242 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



way into the Happy Valley, eight days of marching ; 

 for they lived near Baramoola. 



Before quitting Peshawar our Deputy-Commis- 

 sioner, who, as I might remark in passing, is unusually 

 learned in Persian and the difficult Pushtoo language, 

 organized a hawking expedition for my benefit after 

 oobara, or florican (a species of the lesser bustard). 

 Though not exactly in the direction of the Kyber 

 Pass, yet the best ground lies somewhat in that direc- 

 tion ; we drove for miles across the flat cultivated 

 country which surrounds the city, and which in 

 spring is one mass of peach blossoms, towards a 

 portion of the ranges, now clad in winter snow, which 

 surround the valley of Peshawar. The carriage was 

 left at one of the frontier guard-posts; then we 

 mounted our horses, and rode for miles over barren 

 stony tracts, followed by the sowars and various old 

 men and turbaned followers, carrying the hawks 

 hooded, and we fell into various ditches, but never 

 saw a bustard. "When the oobara is first sighted, one 

 of the hawks is unhooded, the game is flushed, and 

 the hawk pursues and darts down upon it from above 

 and strikes it. The game now probably alights and 

 defends itself from the hawk, which sweeps down 

 upon it repeatedly, and eventually grapples with it 

 and kills it; and if the carrier soon comes up, the 

 bird is quickly hooded before it injures the game, 

 and another oobara is looked for. But a considerable 

 amount of hawking is carried on by the natives round 

 Peshawar, not only after the noble game we were in 



