306 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat '14, 1885. 



fa £pwtettt**i §}ouri$L 



WILD BOAR SHOOTING IN SYRIA. 



OK an April morning of a year not yet attained to the 

 rusty dignity of antiquity, a traveler might have been 

 seen (in the language of novelists) riding along the shore at 

 the head of the Dead Sea. By his side rode an Arab, 

 swathed up in the lavish folds of his blanket and turban- 

 cloth, and mounted on a miserable specimen of the equine 

 race. But -why this Arab should have thought fit to make 

 a human chrysalis of himself in this manner is not to be ex- 

 plained, save by mention that it was a little way of his, for 

 the traveler aforesaid being the present writer, he will vouch 

 for it that the day was about as hot as the average wicked 

 mortal could hope to experience in this world. Indeed, the 

 tablets of his memory were so fused and blended together 

 by the. heat, that it is not altogether easy to separate and re- 

 produce some of the incidents of that day. A fierce sun, 

 already high overhead, blazed down upon this drear and 

 desolate corner of the world. Gaunt hills and sterile plains 

 of dust and sand reflected back its glare tenfold, and between 

 the rays of one and the terrestrial oven of the other, the air 

 danced in angry ebullition as though fretting over its futile 

 attempts to play the role of peacemaker in the warfare above 

 and beneath. Great fissures and cracks gaped in the sun-dried 

 bridle path, so that the horses had to be allowed to pick 

 their own way, which they did with many a stumble and 

 slip suggestive' of foundering like a ship at sea. Countless 

 green, brown and bronze lizards lay basking on the blister- 

 ing rocks, and startled by the clattering hoofs, would scuttle 

 away in precipitous haste to dive down into the darkness of 

 these cracks which filigreed the road. Stretching far away 

 into the blue hills of Moab shone the Dead Sea, in the. near 

 waters of which could be traced the blue meandering line of 

 the entering: Jordan wandering disconsolate in the "lake of 

 Borrows," till it spread in undefined limits, and was lost. 



Most gloomy is the aspect which this tomb of the cities of 

 the plain wears at all limes, and not less now that the full 

 noonday sun mocked with glittering its saline waters; re- 

 doubled the grinmess of the bordering hills with lights and 

 shadows, and intensified the ghostly glare of its shores, 

 decorated with the whitened ornaments of death, withered 

 leafless branches, camel bones and debris cast up to bleach 

 upon these stony, colorless margins. So weird an attraction 

 had the lake for me that I rode down to its brink, and an- 

 nounced to Hassan, my attendant dragoman, my intention 

 of having a dip in it — for experience and novelty's sake. 

 But strenuously did Hassan endeavor to dissuade me, saying, 

 "the howaga no bathe in bad lake, or the sun hit him plenty 

 heavy, and he then come fool," which being interpreted 

 (Hassan's English being a little shaky) meant that a dip in 

 these bituminous waters, combined with the heat of the sun 

 overhead, would in all probability land me with a sunstroke. 

 However, I insisted on having my own way, and forthwith 

 set about putting my purpose into execution. But 1 confess 

 that the game was not worth the candle, and I would not 

 recommend invalids from any hospital, except a lunatic 

 asylum, to "take the baths" of the Dead Sea. Water has an 

 aggravating way of finding entrance to the bather's mouth, 

 be he never so wary, and that of the Dead Sea has a very 

 much more pronounced flavor than warm flat irons. I tasted 

 it well, so I know. A faithless stone giving way under my 

 foot precipitated my immersion, and the exclamation which 

 involuntarily sought for expression was cut short in its 

 career by a thorough and most disagreeable acquaintance 

 with a 'taste of Sodom and Gomorrah, and to judge 

 by the sample, I have now no doubt that the sins of 

 those twin go-as-you-please cities had that strong odor which 

 is said to have ascended even to the skies. You cannot sink 

 if you try in these waters, wherefore would-be suicides had 

 better look for some other watery grave, and the best thing 

 you can do when you bathe in the Dead Sea is to do as I did 

 and get out again as quickly as possible. On emerging I 

 was a veritable pillar of salt, and long after Hassan and I 

 had ridden back into the hills too far to look back into the 

 hollow of the lake whereon the angry sun rained fire, I had 

 an uneasy sensation that I was not quite so comfortable in 

 the saddle as I had been before my dip. Nevertheless it was 

 necessary to ride now as hard as the rough road and stumb- 

 ling horses would let us if we hoped to catch up with the 

 rest of the party, and reach our destination, Jericho, before 

 night should overtake us. 



