of trees. To the west continued a proximate chain of piney hills, with remarkable serrated summits, known by the familiar name of the Potatoe hills, and to the north-*west backed by a more {149} distant and more lofty chain equally piney. On the summit of the dividing ridge, we observed a pile of stones in the bison path that we travelled, which, I was informed, had been thrown up as a monument by the Osages when they were going to war, each warrior casting a stone upon the pile. Discovering herds of Bison in the prairie, the soldiers immediately commenced the chase, and the bulls, now lean and agile, galloped along the plain with prodigious swiftness, like so many huge lions. The pendant beard, large head hid in bushy locks, with the rest of the body nearly divested of hair, give a peculiar and characteristic grace to this animal when in motion. We discovered them in a state of repose, and could perceive the places where they had been gratifying themselves by wallowing or rolling in the dust. The bison, entirely distinct from the buffalo of Europe, notwithstanding the surmises of Doctor Robertson, can scarcely be domesticated. The male, infuriate and jealous in his amours, gores every thing which falls in his way, and becomes totally unmanageable.
Perhaps no animal employs a greater diversity of diet than the bear; the common American species feeds upon fruits, honey, wasps, and bees; they will turn over large logs in quest of other insects, and are also destructive to pigs and fawns, by which means the hunters, imitating the bleat of the latter, will sometimes decoy them within gun-*shot.
Panthers are said to be abundant in the woods of Red river, nor are they uncommon on the banks of the Arkansa. A somewhat curious anecdote of one of these animals was
