two wings or hedges, which they extend for several miles.After this they form a large semicircle, and drive the antelopes before them till they enter between the hedges, where they press so hard upon them that they force them into the square inclosure, in which they kill them with clubs. I have been told that the number of antelopes thus driven into the inclosure, often amounts to more than zoo.
The meat of the buffalo cow is the most wholesome and the most common in the West. It may be called the daily bread of the traveler, for he never loses his relish for it. It is more easily procured than any other, and it is good throughout. Though some prefer the tongue, others the hump, or some other favorite piece, all the parts are excellent food. To preserve the meat it is cut in slices, thin enough to be dried in the sun; sometimes a kind of hash is made of it, and this is mixed with the marrow taken from the largest bones. This kind of mixture is called bull or cheese, and is generally served up and eaten raw, but when boiled or baked it is of more easy digestion, and has a more savory taste to a civilized palate.
The form and size of the buffalo are sufficiently known. It is a gregarious animal, and is seldom seen alone. Several hundreds' herd together, the males on one side, the females on the other, except at a certain season of the year. In the month of June we saw an immense herd of them on the Platte. The chase of this animal is very interesting. The hunters are well mounted; at a given signal, they fall upon the herd, which is soon dispersed; each one chooses his own animal, for he who slays the first is looked upon as the king of the chase -his aim must be sure and mortal, for the animal, when wounded, becomes furious, turns upon his hunter and pursues him in his turn. We once witnessed a scene of this kind. A young American had the imprudence to swim over a river and pursue a wounded buffalo with no other weapon but his knife. The animal turned
2 Fr. thousands.