Gustave Aimard
The Red Track: A Story of Social Life in Mexico

A BUFFALO HUNT ⁶
A STUDY OF THE AMERICAN WILD BULL

Certain reasons, unnecessary to state here, had somewhat accidentally led me to a Sonorian hacienda, called the Hacienda del Milagro, situated a few leagues from Hermosillo, close to the Indian border, and belonging to Don Rafael Garillas de Saavedra, one of the richest landowners in the province.

Don Rafael had spent what is called in Europe a wild life, and for many years had traversed the deserts of Apacheria in company of a Canadian adventurer of the name of Belhumeur. Although enormously rich, married to a woman he adored, and surrounded by a delightful family, Don Rafael had now and then moments of gloom, in which he regretted the time when, unhappy and disinherited, he wandered, under the name of Loyal-heart, from Arkansas to Apacheria, leading the precarious existence of wood rangers, living from hand to mouth, forgetful of a past which only summoned up bitter griefs, and careless about a future which he believed would never realize the dreams of his poetical imagination.

Like all men who have suffered and passed through a hard apprenticeship of life, Don Rafael was kind and indulgent to others, and ever ready to excuse a fault when it only emanated from a forgetfulness of propriety or an error of judgment.

Two days after my arrival at the Hacienda del Milagro, thanks to the cordial reception given me, I was regarded as forming part of the family, and was as much at my ease as if I had lived for years with these new friends, who soon grew so old in my heart, and whose memory will be ever dear to me.

One evening a new guest arrived at the hacienda, where he was literally received with open arms, which greatly surprised me; for I knew the prejudices of Spaniards against Indians, and the newcomer was simply a redskin. It is true that this redskin was the first sachem of a powerful Comanche tribe, which was explained to me in two words by Belhumeur, the Canadian hunter, with whom I had struck up a great friendship from my first arrival at the hacienda.

This sachem was called Eagle-head. He came, in the name of his tribe, to invite Don Rafael, whom he obstinately called Loyal-heart, to a great buffalo hunt which was to come off in Apacheria toward the middle of the "Moon of the wild oats," that is to say, about September 15th.

Don Rafael was greatly inclined to accept this invitation, but a sorrowful look, which his wife gave him aside, made him understand how anxious his absence would make her. He therefore expressed his inability to be present at this hunt, which he would have so much liked to be, but very important business compelled him to remain at the hacienda. He added, however, that his friend Belhumeur would be happy to take his place, in order to prove to Eagle-head the value he set on his invitation and his lively desire to show him all the deference which so great a chief as he merited.

After a few words whispered in his ear, Belhumeur introduced me to the Indian chief, to whom he mentioned that, as I had never witnessed a buffalo hunt, I should be delighted with his permission to attend the present one. The chief politely replied that Belhumeur was an adopted son of the tribe, and that any persons he thought proper to bring with him would be received not only with great pleasure, but with the greatest kindness, according to the consecrated customs of Indian hospitality.

I warmly thanked, as I was bound to do, the chief, who was flattered to hear me express myself with some degree of elegance in his own language; and we agreed to meet at the winter village of the Comanches of the Lakes, on the fifth sun of the Moon of the wild oats.

Eagle-head took leave of us the same evening, in spite of all our efforts to keep him at least till the next morning. He started in the direction of the desert with the light and gymnastic step peculiar to the redskins, which a trotting horse could not keep up with, and which enables them to cover an enormous distance in a relatively very short period.

Two days later, Belhumeur, myself, and another Canadian hunter attached to the hacienda, by the name of Black Elk, mounted on excellent mustangs, and armed to the teeth, took leave of Don Rafael, who saw us depart with a sigh of regret, and we proceeded in the direction of the great western prairies.

Belhumeur was a first-rate companion, of tried bravery; a thorough adventurer, gay, daring, and reckless, whose life had been almost entirely spent in the desert, and whom his attachment for Don Rafael had alone determined to give up the free and independent life of a hunter to confine himself, as he said with a smile, within stone walls, where he ofttimes felt that fresh air was wanting for his lungs.

