Wildfowl in Seistan 8 1 



burnt shoulder - bones of sheep. 1 He once ex- 

 hibited to me the identical bone by which 

 he had been able to foretell the overthrow of 

 Mahommed Ali Shah ! Then the assistance he 

 gave Lord Eoberts in the Afghan war, his account 

 of it at least, was worthy of Bill Adams himself. 

 He had been a shikari himself when younger, 

 and liked talking about it. I asked him one 

 day why Persians did not shoot at birds in the 

 air. The best shikaris, he replied, had a plan 

 superior to that. And he gravely went on to 

 explain how they aim the gun at the moon or 

 a bright star, and fire when duck fly across ! 

 According to Mahommedan beliefs, the heavenly 

 bodies were expressly designed for three pur- 

 poses, as ornaments to the sky, aids to travellers, 

 and to stone the devil with. The sardar was 

 congratulated on having discovered a fourth ! 



1 A method employed by " red Indians " too, I believe. 