Traveling with me at the time was my sister, and knowing 

 that the clay's journey would be long and tedious, I had 

 arranged that she should set out early from our last resting 

 place with our four or five Syrian servants and the baggage 

 mules, so that the requisite pace might be easier for her. 

 The usual midday halt was to be made at the weil of Hag- 

 dar, and to this rendezvous Hassan and I now made all haste. 

 And a welcome sight to us after our quick ride was this 

 wayside fountain, overshadowed by a gnarled and ancient 

 sycamore, and watched over by the spirit of the Moslem 

 sheykh, whose white-domed tomb shone out among the 

 neighboring rocks— a guiding landmark for all thirsty trav- 

 elers in these sandy wastes. The scene had an uniqueness of 

 its own, and with 'the Eastern party resting under the shade 

 of the patriarchal tree, the horses and mules browsing on 

 the sparse desert grass, and the sterile framework of the 

 picture, seemed a cameo of Semitic history. One could 

 hear in fancy the flocks of a Nathan bleating on the hillside, 

 and see in one's mind's eye the Arab shepherds chatting 

 round the peaceful fountain, whereto 



All the daughters of the waters 

 Brought their pitchers there to fill. 

 Nor had we long to wait before, in some sense, we real- 

 ized the traditionary imaginings of the place. Shortly after 

 rejoining my party another cavalcade appeared, issuing from 

 an opposite gorge in the bills, consisting of some half dozen 

 loaded camels and a few donkeys ridden by a motley assort- 

 ment of Syrians. Arrived at the well, they likewise dis- 

 mounted, and after watering their beasts produced their bags 

 of dates and bread for the noonday meal. They were a 

 band of merchants carrying their wares to southern bazaars. 

 At their head was a good-looking young Arab who, from the 

 respect shown him by his fellows, was evidently a man of 

 means, and one that "hath two coats/' After the custom- 

 ary salams had passed between us, and we had jointly and 

 severally wished that prosperity might wait upon each other 's 

 households, silence reigned between us tor awhile. I noticed 

 that every now and then this young trader cast furtive 

 glances at my sister, but believing them to be partly due to 

 astonishment that any girl should go unveiled, I was not at 

 all prepared lor the somewhat abrupt remark which sud- 



denly broke the silence between us, nor the conversation 

 which followed in this wise: 



"What would the howaga be willing- to sell her for?" 



"Disappointment vex not my brother, but I could not sell 

 her." 



"I will give the howaga a camel and two donkeys for 

 her." 



"The offer is generous, but I have no wish to part with 

 her. She is the howaga's sister. " 



"Tiab, but your brother is rich, and will give even two 

 camels and a donkey for her. The offer is great." 



"No, I desire not to bargain. It is impossible that she be 

 bought." 



"Does the howaga speak as a true man not wishing to sell, 

 or even as one who desireth a large price?" 



"As a man that meaneth what he. hath said." 



"Good." 



And here our exchange of ideas relapsed into silence again, 

 and so continued until I had once more started with my 

 own party from the well of Hagdar, wishing that ardent 

 youth before departing some choice and florid Syriac expres- 

 sions of good will, and praying that success might follow 

 him in all his journeyings. 



