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‘Ken Cents a Copy. f 



From Harper's Weekly, 1871. 
THE GOBBLER’S CHRISTMAS CAROL. 

H ! hungry reader! gormandizer ! 
How blest your lot, how foul is mine ! 
Pray realize it—realize, ah!‘ 
Mine ‘tis to dig that you may dine. 
When from the natal shell I bursted 
To fledgling life and parent hen, 
That precious life I little trusted 
Would be so soon shelled out again. 
Amid the barn-yard’s rare attractions, 
Strutting the feathered herd among, 
1 little dreamed such fowl eggs-actions 
On Christmas holidays were wrung. 
I never troubled the Hereafter; 
The present was sufficient bliss— 
Alas! it is no cause for laughter 
To find our necks twirled short in this. 
Yet ‘twas for this betimes I fattened, 
For this alone so fully fed; 
That when a Christmas day next happened 
My veins should not in vain be bled. 
For this I proudly strutted, hobbled! 
I dreampt not of this bitter cup. 
Long time I gobbled, gobbled, gobbled, 
But now at last I’m gobbled up. 
Say, reader, am I justly treated? 
Shonld that which is of ‘right my meet 
Be freely out to strangers meted? | 
Confess it now, I beg, entreat! 
Regard my end with melancholy— 
Drawn and quartered, basted, sauced —: 
And when you sing the yule and holly 
Contemplate, too, the holocaust. CHArLes Hatuock. 
oo 
Ruffalo Hunt with the Pawnees. 
HE sun pushing aside the rosy curtains of the east 
commences to renew his daily course, bringing again 
light and life to all animated nature. He touches the more 
elevated bluffs with flaming light and suffuses the whole 
heavens with aruddy glow. The leaves of the low wil- 
lows, frosted with a coating of tiny dew-drops, glisten in 
in his light, and each silvery globule that hangs from the 
high grass reflects his image like a polished mirror. The 
waters of the Republican, dark and turbid as they always 
are, seem to become purer as they are touched by his beams, 
and flash and gleam as they whirl along toward the Mis- 
souri. The mellow whistle of the meadow lark is heard 
from the prairie, the short cry of the migrating blackbird 
falls from on high, a flock of ducks on whistling wing pass 
over us on their way to those genial climes where frost and 
snow do not penetrate, and where the rigors of winter are 
not felt. ; : 
'The quite beauty of the prospect is enchanting, but I 
desire to introduce you to more stirring scenes. Bear with 
me fora moment, however, while I give you a brief de- 
scription of the country through which we are to journey 
—of the land of the buffalo. Could we attain the heights 
traveled by the feathered travelers that are continually 
passing, a magnificent view would meet our eyes. Far 
away to the north I would point out to you the faint dark 
4ine formed by the tall cottonwoods that fringe the Platte 
and by which its direction east and west may be traced as 
far as the eye canreach. As far to the south and scarcely 
to be discerned save by the keenest sight, another low dark 
line marks the course of the Solomon, and between these 
two we see many lesser streams, some flowing north and 
some south, each bearing its share of alluvium to swell the 
deltas of the Mississippi. Besides these the plain is inter- 
sected by innumerable ravines running in all directions. 
These serve to carry off the surplus water in times of rain, 
each emptying into some large one, and that in turn 

{nto one still larger, until finally a stream is formed which 
joins into the main river. On the borders of such streams 
feed the deer and elk; along their grassy bottoms stalks the 
wild turkey, resplendent in his bronzed plumage; among 

Volume I, Number 2¢, 
103 Fulton Street, 


the tangled thickets that grow upon their banks lurks the 
great white wolf; and amid the topmost branches of some 
lofty cottonwood the white-headed eagle rears her gigantic 
brood. Among the numberless bluffs that rise one after 
another like the waves of a tossing sea, the buffaloes can 
be seen by thousands; some peacefuily reposing on the rich 
bottoms, others feeding upon the short nutritious grass 
that clothes the hillsides. The calves play clumsil y about, 
and the old bulls from the tops of the bluffs grimly watch 
over their uncouth families. 
Rarely are these scenes disturbed save when the prowl- 
ing Sioux, returning from some foray upon the luckless set- 
tlers, halts for a brief period to rest his worn out animals 
and to eat his hasty meal, or whena squadron of cavalry 
with rattle of arms and clink of spur hurries along upon 
the trail of the dusky robber, all too late to recover his 
booty or avenge his crimes. A few hunters ora party of 
surveyors occasiynally pass through this region, but except 
by these and by the Indian it is rarely visited. 
We are standing upon the northern border of the present 
range of the buffalo. A few passing beyond the Republi- 
can advance as far north as the Platte, but rarely cross that 
river. South of the former, however, they still abound; 
not in sych numbers indeed as in former years, but. still 
often sufficiently numerous to blacken the plains and to be- 
come an easy prey to whoever will hunt them. But their 
days are numbered, and unless some action on this subject 
is speedily taken not only by the States and Territories, but 
by the National Government, these shaggy brown beasts, 
these cattle upon a thousand hills, will ere long be among 
the the things of the past. 
Jim. R—— and myself had left New York a week before, 
and meeting Lute at Plum Creek, had there obtained horses 
and a team and started off to overtake the Pawnees, who 
with their families and all their ¢mpedimenta, had set out 
fiom their reservation three weeks before for a grand buf- 
falo hunt. Many a time during my wanderings west of the 
Missouri, had these hunts of the Indians been described to 
me with a graphic eloquence that filled me with enthusiasm 
as I listened to the recital, and I had determined that if 
ever the opportunity offered I would take part in one. The 
time had at last come, and we were now on our fourth day 
out from the rail road, having traveled over one hundred 
and twenty miles, and hoping before nightfall to catch up 
with the Indians. 
Nor were we disappointed in this hope, for when we 
crossed the Republican and turned southward, the trail 
whieh we were following became fresher and gaye evidences 
of having been made only the day before. Soon we passed 
their last night’s camp, the ashes of the fires still warm and 
the fresh buffalo bones not yet dried by the sun. Encour- 
aged by these signs we urged forward our horses, anda 
short time before dark our exertions were rewarded by the 
sight of the white lodges of the Pawnees which dotted the 
broad bottom of Beaver creek. 
There were about two hundred lodges, occupied by 
over four thcusand Indians, principally Pawnees, with a 
few Poncas and Omahas. Within the camp and among 
the lodges were picketed the horses. The reason for this 
as we afterward learned, was that the Pawnees had encoun- 
tered that afternoon a small band of Sioux, and after chasing 
them for several miles had captured four of their horses. 
Of course they knew that the Sioux if they had the oppor- 
tunity would return the compliment by stampeding their 
stock and making off with the best of it. This they in- 
tended to prevent by keeping the horses so near them that 
no unusual movement of the the herd could be made with- 
out being noticed by some one in the camp. 
The scene was one of bustling activity. The women and 
girls were busily at work bringing water, chopping wood 
and cooking, while the men strolled about the camp smok- 
ing and talking, or clustered together on the bluffs and 
gazed at us as we approached. Half a mile from the vil- 
lage we halted and made camp and after supper rode over 
to see old Peta-la-shar, the head chief of the Pawnees. He 
received us courteously, and Lute even warmly, calling 
him ‘‘my son,” and patting him affectionately on the back 





