from my rifle split the herd, and sent it pouring off in two streams to
my right and left. When all had passed me they stopped, apparently
perfectly satisfied, though thousands were yet within reach of my rifle
and many within less than 100 yards. Disdaining to fire again, I sent my
servant to cut out the tongues of the fallen. This occurred so
frequently within the next 10 miles, that when I arrived at Fort Larned
I had twenty-six tongues in my wagon, representing the greatest number
of buffalo that my conscience can reproach me for having murdered on any
single day. I was not hunting, wanted no meat, and would not voluntarily
have fired at these herds. I killed only in self-preservation and fired
almost every shot from the wagon."

At my request Colonel Dodge has kindly furnished me a careful estimate
upon which to base a calculation of the number of buffaloes in that
great herd, and the result is very interesting. In a private letter,
dated September 21, 1887, he writes as follows:

"The great herd on the Arkansas through which I passed could not have
averaged, _at rest_, over fifteen or twenty individuals to the acre, but
was, from my own observation, not less than 25 miles wide, and from
reports of hunters and others it was about five days in passing a given
point, or not less than 50 miles deep. From the top of Pawnee Rock I
could see from 6 to 10 miles in almost every direction. This whole vast
space was covered with buffalo, looking at a distance like one compact
mass, the visual angle not permitting the ground to be seen. I have seen
such a sight a great number of times, but never on so large a scale.

"That was the last of the great herds."

With these figures before us, it is not difficult to make a calculation