The dogs also receive their portion of the feast, and devour the remains on the arena of the pen. Two days after the hunt not a vestige of the carnage remains. Before separating the Indians spend several days in dancing and mirth. One of your Keysers or Ver Broeckhovens should assist at one of these spirited, picturesque scenes of the Great Desert; he would find a new subject for a painting. 66 The old proverb says: One-half of the world does not know how the other half lives.' The American Indians who live on the spontaneous products of the soil may say as much; the countless herds of bison that roan over the vast plains, serve as daily bread to the numerous tribes of the. Great Desert." Mr. Catline, in speaking of the buffalo chase on the Upper Missouri in 1832, says: "During the season of the year whilst the calves are young, the male seems to stroll about by the side of the dam, as if for the purpose of protecting the young, at which time it is exceedingly hazardous to attack them, as they are sure to turn upon their pursuers, who have often to fly to each other's assistance. The buffalo calf during the first six months is red and has so much the appearance of a red calf in cultivated fields that it could easily be mingled and mistaken amongst them. In the fall, when it changes its hair it takes a brown coat for the winter, which it always retains. In pursuing a large herd of buffaloes at the season when their calves are but a few weeks old, I have often been exceedingly amused with the curious maneuvers of these shy little things. Amidst the thundering confusion of a throng of several hundreds or several thousands of these animals there will be many of the calves that lose sight of their dams; and being left behind by the throng, and the swift passing hunters, they endeavor to secrete themselves, when they are exceedingly put to it, on a level prairie, where naught can be seen but the short grass of six or eight inches in height, save an occasional bunch of wild sage, a few inches higher, to which the poor affrighted things will run, and dropping on their knees will push their noses under it and into the grass, where they will stand for hours, with their eyes shut, imagining themselves securely hid, whilst they are standing up quite straight upon their hind feet, and can easily be seen at several miles' distance. "It is a familiar amusement for us accustomed to these scenes, to retreat back over the ground where we have just escorted the herd, and approach these little trembling things, which stubbornly maintain their positions, with their noses pushed under the grass, and their eyes strained upon us, as we dismount from our horses and are passing around them. From the fixed position they are sure not to move until hands are laid upon them, and then for the skins of a novice we can extend our sympathy; or if he can preserve the skin on his bones from the furious buttings of its head, we know how to congratulate him on his signal success and good luck. In these desperate struggles for a moment, the little thing is conquered, and makes no further resistance. And I have, often, in concurrence with a known custom of the country, held my hands over the eyes of the calf and breathed a few strong breaths into its nostrils, after which I have with my hunting companions, rode several miles into our encampment with the little prisoner busily following the heels of my horse the whole way, as closely and as affectionately as its instinct would attach it to the company of its dam. "This is one of the most extraordinary things that I have met with in the habits of this wild country, and although I had often heard it, and felt unable exactly to believe it, I am now willing to bear testimony to the fact from the numerous instances which I have witnessed since I came into the country." The buffalo may now (1890) be said to be practically extinct in the United States. Here and there in two or three isolated spots in Montana, Colorado and Idaho occasionally a dozen may be seen. The hunter, merciless sportsmen, Indian, and civilization have contributed to this result. In May, 1886, the Smithsonian Institution dispatched Mr. W. T. Hornaday, with a small expedition, to Idahos, and Montana, to secure, if possible, a few specimens of the buffalo for the National Museum. His expedition resulted in three skeletons of bull buffaloes and some skulls. found traces of about twenty buffaloes in all of Montana, and these the Indians were following closely. The zoological He garden at Philadelphia contains a number of live buffaloes, good specimens, which furnish study for artists and naturalists. Within twenty years the buffalo was considered almost inexhaustible. The trade in buffalo robes from 1880 to 1885 was more than 100,000 a year, which represented an annual slaughter of that number of animals. To-day Western dealers in buffalo robes are getting their supply from the reserve stock in the Eastern market. "He learned of every bird its language, Learned their names and all their secrets, CHAPTER XVI. - Longfellow. ARROWS. The Sioux claim that the Cheyennes first had arrows given them by the Great Spirit, two for hunting, which were black, and two for war, which were red. The Shoshones say that before they met the whites they used poisoned arrow-heads, and for this purpose they were dipped in a compound made of ants pounded to powder and mixed with the spleen of an animal. The mixture was then placed in the sun and allowed to partially decay. The result was such a deadly poison that if the arrow broke the skin in touching a person the result was sure death. The Blackfeet use goose and eagle feathers as arrow guides, while most tribes prefer the feathers of smaller birds. Much labor was expended in the construction of arrows. The shafts were made from sprouts of dogwood (cornus stoloifera) of a year's growth. After cutting, the bark was removed and the rods were rubbed between two grooved stones, held firmly together in one hand, till reduced to proper size and smoothness. The head, made of hoop-iron, was then inserted in one end of the shaft and bound in position with sinew. The back end of the shaft was now furnished with a triple row of feathers, attached by means of clue and sinew, and the end notched to fit the bow string. With a small chisel-like instrument three slight grooves or channels were cut along the shaft between the head and the feathers, and the arrow was complete. Various reasons were assigned for this channeling. Some claimed that it caused the arrow to adhere more firmly in the wound; others that it was simply designed to facilitate the flow of blood. The manufacture of arrows, as of bows, was a slow and irksome process. Three or four were probably the limit of a days work,even after the rough material was already on hand. So exact were they in making them that not only were the arrows of different tribes readily distinguishable, but even individuals could recognize their own arrows when thrown together with those of others of the same band. Disputes sometimes arose, after the slaughter of a herd of buffalo, as to whose some particular carcass rightfully was. If the arrow still remained in the body the question was easily decided by drawing it out and examining the make of it. Some Indians made two kinds of arrows, one for hunting, the other for war. In the latter the head was so fastened that when an attempt was made to draw the shaft from the wound the head was detached and remained in the body of the victim. When an Indian had possessed himself of a good bow and supply of arrows, he was as solicitous in the care of them as a hunter would be of a choice rifle. The bow if not in actual service, was kept close in its case, and the arrows in the quiver. Great pains were taken that they should not become, by any chance, wet, and much time was |