Feb. 16, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
2 55 
behind each pile of stones which they passed, 
on either hand, people began to rise up and shout 
and yell and wave their robes. Terror took the 
place of curiosity; the buffalo wished to escape 
from these noisy and terrifying enemies; the way 
ahead was clear and they rushed on, heads down 
I and tails up, at an ever-increasing speed. Yet 
still as they ran the people appeared just behind 
them on both sides, and the buffalo constantly 
became more frightened and ran faster, until at 
length, the angle of the V reached, they plunged 
over the cliff and down into the pen. 
“From the camp in the valley all the people 
who had not gone up on the prairie to hide be¬ 
hind the rock piles had gathered in the neigh¬ 
borhood of the pen to await the event of the 
hunt. As they sat there waiting, they could hear 
the first faint shouts of those who were frighten¬ 
ing the herd, and then the yells coming nearer 
and, nearer; then came the dull roar of the buf¬ 
falo’s tread, and then at once the leaders came 
pitching, rolling, falling over the cliff into the 
pen. All now rushed to the walls and climbed 
up on them so as to still further frighten the 
imprisoned animals. They grunted at them, mak¬ 
ing a sound not unlike the grunt of the buffalo, 
and by their cries and gestures strove to keep 
them from pressing against the walls, or from 
trying to climb over them. The scene within the 
pen, although as yet no attempt had been made 
to kill any of the buffalo, was already one of 
bloodshed. The buffalo, mad with terror, raced 
round and round the narrow inclosure; the 
strongest dashed against and knocked down the 
weaker, or with their horns threw them out of 
the way to clear a path for themselves; calves, 
yearlings and those injured by the fall were thus 
knocked down and trampled on by their stronger 
fellows, or were tossed aside by their horns. 
It was a case of panic in a crowd; only the 
stronger remained uninjured. 
“The Indians were already swarming back from 
the prairie to act their part in the slaughter, but 
before they reached the pen, a great number of 
the smaller buffalo had been killed by their fel¬ 
lows, and only the largest and heaviest were still 
racing about the pen. These the men shot with 
their arrows as they passed them, and soon all 
were down, and the women entered the pen to 
butcher the slain. The buffalo that were not 
dead they dispatched by breaking their skulls 
with mauls. The meat after being cut up was 
transported to the camp and the pen was cleaned 
out, the skulls and bones being carried off to a 
distance. And now the trees and bushes and 
drying scaffolds about the camp were red with 
great sheets of meat and white with strips of 
backfat, which soon began to turn brown under 
the hot sun and in the warm dry wind. On the 
! ground lay many hides over which the women 
were working, preparing them for robes, or more 
completely tanning them for lodge skins or for 
clothing. Every one was busy and every one 
was happy, for there was plenty in the camp, and 
all day long the feast shout was heard. The 
fear of hunger no longer oppressed the people.” 
Most interesting are these ancient killing 
grounds, and most full, not only of memorials 
of the buffalo, but of the people whom the buf¬ 
falo supported. From a certain one of these 
falling, places” flint arrow heads, flesher blades 
and knives have been recovered in great num- 
bers. From another well known, immense quan¬ 
tities of buffalo hair have been unearthed. It 
seems as if the surface of the ground had at one 
time been covered with a huge mat of buffalo 
hair over which later earth had been spread. No 
; doubt this was some tanning ground where the 
Indian women removed the hair from the skins 
that they were to use as covering for their 
lodges. 
In the valley near a great cliff over which the 
buffalo used to be jumped, there was twenty-five 
years ago a huge pile of horn sheaths collected 
from the old killing ground and heaped up there 
with the idea, so nearly as I can discover, of 
inducing the buffalo to. come to this place. On 
either side the pile, -which was taller than a man 
and the greatest length of which was from north 
to south, were placed on the ground apart from 
the pile a number of pairs of buffalo horns, one 
on either side of the pile. Those in the lead- 
directed to the south—were bull horns; those 
following, or north of them, but also directed 
south, were cows’ horns; the points of the horns 
were all directed south and the purpose of plac¬ 
ing the horns in this position was to induce the 
living buffalo to run in the direction in which 
the horns lay. 
