There Are Also A Great Number Of Eagles, All Broken To Catch Wolves,
Foxes, Deer, And Wild Goats, And They Do Catch Them In Great Numbers.
But
those especially that are trained to wolf-catching are very large and
powerful birds, and no wolf is able to get away from them.[NOTE 4]
NOTE 1. - The Cheeta or Hunting-Leopard, still kept for the chase by native
noblemen in India, is an animal very distinct from the true leopard. It is
much more lanky and long-legged than the pure felines, is unable to climb
trees, and has claws only partially retractile. Wood calls it a link
between the feline and canine races. One thousand Cheetas were attached to
Akbar's hunting establishment; and the chief one, called Semend-Manik, was
carried to the field in a palankin with a kettledrum beaten before him.
Boldensel in the first half of the 14th century speaks of the Cheeta as
habitually used in Cyprus; but, indeed, a hundred years before, these
animals had been constantly employed by the Emperor Frederic II. in Italy,
and accompanied him on all his marches. They were introduced into France
in the latter part of the 15th century, and frequently employed by Lewis
XI., Charles VIII., and Lewis XII. The leopards were kept in a ditch of
the Castle of Amboise, and the name still borne by a gate hard by, Porte
des Lions, is supposed to be due to that circumstance. The Moeurs et
Usages du Moyen Age (Lacroix), from which I take the last facts, gives
copy of a print by John Stradanus representing a huntsman with the leopard
on his horse's crupper, like Kublai's (supra, Bk. I. ch. lxi.); Frederic
II. used to say of his Cheetas, "they knew how to ride." This way of
taking the Cheeta to the field had been first employed by the Khalif
Yazid, son of Moawiyah. The Cheeta often appears in the pattern of silk
damasks of the 13th and 14th centuries, both Asiatic and Italian. (Ayeen
Akbery, I. 304, etc.; Boldensel, in Canisii Thesaurus, by Basnage,
vol. IV. p. 339; Kington's Fred. II. I. 472, II. 156; Bochart,
Hierozoica, 797; Rock's Catalogue, passim.)
[The hunting equipment of the Sultan consisted of about thirty falconers
on horseback who carried each a bird on his fist. These falconers were in
front of seven horsemen, who had behind a kind of tamed tiger at times
employed by His Highness for hare-hunting, notwithstanding what may be
said to the contrary by those who are inclined not to believe the fact. It
is a thing known by everybody here, and cannot be doubted except by those
who admit that they believe nothing of foreign customs. These tigers were
each covered with a brocade cloth - and their peaceful attitude, added to
their ferocious and savage looks, caused at the same time astonishment and
fear in the soul of those whom they looked upon. (Journal d'Antoine
Galland, trad. par Ch. Schefer, I. p. 135.) The Cheeta (Gueparda
jubata) was, according to Sir W. Jones, first employed in hunting
antelopes by Hushing, King of Persia, 865 B.C. - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - The word rendered Lynxes is Leu cervers (G. Text), Louz
serviers of Pauthier's MS. C, though he has adopted from another Loups
simply, which is certainly wrong. The Geog. Latin has "Linceos i.e.
lupos cerverios." There is no doubt that the Loup-cervier is the Lynx.
Thus Brunetto Latini, describing the Loup-cervier, speaks of its
remarkable powers of vision, and refers to its agency in the production of
the precious stone called Liguire (i.e. Ligurium), which the ancients
fancied to come from Lync-urium; the tale is in Theophrastus). Yet the
quaint Bestiary of Philip de Thaun, published by Mr. Wright, identifies it
with the Greek Hyena: -
"Hyena e Griu num, que nus beste apellum,
Ceo est Lucervere, oler fait et mult est fere."
[The Abbe Armand David writes (Missions Cathol. XXI. 1889, p. 227) that
there is in China, from the mountains of Manchuria to the mountains of
Tibet, a lynx called by the Chinese T'u-pao (earth-coloured panther);
a lynx somewhat similar to the loup-cervier is found on the western
border of China, and has been named Lyncus Desgodinsi. - H. C.]
Hunting Lynxes were used at the Court of Akbar. They are also mentioned by
A. Hamilton as so used in Sind at the end of the 17th century. This author
calls the animal a Shoe-goose! i.e. Siya-gosh (Black-ear), the Persian
name of the Lynx. It is still occasionally used in the chase by natives of
rank in India. (Brunetto Lat. Tresor, p. 248; Popular Treatises on
Science written during Mid. Ages, 94; Ayeen Akbery, u.s.; Hamilt. E.
Indies, I. 125; Vigne, I. 42.)
NOTE 3. - The conception of a Tiger seems almost to have dropped out of the
European mind during the Middle Ages. Thus in a mediaeval Bestiary, a
chapter on the Tiger begins: "Une Beste est qui est apelee Tigre c'est
une maniere de Serpent." Hence Polo can only call the Tigers, whose
portrait he draws here not incorrectly, Lions. So also nearly 200 years
later Barbaro gives a like portrait, and calls the animal Leonza.
Marsden supposes judiciously that the confusion may have been promoted by
the ambiguity of the Persian Sher.
[Illustration: The Burgut Eagle. (After Atkinson)
"Il a encore aiglies qe sunt afaites a prendre leus et voupes et dain et
chavrion, et en prennent assez."]
The Chinese pilgrim, Sung-Yun (A.D. 518), saw two young lions at the Court
of Gandhara. He remarks that the pictures of these animals common in
China, were not at all good likenesses. (Beal, p. 200.)
We do not hear in modern times of Tigers trained to the chase, but Chardin
says of Persia: "In hunting the larger animals they make use of beasts of
prey trained for the purpose, lions, leopards, tigers, panthers,
ounces."
NOTE 4. - This is perfectly correct.
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