But In Egypt There Are Diuers That Feede
Them Fatte With Bran And Barly, Vntill Their Tailes Growe So Bigge That
They Cannot Remooue Themselves From Place To Place:
Insomuch that those
which take charge of them are faine to binde little carts vnder their
tailes, to the end they may haue strength to walke.
I my selfe saw at a
citie in Egypt called Asiot, and standing vpon Nilus, about an hundred and
fiftie miles from Cairo, one of the saide rams tailes that weighed
fowerscore pounds, and others affirmed that they had seene one of those
tailes of an hundred and fiftie pounds weight. All the fatte therefore of
this beast consisteth in his taile; neither is there any of them to be
founde but onely in Tunis and in Egypt." (LEO AFRICANUS, edited by Dr.
Robert BROWN, III., 1896, Hakluyt Society, p. 945.)
XVIII., pp. 97, 100 n.
Dr. B. Laufer draws my attention to what is probably the oldest mention of
this sheep from Arabia, in Herodotus, Book III., Chap. 113:
"Concerning the spices of Arabia let no more be said. The whole country is
scented with them, and exhales an odour marvellously sweet. There are also
in Arabia two kinds of sheep worthy of admiration, the like of which is
nowhere else to be seen; the one kind has long tails, not less than three
cubits in length, which, if they were allowed to trail on the ground,
would be bruised and fall into sores. As it is, all the shepherds know
enough of carpentering to make little trucks for their sheep's tails. The
trucks are placed under the tails, each sheep having one to himself, and
the tails are then tied down upon them. The other kind has a broad tail,
which is a cubit across sometimes."
Canon G. Rawlinson, in his edition of Herodotus, has the following note on
this subject (II., p. 500): -
"Sheep of this character have acquired among our writers the name of Cape
Sheep, from the fact that they are the species chiefly affected by our
settlers at the Cape of Good Hope. They are common in Africa and
throughout the East, being found not only in Arabia, but in Persia, Syria,
Affghanistan, Egypt, Barbary, and even Asia Minor. A recent traveller,
writing from Smyrna, says: 'The sheep of the country are the Cape sheep,
having a kind of apron tail, entirely of rich marrowy fat, extending to
the width of their hind quarters, and frequently trailing on the ground;
the weight of the tail is often more than six or eight pounds' (FELLOWS'S
Asia Minor, p. 10). Leo Africanus, writing in the 15th century, regards
the broad tail as the great difference between the sheep of Africa and
that of Europe. He declares that one which he had seen in Egypt weighed
80 lbs. He also mentions the use of trucks which is still common in North
Africa."
XVIII., p. 98. "Camadi. - Reobarles. - In this plain there are a number of
villages and towns which have lofty walls of mud, made as a defence
against the banditti, who are very numerous, and are called CARAONAS. This
name is given them because they are the sons of Indian mothers by Tartar
fathers."
Mirza Haidar writes (Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p. 148): "The learned Mirza Ulugh
Beg has written a history which he has called Ulus Arbaa. One of the
'four hordes' is that of the Moghul, who are divided into two branches,
the Moghul and the Chaghatai. But these two branches, on account of their
mutual enmity, used to call each other by a special name, by way of
depreciation. Thus the Chaghatai called the Moghul Jatah, while the
Moghul called the Chaghatai Karawanas."
Cf. Ney ELIAS, l.c., pp. 76-77, and App. B, pp. 491-2, containing an
inquiry made in Khorasan by Mr. Maula Bakhsh, Attache at the Meshed
Consulate General, of the families of Karnas, he has heard or seen; he
says: "These people speak Turki now, and are considered part of the Goklan
Turkomans. They, however, say they are Chingiz-Khani Moghuls, and are no
doubt the descendants of the same Karnas, or Karavanas, who took such a
prominent part in the victories in Persia.
"The word Karnas, I was told by a learned Goklan Mullah, means Tirandaz,
or Shikari (i.e. Archer or Hunter), and was applied to this tribe of
Moghuls on account of their professional skill in shooting, which
apparently secured them an important place in the army. In Turki the word
Karnas means Shikamparast - literally, 'belly worshippers,' which implies
avarice. This term is in use at present, and I was told, by a Kazi of
Bujnurd, that it is sometimes used by way of reproach.... The Karnas
people in Mana and Gurgan say it is the name of their tribe, and they can
give no other explanation."
XVIII., pp. 98, 102, 165. "The King of these scoundrels is called
NOGODAR."
Sir Aurel Stein has the following regarding the route taken by this Chief
in Serindia, I., pp. 11-12: -
"To revert to an earlier period it is noteworthy that the route in Marco
Polo's account, by which the Mongol partisan leader Nigudar, 'with a great
body of horsemen, cruel unscrupulous fellows,' made his way from
Badakhshan 'through another province called PASHAI-DIR, and then through
another called ARIORA-KESHEMUR' to India, must have led down the Bashgol
Valley. The name of Pashai clearly refers to the Kafirs among whom this
tribal designation exists to this day, while the mention of Dir indicates
the direction which this remarkable inroad had taken. That its further
progress must have lain through Swat is made probable by the name which,
in Marco Polo's account, precedes that of 'Keshemur' or Kashmir; for in
the hitherto unexplained Ariora can be recognized, I believe, the
present Agror, the name of the well-known hill-tract on the Hazara border
which faces Buner from the left bank of the Indus.
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