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means of which they are enabled to travel long distances away from water without suffering inconvenience from thirst; also that a person perishing from thirst may, by killing the buffalo and having recourse to this spring, find the muchneeded supply of water. I can not vouch for the truth of this, as I have never seen such a method resorted to for quenching thirst. I have noticed, while cutting up a buffalo, that there seemed to me to be a somewhat different internal arrangement from that observable in a bullock. I might say, too, that I have never used my hunting-knife on a buffalo as a means of securing information, food being the invariable object of my search.

The smaller water-courses of the Plains are mostly found to run through deeply-cut banks. This makes it difficult to reach the water except in occasional marshy places, where the mud is deep, and in some places seemingly bottomless. Such a stream is the "Stinking Water," one of the small rivers emptying into the Republican. The name was conferred by the Indians, who have more than once been forced to abandon a camp-ground on this river on account of the offensiveness of the water, caused by the decaying carcasses of buffalo that had been mired in the mud and there died. At a point where I once crossed the skeletons of buffalo lay strewn about as thickly as if the spot had been used as

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very particular information with reference to these vast oceans of land. It is seldom that one meets with any stretch of country that might be designated with any truth as a prairie. Back from the water-courses the land lies in great billows, rising one above the other to a crest known technically as a "divide." This is simply the highest point of land between two water-courses. The "cañon" is met with on the Plains; it is, however, a term generally used to designate a pass or gulch in the mountains. The breaks of the Plains will be found to be picturesquely wonderful.

In journeying north from the Republican to the Platte River, one must have a good knowledge of the country and the trails, or he will certainly find, when he reaches a point within from six to ten miles of the Platte River, that he is in the most broken country that is to be found on this continent, without a trail by which to travel. The buffalo trails are the surest guides through the breaks. Though they follow a sinuous course, they are pretty certain to lead to a cañon which, if followed, will bring you to the broad meadows through which the Platte has its course.

I do not wish to be understood as saying that the country through which the Platte flows is all of this conformation, but the Buffalo Range is as I have described; and a single herd of buffalo will frequently occupy two or three days in moving through the breaks of the Platte, traveling always by the most favorable

route.

The Indians seem well aware of this fact, for in moving their villages they make use of the stream-crossings used by the buffalo, knowing that by so doing they travel by the most convenient route.

be transported, and these can only be carried by fastening them on each side of the ponies and permitting one end to drag. On these ends the Indian fastens great wicker baskets, which serve him for the transportation of all manner of things. With this load the pony must have a good stream-crossing, and such a thing is not frequently found on some of the rivers of the Plains.

Persons who have never seen the vast herds of buffalo moving can have but little conception of the almost irresistible power of such a living mass, and the difficulty of turning or breaking the herd when once it is in motion on a certain course. The countless thousands press forward, overwhelming any but the strongest barrier. Wagons have been overturned in this way, and teamsters have saved themselves and the stock only by flight.

An army officer who with a strong force crossed the Plains by the Smoky Hill route in 1865 was forced to "corral" his train of wagons and order his men to fire volleys into a herd which threatened to march over his train. This is, however, infrequent. A party may be on the Plains, or even on the Buffalo Range, for years and never see it; still such instances have occurred.

I have frequently been amused at the calculations made by wise old hunters whom one finds on the Range. They settle within a million or so the exact number of buffalo that are yet wandering about. One old fellow is convinced that there is something like seventeen millions, and that this is the exact number required to keep up the present stock. The buffalo is certainly decreasing since 1858. They have been pressed more than a hundred miles west in Kansas and Nebraska. They no longer range up to the It seems to be a very general impression that Platte in the great numbers that formerly visIndians can go to any portion of the Plains by ited that stream; and the Indians are ever a direct route. Unencumbered with the vil- bringing forward the fact, in their powwows lage, a war party will more with great rapidity with commissioners that soon the buffalo will and in any direction; but to move the village be gone, and the red brother must keep peace is quite another question. The tent-poles must with the white and eat his "spotted buffalo"

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lame one on until he falls tired and, no longer able to protect himself, an easy victim to his famished funeral procession.

During the winter storms on the Range the wolves are frequently starved into bravery; then, and not until then, they attack the solitary bulls that wander from cañon to cañon in search of forage. It must not be imagined that the wolves partake of this feast without a severe fight, for the old bull will fight furiously, and several wolves are placed out of the fight before the bull is conquered and killed.