This incident combines instruction with amusement or I 

 would hasten to apologize to my reader for resting so loug 

 by the wayside when wild boar shooting is what 1 promised 

 to discourse upon. But all in good time. Rests are neces- 

 sary, even to the sportsman, and have I not the authority of 

 Scott's lazy minstrel to justify mc in finding that "the way 

 was long and the wind was cold," with the slight difference 

 that in the present case there was a most deplorable lack of 

 wind, cold or otherwise. Yet, oh most patient reader! the 

 longest lanes have turnings, even Syrian ones, which wind 

 among mazes of hill and plain as though inclined to thwart 

 the adage, and as the sunset hour approached, ourselves and 

 jaded steeds took heart of grace to see in the distance the 

 many tiny white-domed houses of our goal, Jericho, "the city 

 of palm groves." Why so called I know not, for its gardens 

 hardly justify the name, and far more apt had been the title 

 "the city of dust, dogs and fleas." For this trio reigns 

 supreme iu the squalid huts and tortuous streets — the human 

 burrowings of an animated dust-heap. 



Of all the grimy, dirty towns that I have seen (and they 

 are not few) commend me to Jericho, where a thorough ex- 

 perience may be gained of the practical working of Moham- 

 med's tenet that for purposes of ablution dust may be used in 

 lieu of water. Exists there not among English colloquial- 

 isms, the retort courteous to undesired company, "Oh, go to 

 Jericho?" Such a wish is filled with all uncharitableness, 

 and should be uttered only in dire necessity. Fearful will 

 be the fate of him who followeth such advice and goeth 

 there. The dust of trumpet-crumbled walls has seemingly 

 never settled, but with the augmentations of ages drifts 

 bomelessly upon the air; ragged, hungry dogs prowl round 

 the narrow streets seekiug a precarious living on rubbish by 

 day, and making night hideous with canine serenades; and 

 fleas— well, this, is a delicate subject, but I may suggest that 

 it is always advisable to turn the bed clothes down before 

 reposing, and to brush some of them out with a broom. 

 That unregenerate traveler, who, when informed by the 

 pastor thatJSlbah took two and only two of every living 

 thing into the ark with him, could not reconcile his experi- 

 ence of Easterns with the idea that Noah and his family had 

 only two fleas among them, had perchance been to Jericho. 

 A visit there would justify any scepticism on the subject. 



For all which reasons and sundry others, we elected to 

 make our camp outside the town rather than endure the 

 manifold ills of its cabined, cribbed and confined interior. 

 But the disposition which the dogs evinced to howl at the 

 departing sun was proof enough to me that their welcoming 

 of the moon would be a prolonged agony, and play havoc 

 with the mists of Morpheus. Moreover, the heat retained by 

 the sun-baked earth already made oppressive the evening air 

 and warned me that sleep would be of the feverish kind this 

 night; wherefore I cast about me for some excuse for wake- 

 fulness. There is a wondrous solace to the nerves in thwart- 

 ing the enmity of circumstance, and in Mark Tapleyian 

 mood making your desire that which you foresee Fate means 

 to thrust upon you. So now I took occasion by the hand, 

 and together we went forth in search of a reason for turning 

 into a vigil a night which to all appearances was destined to 

 be a sleepless one. Kind fortune befriending me, I had not 

 wandered far from camp before I met a gr®up of Syrians re- 

 turning from the town to their homes in some outlying vil- 

 lage. They were wild-looking fellows enough, clad in very 

 dilapidated attire, and armed with heavy sticks and match- 

 locks. Evidently these were the indigenous sportsmen of 

 the soil— native correspondents of a future Jerichonian 

 Forest and Stream— and to their company I accordingly 

 betook myself for advice. In answer to my inquiries as to 

 whether there were any hyenas about, or where I could 

 watch for the early morning flights of geese, they either did 

 not know or did not wish to betray their own hunting 

 grounds, for they asserted that I should find neither of these 

 hereabouts. 



