Catlin's North American Indian portfolio. : Hunting scenes and amusements of the Rocky Mountains and prairies of America. : From drawings and notes of the author, made during eight years' travel amongst forty-eight of the wildest and most remote tribes of savages in North America. |
PLATE No. 9. |
 | Catlin's North American Indian portfolio. : |  |
PLATE No. 9.
BUFFALO HUNT. A SURROUND.
After the preliminaries of the chase have been gone through, as described in the former plate, and the hunting party have reached the vicinity of the herd, scenes like the
one represented in this illustration often occur. On one occasion I was invited by the Indians to ride out and witness their attack on a herd of buffaloes, near one of their villages
on the Upper Missouri, in the summer of 1832: I sat on my horse and witnessed a scene of this kind; a mode of attacking the buffaloes which they call Wa-rahs-took-kee, a
surround.
Some sixty or seventy young men, all mounted on their wild horses, and armed with bows and lances only, cautiously encompassed the grazing herd, by drawing themselves
around them in a circle of a mile or two in diameter, and gradually closing in towards the centre, until the herd took the alarm, and in a mass, endeavoring to make their escape,
direction, where they were again met and foiled in a similar manner, and wheeled back in utter confusion. By this time the horsemen had closed in from all sides, forming a
continuous line around them; whilst the poor affrighted animals were eddying about in a crowded and confused group, hooking and climbing upon each other, when the work of
death commenced. In this grand turmoil a cloud of dust was soon raised, which in part obscured the throng where the hunters were galloping their horses around and driving
their whizzing arrows or long lances to the hearts of these noble animals, which, in many instances, becoming infuriated with deadly weapons in their sides, erected their shaggy
manes over their bloodshot eyes, and furiously plunged forward at the sides of their assailants' horses; sometimes goring them to death at a lunge, and putting their dismounted
riders to flight for their lives. Sometimes the dense crowd was opened, and the blinded horsemen, too intent on their prey, amidst a cloud of dust, were hemmed and wedged in
amongst the crowding beasts, over whose backs they were obliged to leap for security, leaving their horses to the fate that might await them in this wild and desperate war.
Many were the bulls that turned upon their assailants, meeting them with desperate resistance; and many were the warriors who were dismounted, saving themselves by the
superior muscles of their legs. Some who were closely pursued by the bulls wheeled suddenly round, and snatching the half of a buffalo robe from around their waists, threw it
over the horns and eyes of the infuriated beast, and darting by its side, drove the arrow or lance to its heart. Others suddenly dashed off upon the prairies by the side of the
affrighted animals which had escaped from the throng, and closely escorting them for a few rods, caused their hearts' blood to flow in streams, and brought their huge carcases to
the ground.
Thus this grand hunt was soon turned into a desperate battle; which in the space of fifteen minutes ended in the total destruction of the herd, undoubtedly containing some
two or three hundreds; all of which met their deaths from the blades of arrows and lances, without the firing of a gun.
| Catlin's North American Indian portfolio. : | |