HUNTLNU AND HAWKING IN PERSIA. 



, PERSIAN GREYHOUND. 



latter led in a leash by a horseman, generally the same who carries 

 the hawk. When the antelope is seen, they endeavor to get as 

 near as possible ; but the animal, the moment it observes them, 

 goes off at a rate that seems swifter than the wind ; the horsemen 

 are instantly at full speed, having slipped the dogs. If it is a 

 single deer, they at the time fly the hawks ; but if a herd, they 

 wait till the dogs have fixed on a particular antelope. The hawks, 

 skimming along near the ground, soon reach the deer, at whose 

 head they pounce in succession, and sometimes with a violence 

 that knocks it over. At all events, they confuse the animal so 

 much as to stop its speed in such a degree that the dogs can come 

 up ; and in an instant men, horses, dogs, and hawks, surround 

 the unfortunate deer, against which their united efforts have been 

 combined. The part of the chase that surprised me most was 

 the extraordinary combination of the hawks and the dogs, which 

 throughout seemed to look to each other for aid. This, I was 

 told, was the result of long and skilful training. 



The antelope is supposed to be the fleetest quadruped on earth, 

 and tlje rapidity of the first burst of the chase I have described is 

 astonishing. The run seldom exceeds three qr four miles, and 

 often it is not half so much. A fawn is an easy victory ; the doe 

 often runs a good chase, and the buck is seldom taken. The 

 Arabs are, indeed, afraid to fly their hawks at the latter, as these 

 one birds, in pouncing, frequently impale themselves on its sharp 

 noins. 



The hawks used in this sport are of a species that 1 have never 



