324 INDIAN COURAGE. which he laboured was the effect of having eaten three or four pounds too much buffalo meat or boiled maize. While I was still sitting in the lodge, the heralds came round to cry that buffalo were near, and that the hunters might mount. mount. The young chief sprang up, like a lion roused, snatched his bow and leather quiver, and in five minutes was at a full gallop over the prairie ! HUNTING CEREMONIES. 325 CHAPTER XVII. Ceremonies attendant on the Buffalo Chase.-Adventures with Buffalo.- Number of Beasts slain.-Night Attack of the Shiennes. The Conflict.-War Songs.-A Council.—Religion. Great Spirits and other Deities.-Religious Ceremonies.-Notions of Futurity.-Months and Years.-Office of Soldiers.-A "Cerne," or "Surround."-Buffalo Hunt.Preparation of Buffalo Skins.-Strange Fuel.-March resumed. Otoe chief.-Deadly Feud between two Brothers. -Great Medicine Feast. - Impromptu Oration. — Indian Eloquence.-Grace before Meat.-Rapid Feeding.-Method of Invitation to a Feast.-Contrasted Temperature.-Change in the Aspect of the Country. On the 26th we started at four in the morning, in the hope of finding water before mid-day. About eight o'clock the cry of "taraha" (buffalo) again echoed through the columns, and we were all ordered to halt. I rode forward to the head of the line, where a circle was made, consisting of the chiefs and prophets. Two long poles, belonging to the "medicine," and covered with feathers and shreds of cloth, were placed in the centre, and an hour was spent in speechifying, smoking, and medicine-mummery, to ensure a good day's sport. The warriors, or hunters, then went forward, and, half a-dozen miles in advance of the main body, we found several large herds of buffalo. Each hunter selected the herd that he would attack, and we rushed in upon them from every side. It was a glorious sight to see the naked savages urging their horses to their utmost speed, with loud cries and repeated use of the cowhide; while the affrighted and maddened bulls galloped, or rather plunged, along the hill-side, only escaping one band of tormentors to fall in with another. A great slaughter ensued. I happened to have left my rifle, on this occasion, in the rear, with my servant, and was armed only with a pistol. However, I singled out two or three bulls and cows, and pursued them six or seven miles; but, when I reached them, was much annoyed to find that no effort or exertion could induce my steed to venture near them; so I returned unsuccessful and out of humour to the camp. There I found that V had remained in the thick mêlée with the chiefs, and had killed, or helped to kill, three with a pistol. He had borrowed a horse fully trained for the sport, and he could ride close up to their tails; but the animal would never press forward enough to risk an encounter with their horns. I was determined not to let the sun set upon my blood-guiltless head; and, as it was only about two P.M., I mounted another horse, took my rifle, and again set out in quest of adventures. I soon found a bull in a neighbouring ravine, slightly wounded ADVENTURES WITH BUFFALO. 327 by an arrow in his flank; and, as he was near the village, a large party of women and children were answering, at a respectful distance, his roaring and bellowing by their shouts and cries. They told me to go and kill him. As the horse I had then mounted would not allow me to shoot from his back, I dismounted, and shot a bullet into the bull's shoulder; after a short interval, he tottered and fell, I thought that he was just about to die, and imprudently walked up nearer to him. To my surprise, he sprung up and made at me; I waited till he came within two or three yards, then fired my second barrel, and jumped on one side. He passed over the place I had ceded to him, and, after staggering on a short distance, he fell again. I reloaded my rifle, and was obliged to fire another ball, which put him out of his pain; and then I left him to the tender mercies of the women and children, and, mounting my horse, cantered over the hills, in search of more game. I was soon aware of a fine bull, enjoying its solitary range at the distance of a quarter of a mile. I gave chase, and after a gallop of two or three miles, I came alongside the enemy; but my Indian nag would not allow me to shoot off his back; the moment I presented my rifle, he would wheel and jump, so as to preclude all possibility of taking aim. The bull chased me about fifty yards, but finding he had no chance of overtaking me, stopped and stamped. I dismounted, and a pitched 328 NUMBER OF BEASTS SLAIN. battle now ensued, in which Purday's double-barrel ultimately gained the day; but I never met with an animal so tenacious of life. He did not fall till he received my fourth ball in the heart; two having pierced him before, not more than three inches from the heart, and one having entered his eye, which I aimed at, in the expectation of thereby reaching his brain. I now returned to the camp, satisfied with my day's sport. I might have killed three times as many with half the trouble, had I chosen to remain with the chiefs in the centre of the "cerne," and assist in the medley-massacre; but I could see no sport or excitement in a scene resembling too closely the shambles; besides which, it is impossible to have the undivided glory, as the greater number are pierced by three or four arrows, and you must either kill some other hunter's wounded buffalo, or let him kill what you have wounded, neither of which alternatives a sportsman would choose to adopt. I cannot say exactly the amount of the day's slaughter, but it was between five and six hundred. Soon after our return from hunting I was invited to a feast, where I tasted a most luxurious dish, being the udder of a young cow; it was well boiled, and was extremely sweet and delicate food. In the evening, the elders, or medicine-men, went round the encampment, uttering loud cries, (which were meant to express their gratitude to |