Belhumeur was a book of which I turned over the leaves of at my pleasure, and each page was full of attractions for me, and offered me agreeable surprises.

Although I had myself long lived in the desert, I had as yet only traversed countries where buffalo is never met; hence I was extremely anxious to obtain some positive information about this interesting animal, so useful to the Indians, who profess for it a respect almost approaching to veneration. In this way I hoped not to be quite a novice when I joined the redskins, and would know not only in what way to attack the new enemy I was about to confront, but also how to behave, so as not to appear an utter ignoramus in the sight of the Indians.

One evening, while seated at our watch fire after supper, smoking my Indian pipe charged with morrichée, or prairie tobacco, I asked Belhumeur, whose good nature was inexhaustible, to give me the most circumstantial information about the buffalo, which he at once did with his usual goodwill.

This is what I learned in substance. I will ask my reader's pardon for substituting my recollections for the Canadian's prolix narration, for what they may lose in simplicity of expression they will gain in brevity, which is not a thing to be so much despised as might be supposed at the first blush.

I am bound to state that all Belhumeur then told me about the manners and habits of these singular animals was most rigorously exact, as I was in a position to convince myself at a later date. This, then, was Belhumeur's account.

The Indians say proverbially that bees are the advanced guard of the palefaces, and the buffaloes the vedettes of the redskins. In fact, although it is impossible to explain the reason, bees constantly seek to advance into the desert, and when they appear at the border of clearings, it is certain that two or three days later emigrants will turn up, with rifles on their shoulders, and followed by a long file of waggons, carts, horses, and cattle. These bold pioneers of civilisation come, impelled by their adventurous instincts, to set up their tents in the heart of the desert, on the shady banks of some unknown river, and their unceasing activity soon changes the character of the landscape.

In the same way when the traveller advances into the savannahs, so soon as he sights the buffalo he may be certain that he has reached the territory of the redskins.

Now, it appears to us that everything relating to so interesting an animal as the buffalo, which is fatally destined so soon to disappear, unless care be taken, and which is so eminently useful, is worth recording.

Purchas in his "Pilgrimage" (London edition, 1614), says that in certain respects the buffalo resembles the lion, and in others the camel, ox, horse, sheep, and goat. Civilization in its continuous onward march destroys the great animals, and drives back the redskin and even the hunter, unless he consent to modify his fashion of living.

The buffalo, which, on its discovery in 1582 by Lusman, in the province of Sinaloa, extended its wanderings over nearly the whole of North America, now restricts its excursions more and more, and is only met with at present in the wildest deserts situated to the west of the Rocky Mountains, which proves a considerable diminution in their numbers, and this is probably augmented by the Indian custom of only killing cows and leaving the bulls.

The Americans, however, ought to interfere, for the buffalo is capable of being tamed, and crossing it with the European ox would produce a strong, patient, and courageous breed, whose services would be of immense utility in the immense settlement of the new states. We saw at a Texan hacienda completely tamed buffaloes, which, according to their owners, were an excellent substitute for the common ox.

The buffalo lives longer than the domestic ox: its proportions are greater, and though its front is ungraceful, the hinder parts are handsome. The buffalo is generally brown, though spotted ones are met with, and even some completely white; its face is very like that of the bull; its head covered with thick wool, the long beard hanging from its lower jaw, and its melancholy, gentle, and almost stupid eye give it a singular and almost strange appearance. Its horns are short, rounded, and capable of taking a fine polish; it has between its shoulders a very prominent hump, whilst its hinder parts are covered with short, straight hair, like that of European ruminants; its short tail terminates in a tuft of curly hair. The age of a buffalo is discovered by the rings on its horns, the first four counting for the first year.

