| (pp. 112-113)
The buffalo pound was a fenced circular space of about
a hundred yards in diameter; the entrance was banked up with snow, to prevent
the retreat of the animals that may once have entered.
For about a mile on each side of the road leading to the pound, stakes were driven into the ground at nearly equal distance of about twenty yards; these were intended to look like men, and to deter the animals from attempting to break out on either side. Within fifty or sixty yards from the pound, branches of trees were placed between the stakes to screen the Indians, who lie down behind them to await the approach of the buffalo. The horsemen have to manoeuvre round the herd in the plains so as to urge them to enter the roadway, which is about a quarter of a mile broad. When this has been accomplished, they raise loud shouts, and, pressing close upon the animals, so terrify them that they rush heedlessly forward towards the snare. There was a tree in the centre of the pound, on which the Indians had hung strips of buffalo flesh and pieces of cloth as tributary or grateful offerings to the Great Master of Life; and we were told that they occasionally place a man in the tree to sing to the presiding spirit as the buffaloes are advancing, who must keep his station until the whole that have entered are killed. |
