The Reader Will Feel This After Perusing In “Percy’S Reliques”
Rio Verde!
Rio Verde!
And its translation.
[FN#39] In our knightly ages the mare was ridden only by jugglers and
charlatans. Did this custom arise from the hatred of, and contempt for,
the habits of the Arabs, imported into Europe by the Crusaders?
Certainly the popular Eastern idea of a Frank was formed in those days,
and survives to these.
[FN#40] Baron Von Hammer-Purgstall, in the “Falkner-Klee,” calls this bird
the “Saker-falke.” Hence the French and English names sacre and saker. The
learned John Beckmann (History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins:
sub voce) derives falconry from India, where, “as early as the time of
Ctesias, hares and foxes were hunted by means of rapacious birds.” I
believe, however, that no trace of this sport is found in the writings
of the Hindus. Beckmann agrees with Giraldus, against other literati,
that the ancient Greeks knew the art of hawking, and proves from
Aristotle, that in Thrace men trained falcons. But Aristotle alludes to
the use of the bird, as an owl is employed in Italy: the falcon is
described as frightening, not catching the birds. Œlian corroborates
Aristotle’s testimony. Pliny, however, distinctly asserts that the hawks
strike their prey down. “In Italy it was very common,” says the learned
Beckmann, “for Martial and Apuleius speak of it as a thing everywhere
known. Hence the science spread over Europe, and reached perfection at
the principal courts in the twelfth century.” The Emperor Frederic II.
wrote “De Arte Venandi cum Avibus,” and the royal author was followed by a
host of imitators in the vulgar tongue. Though I am not aware that the
Hindus ever cultivated the art, Œlian, it must be confessed, describes
their style of training falcons exactly similar to that in use among
the modern Persians, Sindians, and Arabs. The Emperor Frederic owes the
“capella,” or hood to the Badawi, and talks of the “most expert falconers” sent
to him with various kinds of birds by some of the kings of Arabia. The
origin of falconry is ascribed by Al-Mas’udi, on the authority of Adham
bin Muhriz, to the king Al-Haris bin Mu’awiyah, and in Dr. Sprenger’s
admirable translation the reader will find (pp. 426, 428), much
information upon the subject. The Persians claim the invention for
their just King, Anushirawan, contemporary with Mohammed. Thence the
sport passed into Turkey, where it is said the Sultans maintained a
body of 6000 falconers. And Frederic Barbarossa, in the twelfth
century, brought falcons to Italy. We may fairly give the honour of the
invention to Central Asia.
[FN#41] Here called “bandukiyah bi ruhayn,” or the two-mouthed gun. The
leathern cover is termed “gushat”; it is a bag with a long-ringed tassel at
the top of the barrel, and a strap by which it is slung to the owner’s
back.
[FN#42] I described elsewhere the Mirzak, or javelin.
[FN#43] Ostriches are found in Al-Hijaz, where the Badawin shoot after
coursing them. The young ones are caught and tamed, and the eggs may be
bought in the Madinah bazar. Throughout Arabia there is a belief that
the ostrich throws stones at the hunter. The superstition may have
arisen from the pebbles being flung up behind by the bird’s large feet in
his rapid flight, or it may be a mere “foolery of fancy.” Even in lands
which have long given up animal-worship, wherever a beast is
conspicuous or terrible, it becomes the subject of some marvellous
tale. So the bear in Persia imitates a moolah’s dress; the wolf in France
is a human being transformed, and the beaver of North America, also a
metamorphosis, belts trees so as to fell them in the direction most
suitable to his after purpose.
[FN#44] Not that the “Agrebi” of Bir Hamid and other parts have much to
learn of us in vice. The land of Al-Yaman is, I believe, the most
demoralised country, and Sana’a the most depraved city in Arabia. The
fair sex distinguishes itself by a peculiar laxity of conduct, which is
looked upon with an indulgent eye. And the men drink and gamble, to say
nothing of other peccadilloes, with perfect impunity.
[FN#45] In Al-Yaman, it is believed, that if a man eat three heads of
garlic in good mountain-samn (or clarified butter) for forty days, his
blood will kill the snake that draws it.
[FN#46] Circumcisionis causa apud Arabos manifestissima, ulceratio enim
endemica, abrasionem glandis aut praeputii, maxima cum facilitate
insequitur. Mos autem quem vocant Arabes Al-Salkh ([Arabic] i.e.
scarificatio) virilitatem animumque ostendendi modus esse videtur.
Exeunt amici paterque, et juvenem sub dio sedentem circumstant. Capit
tunc pugionem tonsor et præputio abscisso detrahit pellem [Greek] ab
umbilico incipiens aut parum infra, ventremque usque ad femora nudat.
Juvenis autem dextra pugionem super tergum tonsoris vibrans magna
clamat voce [Arabic] i.e. caede sine timore. Vae si haesitet tonsor aut
si tremeat manus! Pater etiam filium si dolore ululet statim occidit.
Re confecta surgit juvenis et [Arabic] “Gloria Deo” intonans, ad tentoria
tendit, statim nefando oppressus dolore humi procumbit. Remedia Sal, et
[Arabic] (tumerica); cibus lac cameli. Nonnullos occidit ingens
suppuratio, decem autem excoriatis supersunt plerumque octo: hi pecten
habent nullum, ventremque pallida tegit cutis.
[FN#47] The Spanish dollar is most prized in Al-Hijaz; in Al-Yaman the
Maria Theresa. The Spanish Government has refused to perpetuate its
Pillar-dollar, which at one time was so great a favourite in the East.
The traveller wonders how “Maria Theresas” still supply both shores of the
Red Sea. The marvel is easily explained: the Austrians receive silver
at Milan, and stamp it for a certain percentage. This coin was
doubtless preferred by the Badawin for its superiority to the currency
of the day: they make from it ornaments for their women and decorations
for their weapons.
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