Buoy

“ At length, with a mighty yawn and stretch, he turns full upon his vasty stomach, and immediately, by virtue of the different appearance which his fur has when wet or dry, becomes a much smaller seal that has climbed up upon a buoy—the lower, wet part of him looks like that; the upper, alone, is himself. ”

“ When the trough is full, the buoy rises and raises the lever so as to shut off the water entirely. At every sip the animal takes, the buoy descends and lets on again, to a drop, a quantity equal to that abstracted from the inside compartment. Thus the trough is always kept full of pure water, without losing a drop of it through a waste-pipe or overflow. Where a great herd of cattle and a drove of horses have to be supplied from a deep well, as in the case of Mr. Jonas, at Chrishall Grange, this buoy-cock must save a great amount of labor. ”

“ But one doesn't see how a man could knock his head against a beacon, while, on the other hand, there are no other stationary objects out in the estuary to knock against except buoys, and a buoy presents a flat surface that could hardly have produced this wound. ”

“ This buoy was a large hollow, aluminium globe, from which a tall steel flag-post projected upward to a considerable height, bearing a light weather-vane, which, when the buoy should be in its intended position, would always point southward, no matter which way the wind might blow. This great buoy contained various appropriate articles, which had been hermetically sealed up in it before it left Sardis, where it was manufactured. ”

“ Most life buoys used on shore have fifty or seventy-five feet of light line attached to draw the {288} rescued person ashore or to recover the buoy after a faulty throw. Commencing at the free end of the line, where a small wooden float is often attached, the rope should first be coiled on the pegs, hanging the buoy outside the coil to bind it in place so wind or jars will not loosen it. ”

“ Buoy, v.t. [imp. & p.p. Buoyed (?) ; p.pr. & vb.n. Buoying.] 1. To keep from sinking in a fluid, as in water or air; to keep afloat; Ð with up.
2. To support or sustain; to preserve from sinking into ruin or despondency.
Those old prejudices, which buoy up the ponderous mass of his nobility, wealth, and title.
Burke.
3. To fix buoys to; to mark by a buoy or by buoys; as, to buoy an anchor; to buoy or buoy off a channel.
Not one rock near the surface was discovered which was not buoyed by this floating weed.
Darwin.
Buoy, v.i. To float; to rise like a buoy. ”

“ Water, be it cold or warm, that which buoys up blue ice-fields, or which bathes tropical coasts with currents of balmy bliss, is yet a gentle conqueror, kisses as it kills, and draws you down gently through darkening fathoms to its heart. ”

“ Buwu, see Bubu , a sort of fish trap.
Buyamin, Benjamin, a proper name- Arabic.
Buyung, a largish earthernware jar, mostly of coarse brown unglazed manufacture, for holding water. Buyut, forbidden by some hereditary or traditionary injunction. Different families of the natives are found, who labour under various prohibitions, often regarding articles of food; as many families are, from acient times, forbidden the use of the flesh of the white Buffaloe , others that of the turtle dove &c , and for such people this flesh is
Buyut. ”

“ The Booby has an uncontrollable predilection for elevated spots as perching places. If a single stone be higher than others in the yard, the Booby’s eye perceives it, and there he takes up his station, and stands, when he has fed, and is satisfied. If a log or a bundle of wood lie about, he mounts it, and perches upon it to sun himself, extending his wings over his tail, and erecting his dorsal feathers for the admission of the genial beams of morning. ”

“ The clumsy buffalo, or water-ox, is everywhere, plowing the fields, wallowing in mud, or browsing the stubble patch after the gleaners, always with a patient, statuesque, nude little brown boy on his blue-gray back, the fine, polished skins of these small herders glowing in the sun as if they were inanimate bronze figurines. ”

“ When you approach him you must get the wind to blow from him to you; because if you scent him, you will hardly run off, but if he scents you, he is certain, to scamper. The sight of the buffalo is very dull, but their sense of smell is very acute. I one day saw a band of about one hundred buffaloes on the opposite side of the river from us, and about two miles off, running parallel with the line of wagons, up the river. ”

