51 



143. — In Turkey they call them Bagatins or Couriers, and the Turks 

 and Persians make a common practice of breeding this sort of Pigeons in 

 their Seraglios, where there is one, whose business it is to feed and train 

 these birds, for the use afterwards designed, which they do in this manner : 

 when a young one flies very hard at home, and is come to its full strength, 

 they carry it in a basket, or otherwise, about half a mile from home, and 

 there they turn it out ; after this they will carry it a mile, then two, four, 

 eight, ten, twenty and so on, till at length they will return from the farthest 

 parts of the kingdom. This practice is of admirable use ; for every Ba- 

 shaw has generally a basket full of these Pigeons sent him from the grand 

 Seraglio, and in case of any insurrection or other emergent occasion, he 

 braces a letter under the wings of a pigeon, whereby its flight is not in the 

 least incommoded, and immediately turns it loose, but for fear of their 

 being shot or struck by a hawk, they generally dispatch five or six ; so 

 that by this means, dispatches are sent in a more safe and speedy method, 

 than could possibly be otherwise contrived. 



144. — N.B. If a Pigeon be not practised when young, the best of them 

 will fly but very indiflerently, and may very possibly be lost. 



145. — LiTHGOw in his travels gives the following remarkable account : 

 after having told us of pigeons, that in forty eight hours would carry a letter 

 from Babylon to Aleppo, which is thirty days journey, he proceeds thus ; 

 *' The city Ptolemais was besieged by the French and Venetian armies, and 

 was ready to fall into their hands, when the soldiers beheld a pigeon flying 

 over them to the city, who thereupon set up so sudden and so great a shout, 

 that down fell the poor airy post with her letter, which being read, was 

 found to contain, that the Sultan was coming towards them with an army 

 sufficient to raise the siege, and would be with them in three days ; the 

 Christians having learnt this, sent away the Pigeon with another letter, to 

 this effect ; that they should see to their safety, for that the Sultan had 



143. (GiETiN, p. 67.) — In the East, they formerly kept relays of these Pigeons in 

 constant readiness to carry expresses to all parts of the country. When the governor 

 of Dalmatia heard the news of the death of Orillo, he let fly a Pigeon under whose 

 wing he had fastened a letter ; this fled to Cairo, from whence a second was dis- 

 patched to another place, as was customary, so the death of Orilla was made known 

 to all Egypt, in the space of a few hours ! but the simple use of them was known in 

 very early times : When Modena was besieged, Brutus, within the walls, kept 

 an uninterrupted correspondence with Hirtius without, and this by the assist- 

 ance of Pigeons, setting at nought every stratagem of the besieger, Anthony, 

 to stop these winged couriers. In the times of the Crusades there were many in- 

 stances of these birds being made useful in the service of war. Tasso relates 

 one during the siege of Jerusalem ; and Joinville another, during the crusade of 

 St. Louis. 



145 and 1-16. (Eaton.) — As touching the shout, &c,, I believe that you believe as 

 I do — that the account smeUs too much of Major Longbow. If you believe it you do 

 believe it ; if you give your assent to it, it is quite another thing. A man only be- 

 lieves that which he does not disbelieve ; the moment a doubt crosses his mind he no 

 longer believes. A man may give his assent to anything ; but this does not prove he be' 

 lieves ; it only proves that he is a weak-minded man, or that which is worse, a hyj^o- 

 Ci-ite ; for instance, you or I may never have seen Napoleon the First ; we never 

 doubted his existence ; but that the shout of men should cause a Pigeon to lose the 

 power of its win^s, I set down as a downright lie. 

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