exico in the south. The bulls
are at times excessively savage. They often quarrel among themselves,
and then, falling out of the herd, they engage in furious combats,
greatly to the advantage of the pursuing wolves. In the summer, the
buffalo delights in wallowing in mud. Reaching some marshy spot, he
throws himself down, and works away till he excavates a mud-hole in the
soil. The water from the surrounding ground rapidly drains into this,
and covers him up, thus freeing him from the stings of the gnats and
flies which swarm in that season.

The buffalo is hunted on horseback both by whites and by Indians, though
the sport is one in which a considerable amount of danger must be
braved. Let us set off from a farm in the Western States, on the border
of the prairie. We have one or two nights to camp out before we reach
the buffalo grounds. Mounting our horses by break of day, after an
early breakfast, we ride on with the wind in our faces, and at length
discover across the plain a number of dark objects moving slowly. They
are buffaloes, feeding as they go. We see through our field-glasses
that there are calves among them. It is proposed that some of our party
should ride round, so as to stampede the herd back towards us, and thus,
by dividing them, enable us to get in the centre. We wait for some
time, when we see a vast mass of hairy monsters come tearing over a hill
towards us. We have shot several of the bulls, but our object is to
secure their calves and cows. As the herd approaches us, it swings
round its front at right-angles, and makes off westward. We dash
forward, and divide it into two parties. We also separate, some of our
hunters following one part of the herd, the others the remainder. The
enthusiasm of our horses equals our own. Away we go; nothing stops us.
Now we plunge with headlong bounds down bluffs of caving sands fifty
feet high,--while the buffaloes, crazy with terror, are scrambling
half-way up the opposite side. Now we are on the very haunches of our
game; now before us appears a slippery buffalo wallow. We see it just
in time to leap clear, but the next instant we are in the middle of one.
Our horses, with frantic plunges, scramble out; and on we go. We get
closer and closer to the buffaloes, when a loud thundering of trampling
hoofs sounds behind us. Looking over our shoulders, there, in plain
sight, appears another herd, tearing down on our rear. For nearly a
mile in wid