RESIDENCE OF THE MISSION AT BUSHIRE. 
65 
hawks. The freshness, or rather the coldness of the morning, was quite 
revivifying. We were accompanied by an old and keen sportsman, 
who had long been renowned in the plains of Buskire for his expertness 
in training a hawk, and his perseverance in hunting the hoobara or 
bustard. The old Reis, the name by which he was known, was one of 
the most picturesque figures on horseback that I ever saw. He was 
rather tall, with a neck very long, and a beard very grey. His body, 
either through age or the long use of a favourite position on horseback, 
inclined forwards till it made an angle of 45° with his thighs, which 
run nearly parallel to the horse’s back ; and his beard projected so much 
from his lank neck, that it completed the amusement of the profile. On 
his right wrist, which was covered by large gloves, his hawk was 
perched. The bird is always kept hood-winked, till the game be near. 
On our way we were joined by Hass an Khan, the Governor of 
Dasti, who also carried a hawk, and who was attended by about 
fifteen men with spears, the kaleoons, or water pipes, &c. We proceeded 
to Halila , where we commenced our hunt. A hoobara started almost 
under the foot of my horse; as the bird flew, a hawk was unhooded 
that he might mark the direction, and was loosed only when it settled. 
But the sport was unsuccessful in two or three attempts ; in fact, when 
the hawk has had one flight, and has missed his prey, he should be fed 
with the blood of a pigeon, and then hood-winked, and not permitted 
to fly again in that day’s sport. As soon as the hawk has taken his 
flight, the sportsmen remain quiet till they can see that their bird has 
seized his prey, when they ride up and disengage them. 
The Jerboa. On the 1st Dec. we caught some jerboas ; and I had 
an opportunity of delineating and observing with some nicety all their 
different properties. The description of this animal has been given so 
minutely by Sonn ini, and, with the controversy on the subject, has 
occupied indeed so very long a chapter of one of his volumes, that it 
would be superfluous to go over again the same tedious ground. As 
there are, however, some little exceptions in the jerboa which I saw at 
Bushire, I shall endeavour to point them out. In the first place, that 
K 
