DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0151
I36 TRAVELS IN UPPER
use, to distinguish the several species of which it
consists. The tigers, roaming with extreme fero-
ciousness over a soil, the burning drought of which
is analogous to their own dispositions, surprise the
wild oxen, and, parched with the thirst of blood,
dart on the timid and innocent antelopes.
I frequently observed recent traces of ostriches*.
The hunting of these animals is one of the exer-
cises in which the Arab displays most address,
and his horse most speed. It requires considerable
time to master one of these birds, which run with
astonishing rapidity. Hussein, who was an old
experienced hunter, told me, by way of giving
me an idea of the length of the chase, that, if
they set out at eight in the morning, they could
not get to stop the ostrich, by throwing a stick
between his legs, in the same manner as at the
antelope, till near four o'clock in the afternoon.
With greyhounds it may be accomplished sooner.
Some, who have more patience, instead of hunt-
ing ostriches, keep on the watch behind bushes,
waiting to fire at them, if any one chance to pass
within shot. No person, however, eats their
flesh. VVhen they kill them, they content them-
selves with plucking out their fine feathers, to
* Autruche. Buffbn, Hist. Nat. des Ois, « pi. enlum. No.
457.—Strur/iio camelus, Lin,
make
use, to distinguish the several species of which it
consists. The tigers, roaming with extreme fero-
ciousness over a soil, the burning drought of which
is analogous to their own dispositions, surprise the
wild oxen, and, parched with the thirst of blood,
dart on the timid and innocent antelopes.
I frequently observed recent traces of ostriches*.
The hunting of these animals is one of the exer-
cises in which the Arab displays most address,
and his horse most speed. It requires considerable
time to master one of these birds, which run with
astonishing rapidity. Hussein, who was an old
experienced hunter, told me, by way of giving
me an idea of the length of the chase, that, if
they set out at eight in the morning, they could
not get to stop the ostrich, by throwing a stick
between his legs, in the same manner as at the
antelope, till near four o'clock in the afternoon.
With greyhounds it may be accomplished sooner.
Some, who have more patience, instead of hunt-
ing ostriches, keep on the watch behind bushes,
waiting to fire at them, if any one chance to pass
within shot. No person, however, eats their
flesh. VVhen they kill them, they content them-
selves with plucking out their fine feathers, to
* Autruche. Buffbn, Hist. Nat. des Ois, « pi. enlum. No.
457.—Strur/iio camelus, Lin,
make