adventures, to which they have listened with eager attention and unrestrained delight.  When arrayed in his rough hunting costume and mounted upon his favorite charger Apache, a splendid animal, Kit Carson was a picture to behold.  The buffalo were his favorite game, and well were they worthy of such a noble adversary.  In the eyes of a sportsman, the buffalo is a glorious prey.  To hunt them is oftentimes attended with great danger; and, while thus engaged, many a skillful man has yielded up his life for his temerity.

The American bison or buffalo seems to demand at our hands a short episode from the narrative of Kit Carson’s life.  This animal has several traits of character peculiarly his own.  If alarmed, he starts off almost instantly and always runs against the wind, his sense of smell appearing to be better than his eyesight.  What is a most remarkable fact, a herd of buffalo, when grazing, always post and maintain a line of sentinels to warn the main body of the approach of danger.  When a strange object comes within sight or smelling distance, these sentinels immediately give the alarm by tossing up their heads and tails and bellowing furiously.  The whole herd instantly heed the warning and are soon in motion.  Buffalo run with forelegs stiff, which fact, together with their ugly-looking humps and the lowness of their heads, gives a rocking swing to their gait.  If a herd, when in full motion, have to cross a road on which wagons are traveling, they change their course but little; and, it sometimes happens, that large bands will pass within a stone’s throw of a caravan.  At night they are quite systematic in forming their camps.  In the centre are placed the cows and calves; while, to guard against the wolves, large numbers of which always follow them, they station on their outposts, the old bulls.  The age to which a buffalo may attain is not known; but, it is certain that they are generally long-lived when not prematurely cut off.  When their powers of life begin to fade, they fall an easy prey to the small, carnivorous animals of the plains.  The attempt has been made to domesticate and render them useful for agricultural purposes.  Hitherto such efforts have invariably failed.  When restrained of their freedom, they are reduced to mere objects of curiosity.

In hunting buffalo the most important matter for the attention of the hunter is to provide himself with a suitable horse.  The best that can be selected is a trained Mexican or Indian pony.  Their familiarity with the game and the prairies, over which the hunter must ride at full speed, renders these horses quite safe.  On the other hand a green horse is sure to be terribly frightened when called upon to face these ugly-looking animals, and the rider will find he has his hands full to manage him without thinking of his game.  One great danger to be apprehended is the being led into a prairie-dog town.  Here a horse needs experience to carry his rider through