The Horse
Rises First Upon His Fore Legs; And The Domestic Cow, Upon Her
Hinder Limbs; But The Buffalo Bounds At Once From A Couchant To
An Erect Position, With A Celerity That Baffles The Eye.
Though
from his bulk, and rolling gait, he does not appear to run with
much swiftness; yet, it takes a stanch horse to overtake him,
when at full speed on level ground; and a buffalo cow is still
fleeter in her motion.
Among the Indians and half-breeds of the party, were several
admirable horsemen and bold hunters; who amused themselves with a
grotesque kind of buffalo bait. Whenever they found a huge bull
in the plains, they prepared for their teasing and barbarous
sport. Surrounding him on horseback, they would discharge their
arrows at him in quick succession, goading him to make an attack;
which, with a dexterous movement of the horse, they would easily
avoid. In this way, they hovered round him, feathering him with
arrows, as he reared and plunged about, until he was bristled all
over like a porcupine. When they perceived in him signs of
exhaustion, and he could no longer be provoked to make battle,
they would dismount from their horses, approach him in the rear,
and seizing him by the tail, jerk him from side to side, and drag
him backward; until the frantic animal, gathering fresh strength
from fury, would break from them, and rush, with flashing eyes
and a hoarse bellowing, upon any enemy in sight; but in a little
while, his transient excitement at an end, would pitch headlong
on the ground, and expire.
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