“ Herds of buffalo, also, were moving about, or lying on the ground, like cattle in a pasture; excepting such inhabitants as these, a perfect solitude reigned over the land. There was no sign of human habitation; for the Crows, as we have already shown, are a wandering people, a race of hunters and warriors, who live in tents and on horseback, and are continually on the move. At night they landed, hauled up their boat to dry, pitched their tent, and made a rousing fire. ”

“ If she wanted water, she had only to cross the patch of maize behind the hut and seek out the place where the buffalo lay hidden, and put down her pail beside him. Then she would sit at her ease while he went to the lake and brought the bucket back brimming over. If she wanted wood, he would break the branches off the trees and lay them at her feet. And the villagers watched her return laden, and said to each other:
‘Surely the girls of her country are stronger than our girls, for none of them could cut so quickly or carry so much!’ But then, nobody knew that she had a buffalo for a servant. ”

“ Head into the wind, as the buffalo alone of wild animals runs, the herd paid no heed to the danger which they sought to escape, but upon which they were now coming in full front. The horses of the hunters, terrified at this horrid apparition of waving horned heads and shaggy manes, plunged and snorted in terror, seeing which the first rank of the buffalo in turn fell smitten of panic, and braced back to avoid the evil at their front. ”

“ The buffaloes, which had been calmly ruminating among the herbage, heaved up their huge forms, gazed for a moment with astonishment at the tempest that came scouring down the meadow, then turned and took to heavy-rolling flight. They were soon overtaken; the mixed throng were pressed together by the sides of the valley, and away they went, pell-mell, hurry-scurry, wild buffalo, wild horse, wild huntsman, with clang and clatter, and whoop and halloo, that made the forests ring. ”

“ When the buffalo is browsing, a crow will frequently be seen stationed on its back, engaged in freeing it from the ticks and other pests which attach themselves to its leathery hide, the smooth brown surface of which, unprotected by hair, shines with an unpleasant polish in the sunlight. When in motion a buffalo throws back its clumsy head till the huge horns rest on its shoulders, and the nose is presented in a line with the eyes. ”

“ Buddy's knowledge of women began and ended with his mother. Therefore, to him all women were wonderful creatures whom men worshipped ardently because they were created for the adoration of lesser souls. Buddy did not know what his mother was going to do, but he was sure that whatever she did would be right; so he hoisted his saddle on the handiest fresh horse, and loped off to drive in the remuda, feeling certain that his father would move swiftly to save his cattle that ranged back in the foothills, and that the saddle horses would be wanted at a moment's notice. ”

“ But a buffalo is not a fairy, and the next morning, when the women arrived to work in the fields, they stood still with astonishment, and said to each other:
‘Just look at this; a savage beast has been destroying our crops, and we can see the traces of his feet!’ And they hurried to their homes to tell their tale.
In the evening the girl crept out to the buffalo’s hiding-place, and said to him:
‘They perceived what happened, of course; so to-night you had better seek your supper further off.’ And the buffalo nodded his head and followed her counsel ”

“ This was my first sight of Bowie Bushyager. Everybody in Monterey County, and lots of other people will remember what the name of Bowie Bushyager once meant; but it meant very little more than that of his brother, Pitt Bushyager, who got up, grumbling and cursing when Bowie shook him awake. Bowie was say twenty-eight then, and a fine specimen of a man in build and size. ”

“ In the fields the buffalo has usually a complete suit of grey mud, and during the quiet evening hour goggles at you through the clouds of flies which surround his flapping ears and brutal nose, the only parts that can be seen of him above the surface of the mud-hole or the running water of the river. ”

“ Around most of these great boulders the buffalo used to walk from time to time, rubbing against the rough surface of the rock to scratch themselves, as a cow rubs itself against a post or as a horse rolls on the ground—for the pleasant feeling that the rubbing of the skin gives it. ”

“ One hot day in summer the buffalo that had come out of one of the eggs, walking through the jungle, much troubled by mosquitoes, thought how nice would be a wallow in a hole well known to him under the shade of the trees by the bank of the lake, where the sun had not dried the mud to the hardness of bricks as it had in every other wallow, and accordingly turned his huge body in its direction, and slowly set off toward it. ”