The meat of the cows is considered more delicate than that of the bulls, especially in the rutting season. The parts most appreciated are the heart, the tongue, the liver, the short rib, and the part called the hunter's joint, that is to say, the chine near the shoulder blade. Eight bones are considered marrowbones, they are those of the legs and thighs. A cow supplies about three hundred pounds of excellent meat, exclusive of the head, and several other parts of the animal; the marrow of a single bone is sufficient for a meal. The Indians, in order to obtain it, throw the bone into the fire after removing the meat, let it grill for a few minutes, take it out, break it, and remove the marrow, which is eaten, without seasoning, by means of a sharp stick. This marrow is very delicate and succulent, and when baked, it assumes the colour and consistency of meat; some hunters prefer to eat it raw, but we did not find it so good in that state.

When a manada of buffaloes is hunted, especially if it be composed of bulls, a strong smell of musk is exhaled; when full galloping, their hoofs crack the grass, as if it was dried. They have an extraordinary fine scent, and smell a man two or even three miles off.

This animal is extremely difficult to kill. On a certain occasion we lodged sixteen bullets in the body of a buffalo, ere we could succeed in killing. Wishing to assure oneself of the truth of a fact, which physicians and hunters had affirmed, namely, that the frontal bone of a buffalo is bullet-proof, we discharged our rifle, at ten paces' distance, at the head of a dead bull. The bullet did not penetrate, but was caught in the hair, where we found it again; still it had struck exactly in the centre of the forehead, for it had left its mark there before rebounding.

We have not very exactly followed Belhumeur's account, for, carried away by our sympathy for the noble animal he described to us, we have placed our ideas in the stead of his. We openly confess here that we are among those who sincerely regret that the proposal made in 1849, by Mr. Lamarre Picquot, to introduce into France the buffalo, as at once suitable for draught and for consumption, was not seriously discussed and taken into consideration, for this animal is one of the most useful, and would, we feel convinced, render valuable services.

Our journey lasted more than a month; for the winter village of the Comanches of the Lakes is hidden in a canyon, in the middle of the first spurs of the Rocky Mountains. Mounted on a vigorous mustang, I generally rode at the head of our small party, which I liked to do, in order to be more by myself, and observe more at my ease.

One morning I saw, at a spot where the trail I followed was wide and open, and some distance ahead of me, a large hawk, which appeared to be suffering, and making efforts to fly away. When I drew near enough I found that it was enfolded by a long whip snake, which had writhed several times round its body, and the bird had only one wing at liberty.

In all probability the hawk had been the aggressor, and had dashed down at the snake, but the latter, by cleverly enfolding its enemy, had succeeded in escaping the danger.

The whip snake is a very handsome reptile, seven to eight feet in length, when it has attained its full growth. Along the greater part of its body it is no larger than an ordinary ramrod. Its very thin neck gradually tapers away down to the stomach, whence it has obtained its name. For about three or four inches the upper side of the head and neck is black and lustrous as the plumage of a crow; while the upper side of the body is chocolate coloured, excepting the tail, which, nearly all the way from the stomach, is black.

There, however, is no general rule, except for the head, neck, and tail, which are always black. I have come across snakes of the same family in which the other parts of the body varied. This reptile is very quick, and seems to fly over the surface of the ground. The most remarkable thing about it is, that it possesses the faculty of running, while supporting itself solely on the lower part of the tail, and holding its body and head erect.

I cite this fact from personal knowledge, for I was one day followed by a very handsome whip snake, which kept erect and looked me in the face from time to time, although I had made my horse trot rather sharply, in order to see at what speed this snake could advance in such an attitude. It, however, only seemed to follow me through curiosity, for it is not at all venomous, is of a gentle character, and it appears familiar with man. I was surprised to find it in these parts, for I believed it to be an inhabitant of Eastern Florida.

Thirty-three days after our departure from the Hacienda del Milagro, we came in sight of the Comanche village, and during the whole long journey had not been exposed to the slightest danger, or stopped by any annoying accident.

We were expected, and were received by the chiefs, at the head of whom was Eagle-head, not merely as friends, but as children of the tribe. A spacious cabin was placed at our disposal, and provisions were brought us from all sides.

We had arrived just at the right moment; the grand festival of the buffaloes was to be held that very night – a very curious ceremony, whose object is to implore the blessing of the Wacondah before beginning the hunt.

