horn, for, half its length, is drill white, and is rough, with small longitudinal splinters orT
unequal length ; beyond that, it is smooth and'shining, and near the point it becomes black.
The head is large and broad, and the nose is very obtuse. The nostrils are oblong openings,
that incline towards each other from above downwards. Their inner margins, for the breadth
of three lines, are naked, and they are united for half an inch at their base. There'is no other
Vestige of a muzzle; the rest of the end of the nose, the middle part of the upper lip, and*
the greater part of the lower lip and chin, are covered with a close coat of short, white hairs.
There is no furrow on the upper lip. The remainder of the head, anterior to the horns* is.
covered with very dark umber-brown hair, which is long: and bushy towards the root of the
nose, giving an arched appearance to the facial line* wh ich does not exist in the scull. There,
is also a quantity of long* straight hair, on the lateral, margins of the mouth,, and sides of the
lower jaw. The eyes are moderately large, and: the hair immediately round them is shorter
and paler than on the rest Of the cheeks. The ears are short, and being similar in colour to.
the long hair on the hind head, are not very conspicuous.
The general, colour of the hair of the body is brown. On the neck and between the
shoulders it is long, matted, and somewhat curled, and has more or less of a grizzled hue;
being of a dull brown colour, fading on the tips into brownish-white. The bushy appearance-
of the hair on these parts causes the animal to seem humped. The hair on the back and
hips is also long, but lies smoothly; and on the shoulders; sides, and thighs, it is so long.aa
to hang down below the middle of the leg. On the centre of the back it: has a soiled brownish-
white colour, forming a mark, which is aptly termed by Captain Parry the saddle ; the. colour
of the hips.is a.darker brown; and on the thighs, sides,.and belly, its surface is. nearly
blackish-brown. The hair on the throat and. chest-, is very straight and long, and, together
with the long hair on the lower jaw, hangs down like a beard and dewlap. The ta il is so
jshort, as to be concealed by the fur of the hips. There is a large quantity of fine brownish—
ash-coloured wool or down among the hair covering the body.
The legs are short and thick, and are clothed with short, dull; brownish-white’ hair;
unmixed with wool. The hoofs are narrower, and not longer than those of thé caribou, but
are so similar in form, that it requires the experience, of a practised, hunter to know the
difference of the impressions they leave in the soil.
The cow differs from the bull,.in having, smaller horns, whose bases, instead of touching, are
separated by a hairy space, and in the hair on the throat and chest being, shorter. It is also
considerably smaller than the bull. I
T82.] 1. Bos A m e r ic a n u s . (Gmelin.) American Bison.
"G e n u s . B os.
Taurus Mexicanus. H e r n a n d e z , Mex^ p . 587. Fig- (m a le .) An. 1651.
Taureau sauvage. H e n n e p i n , 'N ouv. Decouv., vol. i., p. 186. Fig. (malè.) An. 1699.
T he buffalo. L aw so n , Carol., p. 115. Fig. C a t e s b y , Carol., Append, xxxvii. tab. 20. H a r m o n , Journey, p. 415.
F r a n k l in , First Journey, p. 113 ; with a plate of a buffalo-pound, p. 110.
"Bison. R ay, Synop. Quadr., p . f l . P e n n a n t , Arctic Zoo?., vol. i . p . 1. L o n g , Exped, vol. iii . p . 68.
Bos Americanus. G m e l i n , Syst. S a b in e , Franklin's Journey, p . 66 8 .
American wild ox, or bison. W a r d e n , United.States, vol. i. p. 248.
Peecheek. A l g o n q u in s . (Nochena peecheek. Bison cow.)
Aloostoosh. C r é é s . Adgiddah. Gh e p e w y a n s .
Buffalo. H u d s o n ’s B a y T r a d e r s . Le boeuf. Ca n a d ia n V o y a g e r s .
<Jt is u n k n o w n to the E s q u im a u x of the Polar Sea.
At the period when Europeans began to form settlements in North America,
this animal was occasionally met with on the Atlantic coast; but even then
i t iappears to have been rare to the eastward of the Apalachian mountains,
for Lawson has thought it to he a fact worth recording, that two were killed in
-one season on Cape Fear River. As early as the first discovery of Canada, it was
unknown in that country, and no mention of it whatever occurs in the Voyages du
Sieur de Champlain Xaintongeois, nor in the Nona Francia of De Monts, who
obtained the first monopoly of the fur trade. Theodat, whose history of Canada
-was published in 1636, merely says that he was informed that bulls existed in the
Temote western countries *. Warden mentions that at no very distant date herds
of them existed in the western parts of Pennsylvania; and that as late as the
year 1766, they were pretty numerous in Kentucky; but they have gradually
retired before the white population, and are now, he says, rarely seen to the south
o f the Ohio, or on the east side of the Mississippi. They still exist, however, in
vast numbers in Louisiana, roaming in countless herds over the prairies that
are watered by the Arkansa, Platte, Missouri, and upper branches of the Saskatchewan
and Peace rivers. Great Slave Lake, in latitude 60°, was at onetime
the northern boundary of their range ; but of late years, according to the testimony
of the natives, they have taken possession of the flat limestone district of Slave
Point, on the north side of that lake, and have wandered to the vicinity of Great
Marten Lake, in latitude 63° or 6.4°. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the
* His words are,—“Ob tient qufil y -a des dains en quelques contrées ; mais pour des buffles, lej?. Josëpb. m’a assenré
€n avoir vèu des' peaux entières entres les mains d’un sauvage de pays fort esloigné ; je n’en ay point veuymais je croy ce
lion Pere.”—Sagard-T h e o d a t , Histoire du Canada, p. 756.