One Of Our Arabs Left
Us, And By A Widely Circuitous Road Endeavoured To Get To Leeward Of
Them, And Near Enough To Fire At Them; He Enjoined Us To Remain In Sight
Of Them, And To Sit Down In Order Not To Alarm Them.
He had nearly
reached a favourable spot behind a rock, when the goats suddenly took to
flight.
They could not have seen the Arab, but the wind changed, and
thus they smelt him. The chase of the Beden, as the wild goat is called,
resembles that of the chamois of the Alps, and requires as much
enterprise and patience. The Arabs make long circuits to surprise them,
and endeavour to come upon them early in the morning when they feed. The
goats have a leader, who keeps watch, and on any suspicious smell,
sound, or object, makes a noise which is a signal to the flock to make
their escape. They have much decreased of late, if we may believe the
Arabs, who say that, fifty years ago, if a stranger came to a tent and
the owner of it had no sheep to kill, he took his gun and went in search
of a Beden. They are however even now more common than in the Alps, or
in the mountains to the east of the Red sea. I had three or four of them
brought to me at the convent, which I bought at threefourths of a dollar
each. The flesh is excellent, and has nearly the same flavour as that of
the deer.
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