James' World 2

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The Bactrian camel, also known as the Mongolian camel or domestic Bactrian camel, is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. It has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped dromedary camel. Its population of two million exists mainly in the domesticated form. Their name comes from the ancient historical region of Bactria.

Domesticated Bactrian camels have served as pack animals in inner Asia since ancient times. With its tolerance for cold, drought, and high altitudes, it enabled the travel of caravans on the Silk Road. Bactrian camels, whether domesticated or feral, are a separate species from the wild Bactrian camel, which is the only truly wild (as opposed to feral) species of camel in the world.

The Bactrian camel shares the genus Camelus with the dromedary (C. dromedarius) and the wild Bactrian camel (C. ferus). The Bactrian camel belongs to the family Camelidae. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first European to describe the species of Camelus: in his 4th-century-BC History of Animals, he identified the one-humped Arabian camel and the two-humped Bactrian camel. The Bactrian camel was given its current binomial name Camelus bactrianus by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 publication Systema Naturae.

In 2007, Peng Cui (of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) and colleagues carried out a phylogenetic study of the evolutionary relationships between the two tribes of Camelidae: Camelini—consisting of the three Camelus species (the study considered the wild Bactrian camel as a subspecies of the Bactrian camel)—and Lamini—consisting of the alpaca (Vicugna pacos), the guanaco (Lama guanicoe), the llama (L. glama) and the vicuña (V. vicugna). The study revealed that the two tribes had diverged 25 million years ago (early Miocene), notably earlier than what had been previously estimated from North American fossils. Speciation began first in Lamini as the alpaca came into existence 10 million years ago. Nearly two million years later, the Bactrian camel and the dromedary emerged as two independent species. However, the fossil record suggests a far more recent divergence between the Bactrian camel and the dromedary because, despite a moderately rich fossil record of camelids, no fossil that fits within this divergence is older than middle Pleistocene (about 0.8 Ma). Wikipedia

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An image of Bactrian Camels

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Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. Located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario, Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area (CMA) and the National Capital Region (NCR). As of 2021, Ottawa had a city population of 1,017,449 and a metropolitan population of 1,488,307, making it the fourth-largest city and fourth-largest metropolitan area in Canada.

Founded in 1826 as Bytown, and incorporated as Ottawa in 1855, the city has evolved into the political center of Canada. Its original boundaries were expanded through numerous annexations and were ultimately replaced by a new city incorporation and amalgamation in 2001 which significantly increased its land area.

Ottawa has the most educated population among Canadian cities and is home to a number of colleges and universities, research and cultural institutions, including the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, the National Arts Centre, the National Gallery of Canada, and numerous national museums.

The city name Ottawa was chosen in reference to the Ottawa River, the name of which is derived from the Algonquin Odawa, meaning “to trade”. The city’s modern name in Algonquin language is Odàwàg. Ottawa is built on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory, as Canada has never signed any treaty with the Algonquin Nation.

With the draining of the Champlain Sea around ten thousand years ago, the Ottawa Valley became habitable. Local populations used the area for wild edible harvesting, hunting, fishing, trade, travel, and camps for over 6,500 years. Ottawa is situated on the traditional land of the Algonquins, Indigenous peoples who are closely related to the Odawa and Ojibwe peoples. The Algonquins call the Ottawa River Kichi Sibi or Kichissippi meaning “Great River” or “Grand River”. The Ottawa River valley has archeological sites with arrowheads, pottery, and stone tools. Three major rivers meet within Ottawa, making it an important trade and travel area for thousands of years. Wikipedia

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An image from Ottawa, Canada

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Pitstone Windmill is a Grade II* listed windmill in England which is thought to date from the early 17th century. It stands in the northeast corner of a large field near the parish boundary of Ivinghoe and Pitstone in Buckinghamshire and belongs today to the National Trust.

It is thought to have been first built circa 1627 as this date is carved on part of the framework. This is the earliest date to be found on any windmill in the British Isles. It should be remembered that such a structure would have had to have frequent repairs made to it, so it is quite possible the mill predates 1627. It was dendrochronologically dated in 2004 by Dr. Martin Bridge of the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory when the oldest pieces in the buck were found to be from trees felled in winter 1595/96 and spring 1597. The ‘new’ crown tree was made from a tree felled in spring 1670, while the quarter bars of the trestle were from trees felled between 1824 and 1826, so like most mills, it is a mix of old timbers variously recycled or hanging on from their original use.

For many hundreds of years, grain grown in the two adjoining villages was ground at the mill into flour. In 1874 the mill was bought by Adelbert Wellington Brownlow Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow who owned the nearby Ashridge Estate. He subsequently let it to a local farmer, who ran a successful milling business from the mill.

In 1902 the mill was seriously damaged during an enormous gale, damaging it beyond the price of economic repair. Around 1922 the derelict ruined mill was bought from the Ashridge Estate by a farmer whose land was close to the mill. In 1937 he donated it to the National Trust. However, it was not until 1963 that a band of volunteers began to carry out renovations at their own expense. The mill appeared in an episode of The Champions titled The Invisible Man which was filmed in 1967. In 1970, after an interlude of 68 years, the mill once again ground corn.

Today the windmill is open to the public on Summer Sunday afternoons.

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An image of the Pitstone Windmill Buckinghamshire England

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