d.
The buffalo has an unaccountable propensity which makes him endeavour to
cross in front of the hunter's horse. They will frequently, indeed,
follow a horseman for miles in order to do so. He thus possesses an
unfailing means, by a dexterous management of his horse, of conducting
the animals into the trap prepared for them. The men also conceal
themselves in hollows and depressions in the ground, so as to assist in
turning the herd, should they attempt to escape in that direction. And
now some three or four hundred head of shaggy monsters are driven to the
expanded mouth of the avenue. The horsemen follow in their rear, and
prevent them turning back. Meantime the Indians stationed behind the
"dead men" rise, shaking their bows, yelling, and urging them on. Thus
they proceed, madly rushing on, the passage growing narrower and
narrower, while they, pressed together, are unable to see the danger
ahead. The foremost at length reach the fatal ditch, and leaping over,
enter the pound, the rest madly following. "The animals now begin to
gallop round and round the fence, looking for some means of escape; but
women and children on the outside, keeping perfectly silent, hold their
robes before every orifice, till the whole herd is brought in. They
then climb to the top of the fence, and the hunters, who have followed
closely in the rear of the buffaloes, spear and shoot with bows and
arrows or firearms at the bewildered animals, rapidly becoming frantic
with fear and terror in the narrow limits of the pound. A dreadful
scene of confusion and slaughter then ensues. The older animals toss
the younger. The shouts and screams of the Indians rise above the roar
of the bulls, the bellowing of the cows, and the moaning of the calves.
The dying struggles of so many powerful animals crowded together, create
a revolting scene, dreadful for its excess of cruelty and waste of
life." [Hind.]

In consequence of this wholesale and wanton destruction, the buffalo has
greatly diminished; and the Indians agree in the belief that their
people, in like manner, will decrease till none are left. It is
computed that for many years past no less than 145,000 buffaloes have
annually been killed in British territory; while on the great prairies
claimed by the United States a still greater number have been
slaughtered. In one year--1855--on the British side of the boundary,
there were 20,000 robes of skins received at York Factory alone; a