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Friday 4 March 2011

Beshekee

I've had trouble matching Alan's theme this week. I've struggled to find a picture of my own involving longhorn cattle so I've had to resort to searching the web. I hope you like with the result.

This is meant to be a restful exercise so I was pleased to find a picture called 'Repose.'

(Artist - Darley, Felix Octavius Carr - 1822-1888)

It is not just the longhorns that were at ease.

You have to have sharp eyes to see the longhorn in this picture from Earls Court in London:

These were the cattle in Buffalo Bill's Wild West at Earls Court in 1937 (I think).

The next picture that caught my eye was of  the Ojibwe chief, Beshekee.
(Marble bust by Francis Vincenti)

No horns but in Ojibwe his name is spelled Bizhiki; (Buffalo in English).

The world's largest buffalo may be found in Jamestown, North Dakota:
Sculptured after a male bison in full stride and anatomically correct.

I must confess I was not impressed by the size of his horns.

However I did like this animation of a buffalo at the gallop by Eadweard Muybridge:

For a really magnificent beast I located this by Indigo Valley

However the picture that really sickened me was one ex wikipedia. 
A photo from the 1870s of a pile of bison skulls waiting to be ground for fertiliser. 
(Author unknown, derative work PawelImm)
Would you have posed in front of the pile for a shot like this?

On a lighter note I do have one photo taken after a liquid night of a pair of horns from a Mexican bull.
The poser wishes to remain anonymous.

More  posts at: Sepia Saturday 64

15 comments:

L. D. said...

That is a lot of buffaloes. It was an interesting way for the past inhabitants of this country to thrive off of these animals and then the civilized people basically made a sport of it and made bone meal. Who was really civilized?

Howard said...

The buffalo is a bizarre creature...

Christine H. said...

What an interesting compilation - as always. I really like the video of the buffalo running. The pile of bones sickens me too. What cruel foolishness.

Marilyn & Jeff said...

Great fun all your findings. Wonderful beast and I agree that the pile of sculls is sickening.
It looks as though the liquid night was greatly enjoyed.

Jinksy said...

Someone looked to be on the horns of a dilemma...

dakotaboo said...

The cattle in Earl's Court is a curious one. Would have loved to see something like that there, but whenever I go it's usually for boring conferences ;-)

21 Wits said...

Oh my what a bunch of great photos in so many connections...the cows in the court is so cool, and the chief he doesn't look so happy...and you'd think they had such a closeness to the earth and should have been smiling from ear to ear no matter what...the skulls yeah not so nice, mostly the gigantic amount of them. I really loved the moving bison was it? Whatever you did a marvelous job on posting and it was informative and entertaining!

Unknown said...

A good collection; I'm glad you commented about Buffalo Bill or I'd have been wondering how the cattle got to England?! The Ojibwe tribe still exists in norhtern MN, they handle casinos and gambling as in other parts of the country. But some do beautiful beading for jewelry too. It wasn't enough for the whiteman to steal their land and way of life now we want more $$ from their gambling proceeds.

Buffalo meat is often offered around here as burgers, reportedly a healthier alternative to beef, I've tried it, but to me it is too dry and too tough.

And the last photo well, best to remain incognito, Anonymous! What headgear that would be.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Hi Bob ... I love that galloping b & w buffalo! What a great idea to post this today. It is way too bad that so many of these guys were senselessly slaughtered. Happy SS, and thanks for stopping by today.

Take care,
Kathy

Unknown said...

Hi Bob, thanks for your visit. In regard to your question about the date of my postcard, I searched and searched for some indication of the date of this photo. I found the name of the photographer but he looks to0 young to have been the one to have done this photo. I could find nothing to give me an indication of his age. The pc itself looks old and the back side shows it to be old also, 1 cent to mail. I keeping wondering if I have the wrong James Patrick. We have buffalo roaming the fields about 40 miles south of us around Mammoth Cave. The meat is quite obtainable in this area. We don't care for it.
QMM

Unknown said...

I went back and did some more research and found a family of Patrick's about 3 generations that did photography of Scotland. You probably know this. The pc I posted was probably done in the early 1900's by James Patrick the elder. I found this on Castle Series Postcards.
Thanks for your comment and question. Made me do some more research.
QMM

Postcardy said...

I wouldn't want to lie down anywhere near a cow.

I love the galloping buffalo.

Kristin said...

i've seem buffalo before but never galloping along. nice little video.

Bruno Laliberté said...

the buffaloes were massacred to the point of extinction... i feel sorry for those beasts.

"the poser wishes to remain anonymous"...
yeah, right!!
:D~
HUGZ

Alan Burnett said...

A marvelous collection of images. But particular credit has to go to the moving buffalo, which, I believe is the first sepia movie we have ever had submitted.