The rapid motion of horse and game is not favorable to any steady aim by means of the sights, but the near approach that you are enabled to gain by the good conduct of your mount affords an opportunity to deliver shot after shot into the buffalo until you may be sure of your "meat," or the buffalo, refusing apparently to be made further game of, turns, driven furious by the pain of the wounds that you have given him. This is the moment for a little calculation. If the buffalo is bleeding from nose and mouth it is certain that your shots have done their work; for the buffalo is mortally wounded, and needs no more of your lead, and you are free to gallop on for the next victim, following up the sport until your revolvers are emptied, or you are satisfied that you have a sufficiency of meat.

I have no idea of the quantity of lead that a buffalo can carry off, if the shots are not well placed. The vital point of the buffalo-his heart-is to be reached by a shot fired from a point a little behind him, aiming just behind the shoulder-blade, and about two-thirds down from the top of the hump. A single revolver-ball well placed is quite sufficient to bring down the stoutest old bull. Some hunters have killed as many as eight or nine buffalo on a single run. That is, with the twelve loads contained in their brace of revolvers, but this is extraordinary, and a thing of very occasional occurrence, three or four buffalo being usually counted as a first-rate run.

a charge as heavy as the weapon will contain.

It seems best to speak thus explicitly with reference to the description of arms to be used, as I have met so many persons who have gone out on the Range with too light a carbine or pistol for the game that they purpose hunting. Then, too, there is no particular fun in shooting into a buffalo a bullet that is just sufficiently large to worry the animal into turning on you, and making itself the hunter and you the hunted. True, you may in some measure avoid this by dashing past the animal as he pivots on those stumpy front legs, and thus get a little behind him again. He may dash at you as you run past, but quick movement will save you, and some one of your little pellets may reach his heart or some other vital point; but the chances are against the light pistol.

Or if the buffalo turns so quickly as to throw you off your guard, and your horse is not right up to his 'work, the horse is in some way turned too; then comes a neat performance in the shape of a hunter being hunted. The horse is frightened, and away he dashes. Perhaps you are hunting over ground perforated with the holes of the prairie-dog. Your horse's foot falling into one of these would send both steed and rider-how or where is not certain. I once saw an army officer in such a plight do some ground and lofty tumbling that the most successful acrobat would have looked at with astonishment.

A gentleman with whom I once hunted was unceremoniously turned upon by an old bull, which he had been previously advised to leave undisturbed, and a most laughable scene was the result of the over-valorous attempt to kill tough meat. The couple were flying away over the Plains, when the hunter, feeling that he was about to lose his hat, put up his hand to save

In the hand was the cocked pistol that was to have sounded the death-knell of the bull. Just as the hand reached the hat the pistol was discharged, and the hat went in one direction and the pistol was thrown in the other. The horse, startled by the report, made a quick movement which landed the rider out of the saddle into an inconvenient seat on the horse's neck. Things were looking just a trifle serious, and one of the party started off, and after a few well-directed shots brought the bull down and relieved the hunter from his trying situation. I am not aware that he has hunted any more old bulls since that time, if he has been on a

Will Comstock used

For an old buffalo hunter there is no better sport than to go out with a number of tyros and witness their first hunt. To be sure the shots from their carbines and revolvers sometimes come hurtling past you. to remark at such a time that the safest place was nearest the buffalo; but I have never known of any person that was the recipient of any of these wild shots. A hunter who is unused to the sport, and becomes excited during the run,

will frequently shoot his horse-how, I never could quite comprehend; but the revolver goes off, and the horse has the bullet. The rider loses his mount, gets no sympathy, but learns how to bear jokes of all descriptions. He may learn, if he will, "that there is no particular demand for horse-robes just at present, though they may come in style if he remains on the Range for any length of time."

I remember on one occasion to have seen a large party leave a column of cavalry that had halted for rest, and start for a herd near by. A few buffalo were killed by old hands; but the novices had a time all of their own with a buffalo that had separated from the herd. Round and round the point where the command was halted was the buffalo hurried; shot after shot

was discharged at him, until the excitement was too great for one of the wagon-masters, who mounted his mule and galloped after the flying chase. Two quick shots from his revolver and the buffalo fell. In a moment the spot was crowded with horsemen armed with empty revolvers. "How many shots in him ?" "What a lot of lead he could run with!" "He must have had an accident-insurance policy!" and divers other like exclamations were heard. I will simply remark that two shots were all that the closest examination by a score or more pair of eyes could discover in that buffalo, and who fired those shots was never quite determined, as the wagon-master failed to claim his shots. But some of those who assisted in frightening that buffalo on that occasion have since become good

hunters and successful shots; but they do not now shoot at a buffalo when he is running quite fifty yards distant from them.

It must not be supposed that a person can ride directly into a herd of buffalo without danger. In your excitement the horse may stumble and fall; or, as is frequently the case, you may, before you are aware, ride into a dog village, and the wide, deep holes that are to be seen in almost every square yard are traps that it is impossible to avoid entirely. I have seen several instances of this kind, and horses have been killed or disabled, and the riders severely bruised.

