conquered, and makes no further resistance. 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 [mouth of the Tetón River] in the spring of the year, on my way up
the river, I assisted (in numerous hunts of the buffalo with the fur
company's men) in bringing in, in the above manner, several of these
little prisoners, which sometimes followed for 5 or 6 miles close to our
horse's heels, and even into the fur company's fort, and into the stable
where our horses were led. In this way, before I left the headwaters of
the Missouri, I think we had collected about a dozen, which Mr. Laidlaw
was successfully raising with the aid of a good milch cow."[27]

[Note 27: North American Indians, I, 255.]

It must be remembered, however, that such cases as the above were
exceptional, even with the very young calves, which alone exhibited the
trait described. Such instances occurred only when buffaloes existed in
such countless numbers that man's presence and influence had not
affected the character of the animal in the least. No such instances of
innocent stupidity will ever be displayed again, even by the youngest