“The flesh of the buffalo is exceedingly good eating, and so entirely free from any disagreeable smell or taste, that it resembles beef as nearly as possible.”

“The spots of wood along the Park River are ravaged by buffaloes (bison); none but the large trees are standing, the bark of which is rubbed perfectly smooth, and heaps of hair and wool lie at the bottom of the trees ... and even the grass is not permitted to grow....  The ground is trampled more by these cattle than about the gate of a farmyard.”

“The Kris informed me they had seen a calf as white as snow in a herd of buffalo.  White buffalo are very scarce.  They are of inestimable value among the nations of the Missouri....  There were also some of a dirty-grey colour, but these are very rare.”

“I brought home two buffalo calves alive; they no sooner lost sight of the herd than they followed my horse like dogs, directly into the fort.  On chasing a herd at this season the calves follow it until they are fatigued, when they throw themselves down in high grass and lie still, hiding their heads if possible.  But seeing only a man and his horse they remain quiet and allow themselves to be taken.  Having been a little handled, they follow like dogs.”

In the spring, when the ice melted, innumerable buffaloes were killed through attempting to cross the rivers on the melting ice.  They would drift by an observer (such as Alexander Henry, jun.) in entire herds of drowned corpses.  Vast numbers perished.  They formed one continuous line on the current for two days and two nights.

“By this time the river was crowded with them, swimming across, bellowing and grunting terribly.  The bulls really looked fierce; all had their tails up, and each appeared eager to land first.  The scene would have struck terror to one unaccustomed to such innumerable herds.  From out in the plains, as far as the eye could reach, to the middle of the river, they were rushing toward us, and soon began to land about ten yards off.  I shot one dead on the spot, my ball having broken his neck; my hunter and guide only wounded theirs.  This discharge suddenly halted those on the south side, and turned those that were still in the water.”

In the autumn:—­“Plains burned in every direction and blind buffalo seen every moment wandering about.  The poor beasts have all the hair singed off; even the skin in many places is shrivelled up and terribly burned, and their eyes are swollen and closed fast.  It was really pitiful to see them staggering about, sometimes running afoul of a large stone, at other times tumbling down hill and falling into creeks not yet frozen over.  In one spot we found a whole herd lying dead.”

Throughout British North America, from the Yukon to Newfoundland, and from Labrador to Vancouver’s Island, the rivers and freshwater lakes swarm with fish, and fish that in most cases is exceedingly good to eat.  Salmon are most strikingly abundant in the rivers of British Columbia and Newfoundland, but they also ascend most of the rivers flowing into the Atlantic and Hudson’s Bay.  In the great lakes of Canada and of the middle west there are trout and white fish (Coregonus), pike, bass, chub, barbel, and five species of sturgeon.  In the rivers and lakes of the far north-west is found the blackfish (Dallia).