However, I was bent on hunting something, and so entered 

 into a general sort of conversation with them, in the course 

 of which it leaked out that in the immediate neighborhood 

 there were plenty of wild pigs. Now, as the Moslem hates 

 the "kanseer" with fanatical zeal (as full many a Coptic pig, 

 whose daily existence is embittered by the beatings received 

 from Arab children, could tell— he could hardly "unfold a 

 tail"), and as I had an equally strong desire to wage war 

 upon the unoffending, but nathless Koran-condemned 

 swine, arrangements were soon made with these natives for 

 a regular out-and-out moonlight hunt; I taking some care to 

 promise a largely increased backsheesh if success attended on 

 our excursion. My brave porcine conspirators told me that 

 just before daybreak would be the best hour, and that their 

 own party of men would be amply sufficient for all purposes, 

 only, thev added, they must first go home and procure dogs, 

 guns, sticks, tobacco, dates, and all the paraphernalia which 

 a Syrian considers due to the dignity of a hunting expedi- 

 tion. All this being agreed upon— I being in blissful ignor- 

 ance of where and by what means the Jericho pig was to be 

 lured to destruction— it was finally settled that the spokes- 

 man of the party, who seemed to be the one having author- 

 ity, should come to my camp, which I pointed out to him, 

 some hours later, and I would be ready to go with him 

 whithersoever he listed. According with this understanding 

 we Darted for the present; they to their homes to procure all 

 needful armament, and 1 to my cheery little camp, lilted up 

 in heart, and knit to do great deeds against the "wild hog 

 that breaketh into the vineyard by night and rooteth among 

 the vines," , „ . , . _, 



On regaining the camp, I found that the faithful Hassan 

 had dulv seen that all was in order for the night. The two 



tents had been pitched and the baggage stored, the beasts 

 hobbled and turned loose upon the hillside to find their sup- 

 per, while round the camp-fire were squatting in a ring the 

 men laughing, smoking and telling those tales which East- 

 erns, like children, are ever ready to listen to. Gradually 

 night settled upon town and camp, a moon, half waned, rose 

 bright above the shadowy hills, and countless stars peeped 

 down through the cracks of the great black sky. One by 

 one the figures at the smouldering fire crept noiselessly away 

 to wrap themselves in their camel-hair rugs, and sleep till 

 the sun's warmth should awake them, and no sounds dis- 

 turbed the universal peace save the subdued murmur of the 

 two watchmen at the fire, the plaintive cries of those aerial 

 elfs of darkness— bats, and the occasional yelping of some 

 prowling dog which lifted up its voice and wept exceedingly. 

 How 1 longed for those quiet hours to pass, as I sat before 

 my tent weaving in my mind the warp and woof aud weft 

 of mauy useless theories, and wondering where could be my 

 Ciceronian sportsman who should lead me forth to a new 

 experience in huuting. Tediously the minutes weut by, un- 

 til I almost feared that he might have forgotten his promise 

 except for a knowledge of the magnetic power of "back- 

 sheesh," and an inward consciousness that the kettle of time, 

 even like unto other kettles, boils slowly when watched. 



But more punctually than my expectancies gave him credit 

 for, my cicero appeared at last. Emerging from the shade 

 of a sont-tree a muffled figure walked softly up to the watch- 

 men by the fire, and saying something which distance ren- 

 dered unintelligible, received an answer and came on toward 

 me. "Is that Salami ?" (the name be had given me). "Yes; 

 is the howaga ready?" "Quite;" and telling him not to talk 

 until we should be beyond hearing of the sleepers, I picked 

 up my rifle and cartridge case and together we walked forth 

 into the quiet gully lying below the town. There is always 

 to my mind something strangely uncanny in the ways of 

 moonlight, and weird was this walk of mine with my silent 

 companion trudging on ahead. I was in no mood for talk- 

 ing, my thoughts being filled with the twisted fancies be- 

 taught of those air-sprites who whisper their secrets to mor^ 

 tals at such times, and, as I stumbled and groped my way 

 among the rocks aud hollows of the moon-checkered path, 

 hobgoblins and gnomes haunted the no-man's land which lay 

 among the light and shadow draperies of the ground, and 

 danced and vanished at my feet. Now and then some sud- 

 den word of warning from my guide would jar upon my 

 reveries, or a knock against some harder stone than usual 

 recall me to a world more tangible than that of dreams, but 

 otherwise the night was spectral and the stillness of the air 

 seemed the deeper when, in contrast to its silence, some owl, 

 startled from its prey, sped away into the dark with a ghostly 

 shriek, or a village dog^hined piteously its woes to a sleep- 

 ing world. 



