FOOTNOTES:
[422] A Sayyid is a descendant of the Prophet.
[423] Had the falcon been netted (and its eyes seeled) some days before its twelve days’ education commenced, the matter would have been much simpler. Even though a hawk be not carried nor handled, the mere fact of having its eyes seeled has a quieting effect. It learns to eat from the fist, becomes accustomed to human voices, and loses a little of its high jungle condition.
[424] Vide note [78], page 17.
[425] Kummalīn, “old men, elders,” double Arabic plural of kāmil: inadmissible in Arabic and incorrect in Persian: perhaps a misprint for akmalīn.
[426] H.H. the late Mir ʿAlī Murād of Sindh used, at one time, to train lagaṛ falcons to ravine deer, but with what success I cannot say. He afterwards, for this flight, abandoned lagaṛs in favour of passage charg͟hs.
[427] In Urdu this is called bāzār kī mār.
[428] In the East, hawks, even when fully trained, are daily “carried” in the bazar. Keeping hawks unhooded on a block is a western practice that does away with the necessity for a certain amount of carriage. Most hawks, however, even “intermewed” hawks, are the better for much “carriage.”
[429] In this Eastern attitude the hawk is nearly on a level with, and is close to, the face of the falconer.
[430] Birds need but little sleep.
[431] In a Persian majlis, servants would constantly be coming and going with pipes and sherbet and coffee in the large bare room. In addition to friends and relations, there would be all the servants of these friends and relations.
[432] The Persian, unlike the Indian, hood, is opened and loosened by straps at the back.
[433] As the hawk was irregularly fed the previous day she would probably “cast” late. As a rule sakers do not “cast” as early as peregrines.
[434] Ṣafrā, Ar. “bile; the ‘casting’ of a hawk”: t̤aʿmah, lit. “food,” also means “casting.” The Turkish for a “casting” is tuk-samik, i.e., tuk, “feather,” and samik, “bone.” In a good Indian hood, the beak aperture is so cut away that a hooded hawk can, with a little difficulty, both eat and cast, but in the Persian hood a hawk cannot open its beak sufficiently wide to give exit to the casting.
[435] In the cold weather, eagles are late risers: they do not leave their resting spots till the sun is warm. A peregrine will leave its roosting place before it is light.
[436] Pā or pāy means any leg, but especially the hind leg. As the fore leg is here called qalam (shank), it is concluded the author means, by pā, “hind leg.”
[437] Dah zarʿ. The Persian zarʿ is about 40 inches.
[438] Nīm sīr, yak sīr: vide page 106, note [449].
[439] In a Persian manuscript written in India, it is stated that a goat may be substituted for the fawn, and that the head should be protected by a piece of leather with two holes for the horns. Vide also chapter XXXIV (page 122).
[440] Gūsht-i pusht-i māza, P.; this term occurs also in Arabic MSS. on falconry.
[441] The ordinary word for a “train” (bird or beast) for a greyhound or falcon is bavlī or bāvlī, in India bā,ūlī. The present author also uses dast-par for a bird; and for a gazelle given as a “train” maraj and dakl: the last two words are probably Arab terms; I am, however, unable to trace them.
[442] A young saker the translator had, the first time she was flown at hubara, left his fist and bound to the head of a white pony about twenty yards off. The pony spun round and round, till the rider, an assistant falconer, fell off from giddiness.
[443] A hawk, suddenly and hurriedly unhooded, will leave the fist before she spies anything at all. The hood should be removed quietly without flurry; and if the hawk be raw it is often as well not to release her at her first “bate.” From the expression of the hawk’s eye it is quite easy to see if she has spied the quarry and means business. Even if she started for the galloping assistant falconer, the saker would spy the fawn on the way and divert her attention.
[444] i.e., of course a trained greyhound; one that would follow the hawk.
[445] An unnecessary piece of cruelty. There is no reason why the gazelle should not be instantly put out of pain.
[446] i.e., meat not yet “put over.”
[447] Sīr shudan, lit. “satiated.” Eastern falconers, however, do not “gorge” their hawks. The author by the term sīr shudan merely means to give a hawk the regulation quantity.
[448] Hooded as before.
[449] Sīr; one Tabriz man equals forty sīr; one sīr equals twenty mis̤qāl; and two and a half mis̤qāl are about equal to an Indian tolā. A Tabriz man is about 7½ lbs. The Indian ser is about 2 lbs., and there are forty ser in the man. The term sīr is used only locally in Persia.