In the centre of the village a large open space had been prepared, about sixty yards long by forty-five wide, surrounded by an inclosure of reeds and willow branches twelve feet high, and slightly bent inwards. An entrance had been left, facing the east. The four fires which are always kept up in the medicine lodge, were burning in each corner, and the most distinguished chiefs, among whom we were counted, sat in a semicircle to the right of the inclosure.

Eagle-head, in his quality of first sachem of the tribe, held the head of the file; he had, expressly for this occasion, painted his face blue, yellow, and white, and wore on his head a fillet of some red skin.

The spectators, more especially the squaws, were sitting against the palings silent and contemplative. The men, some in full paint, others simply dressed or naked to the waist, went about the interior of the inclosure irregularly. Children ranged round the fires threw in from time to time willow branches, to keep them burning.

At the signal given by Chichikoués for the feast to begin, six old men emerged from a calli, and stood in a row in front of the medicine lodge.

These men are chosen by the chiefs to represent buffaloes, and after the ceremony large presents are made to them. Each of them held in his hand a long staff, at the end of which four black feathers were fixed, and along the staves, at equal distances, were fastened small tufts of young buffalo skin and bells.

These men-buffaloes carried their clubs in the left hand, and two of them bore what the Comanches call a "badger," that is to say, a blown-up skin, which is beaten like a drum. They stood at the entrance of the medicine lodge, shaking their staves incessantly, and in turn singing and imitating, with rare perfection, the lowing of buffaloes, which lasted some considerable time.

Behind them marched a tall man with a ferocious face, whose head was covered with a fur cap, because once on a time he had been scalped in a fight with the Apaches. This man was the director of the feast, and represented the leader of the old buffaloes; his name was "Raised-scalp."

After a rather long station before the door, the men-buffaloes at length entered the medicine lodge, and sate down against the palings, behind one of the fires.

So soon as they were all seated, each of them planted his staff on the ground in front of him. Several young warriors then came in with dishes of boiled beans and maize powdered with pemmican, which they placed before the guests. These dishes went the round, each passing them to his neighbour after eating a little. At times empty dishes were placed before us, a ceremony of which I did not at first understand the purport, and one of the bearers, a man of colossal stature, very muscular, and almost naked, whose hair fell in long tresses on his loins, came to fetch one of these empty dishes. Then Eagle-head hid his face in his hands and began singing, after which he muttered a long speech or prayer, winding up by returning the dish.

This speech contained wishes for the success of the buffalo hunt, and the Wacondah was also invoked to render him favourable to the hunters and warriors. The longest speeches were the best; the bearer seemed particularly satisfied; he bowed with an attentive look, nodded his head as a sign of his pleasure, passed his hand along the orator's right arm from the shoulder to the wrist, and, before removing the dish, answered with a few words of thanks.

This repast was prolonged for more than an hour; on all sides people ate and held speeches for the success of the chase; during this the young men standing in the middle of the inclosure prepared the calumets, and brought them ready lighted to the chief, the old men, and the strangers.

They stopped before each of us, walking from right to left, and presented the calumet, the bowl of which they held in their hand. Each man took two or three whiffs, while murmuring a prayer, and then the calumet passed on to the next.

After this, our calumet bearers frequently turned to the four cardinal points, muttering mysterious words, and indulging in strange gestures and imitations.

During this time the six old men-buffaloes did not once leave off singing, shaking their medicine staves behind the fire, and beating the "badger." At a certain, moment they rose, thrust forward the upper part of their body, and began dancing, though still singing, and shaking their wands, while the badger beat time. When this dance had lasted long enough, they resumed their places in the same order as before.

It is impossible for anyone, unless he has been present, to form an idea of the original sight offered by this quaint scene. These men painted of different hues, their varying dresses, their songs, their drums, their cries, and the noises of every description which blended with them, borne from the desert on the wing of the night breeze, beneath the dark and lugubriously starlit vault of heaven, while the immense canopy of verdure formed as it were a majestic temple for this singular ceremony – all this did not fail to possess a certain wild grandeur.

