I. DISCOVERY OF THE SPECIES.


The discovery of the American bison, as first made by Europeans,
occurred in the menagerie of a heathen king.

In the year 1521, when Cortez reached Anahuac, the American bison was
seen for the first time by civilized Europeans, if we may be permitted
to thus characterize the horde of blood thirsty plunder seekers who
fought their way to the Aztec capital. With a degree of enterprise that
marked him as an enlightened monarch, Montezuma maintained, for the
instruction of his people, a well-appointed menagerie, of which the
historian De Solis wrote as follows (1724):

"In the second Square of the same House were the Wild Beasts, which were
either presents to Montezuma, or taken by his Hunters, in strong Cages
of Timber, rang'd in good Order, and under Cover: Lions, Tygers, Bears,
and all others of the savage Kind which New-Spain produced; among which
the greatest Rarity was the Mexican Bull; a wonderful composition of
divers Animals. It has crooked Shoulders, with a Bunch on its Back like
a Camel; its Flanks dry, its Tail large, and its Neck cover'd with Hair
like a Lion. It is cloven footed, its Head armed like that of a Bull,
which it resembles in Fierceness, with no less strength and Agility."

Thus was the first seen buffalo described. The nearest locality from
whence it could have come was the State of Coahuila, in northern Mexico,
between 400 and 500 miles away, and at that time vehicles were unknown
to the Aztecs. But for the destruction of the whole mass of the written
literature of the Aztecs by the priests of the Spanish Conquest, we
might now be reveling in historical accounts of the bison which would