[450] Vide note [445], page 106.
[451] Bi-qadr-i girdū,ī gūsht dar sīna-ash bāshad.
[452] By that time she would have “put over” the whole of her food: nothing would remain in the crop. A hawk, if carried, puts over more quickly than if resting on the perch. It is an Indian saying that “When carried instead of two mutings it makes three.” “Carrying” of course includes frequent unhooding and rehooding and occasional turnings of the hand to induce the hawk to shift her position.
[453] Ishtihā dādan.
[454] i.e., chapters 109, 112, 113 and 114 of the Qurān. They are very brief, not containing more than four or five lines, and all commence with the word Qul “Say.” These chapters are repeated at weddings by the bridegroom, after the Qāẓī. Their efficacy is nearly equal to that of the whole Qurān. The “Verse of the Throne” is the 256th verse of the 2nd chapter: it commences “God, there is no God but He; the Living, the Abiding; slumber taketh him not nor sleep. His throne reacheth over the heavens and the earth.”—Vide also page 74.
Āya rā damīdan (dam karnā in Urdu): the sacred texts are repeated and the breath is then exhaled on the breast and hands, etc., or over a sick person.
[455] Yak dānā āhū-yi ārām-i tāk-ī. Probably tākī is a slip for tak-ī, “a single one.”
[456] Qashm, Ar., colloquially g͟hashīm, “inexperienced, helpless”: though in common use in Baghdad, this word is not used in Persian.
[457] Na-dānam-kār.
[458] Ahū-yi dastī.
[459] Sivā kardan.
CHAPTER XXXIII
TRAINING THE EYESS SAKER TO EAGLES [461]
I will now, my pupil, describe to you the method of training the nestling chark͟h[462] to eagles.[463]
In one point the nestling chark͟h excels the rest of the black-eyed race: it can take eagles, the rest cannot.[464]
When you first take the eyess from the eyrie, feed her well, that she may grow fat and stout and strong, and may, by taking her quarry in style, exhibit all her pride and power.
Now when the constellation of Canopus rises,[465] take her up, hood her and carry her: train her after the manner that falcons are always trained, until she obeys the lure and comes to it readily from any spot where she may be placed.
Now lower her condition a little: let her lose just a little flesh. Procure a young Egyptian vulture[466] and bind some meat on its back. Twice daily, in the cool of the morning and of the evening, show it to her and then let it fly[467] in such a manner that your hawk may take it. If you are unable to procure a young Egyptian vulture, get a “black”[468] buzzard, or failing a black one a “yellow” one, but in any case you must bind the hind claw[469] to the “tarsus.”[470] Fly your hawk at this “train,” twice in the morning and twice in the evening,[471] and feed her up on it.
Should you be able to procure a second “train” of any of the three birds mentioned, then on the third day cut the throat of the first “train.” Be careful, however, to conceal its head, for your hawk must learn to bind only to the back. After killing the “train” and feeding your hawk on the meat that is tied to its back, cut open the back, and let your hawk eat a little of the exposed flesh.[472] She must not see the flesh of any other part except the back. During these days that you are entering your hawk to the “hand-train,”[473] as you increase the distance at which you release the train, you must decrease the amount of meat that is tied to its back, till at last no meat at all is left and your hawk binds to the ungarnished back of the “train.”
The two[474] uppermost flight-feathers in each wing of the birds mentioned above—the feathers called yār māliq by the Turks[474]—are broad and large. Take these feathers, two on each side, and placing them on top of each other bind the garnishing meat to them, so that the meat will be conspicuous during flight.
After you have killed the train and fed the hawk, you must, by giving her washed meat,[475] “set” her as previously described. Then go out into the open country and find a young Egyptian vulture, which in colouration resembles a young eagle, and fly your hawk at it. She will surely take it.[476] Kill it and feed your hawk well.[477]
“Set” your hawk the next day; and the day after that, go out and find a būq-k͟hura,[478] which has before been described as the most ignoble of the eagles. Get close to it, and so cast off your hawk that by the time the eagle has risen from the ground, your chark͟h will have reached it and bound to its back. With all haste make in and secure the būq-k͟hura, and, killing a dark-coloured chicken, present its flesh from underneath the wing of the būq-k͟hura, and so feed your hawk; but feed her sparingly. Release the būq-k͟hura[479] from the claws of the chark͟h and keep it by you alive.
