The saga of the buffalo

The Plains Indian revered the buffalo, for it was a gift from the Great Spirit, taken from the inside of Mother Earth herself. Accordingly, the Indian killed only as many buffalo as he needed, and wasted nothing: the huge beast furnished him with food, clothing, bed, lodge, utensils, and most of the decorative ornaments that brightened his life. The white man, however, viewed the buffalo as both an impediment to progress and a source of easy capital. Less then one-third of the curly cows he slaughtered were ever used for anything.