The buffalo, too, is sometimes known to turn with a surprising quickness of movement; and woe betide the hunter who is not instantly beyond the reach of those short, sharp horns. Then, too, you may bear in mind the fact that a wounded bull is not as safe a companion as you might select if you had a choice.

At first sight the short, fine buffalo grass seems but a scanty forage for the vast herds; but close examination will reveal the fact that grazing on it will be full and abundant. During the summer months the color of this grass is a greenish gray; as autumn approaches it becomes more brown in its tint; but late fall and winter spreads a mantle of gray, with a just perceptible tint of blue, that is in pleasant harmony with the delicate skies of the Range.

Grass that has been thoroughly fed over or burned off is the first to spring up the next year. During April and May bright green grass marks the ground that has been burned over during the previous fall. The Indians, taking advantage of favorable winds, will burn thousands of acres of grass each fall, knowing full well that this will make a hunting-ground during the next spring, and at the same time afford the forage that will be greatly needed by their ponies.

Buffalo are in the best condition during the fall, spring time being a rather unfavorable period of the year to look for fat bison. The Indians have a number of ways of designating the months or moons of the year. They have "fat buffalo moon," " thin buffalo moon,' "the moon in which to find the buffalo with much hair,'

What is known as still hunting is a favorite mode of hunting practiced by those who do not hunt so much for the sport as for the meat, and desire also to save their ponies for other work than running buffalo. Some of the colored infantry troops on the Plains are quite successful in this kind of hunting, which is merely to gain a position as near the herd as possible, taking care to keep well concealed from the vigilant eyes of the watchful pickets of the herd; then, selecting the buffalo, crack away with a long musket, which you will find the best arm for this kind of hunting. If you are careful, three or four buffalo, and sometimes many more, may be secured before the herd moves off.

This is regarded by many Plains men as a kind of pot-hunting, that is not entitled to the name of sport, and only to be resorted to for the purpose of securing the meat needed as food. I must say, however, that the skill displayed by some of the colored soldiers, as they approach a feeding herd and single out their game, is worthy to be classed as the work of good hunters. These same sable warriors make good antelope hunters too.

The principal food of the buffalo is a short, fine grass that grows in tufts, and only to the height of four or five inches. This, it would seem, is very nutritious, for domestic cattle fatten on the "buffalo grass" even during some of the winter months. On the bottoms or lowlands, through which the water-courses flow, there is found a taller growth of grass that grows rank and coarse. Somewhat similar to this is the forage found in the cañons among the breaks.

not go through with the calendar, for Indians use all manner of things by which to designate and remember the great changing luminary of the night, which so frequently affords light for depredations that they fear to commit during the day.

In hunting buffalo the Indian is not particular in his selection. If the animal is old and tough, his hide will make many articles that a thin skin would be unfit for: soles for moccasins, shields, etc. The sinews are larger and stronger, which fact makes them useful for innumerable purposes that are best known to the squaws who collect and use them. Give a squaw time and a raven would starve on the leavings that he could find on the spot where the buffalo had been killed, so thorough is the removal of every particle of nutritious matter.

The Indian prefers as food the flesh of a young cow; he will eat the oldest bull, however; and an unborn calf is a feast to the redskin. The hide of this very young buffalo baby is greatly prized by the Indians, and frequently used, when nicely tanned, as one of the articles of wearing apparel with which a show may be made. A hunting party of twenty or thirty Indians will frequently kill more buffalo during one day than the squaws of the band are able to skin and strip in two days; for the squaws do nearly if not all of the actual labor that Indians find necessary; and, to say the truth, an Indian squaw will accomplish an amount of labor that is surprising, and do it well too.

Hunting buffalo is to the Indian a labor rather than a pastime; so he kills the animal, and leaves the labor of cutting out the meat, curing the skin, etc., to the women. He prefers the easiest mode of killing the buffalo, and regards

hunting them on snow-shoes as one of the best methods of securing his quarry. The number of buffalo that may be killed in this way, even by a small party of Indians, would supply a considerable band of Indians with food for weeks, maybe months; for there would seem to be hardly a limit to the number of buffalo that could be slaughtered.

When the snows are deepest on the Range, which is most generally during January and February, the top of the snow will be melted by the noonday sun. This melting ceases as the afternoon comes on, and by nightfall the cold winds have frozen a crust over the snow, which crust is sometimes sufficiently thick and strong to support the weight of a man. Provided with the broad snow-shoe, or, as they are sometimes termed, "rackets," the Indian will move over the frozen crust quite rapidly, and entirely without danger of breaking through. With the buffalo things are somewhat different; to him the deep snow is bad enough, but a thick crust is still worse, as it not only impedes progress, but renders it painful as well, the crust being sharp almost as a knife-blade. All of this is well known to the Indian, and is at the same time a source of profit, for he loses no time when near a herd of buffalo thus embarrassed by the crust, but starts out on his snow-shoes, and, with arrow and spear, makes game of the troubled bison. An Indian on snow-shoes has the buffalo herd at a great disadvantage, unless the herd be a very large one; then a solid path is beaten which will be kept by the main herd, which in this manner is enabled to escape. At such a time it is the scattered members of the band that are the victims; and it is to these that the Indians devote their entire attention. This mode of hunting the buffalo is principally

practiced by the northern bands of Sioux and other Indians whose range is well to the north of the true hunting-ground.