After the dances had continued for more than two hours, the strangest part of the festival began with the entrance of the squaws into the inclosure. One of them, who was very young and remarkably pretty, came up to her husband, and gave him her waist belt and petticoat to hold, so that she was perfectly naked under her gown. She advanced dancing to one of the most renowned warriors, passed her hand all down his right arm, and then retired slowly, with her smiling face turned towards him. The warrior thus invited, at once rose, and disappeared with her in the wood. There, a man may ransom himself by making a present; but we must avow, to the honour of the Indian fair sex, that few men do so. My companions, Black Elk and Belhumeur, who were invited, took very good care not to buy themselves off, and, on the contrary, readily followed their dancer; but, for my part, I peremptorily refused, and remained deaf to all the looks, and nods, and wanton smiles which the dear charmers thought themselves obliged to lavish on me as a stranger.

I must confess, to my sorrow, however, that it was not from virtuous motives that I acted thus; I was in love, and courting at the time an exquisite girl called "Boar's Head," whom I married eventually, and with whom I lived happily for the five years we had arranged that our marriage was to last. At the end of that period I sold her for three female buffalo skins to another chief of my tribe.

This feast lasted for four consecutive nights, from one sun to the next; the same ceremony was repeated on each occasion with the most scrupulous exactness, though we noticed that the squaws never invited the same warrior twice, with the exception of the two Canadian hunters.

When the ceremonies were quite ended, and all the symbolical rites of the great medicine rigorously performed, one morning at sunrise, twenty-five youthful warriors, chosen by Eagle-head, left the village, mounted on excellent hunters, and each leading a second horse by the bridle.

These warriors form a vanguard intended to discover buffalo sign, and watch their movements, and for that reason are called "buffalo scouts." The main body of hunters, consisting of about eighty warriors, among whom were my comrades and myself, did not start till two days later.

The Indians when on the hunting trail, and especially when they are desirous to surprise buffalo, travel with extreme care. The scent of the buffaloes is very subtle, especially when they are to windward; though, curiously enough, they frequent the same pasture as the elks, they have no communion with them; still they do not seem at all disturbed by each other; or the buffaloes, whose sight is not very good form a sort of partnership with the elks, whom they convert into their sentinels. They are watchful sentinels too, and, at the first suspicious sign, give the alarm; whereupon buffaloes and elks disappear in company, escorted by the red prairie wolves, troublesome followers that prowl round them, and whom they can never succeed in getting entirely rid of.

Each night we encamped on a hill at no great distance from a stream. The trees were felled round the bivouac to guard us from a surprise; the campfires were lighted, and the greater part of the night was spent in relating hunting narratives and merry stories recounted in turn, and which excited the heartiest gaiety among the Redskins. For we will remark, in parenthesis, that the Indians, who are generally represented as serious, cold, and stoical, on the contrary, have a very jovial character; a mere nothing makes them laugh, and they indulge to their heart's content, like all simple and primitive minds. Still, for all that, they must be together, or in the company of people they are well acquainted with. In the presence of whites the difficulty they experience in making themselves understood, and the respect – I might almost say the instinctive terror – the formidable strangers inspire them with, completely paralyzes their faculties, and makes them appear almost idiotic.

We marched thus with easy journeys, in order not to tire our horses, in the direction of the Rocky Mountains, for some fifty or sixty leagues, killing a few prairie dogs, elks, and two or three striped sousliks (Spermophilus Hoodii). At times a covey of larks rose at our approach, or crows and rooks appeared in large numbers and settled down close to us.

Eagle-head would not consent to a halt for the sake of killing a few isolated buffaloes we perceived in the distance. We had still thirty miles to go before getting up with our scouts, and finding ourselves in the real hunting ground.

On the eighth day after leaving the village we reached a creek which meandered through a plain, on which the grass was extremely high, called, as far as I can remember, by the Indians, Green River. A rather tall hill, situated on its hank, concealed our presence, and sheltered us from the wind.

Eagle-head gave orders to camp. The horses were allowed to graze, and a fire of bois de vâche was lighted to roast a few ducks and two elks that composed our breakfast.

