CHAPTER XXI

STRANGE ARAB DEVICES FOR CATCHING THE PASSAGE SAKER

The Arabs have two strange devices for catching the _bālābān_. It chances sometimes that, while out hawking, a wild _bālābān_ will suddenly drop from the sky, and seize a flushed houbara. The Arabs wait till the falcon has broken into the quarry and has begun to eat. Then they go slowly towards the falcon, which, unable to carry off the heavy quarry, perforce abandons it: the falcon will retire to a distance of five- or six-hundred yards and regard her quarry with eyes of regret. Two _shikār-chīs_ go up to the dead houbara and quickly and deftly dig a pit in the sand with their sticks. One of them stealthily gets into this pit and is completely covered with sand, his nose only being above ground. One arm is extended, but concealed by a light sprinkling of sand. The dead houbara is then placed on his open palm and the other men all withdraw to a distance. After a short time, the _bālābān_, seeing the coast clear, returns without suspicion to its prey. Poor thing, what knows it of what is underground? Slowly it returns to its quarry and re-settles on it. That cuckoldy pimp in his living grave feels the falcon settle; then slowly, very slowly, under cover of the houbara’s feathers his hand searches for his victim’s feet. The hapless falcon, in dread of a robber eagle, eagerly busies itself with pluming and eating: its whole attention is directed to its food. Sooner or later some part of its foot or leg touches the hidden hand, and the freedom of the noble bird is gone. The dead man then comes to life and rises from his sandy grave.[240]

ANOTHER DEVICE.—There is another cunning device, which can be practised only during the season of the terrible east wind of Baghdad—“We take refuge in God from it.”[241] This wind blows with incessant severity for two to nine days at a time. Day and night it rages, ceasing not for one minute. None dare venture out in it; everything comes to a standstill. All sorts of wild birds, fearing to be swept away far from their hunting and feeding grounds, take refuge from the force of the wind by settling on the ground. Perhaps some luckless sportsmen, when out hawking, get caught in this wind, and by chance spy a _bālābān_ seated on the sandy gritty soil. One of the party will go directly up-wind of it, and raising all the dust and sand[242] he can with his hands and feet, will scatter it on the wind. Under cover of this cloud of dust, which is carried by the wind on to the falcon, he quickly advances, stirring up the while all the sand he can with his hands and feet. The falcon’s eyes get filled with the sand: in vain it rubs them on its feathers: the sand-storm continues, while the man behind it ceases not advancing with rapidity. The falcon is first forced to close its eyes, but the sand stops up its nostrils, and it soon has no choice but to seek protection for its head under its wing. In this unsuspecting and helpless attitude it is secured by hand.

AUTHOR CAPTURES A VULTURE.—Once I went on a pilgrimage to _Haẓrat-i Salmān-i Fārsī_,[243] and intending to kill two birds with one stone took with me four or five _chark͟hs_ and _bālābāns_ that were trained to gazelle, and nine or ten mounted falconers. I started early in the morning, and expected to secure during the day five or six gazelles at least. We had gone about two _farsak͟h_[244] when the east wind began to rise. It gradually increased in force till about two hours before noon, by which time we had reached the very “mine”[245] of gazelle. To the right and left of us there was nothing but gazelle, but, on account of the wind, it was impossible to fly the hawks. Soon the air became darkened, and so strong was the wind that it could have borne aloft a thousand thrones of Solomon.[246] We were nearly lifted off our horses to be hurled far into the desert. There was nothing for it but to “mail”[247] the _chark͟hs_ and _bālābāns_ and carry them under our arms, or in the skirts of our robes. We were now in ground that is called _Ḥawr Saʿda_[248]: it is low-lying ground, void of dust or sand, for when the Tigris overflows its banks in the Spring, the hollow retains water, and grass and reeds spring up. This hollow was about two _farsak͟h_ broad by six or seven long, and was a favourite feeding-ground of gazelle. The well-known medicinal herb galingale[249] is produced here in abundance; hence the name of _Ḥawr Saʿda_ given to the spot.

Well, as soon as we emerged from this _ḥawr_, we lost sight of the Arch of Ctsesiphon and the dome of _Haẓrat-i Sulaymān_. Though we knew the ground thoroughly, having hawked gazelle there hundreds of times, we completely lost our bearings and wandered about aimlessly and perplexedly, we knew not whither. At last we emerged on to the sandy desert, and realized that we had left the shrine of _Sulaymān_ on our left. Our horses were unable to proceed, for their eyes and nostrils were soon choked with sand.