Bones and' horns, the most perishable of all 
the relics of the buffalo, have almost disappeared 
from the western plains, and the day is not dis¬ 
tant when, over all the range once occupied by 
these great beasts, it will be impossible to find 
a single fragment of their bodies. G. B. G. 
Fisherman’s Ways and Fisherman’s 
Luck. 
Owego, N. Y., Feb. 7. — Editor Forest and 
Stream\: The following incident told by Mr. 
H. C. Ripley, a well known sportsman of this 
village, is so interesting that I offer it to the 
readers of Forest and Stream. I must first 
explain that a part of the business section of 
Owego is situated on the very brink of the Sus¬ 
quehanna River. About two hundred feet below 
the point where Mr. Ripley was watching, a 
bridge crosses the river. It will be remembered 
that the law prohibiting the spring hunting of 
ducks went into effect in 1904, and in conse¬ 
quence ducks became confident and ventured in 
close to the stores to fish in the swift water. 
Even a few gulls that had been forced to the 
open water because of the closing of Cayuga 
Lake became very tame. Mr. Ripley says: 
“I came down to the store one cold Sunday 
morning in February, 1905, and found that a 
strip of ice had frozen out from one of the 
bridge piers, which left a channel about fifty feet 
wide between the store and the ice. The water, 
which was from two to two and a half feet deep, 
was running so swift and clear that I could 
see the bottom distinctly. 
“On stepping to the back window and gazing 
over the river, my eye caught a female American 
shelldrake almost directly beneath me, not more 
than forty feet away. I stepped back out of 
sight and watched her fish for fully half an 
hour. The agility and swiftness with which that 
bird handled herself under water was remark¬ 
able. When she came to the top for air she 
popped out as though she had been sent up by 
a spring. 1 hen down she went, and swimming 
back and forth, she felt for fish with her bill 
under stones and other sunken objects. Although 
she left a roily wake behind her, I cannot say 
positively that she turned over the stones Dur¬ 
ing breathing spells on the surface she floated 
a few yards down stream each time, but as soon 
as she went under again she made up the dis¬ 
tance by working back and forth, always against 
the current. Occasionally she swam over to the 
ice, and diving, went under it, but soon reap- 
peared at the edge and popped out of water, 
small rivulets and silvery drops rolling from 
her back. 
Finally she went down and came to the sur¬ 
face with an eel fully a foot long in her bill 
1 he fish wriggled and twisted while she shook 
her head violently in an effort to kill it, or to 
keep it from twisting about her neck. The 
earners of her crest bristled in defiance and she 
snook the fish as a terrier shakes a rat The 
eel managed to get away, but the duck went 
under after it like a flash, and I saw her seize 
it and come to the top. Again and again the 
eel escaped, but each time the merganser pur¬ 
sued it and captured it. At last I saw blood 
coming from the mouth of the writhing, twisting 
victim. 1 hey had gradually worked down stream, 
further and further from my eye’s reach, and 
just as I was about to run to a point where I 
con d get a better view of the finish, a wagon 
came clattering over the bridge and frightened 
the duck. As she passed me, just skimming 
over the water, I saw that she did not have the 
eel, but I am confident that it was the wagon 
that prevented her from securing her breakfast.” 
J. Alden Loring. 
WHERE QUALITY IS FIRST. 
Campers and sportsmen who demand the best should 
note that the equipment of every scientific and exploring 
expeddion for the past fifty years has included a supply 
of Borden s Eagle Brand Condensed Milk. Keeps in any 
climate and under all conditions. The original and lead¬ 
ing brand since 1857.— Adv.. 
BUFFALO BONES AT FOOT OF CLIFF WHERE BUFFALO WERE JUMPED. 
