Alexandria Gazette

Petrified Buffalo.—This extraordinary curiosity was discovered about two years since, by a party of trappers, belonging to Captain Bent's company, lying on the side of one of the beaver dams of the Rio Grande of the north, (a stream emptying itself into the gulf of California,) whose waters, it is said, possess the petrifying qualities in an eminent degree, its shore abounding in specimens of animal and vegetable productions in a petrified state. The petrified buffalo is described by those who have seen it, to be as perfect in its petrifaction as when living, with the exception of a hole in one of its sides, about four inches in diameter, around which the hair has been worn off, probably by the friction of the water, in which it must have laid for ages past, to have produced such a phenomenon. The hair on the hump of the shoulders, neck, forehead and tail, though converted into almost a smooth surface, may be easily discerned. The horns, eyes, nostrils, mouth and legs, are as perfect in the stone as in their pristine state. The country in which this rare specimen was found, is inhabited by the Cocomaches, a roving tribe of savages who subsist, a great portion of their lives, on insects, snakes, toads, ants, &c. This tribe being particularly hostile to the whites, renders the acquisition of this curiosity, not a little hazardous; notwithstanding this and many other difficulties to be surmounted, such as distances, expense, &c, our enterprising citizen, Captain Charles Bent, contemplates procuring and bringing it to the United States with him during the ensuing autumn.