Ahu- Gardani 1 2 1 



animals and birds with his own hand, a huge 

 bag in those days. The " crack shot " is exem- 

 plified in the Eoman emperor who used to cut 

 off the heads of "driven ostriches" with sickle- 

 headed arrows. History of course only tells us 

 about the great ones of the earth, but the types 

 must have existed among "the people" too. In 

 Persia, naturally, the crack shots were "cracker" 

 than anywhere else, hence such stories as that 

 given at the beginning of the previous sketch. 

 Nor was the best type of all wanting. Can one 

 imagine the writer (the Emperor Baber) of an 

 account such as this to have been other than 

 a first-class sportsman: "I pursued a wild ass, 

 and on coming near, discharged first one arrow 

 at it, and then another, but the wounds were 

 not such as to bring it down. Yet it ran 

 slower than before. Spurring on my horse, I 

 hit it such a blow with my sword on the back 

 part of its head behind its two ears, that its 

 windpipe was cut, and it fell tumbling over, its 

 hind legs striking my stirrups. My sword cut 

 excessively well, and it was a wonderfully fat 

 wild ass!" 1 



I personally never went after the wild ass, a 

 Tibetan kyang that I once shot for meat having 

 satisfied any ambition I may have had as re- 



1 Talbot's 'Memoirs of Baber,' a truly delightful book. 