This stream, owing to the advanced season, was nearly dry, and filled with tall, closely-growing weeds. After a two hours' halt we continued our march, passing over gently sloping hills, and we found a few of some height, behind which herds of buffalo are usually found. Before reaching the top, our party traversed a small valley filled with a narrow strip of beech trees, elms, and nyundos, between clumps of roses, prunus padres, and a few other shrubs, while the wild tine (clematis) hung in festoons about the trees.

On reaching the top of the last mound we halted, and a singular scene, which was not without some wild grandeur, was suddenly offered to our sight.

All the crests of the hills, as far as sight could extend, were crowned by the scouts sent ahead, and who, motionless as statues of Florentine bronze, stood out boldly in the blue sky.

These scouts were not seated in the saddle, but standing on it, holding in the left hand their buffalo robes, which they at times waved, and in their right their clubs, which they employed to indicate certain points of the horizon. At our feet, in an immense valley intersected by a large river, whose numerous capacious windings resembled a silver thread, a multitude of black spots spotted the tall grass.

These points, which were almost imperceptible owing to the great distance, were buffaloes: we had at last reached the hunting ground. But the day was too far advanced for us to dream of following the animals, and hence the chief gave the signal for camping.

The night was calm, and was spent like the previous ones, in outbursts of the frankest and heartiest gaiety, and at sunrise we were all up and ready to begin the hunt. The scouts were still at their posts, and it might fairly be supposed that during the whole night they had not ceased to watch the game.

Eagle-head got on the back of his horse, and fired a musket loaded only with powder, in order to attract the attention of the scouts. Then a singular scene took place, which offered me much to think about, and proved to me once again that the Redskins are neither so savage nor unintelligent as some writers are pleased to represent them.

By the aid of the buffalo robe he held in his hand and waved in every direction, the sachem began a series of complicated signals, which would have turned the most expert of our telegraphers pale if called upon to interpret, for they were transmitted with headlong speed, and instantly comprehended by the sachem and the scouts.

Eagle-head, according to the information he received, sent off every moment parties of hunters, for the purpose, as I afterwards learned, of completely surrounding the buffaloes, and driving them to the middle of the valley. The hunters picked out started at once at full speed, galloping in a beeline, according to the Indian fashion, leaping over all obstacles, and never deviating from the direct course.

Ere long only ten hunters, among whom my companions and myself were, remained with the chief. He gave a final signal, which was immediately repeated by all the sentries, got into his saddle, and uttered his war yell. He then dashed at full speed down into the plain, with the rapidity of an avalanche, and this manoeuvre was imitated by the other hunters scattered over the adjacent heights. The hunt, or more correctly, the butchery, had begun.

The Comanches possess such skill in this horse-hunting, that, in spite of the difficulty in killing a buffalo, they rarely fire more than one round at it. Singularly enough, they do not raise the gun to the shoulder, but stretch out both arms, and fire, in this far from usual posture, when they are some fifteen or twenty yards from the animal.

They load the gun with incredible speed, for they do not use the ramrod, but let the bullets, of which they always keep a certain number in their mouths, fall immediately on the powder, to which it adheres, and which expels it again at the same moment. Owing to this great speed, the prairie hunters, in a little while, make a frightful massacre in a herd of buffaloes, and this time two-thirds of the manada were killed, and the animals covered the battlefield in heaps.

The buffaloes, enclosed in a circle whence they could not escape, terrified by the yells of the hunters, who dashed at them from all sides, brandishing their weapons, and waving their robes, fled in all directions, at a pace greater than I could have imagined, judging from their enormous bulk.

Belhumeur and I had settled onto an old buffalo, who gave us plenty of work. Several point-blank shots had not proved sufficient to check his pace. He frequently stopped, threw the earth over his head with a convulsive movement, after digging it up with his fore-feet, assumed a menacing attitude, and even pursued us for some ten or fifteen yards. But we easily got away, and the restless animal discontinued its mad and purposeless chase so soon as we stopped resolutely before it. Its strength was at length exhausted, but it did not succumb until we had given it at least twenty bullets.