s--
with shaggy coats and manes which hang down over the head and shoulders
reaching to the ground, and short curling horns, giving their
countenances a ferocious aspect--range up and down, sometimes amounting
to ten thousand head in one herd. They commonly go by the name of
buffaloes, but are properly called bisons. Clothed in a dense coat of
long woolly hair, the buffalo is well constituted to stand the heats of
summer as well as the cold of the snowy plains in the northern regions
to which he extends his wanderings.

Let us look at him as he stands facing us on his native plains, his red
eyes glowing like coals of fire from amid the mass of dark brown or
black hair which hangs over his head and neck and the whole fore part of
his body. A beard descends from the lower jaw to the knee; another huge
bunch of matted hair rises from the top of his head, almost concealing
his thick, short, pointed horns standing wide apart from each other. As
he turns round we shall see that a large oblong hump rises on his back,
diminishing in height towards the tail: that member is short, with a
tuft of hair at the tip. The hinder part of the body is clothed with
hair of more moderate length, especially in summer, when it becomes fine
and smooth, and soft as velvet. From his awkward, heavy appearance,
when seen at a distance, it would not be supposed that he is extremely
active, capable of moving at a rapid rate, and of continuing his
headlong career for an immense distance. So sure of foot is he, also,
that he will pass over ground where no horse could follow, his limbs
being in reality slender, and his body far more finely proportioned than
would be supposed till it is seen stripped of its thick coating of hair.
While his thick coat protects him from the cold, he is also provided
with a broad, strong, and tough nose, with which he can shovel away the
snow and lay bare the grass on which he feeds. Sometimes, however, when
a slight thaw has occurred, and a thin cake of ice has been formed over
the snow, his nose gets sadly cut, and is often seen bleeding from the
effects of his labours. It is said that when a herd comes near the
settlements, the domesticated calves, and even the horses, will follow
the buffalo tracks, and graze on the herbage which they have disclosed
and left unconsumed.

The flesh of the buffalo, especially that of the cow, is juicy, and
tender in the extreme. The most esteemed portion is that composing the