PRAIRIE SPORTS. 
259 
escape of this sort is brilliantly related as having befallen him¬ 
self, by the gentleman I have mentioned before, who is proba¬ 
bly the best amateur Bison and Elk hunter in America. 
There is, however, more real danger arising from falls of the 
hunter’s horse, when at speed, from treading in the burrows of 
that species of marmot, known as the Prairie Dog; or from 
plunging down impracticable descents, or attempting leaps at 
impassable ravines, than from the horns and hoofs of the Bison, 
or the antlers of the Elk, who is a far more dangerous customer 
when hurt, than his more bulky and savage-looking comrade of 
the plains. 
The large revolving pistol is rather a favorite weapon in the 
chase of the Buffalo; but I confess a prejudice against it, first, 
as being very complicated, and therefore liable to get broken 
or disordered, in which case it cannot possibly be repaired,— 
whereas any armorer can set a common percussion firelock to 
rights, if injured; and, secondly, because I have no confidence 
in their steady and regular execution. I understand that they 
have been found to work very well, especially by the Rangers 
of Texas, during the late Mexican campaigns; but I confess, 
unless against men, with whom the prestige is everything, and 
the quick repetition of shots a thing dreaded, I would infinitely 
rather depend on a brace of good ten-inch duelling pistols, car¬ 
rying balls of thirty-two to the pound, than all the revolvers in 
the world. This is, however, a matter of opinion and taste, and 
I am led to believe that Colt’s weapons have been improved 
since I tried them. But when I did so, a few years since, I 
constantly found them failing to revolve at all, or if at all truly, 
in consequence of the caps being driven backward by the ex¬ 
plosion, and falling down between the cylinder and the breech, 
so as to make a jam. The best of these weapons, by all ac¬ 
counts, is the largest pistol. The rifle is cumbrous and unwieldy 
—the fowlingpiece, I believe, was instantly abandoned ; at all 
events, it is preposterously and self-evidently useless. 
For Prairie Sporting in general, I should recommend, as an 
all-sufficient armory, a double-barrelled, two-grooved rifle; a 
