n 1849, Francis Parkman wrote, "The buffalo supplies the Indian with the necessities of life ..." In what ways did the buffalo do this?

The Buffalo is the prime cattle product and Francis Parkman is showing its usability as a meat and sustainable food product option.

Explanation:

Francis Parkman was writing in a time of a major cattle industry boom in US that was soon to modernist and adopt the conveyor belt strategies of mass breeding of animals.

In this context of mass breeding he had recognized that the meat of the buffalo was supple and the breeding of the animals meant that certain buffalo and by extension cows can be bread for meat.

Only that all buffalo were not needed as dairy farm resource as one revile buffalo can work enough to repopulate the group

So the buffalo gave a stable source of meat, was responsible for mass production and indirectly to the boom of milk and cheese industry.