“ A short distance before we reached the lake we caught sight of two buffaloes that were having a good time wallowing in a large puddle of mud and water. That is one of the buffalo's amusements: nothing delights him more than a wallow in the mud; and the more he can cause the stuff to adhere to his skin the better he seems to be satisfied. ”

“ In a wide valley just across the hill was a great herd of buffaloes. The herd was moving east. Since the wind was from the north, Little Bear’s scent was not carried to the buffaloes. He whirled his horse around and rode back to stop Grandfather and the horses. ”

“ This species, commonly called the Brown Booby, is brownish black with the exception of a white breast and underparts. Young birds are entirely brownish black; bill and feet greenish yellow; eye white. They are one of the most abundant breeding birds upon many of the Bahaman and West Indian Islands. They have great powers of flight and dart about with the speed of arrows, carrying their long bill and neck at full length before them. ”

“ Even the sharp weaver birds detect no enemy—much less their allies the buffaloes. A few white egrets, apparently as fearless of the great quadrupeds as the buffalo birds, add beauty to the scene. Some of these charming herons, too, are perched upon the buffalo, their snowy plumes contrasting sharply with the sombre hides of their gigantic friends. ”

“ A man, painted black to represent the devil, entered the village from the prairie, chased and frightened the women, and acted the part of a buffalo bull in the buffalo dance, the object of which was to ensure a plentiful supply of buffaloes during the ensuing year. ”

“ Creatures that love the cold move northerly in summer, and such as delight in a warmer clime move southerly in winter. It is, however, principally to obtain food that they remove from one place to another. I must here explain to you, that though I have, in common with most others who use these terms, spoken of buffaloes, the animal which abounds in the prairie is not properly the buffalo, but the bison.”
Austin. But if they are bisons, why are they called buffaloes? ”

“ Here his limbs are wiped dry, and wrapped close and tight within the fur of the buffalo robes, in which he takes his nap, with his feet to the fire; then oils his limbs and hair with bear’s grease, dresses and plumes himself for a visit—a feast—a parade, or a council; or slicks down his long hair, and rubs his oiled limbs to a polish, with a piece of soft buckskin, prepared to join in games of ball or Tchung-kee. ”

“ We could recognise the vicinity of the herds of buffaloes at a distance, from the clouds of dust which they occasioned. All the small rivers were completely dried up. Even the Missouri was very shallow, which [Pg 48] it always is in summer and autumn. The prairie hills were now of a pale grey-green colour, with some bushes in the ravines, but all had a withered, sterile appearance. Soon after mid-day we saw a large buffalo bull standing on the bank, which seemed to challenge us, lowering his head and pawing the ground with his fore feet, so that the dust flew to a great distance around him. ”

“ The buffalo were more frequent than I have seen cattle in the settlements, browsing on the leaves of the cane, or cropping the herbage on those extensive plains, fearless, because ignorant of the violence of man.... Nature was here a series of wonders and a fund of delight. ”

“ There was a wide, green plain for the buffalo people to summer in, and many had come to see their baby queen, for the white bison was always found in the midst of the greatest gathering of her people. No chief buffalo woman was ever seen with a little band. ”

“ While we women busied ourselves with things in camp, the men went to hunt, and five miles farther on they discovered a herd of buffaloes crossing the Missouri from the south side. Our hunters, creeping close on the down-wind side, shot five fat cows as they landed. Buffaloes are rather stupid animals, but have keen scent. ”

“ In the twinkling of an eye each warrior had selected one buffalo in particular as his own especial foe, and had planted himself with uplifted bangwan square in the brute’s path, while the buffalo, promptly accepting the challenge, responded to it with fierce bellows and savage flourishings of the terrible horns. ”

“ The person who brings the buffalo mounts a horse and meets them a great distance from camp. When within about 150 yards of the herd he covers his body with his robe, lies along the horse’s back, and imitates the bleating of a buffalo calf. ”