Other Buffalo Memories. 
[orristown, N. J., Aug. 31. —Editor Forest 
Stream: To the student of the old-time 
st nothing need be said about the works of 
). L. Ruxton. They are too well known to 
uire comment. Their author was a young 
jlish officer who traveled through Mexico and 
Rocky Mountains, more than sixty years ago, 
who wrote a couple of most delightful books 
ch are now out of print, more’s the pity, for 
y ought to be in the library of every sports- 
1. You had a generous review of one or 
1 of these books in Forest and Stream some 
rs ago which I read with very great interest. 
Aubrey’s extremely interesting “Memories 
an Old Buffalo Hunter” remind me of Rux- 
though Aubrey’s recollections do not go 
k to the time of Ruxton; nevertheless he saw 
buffalo as it used to be, and tells us truth- 
y of it. 
elieving that anything about this marvelous 
nal interests sportsmen, I have copied from 
cton’s “Adventures in Mexico” a few words 
; he has written about an odd experience that 
had with a buffalo bull, and ask you to pub- 
them. He was camped on the Arkansas 
er, near Bent’s Old Fort, when he wrote: 
In the evening I left the camp for a load of 
it, and approached an immense herd of buf- 
) under cover of a prairie dog town, much to 
indignation of the villagers, who resented the 
usion with an incessant chattering. The buf- 
) passed right through the town and at one 
e I am sure that I could have touched many 
1 the end of my rifle, and thousands were 
sing almost over me; but, as I lay perfectly 
, they only looked at me from under their 
ggy brows, and passed on. One huge bull, 
the most ferocious-looking animal I ever 
ountered, came to a dead stop within a yard 
my head, and steadily examined me with his 
•ing eyes, snorting loudly his ignorance of 
it the curious object could be which riveted 
attention. Once he approached so close that 
;tually felt his breath on my face, and, smell- 
me, he retreated a pace or two, and dashed 
the sand furiously with his feet, lashing his 
at the same time about his dun sides with 
noise of a carter’s whip, throwing down his 
derous head, and shaking his horns angrily 
me. This old fellow was shedding his hair, 
his sleek skin, now bare as one’s hand in 
iy parts, was here and there dotted with tufts 
his long winter coat. From the shoulder 
kward the body was, with these exceptions, 
fectly smooth, but his head, neck and breast 
e covered with long, shaggy hair, his glowing 
3 being almost hidden in a matted mass, while 
coal-black beard swept his knees. His whole 
earance reminded me strongly of a lion, and 
motion of the buffalo when running exactly 
ambles the canter of the king of beasts. At 
my friend began to work himself up into 
h a fury that I began to feel rather uncom- 
■table at my position, and, as he backed him- 
: and bent his head for a rush, I cocked my 
rifle and rose partly from the ground to take a 
surer aim, when the cowardly old rascal, with a 
roar of affright, took to his heels, followed by 
the whole band; but as one sleek, well-condi¬ 
tioned bull passed me within half a dozen yards, 
I took a flying shot, and rolled him over and 
over in a cloud of dust.” 
Another odd experience detailed by Ruxton is 
absolutely new to me, though I traveled the buf¬ 
falo range for a good many years in the very 
last days of the great brute. I have no diffi¬ 
culty, however, in crediting the statement about 
the bull’s laziness when full of water. Some¬ 
thing similar I have seen, as have most other 
people, I guess, if a horse is allowed to over¬ 
drink on a journey. 
“There are two methods of hunting buffalo— 
disposed to be pugnacious, the buffalo is a quiet, 
harmless animal, and will never attack unless 
goaded to madness by wounds, or, if a cow, in 
sometimes defending its calf when pursued by 
a horseman; but even then it is seldom that 
they make any strong effort to protect their 
young. 
“When gorged with water, after a long fast, 
they become so lethargic they sometimes are too 
careless to run and avoid danger. One evening, 
just before camping, I was, as usual, in advance 
of the train, when I saw three bulls come out of 
the river and walk leisurely across the trail, stop¬ 
ping occasionally, and one, more indolent than 
the rest, lying down yvhenever the others halted. 
Being on my hunting mule, I rode slowly after 
them, the lazy one stopping behind the others. 
V*r. 
“JP’V- 
f ' » «-■ 
CARIBOU CROSSING A LAKE. 
From Millais’ “Newfoundland and Its Untrodden Ways.” (Longmans, Green & Co.) 
one on horseback, by chasing them at full speed, 
and shooting when alongside; the other by ‘still¬ 
hunting,’that is ‘approaching,’ or stalking, by tak¬ 
ing advantage of the wind and any cover the 
ground affords, and crawling to within distance 
of the feeding herd. The latter method exhibits 
in a higher degree the qualities of the hunter, 
the former those of the horseman. The buffalo’s 
head is so thickly thatched with long, shaggy 
hair that the animal is almost precluded from 
seeing an object directly in its front; and if the 
wind be against the hunter he can approach, with 
a little caution, a buffalo feeding on a prairie as 
level and bare as a billiard table. Their sense 
of smelling, however, is so acute, that it is im¬ 
possible to get within shot when to the wind¬ 
ward, as, at the distance of nearly half a mile, 
the animal will be seen to snuff the tainted air, 
and quickly satisfy himself of the vicinity of 
danger. At any other than the season of gallan¬ 
try, when the males are, like all other animals, 
and allowing me to ride within a dozen paces, 
when he would slowly follow the rest. Wishing 
to see how near I could get, I dismounted, and, 
rifle in hand, approached the bull, who at last 
stopped short, and never even looked around, so 
that I walked up to the animal and placed my 
hand on his quarter. Taking no notice of me, 
the huge beast lay down, and while on the 
ground I shot him dead. On butchering the 
carcass I found the stomach so greatly distended 
that another pint would have burst it. In other 
respects the animal was perfectly healthy and in 
good condition.” 
Every page of Ruxton’s two books bristle with 
interesting information about the country, its 
people, its game and the life lived in those old 
days, the days of the Mexican War and of 
Bent’s Old Fort. Nothing like these books can 
be written nowadays, for the life that was lived 
then is as much a thing of the past as is the 
building of the pyramids. New Jersey. 
: r 
