United States, 1832-1837
George Catlin, Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, & Condition of the North American Indians. With Letters and Notes, Written During Eight Years of Travel and Adventure Among the Wildest and Most Remarkable Tribes now Existing, Volume I, Chatto & Windus, London, 1876.
Letter No. 4, Mouth of Yellow Stone, Upper Missouri [Montana, Wyoming]. The several tribes of Indians inhabiting the regions of the Upper Missouri … are undoubtedly the finest looking, best equipped, and most beautifully costumed of any on the Continent. They live in a country well-stocked with buffaloes and wild horses, which furnish them an excellent and easy living.
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Letter No. 4, Mouth of Yellow Stone, Upper Missouri [Montana, Wyoming)] The buffalo herds, which graze in almost countless numbers on these beautiful prairies, afford them an abundance of meat ….
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Extreme: Letter No. 27. Mouth of Teton River, Upper Missouri [Idaho]. These places are the constant resort of buffaloes, which congregate in thousands about them, to lick up the salt; and on approaching the banks of this place we stood amazed at the almost incredible numbers of these animals, which were in sight on the opposite banks, at the distance of a mile or two from us, where they were lying in countless numbers, on the level prairie above, and stretching down by hundreds, to lick at the salt, forming in distance, large masses of black, most pleasingly to contrast with the snow white, and the vivid green ….
Sidenote: Letter No. 31, Mouth of Teton River, Upper Missouri [Idaho]
I have often been exceedingly amused with the curious manœuvres of these shy little things [bison calves]. Amidst the thundering confusion of a throng of several hundreds or several thousands of these animals, there will be many of the calves that lose sight of their dams; and being left behind by the throng, and the swift passing hunters, they endeavour to secrete themselves, when they are exceedingly put to it on a level prairie, where nought can be seen but the short grass of six or eight inches in height, save an occasional bunch of wild sage, a few inches higher, to which the poor affrighted things will run, and dropping on their knees, will push their noses under it, and into the grass, where they will stand for hours, with their eyes shut, imagining themselves securely hid, whilst they are standing up quite straight upon their hind feet and can easily be seen at several miles distance. It is a familiar amusement for us accustomed to these scenes, to retreat back over the ground where we have just escorted the herd, and approach these little trembling things, which stubbornly maintain their positions, with their noses pushed under the grass, and their eyes strained upon us, as we dismount from our horses and are passing around them. From this fixed position they are sure not to move, until hands are laid upon them…. And I have often, in concurrence with a known custom of the country, held my hands over the eyes of the calf, and breathed a few strong breaths into its nostrils; after which I have, with my hunting companions, rode several miles into our encampment, with the little prisoner busily following the heels of my horse the whole way, as closely and as affectionately as its instinct would attach it to the company of its dam!
This is one of the most extraordinary things that I have met with in the habits of this wild country, and although I had often heard of it, and felt unable exactly to believe it, I am now willing to bear testimony to the fact, from the numerous instances which I have witnessed since I came into the country. During the time that I resided at this post, in the spring of the year, on my way up the river, I assisted … in bringing in, in the above manner, several of these little prisoners, which sometimes followed for five or six miles close to our horses’ heels, and even into the Fur Company’s Fort, and into the stable where our horses were led.
