Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-10-11
LAST OF THE BUFFALO.
A Hunt in the Bad lands on Behalf
of the National Museum


of the National Museum.
"Will you eat a doomed dainty with
me" said the chief taxidermist of the
National Museum at w Washington, smooth
ing the rumpled feathers of a dove which
he was deftly skinning.
Don't care if do" replied his visitor,
glanoing at the bird in the hands of the
naturalist. "What Is it to-day-broiled
squads"
mo, sir, jerked buffalo beef. a dish At
| to set before prince, and one which, in
| short time, neither king nor kaiser will
be able to get for love or money. The
buffalo in this country have been nearly
rubbed off the face of the earth, and the
portion which have in this bag is almost
certainly the last which you will ever
TASTE"
| So speaking, the naturalist plucked an
old canvas bag from under the table and
carefully unwound the cord that fastened
| Its mouth. "Iook there" ne said, point
ing at little heap of strips at the bottom
OF the bag, "that Is all l have lett, and
your lunch to-day will be a meal to mark
with white stone. Try strip" he con-
| tinued, taking two from the bag and hand
| ing one to his visitor, while he bit the
little salt on 1t, if you like, but any,
thing else impairs the flavor.
The strip was dingy brown in color :,
| with little fuZZ upon it, which made IL
! resemble a piece of ancient Goldfish as
much as a piece of jerked beef. To the
uneduoated taste its flavor was cross
between that OF an old coon and freshly
killed Texas steer. The writer succeeded
| in chewing and swallowing the piece
Wh inh haA RI lint
moved his natural regret at the extinction
of the American bison. Meanwhile the
naturalist went on eating and talking
| with unaffected enthusiasm.
"This beet is product of my last hunt
| on behalf OF the Smithsonian Institution.
| We are anxious to make good collection
| OF the hides and bones Of the buffalo before
the species become extinct. So / made
up small hunting party to go to the only
| place in this country where buffalo
| still linger-the Bad Lands between
the Missouri and the Yellowstone.
The animal has become so rare
that the army agents and hunters
| whom met laughed at my expedition.
| remember one old man, in particular, who
| is reputed to have been the most success
| iul buffalo hunter on the plains in former
years. He said to me when | asked him
/ where / should be most likely to find buff
| I
| no bnffalo.' Still Dersevered, but | rode
for many Gays up and down through the
country without seeing any trace Of a
living buffalo.
"And what dismal hunting ground it
| wasp he continued, smacklng his lips re-
| fectively over another dried slip; lone
| monOtonous sequence of hills and hOllows
not t-ee-nOt even friendly rock to
shade US in all that barren land. Streams
cut it at intervals, so that we did noe
suffer from thirst, but the glare OF
to be in India. In less than two
days the skin of our faces and hands
peeled off like the she'll of walnut,
| and our eyes felt as if they were scorched
beneath their lids. Every where, cover
ing the earth with cleaning white Specks,
were the skeletons of buffalo. Exposure
on those weather beaten hills had
! bleached them to the wilderness of fine
fax. On one tract not larger than an
acre l counted SO skeletons. The Bad
Lands are the graveyard of the race
"Did you ride to any particular section
of the field" inquired the writer.
"NO." was the answer. Zone place
was as promising as another, so we rode
about almost at random. At length !
succeeded,in killing two buffaloes, one OF
which | stalked and shot and the other
ran down. L enlisted tne cowboys OF that
part OF the country in the chase, and they
brought NEIL two more. also captured
a calf alive, but the little fellow died be-
fore he reached Washington. The hides
which got were not good for much, as
the buffalo we're shedding their hair-but
you can see for yourself"
At the word he pushed little heap OF
hides rather contemporary with his
foot, and pointed to three dlshevelled
heads of buffalo. Patches of dingy gray
hair chung to the fresh black coating like
clumps of bay berries on cIean-cut pas
ture.
ave can use the skeletons and one or
two heads" he said, "but nave arranged
to go out again this fall when the hides
! will be in good condition. The COWBOYS
have agreed to preserve the few remain
ing buffalo for me, and l hope to secure
| and mount the skins OF these, the last
wild buffalo in this country. Some we
can use in the museum and the rest will
gain value every day for purposes of ex-
change with foreign museums"
| Those who know the author of "rwo
Years In Jungle will not doubt that he
! speaks with authority, and that the eX-
! tinction OF the wild buffalo in this country
! is now near at hand. This game has been
| recklessly slaughtered, and now it is too
late to preserve the scattered remnant OF
the great herds which once roamed from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. 4 few figures
In the National Museum and the little
hoDblng herd of calves in the Wild West
show will be the last representatives OF
the American bison.