It will easily be imagined this service cannot be very
agreeable when the thermometer stands 30 or 40 degrees below zero as
sometimes happens in this country.
As we were returning from the tents the dogs that were harnessed to three
sledges, in one of which Mr. Back was seated, set off in pursuit of a
buffalo-calf. Mr. Back was speedily thrown from his vehicle and had to
join me in my horse-cariole. Mr. Heriot, having gone to recover the dogs,
found them lying exhausted beside the calf which they had baited until it
was as exhausted as themselves. Mr. Heriot, to show us the mode of
hunting on horseback or as the traders term it, running of the buffalo,
went in chase of a cow and killed it after firing three shots.
The buffalo is a huge and shapeless animal quite devoid of grace or
beauty; particularly awkward in running but by no means slow; when put to
his speed he plunges through the deep snow very expeditiously; the hair
is dark brown, very shaggy, curling about the head, neck, and hump, and
almost covering the eye, particularly in the bull which is larger and
more unsightly than the cow.
