are
the fiercest and the most ponderous of the ruminating inhabitants of the
western wilderness. The name of buffalo, however, is not correct. The
animal is the _bison_, and bears no resemblance whatever to the buffalo
proper; but as the hunters of the far west--and, indeed, travellers
generally, have adopted the misnomer, we bow to the authority of custom
and adopt it too.

Buffaloes roam in countless thousands all over the North American
prairies, from the Hudson's Bay territories, north of Canada, to the
shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

The advance of white men to the west has driven them to the prairies
between the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, and has somewhat
diminished their numbers; but even thus diminished, they are still
innumerable in the more distant plains. Their colour is dark brown, but
it varies a good deal with the seasons. The hair or fur, from its great
length in winter and spring and exposure to the weather, turns quite
light; but when the winter coat is shed off the new growth is a
beautiful dark brown, almost approaching to jet-black. In form the
buffalo somewhat resembles the ox, but its head and shoulders are much
larger, and are covered with a profusion of long shaggy hair, which adds
greatly to the fierce aspect of the animal. It has a large hump on the
shoulder, and its fore-quarters are much larger, in proportion, than the
hindquarters. The horns are short and thick; the hoofs are cloven, and
the tail is short, with a tuft of hair at the extremity.

It is scarcely possible to conceive a wilder or more ferocious and
terrible monster than a buffalo bull. He often grows to the enormous
weight of two thousand pounds. His lion-like mane falls in shaggy
confusion quite over his head and shoulders, down to the ground. When
he is wounded he becomes imbued with the spirit of a tiger; he stamps,
bellows, roars, and foams forth his rage with glaring eyes and steaming
nostrils; and charges furiously at man and horse with utter
recklessness. Fortunately, however, he is not naturally pugnacious, and
can be easily thrown into a sudden panic. Moreover, the peculiar
position of his eye renders this creature not so terrible as he would
otherwise be to the hunter. Owing to the stiff structure of the neck,
and the sunken, downward-looking eyeball, the buffalo cannot, without an
effort, see beyond the direct line of vision presented to the habitual
carriage of his head. When, therefore, he is