, and thus accoutred, he stations himself between 
the Bison herd and some of the precipices that often extend for 
ceveral miles along the rivers. The Indians surround the herd 
as nearly as possible, when, at a given signal, they show them¬ 
selves, and rush forward with loud yells. The animals being 
alarmed, and seeing no way open but in the direction of the dis¬ 
guised Indian, run towards him, and he taking to flight, dashes 
on to the precipice, where he suddenly secures himself in some 
previously ascertained crevice. The foremost of the herd arrives 
at the brink—there is no possibility of retreat—no chance of 
escape. The foremost may for an instant shrink with terror, 
but the crowd behind, who are terrified by the approaching 
hunters, rush forward with increasing impetuosity, and the ag¬ 
gregated force hurls them successively into the gulf, where cer¬ 
tain death awaits them. 
“ It is extremely fortunate that this sanguinary and wasteful 
method of killing Bisons is not very frequently resorted to by 
the savages, or we might expect these animals in a few years to 
become almost entirely extinct. Lewis and Clark bestowed the 
name of Slaughter River on one of the tributaries of the Missis¬ 
sippi, in consequence of the precipices along the sides having 
been used by the Indians for this mode of killing the Bison. 