Suddenly a huge carrion vulture[250] dropped to earth and settled before us. I told my attendants to stop still while I circumvented it by the Arab method. I made a circuit and got up-wind of it, and assisted the wind in covering it with sand and dust. At last I reached the vulture and saw that the poor thing had tucked away its head, and was to all appearance asleep. I cast myself on it and secured it, and saw that its eyes and nostrils were so choked with sand that it could scarcely breathe. I made the _Ābdār_[251] carry it till we reached the shrine. Not having enough food for the hawks, I bought a fat young sucking-lamb,[252] and killed it. The liver and heart were given to the vulture, which, when the wind subsided, was duly released.

I could have captured gazelle by the same method had it not been for their sense of smell.

FOOTNOTES:

[240] An Afghan acquaintance told the translator that he had seen demoiselle cranes (_k͟har-k͟hare_) caught in the following manner at Kabul. Small boys were buried in the sand at intervals, their noses above ground and their arms extended—the arms carefully covered with sand and shingle. The unsuspecting cranes were then slowly driven towards the hidden children. Sometimes two or three birds are caught in this manner. The children are buried on the spot where the cranes rest at night. In Chitral, goshawks are said to be caught by the following device: The top of a bare hillock is selected, scooped out and roofed over, the chamber thus made being sufficiently large to conceal a man. The trapper enters the chamber from the side, and closes the entrance. He then puts through a hole in the roof a live _chukor_ fitted with jesses, and with a leash five or six feet long. The hole in the roof is closed, and the partridge flutters at the extent of its leash. When the goshawk appears, the cries of the _chukor_ warn the trapper. When the goshawk seizes the partridge, it is slowly drawn towards the hole by the trapper. The hawk, feeling resistance, only “binds” the tighter, till it is suddenly seized by the legs from within the hut. The chief places for catching goshawks near Chitral are said to be the _Singūr_ forest; the _Bakamak_ hill; the _Makhtāmābād_ hill; and the _Urgutch_ hill. These are the four _Mihtarī_ places, _i.e._, hawks caught there are the property of the _Mihtar_.

[241] A common exclamation amongst Muslims; used in time of danger, on hearing of an accident, and on seeing one afflicted with a horrible disease such as leprosy.

[242] _Shin va māssa._

[243] _Salmān-i Fārsī_ was a Persian of Abyssinian extraction. He was one of the “Companions of the Prophet.” His tomb, on a bank of the Tigris, not far from Baghdad, is close to the old ruined palace of Kisra, called by the Arabs _Tāq-Kisrạ_ “The arch of Cyrus.” Here, too, is the site of _Madāʿin_ or “The cities,” the capital of Persia at the time of the Muslim conquest. Seven cities are said to have existed on this site, _T̤aysafūn_ or Ctsesiphon being one of them. It was in the latter that the _Tāq-Kisrạ_ existed, built, according to some accounts, by Nūshīravān the Just.

[244] A _farsak͟h_ is about 3¾ miles.

[245] “Mine,” an Arab idiom for any place where the game is found in abundance.

[246] _ʿArsh-i Sulaymān._ The winds were subject to Solomon. His throne was placed on an immense carpet of green silk, and his forces, men on the right, _jinn_ on the left, took their stand upon it, and the wind bore it aloft under Solomon’s orders, while the army of birds formed a canopy above.

[247] _Qapāncha kardan_, “to mail” a hawk, _i.e._, to wrap it up in a “sock” or cloth, so that it is in a kind of strait-jacket. Even on foot it is impossible to carry hawks in a strong desert wind.

[248] _Ḥawr_ is low-lying ground or dried marsh land that is full of grass and reeds. _Saʿda_ is an adjective from the grass _saʿd-i kūfī_ mentioned later.

[249] _Saʿd-i kūfī_ is a tall sweet-smelling grass used in medicine. The scientific name is said to be Cyperus Scariosus. The Hindi name is, I think, _nāgar moth_.

“The dale Was seen far inland and the yellow down Border’d with palm, and many a winding vale And meadow, set with slender galingale.”

—_Lotus Eaters._

[250] _Dāl-i murdār-k͟hwār._

[251] _Abdār_, a servant in charge of the drinks, tea-things, etc. He would of course be mounted, probably on a mule.

[252] _Barra-yi shīr-mast._