256 BUFFALO-HUNTING. Book II. 
marrow from the leg-bones is one of the greatest delica- 
cies. If the reader desires a characteristic picture of good 
living in the prairie, let him imagine a troop of travellers 
seated round a fire of buffalo-dung, upon which a buffalo 
marrowbone is being roasted. When it is believed to be 
sufficiently done, the bone is split open with a hatchet and 
the marrow taken out in a solid lump. In contrast to 
these delicacies of the wilderness must be placed the flesh 
of an old bull, which is almost uneatable, and obstinately 
resists all attempts of cookery to convert it into anything 
more digestible than a hank of cord. The scene of a tribe 
of Indians hunting a herd of buffaloes is exciting and wild 
enough ; many travellers have described this, but I had 
never an opportunity of witnessing one. Buffalo-hunting 
was pursued on a small scale by our party — I might say, 
" en detail''' If meat was wanted, a man rode forth into 
the midst of the herd, with a six-barrelled revolver. The 
great mass of buffaloes is divided into herds, and these 
again into bands, each under the guidance of a single bull. 
The connection of this immense mass is never quite broken 
up, though the single bands rove about always following 
their leader independently in a straight line. The hunter 
selects one of the animals from a troop, and pursues it. 
Now this part of the herd is set in commotion. All 
the different troops near immediately begin running in 
all directions over the plain, always following their 
leader in a straight line, and leaving their beaten tracks 
only when compelled to do so; the latter cross each 
other continually, quite like ordinary footpaths. The 
issue of the chase depends on the horse and the skill of 
the rider. The horse is kept on the left side of the buffalo, 
and the huntsman may approach the animal so closely 
before firing as almost to touch its shoulder with his pistol. 
