The Extermination of the American Bison | Page 2

a harmless custom which has now become so
universal that all the naturalists in the world could not change it if they
would.
W. T. H.
THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON,
By WILLIAM T. HORNADAY,
Superintendent of the National Zoological Park.


PART I.--LIFE HISTORY OF THE BISON.

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 make the oldest of our present records seem of
comparatively recent date.
Nine years after the event referred to above, or in 1530, another
Spanish explorer, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza, afterwards called Cabeza de
Vaca--or, in other words "Cattle Cabeza," the prototype of our own
distinguished "Buffalo Bill"--was wrecked on the Gulf coast, west of
the delta of the Mississippi, from whence he wandered westward
through what is now the State of Texas. In southeastern Texas he
discovered the American bison on his native heath. So far as can be
ascertained, this was the earliest discovery of the bison in a wild state,
and the description of the species as recorded by the explorer is of
historical interest. It is brief and superficial. The unfortunate explorer
took very little interest in animated nature, except as it contributed to
the sum of his daily food, which was then the all-important subject of
his thoughts. He almost starved. This is all he has to say:[1]
[Note 1: Davis' Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. 1869. P. 67.]
"Cattle come as far as this. I have seen them three times, and eaten of
their meat. I think they are about the size of those in Spain. They have
small horns like those of Morocco, and the hair long and flocky, like
that of the merino. Some are light brown (pardillas) and others black.

To my judgment the flesh is finer and sweeter than that of this country
[Spain]. The Indians make blankets of those that are not full grown, and
of the larger they make shoes and bucklers. They come as far as the
sea-coast of Florida [now Texas], and in a direction from the north, and
range over a district of more than 400 leagues. In the whole extent of
plain over which they roam, the people who live bordering upon it
descend and kill them for food, and thus a great many skins are
scattered throughout the country."
Coronado was the next explorer who penetrated the country of the
buffalo, which he accomplished from the west, by way of Arizona and
New Mexico. He crossed the southern part of the "Pan-handle" of
Texas, to the edge of what is now the Indian Territory, and returned
through the same region. It was in the year 1542 that he reached the
buffalo country, and traversed the plains that were "full of
crooke-backed oxen, as the mountaine Serena in Spaine is of sheepe."
This is the description of the animal as recorded by one of his followers,
Castañeda, and translated by W. W. Davis:[2]
[Note 2: The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. Davis. 1869. Pp.
206-7.]
"The first time we encountered the buffalo, all the horses took to flight
on seeing them, for they are horrible to the