On the morrow when your hawk is hungry, go out into the open country. Bind the hind claw of the būq-k͟hura to its shank, and let it fly, giving it a long start. Then unhood[480] and cast off your hawk. She will certainly take it. Kill the būq-k͟hura and feed the hawk.
Now again “set” your hawk and fly her at a wild būq-k͟hura, feeding her up when she takes it. This you must do three or four times.[481]
Of one thing you must be careful: during these seven or eight days that you are flying your hawk and feeding her on warm flesh, take care that she does not become fat and get above herself.
After taking with her four or five būq-k͟hura, fly her at one of the black eagles that have no spots or markings.[482] Next fly her at a spotted ā,īna-lī eagle. After she has taken one of the latter, you can fly her at any species you choose. Should the eagle you are going to fly her at be of a large species (such as the karlak, or the kūjīkān, or the “moon-tailed eagle,” all three of which are the largest of the eagle species), it can, by the cries and shouts of your horsemen, be made so to lose its head as to become incapable of defending itself.
Supposing, for instance, you spy an eagle seated on the ground in a good open plain where there are neither small water-courses nor hillocks[483]—a spot where you can gallop without caution or delay—make the eagle face the wind[484] and gallop on to it,[485] and placing your trust on Almighty God, cast off your chark͟h. The eagle will see the hawk making for it but will not conceive the possibility of the hawk’s attacking it, for, poor thing, it is ignorant of the trickery of man. Calmly and leisurely it will spread its wings saying to itself, “This chark͟h, whose dog is it that it should approach me?”
If the eagle be a large strong female, it will certainly carry the chark͟h for about a thousand[486] paces, but if a weak tiercel it will not drag it more than half that distance. You must gallop hard and keep close up to or under the eagle, until it tires and settles on the ground. It will then run, flapping and trailing its wings like a hunted chicken that is tired out. You must all pursue it with shouts and cries.
As soon as the eagle takes to running like a chicken, one horseman must detach himself and intercept it in front. Now when that son of a dog[487] sees that it cannot fly, that its path is blocked in front, and that shouts and yells arise on all sides of it, it will have no recollection of the chark͟h that has fastened on to its back: from rage and bewilderment it will drive its talons into the ground. Now, my pupil, on no account must you treat this son of a dog like other quarry. Do not in your excitement cast yourself upon it. On no account! on no account do so—unless you seek your own destruction. As soon as the eagle has convulsively clutched the ground, you must dismount in all haste, and approaching it from behind firmly place your long boot on its back just between the shoulders, and so render it defenceless. Then cautiously advance your further hand from behind it and firmly grasp its legs, keeping one leg on the eagle the while. Then cut its throat, split open its breast, bring out the heart, and feed your hawk. You must know that the flesh of eagles is greasy and indigestible, so do not overfeed your hawk or she will fall ill.[488] You must not imagine that an eagle’s flesh is the same as a pigeon’s; so feed her lightly:—
If eagle’s flesh as pigeon’s ere appears
Then must you match the lion’s with the deer’s.
So when two eagle’s thighs have passed her beak,
Enough!—unless you her destruction seek.
The next time you go out, fly your hawk at any species of eagle you like.
Now you must understand that although the hawk does, temporarily, cripple the eagle, yet it is owing to the screams and yells of the riding party that the eagle loses its wits and gets taken. If you want to test this, fly your hawk at an eagle as though you were flying a goshawk at a partridge, and ride slowly and quietly after the quarry. Note how the eagle will with its foot sweep the hawk off its back while exclaiming:—
“Thus does wise heaven grant sustenance to fools
That countless wise are filled thereat with wonder.”[489]
The awe and fear inspired by man is greater than that inspired by any animal, and especially terrifying is the human voice. God has given to all his creatures, birds, beasts, etc., a weapon of defence for their safety, and man’s weapons are his voice and the dread his presence inspires; every thing that creeps, or crawls, or flies, even the lion, flees from the sound[490] and terror of man—how much more so the eagle. The eagle is captured only by the artifice of the falconer: for what sort of a dog is the chark͟h to master the eagle?
The falconer by art and skill can show
That feeble chark͟hs can lay great eagles low.
Untrained, untried, how could a falcon fight—
Fight and prevail against an eagle’s might?
This sport with the chark͟h and eagle must be pursued in the plains: in hilly country it is impossible.
Eyess Shahin and Eagles.—The eyess shahin is capable of being trained to eagles, but as it is small and delicate, it is not employed for this quarry.