Buffalo are to be found as high as latitude fifty, and as low as thirty. To the east the settlements form a boundary, and to the west the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains. This embraces an area of many thousands of square miles. But, as I have previously stated, the best hunting on the Range is to be found between the Platte and Arkansas rivers. Here I have seen the Indians have recourse to another method of slaughtering buffalo, in a very easy, but to me cruel, way, for where one buffalo is killed several are sure to be painfully injured; but these, too, are soon killed by the Indians, who make haste to lance or shoot the cripples.

The mode of hunting is somewhat as follows: A herd is discovered grazing on the table-lands. Being thoroughly acquainted with the country, the Indians are aware of the location of the nearest point where the table-land is broken abruptly by a precipice which descends a hundred or more feet. Toward this "devil jump" the Indians head the herd, which is at once driven pell-mell to and over the precipice. Meanwhile a number of Indians have taken their way, by means of routes known to them, and succeeded in reaching the cañon, through which the crippled buffalo are running in all directions. These are quickly killed, so that out of a very considerable band of buffalo but few escape, many having been killed by the fall, and others dispatched while limping off. This mode of hunting is sometimes indulged in by harum-scarum white men; but it is done more for deviltry than any thing else. I have never known of its practice by army officers, or persons who professed to hunt buffalo as a sport.

DRIVING BUFFALO OVER A BLUFF.

Some time since some enterprising individual became imbued with the idea that one of the vast herds of buffalo-say a thousand or somight be driven eastward until near the Missouri River, when the herd was to be made to enter a strong stockade that should be arranged for their reception. Then, as he expressed it, they were to be beefed and sent East, or put into cattle-cars, and killed after they had arrived in the Eastern cities. The exact number of men that would be necessary for the accomplishment of this neat drover performance was not definitely stated, but the party did not think that it would take many "fellers," if the boys were only up to the mark. Fancy this idea practicable, what a lively entertainment would be the result of an attempt on the part of a beefbutcher to act as executioner of a stout old buffalo bull! Young America could have a buffalo hunt in a Communipaw stock-yard, and the Board of Health might take advantage of the opportunity thus afforded to discover the effect of the cattle disease on bison.

Governor Gilpin, of Colorado, once suggested that a very sure way of keeping the Indians off the Smoky Hill route would be to drive all the buffalo to the north of the Platte River, and then station guards to keep them there. I told the Governor that when this was done I should surely be on hand to secure a sketch of the performance. It has not been done as yet.

A question frequently propounded to a person returned to the East after a journey to and over the Buffalo Range is, Did you see a white buffalo? In my experience I have seen but one, and then, being mounted upon a pony tired from much travel and a somewhat long run, failed to secure a position sufficiently near the animal to make any sure shot, but a white buffalo it certainly was. I have met persons who have seen white buffalo, but never yet with a party who has succeeded in killing a white bison; neither have I ever seen a white buffaloskin.

The Indians regard the possession of a white buffalo-robe as "good medicine" for the tribe; but they do not carry them about during their wanderings over the Plains. The reason for this I am not aware of; but from the best information that I have been able to obtain I believe that the Indians cache or hide the skin

in some unfrequented place, and only resort to it for the purpose of "making medicine," or some other mummery in which the white robe is thought to be of great and important assistance.

Some persons have suggested that the white robe and white buffalo were things of the purest imagination, or at best only old bulls that had been wallowing in some alkali bottom and thus coated their hides with a whitish earth, which at a distance might easily cause them to be mistaken for white buffalo. I saw my snow-backed friend during that part of the season when the buffalo is not much addicted to wallowing, so still adhere to my belief in the existence of at least one white buffalo.

I have frequently noticed the statement published that buffaloes made their wallows in marshy places, and made pilgrimages to such locality for the purpose of indulging themselves in an occasional roll. This may all be, but for one wallow found on the lowlands you will find twenty on the rolling Plains, far from water and high above any thing damp, unless it be rain. These wallows may be well described by stating that they seem as if huge saucers of eight or ten feet in diameter had been used as moulds, and the impress had been secured by pressing them into the earth. On every hand you will note these basins in the earth, and during the spring time you may frequently notice the buffalo pawing or wallowing in these spots. times he will throw himself on his back, and seeming to pivot on his hump, he will "wabble" and kick for some moments. By many the buffalo is supposed to have recourse to this per

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