FALCONRY IN PERSIA. 191 



deer, at whose head they pounce in succession, and 

 sometimes with a violence to knock 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 

 imfortunate deer, against which their united efforts have 

 been combined. The part of the chase which surprised 

 me most was the extraordinary combination of the hawks 

 and the dogs, which throughout seemed to look to each 

 other for aid. This was, I was told, the result of long 

 and skilful training. The antelope is supposed to be 

 the fleetest quadruped on earth, and the rapidity of the 

 first burst of the chase I have described is astonishing ; 

 the run, however, seldom exceeds three or four miles, 

 and often is not half so much. A fawn is an easy 

 victory ; the doe often runs a good deal, and the buck 

 is seldom taken : the Arabs are, indeed, afraid to fly 

 their hawks at the latter, as these fine birds in pouncing 

 frequently impale themselves on its sharp horns. 



" The hawks used in this sport are of a species that I 

 have never seen in any other country ; the breed, which 

 is called Cherkh, is not large, but is of great beauty 

 and symmetry. The novelty of the amusement I saw 

 interested me, and I was further pleased, on accompany- 

 ing a party to a village about twenty miles from 

 Abusheher, to see another kind of hawking, peculiar, 

 I believe, to the sandy plains of Persia, on which a 

 hubara, a noble species of bustard, is found on almost 

 bare plains, where it has no shelter but a small shrub, 

 called Geetush. When we went in quest of them, we 

 went in a party of about twenty, all well mounted : two 

 kinds of hawks are necessary for this kind of sport : 

 the first, the cherkh (that is flown at the antelope), 



