and flight all over the plain; the hunters pursued the fattest cows, discharged their guns and let fly their arrows, and in three hours they killed more than 5oo. Then the women, the old men and the children came up, and with the aid of horses carried off the hides and the meat, and soon all the scaffolds were full and gave the camp the aspect of a vast butcher-shop. The buffalo are hard to kill; they must be wounded in the vital parts. A ball that strikes a bull's forehead produces no other effect than a movement of the head and a greater exasperation; on the other hand, one that strikes the forehead of a cow penetrates. Several bulls, mortally wounded in this hunt, defended themselves furiously."
12 For omitted portion of this letter, see p. toot.