38 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



traveller, Tavernier, there were certain infallible 

 tests by which the genuine thing could be recog- 

 nised. " One is to place it in the mouth, and if 

 it is genuine it will give a leap and fix itself to 

 the palate ; the otfier consists in placing the stone 

 in a glass of water, and if true bezoar * the water 

 will boil " ! 



As to the virtues of bezoar, it was chiefly 

 valued as an antidote to poisons a thing that 

 in those days no household was complete with- 

 out. 2 In Persia it is still believed to be effica- 

 cious, and I have it on the indubitable authority 

 of Eahmat that it also safeguards the wearer from 

 bullets. Was not his own brother the possessor 

 of a bezoar stone ? and when under fire in a 

 desperate Baluch raid, did not the bullets stick 

 in his clothes ? Naturally, the original shaggy 

 owner is similarly protected, so that a bezoar - 

 bearing buck one in a thousand is hard to slay. 

 The notion may be recommended to any sports- 

 man who may miss an easy shot at the " head 

 of heads" and be at a loss for an excuse. Sup- 

 posing, however, you have bowled over your ibex, 

 and have a mind to ascertain if he be a bearer 

 of bezoar : if a quivering is observed whilst your 



1 See Appendix III. 



2 One old writer avers very sapiently that the only reason bezoar 

 is not now in demand is "the humour people have of embracing 

 the contrary extreme to that of their ancestors " ! 



