catching deer affords much amusement; it is much superior to the Cheeta-hunting in India.

The Churkh is reared with infinite pains and trouble; if it has not been well attended to by the Meer Shikal, and has not taken the usual medicines, it becomes lazy, and often flies away. You may hunt with this bird singly, or with another. There are other kind of hawks for catching partridges, quails, pidgeons, &c.

The wild ass is seldom hunted, owing to its very great speed; whenever it is, horses are stationed in places where it is most likely to run; and by continually charging your horses, you sometimes overtake this surprisingly fleet animal. In the mountainous parts of Persia they have the wild sheep and goat, both of them delicious food.

The Persians delight in keeping fighting rams; I think I never witnessed a more bloody or more cruel conflict than two of these furious animals engaging with each other. On these occasions the passions of the Persians are worked up to the highest pitch; and it often happens that a quarrel among the men succeeds a battle between the beasts.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Of the Horses of Arabia and Persia.

THE horses of Arabia and Persia are considered to be superior to those of any country; and we may attribute the great improvement of our breed in England, to the introduction of Arabian stallions. Their spirit, docility, and vivacity is remarkable, and is only equalled by the gentleness and mildness of their tempers. It is very well known that the Arabs pay the minutest attention to their breed of horses, register their foal's pedigree, and will not purchase a horse who has not a certificate of his geneology.*

Nujd, the largest province in Arabia, and belonging to the Wuhabee, produces the finest and most valuable breed of horses. Their breeds are very numerous; and as I write in a country which is supplied with horses from Persia and Arabia, I trust that my mentioning the names of the best and most esteemed may be attended with some advantage.†

Those in Nujd are the following, and are named after the appellation of their tribes. Uby-yu, Soytee, Unezu, Humdanee, Reeshan, Motyran, Diheem, Huzmee, Shumytee Kohilan. Some of the breeds have been introduced into the neighbouring countries, and are distinguished by the same appellations.

The horses of Bine Khalid, and those of Quteef, a town on the main, opposite Bahrein, are called Buree, or horses of the desart,

*These geneologies are probably invented for them.
This work was originally printed in India.

and are reckoned superior to any other breed ;* those of Moontufij† are Juifan and Furuju, the horses of Chaub, Wuznan, and Nuswan; those of Huwezu, Reeshan, and Nuswan.

The Arabs of Bagdad are of little repute or value; these are in general the horses which are exported to India: they cost from seventy to two hundred piastres (six and fifteen pounds).

Whenever a colt is foaled, the Arabs immediately bend its tail, which effectually answers the purpose of nicking; and to make its ears incline a little towards each other, they pass a small string through each of them, and which continues fastened for eight or ten days.

The horses of the Dushistan, or the low land beneath the Persian mountains, are reckoned more violent and headstrong than the breeds from which they are descended. Their heads are usually larger; indeed there is a difference in the whole of their appearance. Those which have been introduced, are the Humdance, Huzmee, Shumytee Mootyran, and Buree Daghee. The generality of horses which are brought out of the gulf of Persia, under the denomination of Arabs, are a mixed breed, between the Bagdad horse and the Arab, or between the Arab and some horse of no value. Indeed it is not without much trouble and expence that you are able to procure a genuine Arab of high blood.

The horses in Eeran are strong, active, and tractable; much larger than the Arab, but inferior in spirit. The Persians have a proverb among them, "that an Arab, if wounded, will still face

66

danger, but that an Eerance is always endeavouring to avoid it." The Wukeel Kureem Khan introduced a breed between the Arab and the Toorkuman, which is much esteemed. They are called

* Any thing which inhabits the desart is called Buree; a most excellent class of hawks are called Buree.

+ The Moontufij Arabs are those we called Moontufeek, seated on the banks of the Euphrates. Chaub is the country below Bussora, the capital Dorack; Huwezu is to the northward of Bussora, and is under the Persian government.

Q

Khoonuzad, brought up in the house. The breeds of the following persons are considered to be the best. The Wukeels, Sadiq Khan, Sheikh Ulee Khan, Nusur Ulee Khan, Jafir Khan. These horses may be always distinguished from the Arab by their size, their head, which is much larger, and their legs, which are not in general so well proportioned.

The horses of Khorasan are clumsy, heavy, dull animals, possessing great strength, and capable of travelling immense distances. The cavalry of Persia are either mounted upon these horses, or the Toorkumanee; I had formerly occasion to notice the length of their marches. The breeds of the following persons are in most repute: Eesa Khan of Turboodee, Moomish Khan Koord, Ulee Khan Koord, Ubdoola Khan.

The Toorkumance horses have all the faults of the Khorasanee, with a short, thick, and clumsy neck, Their breeds are Kulgoom, Yumoot, Ukhur Julee, Syyud Mihir Choolq. Besides these they have innumerable other breeds; but I have already trespassed too long on the reader's patience to expect a continuance of it.

It is an erroneous opinion that horses are not allowed to be exported from Persia, or that they are of enormous prices.* On the contrary, horses are very cheap, the best seldom selling for more than forty pounds; and it is very well known that horses are brought from Persia to India in the greatest abundance. The Qujurs have a proverb amongst themselves, that with a sword of three Tomans, and a horse of thirty, they are superior to any troops in the world.

* Vide Encyclopedia Britanica-Persia.

The Sheikh of Bushire, I learnt, intends to impose a duty of thirty piastres on every horse sent to India. Owing to some disputes, the exportation of horses from Bussora has been prohibited.

THE date tree is one of the greatest curiosities in nature. The sexual difference in this tree is more strongly marked than in any other; indeed, so strong as not to escape the eye of a common observer. About the month of March and April, the Arabs begin to impregnate the female plant with the male, and were they to omit doing this the fruit would be abortive.* It has been supposed that the leaves of the male tree being scattered about the female, is sufficient to answer every purpose; but this is by no means the case, the female plant must be impregnated, or else will not produce ripe fruit. There are usually about two males in a plantation of fifty date trees, which are reckoned sufficient to fructify this number of trees. The Arabs take great pains in the cultivation of the male palm, and, as it never produces fruit, all their endeavours are directed to enable it to impregnate as great a number of trees as possible.

The Arabs and Persians seem to have been long acquainted with the difference of sexes in the vegetable world; and although I have not been able to trace it farther back than to Nusrood Deen, the author of the Ukhlaqi Nasiree; yet I have been credibly informed, that this difference has been noticed by a variety of authors whose works I have not been able to procure. The date tree is a tender

Vide Appendix, No. II. See Kempfer's Amanitates Exoticæ.

+ Vide Appendix, No. III. Some of the Persian philosophers insist, that the same difference exists amongst minerals. Nusrood Deen flourished in the fifteenth century.