METHOD OF CAPTURING WILD-GEE3E IN INDIA, 393 



The modem Eg'yptians also use this mode of fowlmg,* and employ 

 similar means to those of the Indian fowler for capturing* some of 

 tlie thousands of wild-fowl which resort to the banks of the Nile 

 during- the annual inundations of the lowlands. 



The same artifices are also employed in China ; and it is by no 

 means improbable that the people of that nation were the first to 

 discover the singular deception. The art is very clearly explained 

 and illustrated by Du Halde.f 



There is this exclusiveness attached to the artifice — it can only be 

 employed where the water is shallow ; ov, at all events, not beyond 

 a certain depth ; for no man could swim in such a manner as to keep 

 his whole body under water with three or four wild-g-eese suspended 

 from his girdle. It is a pursuit peculiarly adapted to eastern 

 countries. No one could remain under water, up to his ears, for any 

 leng'th of time in cold countries, though the natives of warm countries 

 may do so with impunity. 



Niebuhr, in his Travels in Arabia, mentions, that Pococke and 

 some other travellers were not credited when they spoke of this mode 

 of taking- wild-fowl as practised in China; "but," he adds, "no fact 

 can be more certain." 



A precisely similar method of capturing wild-g-eese is practised on 

 the lake Cienega de Tescas, near Carthagena. The water of this lake 

 is salt, and is frequently visited by larg-e g-ag-g-les of wild-g-eese. To 

 capture some of which, the fowlers in that locality throw into the 

 water, at such times as the wild-g-eese are in the lake, fifteen or 

 twenty larg-e calabashes, which they call totumos. These are merely 

 decoys, with which the fowl soon become familiar; and, having- 

 repeated the proceeding- of setting* the totumos adrift three or four 



fastening them to a girdle prepared for the pui-pose. The hraiainy, or red-and- white 

 goose, is however very wary, and is seldom taken by any device. A pair of them, 

 with a flock of grey geese, will commonly keep up such an alarm as to defy the 

 powers of small shot." 



* Vide "Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," by Sii- J. G. WUkinsou, 

 vol. ui. cap. 8. 



+ " La maniere dont ils les prennent, merite d'etre rapportee : ils se mcttent la 

 tete dans des grosses citroiiilles seches, ou il y a quelques trous pour vou- et pour 

 rospu'er, puis ils marcheut nuds dans I'eau, ou bicn ils nagent sans rien faire paroitre 

 au dehors, quo la tete couverte de la citroiiUle. Les canards accoutumez a voir 

 de ces citrouOles flottantes, autour desqueUes ils sc jouent, s'en approchent sans 

 crainte, et le chasseur les tu'ant par les pieds dans I'eau pour les empecher de 

 crier, leur tord le col, et les attache a sa ceinture. 11 ne quitte point cet exercice, 

 qu'il n'eu ait pi-ix un grand nombre." — Descri'jption Geogra^pMque, Historique, 

 Chronologique, ^c. ; 'par Du Halde. Vol. ii. page 138. Folio ediUon. 



See also Nieuhof's Chiaa. And Navarette's ditto. Also Pococko's Travels. 



3 E 



