In this more finished version of the buffalo hunt for the Walters commission, Miller has elaborated on the main figures as well as filled in the rest of the scene, including the other hunters pursuing the herd in the right middle ground of the painting. He further explains that, “The Pawnees are slaughtering them mainly for their furs. The robes they manufacture are for the market, and they show great skill and considerable taste comparatively in ornamenting them in colors.” (Ross, 1968, text accompanying plate 121) This developing market has led at least one historian to speculate that the Indians themselves might have hunted the buffaloes to extinction had the white hunters not intervened and hastened their demise. (Isenberg, 2000, pp. 91 — 92)