as he sat by his side. The old man told us that the hunt so 
far had not been very successful, that the buffalo were not 
plenty north of the Republican as they used to be when he 
was @ young man, but tomorrow, he said, a grand surround 
would be made, as his young men had reported plenty of 
buffalo about twenty miles to the southward. Pleased with 
this intelligence we left him and after a stroll through the 
Indian camp returned to our own, and were soon enjoying 
the deep and dreamless sleep that follows a hard day’s 
march. 
But alas for our anticipations. When we rose next 
morning we were dismayed by the sight of a dark mist 
which hung over the valley, sometimes lifting for a few 
moments so as to disclose the bluffs beyond, and then set- 
tling down again heavier than before. It was evident that 
the scouts sent out by the Indians to look for buffalo would 
be unable to see through the heavy fog, and so our pros- 
peets for a hunt on this day were very poor. We started 
from our camp soon after the Pawnees moved out, and 
before long our doleful thougths were dispelled by the 
interesting spectacle of four thousand Indians on the 
march. 
At the head of the column walked eight men, each carry- 
ing a long pole wrapped round with red and blue cloth and 
fantastically ornamented with feathers, which fluttered 
in the breeze as they were borne along. These were the 
buffalo sticks, and were religiously guarded at all times, as 
the success of the hunt was supposed to depend largely up- 
on the respect shown to them. Immediately after these 
came thirty or forty of the principal men of the tribe, all 
mounted on superb ponies, their saddles glittering with 
silver ornaments, and their bridles tinkling with little bells. 
Then followed a motly assemblage, consisting of the squaws 
of the tribe, each of whom as she walked along led one or 
two ponies heavily packed. A moderately loaded pony 
would carry, first the lodge, with the poles tied on each 
side of the pack, the ends dragging along on the ground, 
next a pile of blankets and robes a foot or two in height, 
around which are tied pots, tin cups, and other utensils, 
and on top of this heap are perched from two to five small 
children, each of which holds in its arms two or three young 
puppies. Loose horses without any burdens, and half- 
grown colts, each with a little pack on its back, run at large 
among the the crowd, and their shrill neighings mingle 
with the barking of the dogs and the incessant clamor of 
the women. Along the outskirts of this strange concourse 
ran half a dozen well grown boys engaged in playing a 
game in which they seemed intensely interested, and on 
which as I afterwards learned, they were betting. Each 
held in his right hand a slender stick about four feet long, 
and one of them had also a ring of plated raw hide three or 
four inches in diameter. As the latter ran he threw this 
ring before him so that it rolled along upon its circumfer 
ence and then each of the players tried to throw his stick 
through it. They were not very successful in their at. 
tempts, and I fancy that the amounts lost and won were 
not very heavy. As I cast my eye around over the prairie, 
I saw on every side small parties of Indians trudging along 
on foot, their blankets drawn closely about them and their 
bows and arrows on their back. Surprised at seeing so 
many walking when the number of riderless horses in the 
band was so large, lasked Lute the reason of it. He told 
me that they were letting their horses rest now, so that 
they might be fresh when they needed them to run buffalo. 
We travel on for several hours and gradually the mist 
disappears beneath the powerful rays of the sun. Occasion- 
ally we cross a little stream, and as we approach it forty or 
fifty men and boys hurry ahead and disperse themselves 
through the timber, killing whatever game they can find. 
On one such occasion a lordly elk disturbed by these in- 
vaders, springs from a thicket and runs out toward the 
bluffs unfortunately on the wrong side of the creek and 
toward the column. Too late he perceives his mistake and 
turns to retrace his steps, but is met by a dozen yelling 
enemies, Again he turns, and now strives to escape in an- 
other direction, but twenty horsemen have shot out from 
the main body, and in less time than it takes to tell it the 
