EXTRACTS. 427 



EXTRACTS, 



From the works of the Arab writer, Dameiri, entitled Hanet 



AND HANIAWANE. 



(Translated from the original Arabic, by Monsieur Cherbbnneau, Professor of 

 Arabic, of the College of Constantine.) 



These books are quarto volumes, aud were written in the 

 Vlllth Siecle of the Hegira. They treat indiscriminately of 

 animals and philosophy, and without, in the least, following the 

 ordinary course of works on natural history, commence with an 

 invocation to the Prophet, according to the sacred custom of all 

 Mussulman writers, and then adorn the lives of the animals 

 with numberless digressions and holy counsels. The native 

 opinions concerning the lion may not come amiss in a book 

 devoted principally to the chase. The description of the lion 

 reads as follows : 



The Arabs designate the lion by the generic name of acade, 

 oftener ougaude, this is the classical name found in the Koran, 

 in the poets, in the works on natural history, and in the fables 

 of Lokman the "Wise. 



The Algerine dialect has adopted the expression sseid, or sseouda, 

 with an emphatic s, that we express by the double s. The lioness 

 is called, louba, and her cub, chebel; in the written language, five 

 hundred different words, mostly adjectives, are used to designate 

 the sultan of animals. There are epithets selected by writers 

 to express his moral or physical qualities, his habits or faults. 



I will only mention those that are most common : 



