2 octobre 2013
Where the buffalo roam...
... or used to.
Montana ! What a wonderful state ! Most of the country we went through looks like a (painted ?) cinema backdrop. Quite incredible, especially with the dark clouds and sun we had. I hope B's photos show something of the drama of what they call Big Sky country.
This enormous state has a tiny population, many of them in environmentally-minded Billings or Helena the leafy state capital.
250 years ago there were many million buffalo round here which were used in 300 different ways by the 'first peoples' (this is the currently acceptable name in the US). They used to chase whole herds off cliffs to 'harvest' them (another acceptable term). Horses only arrived with the Spanish in the 1700s, and before that there was a complex system using boy runners that I didn't know about, not having seen the right films. If that's the case for you too, here you are :
Buffalo herds were made up of cows and calves following a lead cow (the males always went off and did their own thing). To lure the herd up to the cliff a teenage boy would be selected (great honour, rite of passage). He would put on a calfskin, with head, and run about on all fours imitating a calf distress call in front of the lead cow. If he was good enough she would be curious, and the herd would follow. Acting as sheep (buffalo) dogs behind the herd would be 2 other boys on all fours in wolfskins. Suddenly the 'calf' would jump up on two legs. The lead cow would charge, and the herd would follow. That's where the boy's running skills came in. He had to stay ahead, rushing to the cliff, where he would leap down to the shelter of a ledge under the thunder of bodies falling inches away from him.
Down below the whole community was waiting to start chopping up and processing.
But it was the advance of the settlers which exterminated them. There was a map they could consult to avoid the remaining pockets.
Great visitor centre at the First Peoples' Buffalo Jump or the well named Head-Smashed-In centre in Canada (websites too).
Montana ! What a wonderful state ! Most of the country we went through looks like a (painted ?) cinema backdrop. Quite incredible, especially with the dark clouds and sun we had. I hope B's photos show something of the drama of what they call Big Sky country.
This enormous state has a tiny population, many of them in environmentally-minded Billings or Helena the leafy state capital.
250 years ago there were many million buffalo round here which were used in 300 different ways by the 'first peoples' (this is the currently acceptable name in the US). They used to chase whole herds off cliffs to 'harvest' them (another acceptable term). Horses only arrived with the Spanish in the 1700s, and before that there was a complex system using boy runners that I didn't know about, not having seen the right films. If that's the case for you too, here you are :
Buffalo herds were made up of cows and calves following a lead cow (the males always went off and did their own thing). To lure the herd up to the cliff a teenage boy would be selected (great honour, rite of passage). He would put on a calfskin, with head, and run about on all fours imitating a calf distress call in front of the lead cow. If he was good enough she would be curious, and the herd would follow. Acting as sheep (buffalo) dogs behind the herd would be 2 other boys on all fours in wolfskins. Suddenly the 'calf' would jump up on two legs. The lead cow would charge, and the herd would follow. That's where the boy's running skills came in. He had to stay ahead, rushing to the cliff, where he would leap down to the shelter of a ledge under the thunder of bodies falling inches away from him.
Down below the whole community was waiting to start chopping up and processing.
But it was the advance of the settlers which exterminated them. There was a map they could consult to avoid the remaining pockets.
Great visitor centre at the First Peoples' Buffalo Jump or the well named Head-Smashed-In centre in Canada (websites too).
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