“Returning to the bison,” continued Mr. Graham, “the animal looks much more fierce than he really is. His head is large and carried quite low, his eyes are small and piercing, and his head and shoulders are covered, with long shaggy hair that make the forward half of the animal look very heavy. He has a hump on his shoulders which consists partly of fat and partly of strong muscles, the amount of fat varying according to the season of the year and the condition of the animal. The flesh of the bulls is so tough and strong that only a very hungry man can eat it, but that of the young cows is rich and juicy like good beef. The choice parts of the buffalo are the hump and the tongue, the latter being the greatest delicacy of the buffalo country. You see I have fallen into the universal practice and speak of the animal as the buffalo, when he is really the bison, as I have before told you.
“But by whatever name he is known, it is a pity that he is rapidly becoming a creature of the past. Indians and white men have waged incessant war upon him: as long as only the Indians attacked him with their arrows and lances, the slaughter was not sufficiently great to make any impression upon the herds, but when the white men poured into the West bringing their improved weapons, which were speedily acquired by the Indians, the destruction of the buffalo became simply a question of time. When the buffalo became scarce on the plains they were followed to their winter haunts, and killed in the deep snow, where they were unable to make any resistance. Thousands, and we could almost say millions, of buffaloes have been shot for mere sport and left to rot on the ground, not even their hides being taken away. Of late years their hides have risen to high figures owing to their scarcity; 'buffalo robes' were common enough twenty or thirty years ago, but at the present time they are rarely seen.”
“Isn't there a bison in Europe as well as in America?” queried George.
“There is,” was the reply, “and he is known as the aurochs in books on natural history. He is thought to be the oldest of his race, and would have been extinct long ago were it not for the protection he has received. He is found only in a few localities in Russia, where he is protected by the Government, and no animal of the race can be killed under severe penalties except by permission of the Russian Emperor. It is needless to say that this permission is seldom or almost never given. These creatures have never been domesticated, but run wild in the forest, where they eat grass and brushwood, and the bark and twigs of young trees. The aurochs does not reach maturity until its sixth year, and next to the elephant, rhinoceros and giraffe it is the largest of land animals.”