(Indian for domestic cattle). I am tempted to remark that they do eat a very considerable number of spotted buffalo that are not procured in a very brotherly way; and no Indian is complete in his outfit until he has a cow-skin (hair on) bow-case and arrow-quiver. If, as the Indian fears-groundlessly, however, at present -the buffalo will pass away, I am at a loss to know what he would do, for the buffalo feeds, clothes, and warms the nomads. The flesh being used as food, either fresh or sundried. The skin is used as clothing, blankets, and, with the hair removed, becomes the best material out of which to manufacture the tents or "tepes," and the "bois de vache" is as good fuel as the Indian asks for. In fact, there is scarcely a manufactured article that the aborigine uses but what one may discover that some portion of the buffalo has been used in the construction of it. Certainly the redskin must feel something like consternation as he sees the buf-ing of the smaller coyote is accompanied by falo become year by year less plenty.

It is commonly supposed that it is the white man only who kills and wastes buffalo. I do not think that this is entirely the case, as an Indian is not always particular about using all the meat that is killed. Buffalo are frequently killed by Indian war-parties, who take what may be needed as food, but the rest of the carcass falls to the lot of the wolves and ravens, that are sure to be ready to take such leavings of the Indians. Many of the young buffalo fall prey to the hungry gray wolves and coyotes, and a sick or wounded buffalo is sure to have a numerous body of attendant wolves, all ready to speed the

Now comes a verification of the old adage, a little changed, maybe, but still pertinent, "To the brave belongs the fare," for the big wolf takes the first seat, and fails to extend any invite to the wolves of lesser size and pluck, until his wolfship has quite satisfied the cravings of his starved system; even then the invite might be considered somewhat doubtful, as the feed

occasional sharp snaps from the gray wolves, which have remained just near enough to render a meal at the second table a somewhat lively affair.

That the buffalo is fast disappearing there is certainly no reason to doubt. The Indians tell you that the herds are less numerous; the "rancher" vouches the same fact; the trader has raised the price of the robe; and many of the eastern trails are "mossed over" from disuse. The Indians and buffalo are moved about as far to the west as they can well go.

As a usual thing if you hunt buffalo you may consider the fact certain that you are in the "In

dian country," and it is a well-known fact that our aboriginal nomad will kill his white brother if the opportunity offered is a good one. So don't venture too far from the government post or ranch without a sufficient escort to fight if need be. Not but what you may go on fifty buffalo hunts without even seeing an Indian; but don't tempt him too far, for flesh is weak, and the red baby must be made familiar with the different varieties of hair, and blonde tresses are highly prized among the tepes.

Of the various methods of hunting buffalo, the true sportsman will not hesitate to pronounce in favor of that usually adopted by our cavalry officers and the best hunters among the frontiersmen. This is known as "running buffalo," in which, to be successful, the hunter must be a good horseman and a cool and steady shot, with either carbine or revolver; the revolver being the preferable arm from its greater convenience in handling. Your mount must be fleet and courageous; in fact, a "buffalo-horse." The Indians mark such animals by a short slit in the top of each ear.

General Lander was, I think, the best buffalo hunter that I ever saw. Mounting an unsaddled pony-a lariat served him as bridlehe would dash among a herd of buffalo. He was the best two-handed shot that I ever saw, his right or left hand pistol being used with like result. Either meant meat, and the best that the herd afforded. "Cow beef for me," was a favorite remark of Lander; and if he shot the buffalo the cow was pretty certainly young and fat.

There is much to be said of what is known on the Range as a "buffalo - horse." Some horses become so frightened at the sight of buffalo that they become unmanageable, and for the time the rider has quite as much as he can attend to in simply staying on the horse's back. Such a horse can seldom be made a good buffalo-horse, though a good rider may eventually use him and kill buffalo from his back. dead buffalo will cause this horse to show great fear.

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Other horses may exhibit some little hesitation in running alongside of a buffalo, and jump as the shot is fired, but a little judicious training will eventually bring them to their work. But your close-built, plucky little buffalo-horse seems to enjoy the sport. Give him the rein, and with ears set back and tail flagging in the air, he will lay you alongside of your game, and with a free, steady jump keep pace with the buffalo that is loping along within ten feet of you. Until this moment your revolvers should be in your belt, for if you have them in your hands you may cock them, and if they are cocked they frequently go off accidentally, and make a fellow-hunter think that he is as likely to be shot as the buffalo. The best hunters use the thumb of the hand in which the pistol is held to cock the weapon, the hammer being raised as the pistol is thrown up. The shot is then fired almost instantly, seldom with any exact aim, however; most good hunters preferring to shoot as it were by intuitive feeling, glancing maybe along the barrel as they draw the trigger.

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