Steadfastly on kept the muffled figure before me, and 

 closely I followed. All villages we had seemingly left be- 

 hind, and to judge by the roughness of the path, and the 

 dim outlines of the hills around us, we were in some wild 

 and lonely gorge to the south of Jericho. Where was this 

 strange guide leading me to, who spoke not, turned not, 

 rested not, but hidden in the copious folds of his cloak which 

 must have been handed down through many generations of 

 prophets, so ragged and time-worn was it, held on the even 

 tenor of his way? Was it quite well, I wondered, to trust 

 too much to him when I had other cares than myself to at- 

 tend to? I began almost to doubt his good faith, and whether 

 1 ought to proceed any further, so stepping up to his side, I 

 asked him how far had we yet to go before reaching our 

 destination. "Can the howaga see down in the hollow a 

 clump of trees? Those trees stand at the mouth of the 

 valley where we will hunt the kanseer, and the men and 

 dogs are awaiting us there." All right, thought I, we will 

 humor your little ways as far as the trees at least, and on we 

 went as" before, he leading in eloquent silence, and I follow- 

 ing and wondering divers things. A little more stumbling 

 over stones which looked shadows, and treading on shadows 

 which looked like stones, with oftimes a sad shock to the 

 nervous system, and we arrived at the clump of sont-trees 

 which Salami had pointed out. 



Whether the men were there or not, I could not at first 

 see, but as for the matter of dogs his statement was promptly 

 and thoroughly justified. No sooner had we clambered up 

 the hillock whereon was the rendezvous, and taken on us the 

 semblance of mortal visitors, than a pack of every kind aud 

 colored quadruped, which by distant relationship with cauine 

 ancestors could call itself a dog, came rushing down the 

 slope at us and commenced sniffing and snarling and growl- 

 ing in most unwelcome unison, Big dogs and little dogs; 

 shaggy-coated and smooth-coated; dark, light, medium, 

 parti-colored beasts; puppies and patriarchs, all were here; 

 This, if you please, was the Jerichonian idea of the necessary 

 dog element in a wild boar hunt. Obviously the members 

 had been gathered from the highways and hedges, and ap- 

 parently seemed accustomed to such calls of emergency. 

 Obedience they appeared to owe to no one in particular, but 

 consistently played the role of jovial freebooters on their own 

 account, tempered by a due respect for flying stones and up- 

 lifted sticks; and it occcurred to me that if they worried the 

 kanseer with half the zeal they worried me there was every 

 prospect of my getting a shot at the Eastern piggy. 



Among the trees were five or six dusky sportsmen await- 

 ing our arrival, carefully muffled up like my guide to guard 

 against the chills of the night air. Two of them were armed 

 with long Bedouin matchlocks, the muzzles of which I 

 took care to shuu as a Hottentot is said to shun his mother- 

 in-law, and the rest carried the "nebut" or thick quarter-staff 

 which all Syrians and Arabs possess. 



All things being now considered ready, my guide, philoso- 

 pher and friend commenced to marshal his forces into work- 

 ing order. It appeared that the modus operandi of betraying 

 the Jericho pig was to be in this wise. From our tree-crowned 

 hillock a narrow valley led westward, which, at a short dis- 

 tance beyond its neck, bifurcated into three divisions, wherein 

 the wild boar held nocturnal revelry. The plan was for the 

 entire, party of men and dogs to start from the far end of 

 each of these radiating valleys in succession, and spreadmg 

 over the hillsides drive before them the game, whose haunts 

 they thus purposed so unceremoniously to disturb. Mean^ 

 while I was to be conducted to some hiding place at the 

 joint entrance of these valleys, and from my vantage ground 

 stop any porcine rambler that fortune should send me. All 

 this appeared to be simplicity itself, and on my acquiescing 

 to the arrangement, everybody forthwith proceeded to put 

 his own part of the performance into execution. With a 

 rush and a tumble the dogs vanished into the dark as if 

 anxious for the fun to begin, aud the men, shouldering their 

 matchlocks and nebuts, started off in an apparently different 

 direction to that destined for their energies— a fact which 

 my faithful Arab explained to be necessary in order to 



