aordinary scene.
Although I was not enabled to accurately estimate the number killed, yet
I am sure several hundred buffaloes fell in this grand onslaught.

After the battle the scene was curious in the extreme. The hunters were
moving about amongst the dead and dying animals, leading their horses by
their halters, and claiming their slain by the private marks upon their
arrows, which they were drawing from the wounds in the animals' sides. A
few buffaloes had the good fortune to escape, but, after wandering off
on the prairie for some distance, they would stop, stand a while,
looking around as if in bewilderment, then turning, as if bent on their
own destruction, return to the herd, and mingling with the dead and
dying, swell the slaughtered throng with their numbers.

When all was finished, and the arrows had been claimed, a general
council was held, the Indians seated in a circle on the ground. The pipe
was passed around, each taking a few whiffs.

It was decided to wait until the women and extra horses had arrived from
the village, a messenger having been despatched to announce our success,
and ordering the squaws to repair to the scene and carry the meat back
to the encampment. We had not long to wait for the arrival of the women.
They came in a gang, making the air resound with their yells of
rejoicing. As soon as they came up they were greeted with disdainful
silence by the assembled warriors, and Tonsaroyoo having issued a few
directions, they fell to, and were soon deep in the mysteries of
skinning and butchering the slain buffaloes. As soon as a carcass had
been cut up, it was placed in a covering of the hide, and placed upon
the pony's back waiting to receive it. As soon as one was loaded, an
Indian boy took him in charge and led him off to the village.

The plain presented a peculiar appearance, dotted here and there with
the ladened ponies returning to camp, and reminded me of a caravan on
the African deserts, such as I had seen in books, more than anything
else. The warriors soon rode off, leaving the women, boys, and dogs to
complete the destruction.

Our entry into the village was an ovation. Conquering heroes could not
have been more graciously received. During the next week all hands were
engaged in a round of feasting and dancing, interspersed with religious
ceremonies, and in some instances of self-immolation. No scene of the
long series in which I was both actor and spectator, gave me a better