No. 319. Bringing young animals to stock the preserves. Tomb near the Pyramids.

independent of those occasional additions, through the care taken in encouraging their propagation, by a judicious regard to their habits. And this is confirmed by the numerous flocks of gazelles and other wild animals, represented in the tombs, among the possessions of the deceased, of which the scribes are seen writing an account, at the command of the steward, who waits to present it, with an annual census of his property, to the owner of the estate.

Being fed within pastures enclosed with fences, they were not marked in any particular way like the cattle, which, being let loose, in open meadows, and frequently allowed to mix with the herds of the neighbours, required some distinguishing sign by which they might be recognised; and were, therefore, branded on the shoulder with a hot iron, probably engraved with the owner's name. This is distinctly shown in the paintings of Thebes, where the cattle are represented lying on the ground with their feet tied, while one person heats an iron on

the fire, and another applies it to the shoulder of

045

In primitive ages, the chase was not an amusement, but a necessary occupation among those people, who did not follow agricultural pursuits, or

No. 321.

Marking cattle with a hot iron.

Fig. 1. Heating the iron on the fire, a.

2. and 4. Employed in marking the cattle.

3. Holds a tethering cord on his left arm, and keeps away the calves.

lead a pastoral life, and who depended for their subsistence upon the sports of the field: and in some instances the shepherd was obliged to hunt

Thebes.

and destroy the wild beasts, for the security of his flocks and herds: and sometimes even for his own safety. In after times, when population increased, and each community began to adopt the habits of civilised life, the injuries apprehended from them decreased; and the fear of man having compelled them to remove their haunts to a greater distance, their pursuit was no longer required; and those who hunted followed the occupation as an amusement, to supply the table, or in the employ of other persons as among the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, and Medes.

In the East, indeed, it was always looked upon as a manly exercise, requiring courage and dexterity, and tending to invigorate the body, and to instil into the mind a taste for active pursuits; it was held in such repute, that the founders of empires were represented in the character of renowned hunters; and the Babylonians were so fond of the chase, that the walls of their rooms presented a repetition of subjects connected with itf; and they even ornamented their dresses and the furniture of their houses with the animals they hunted. The Medes and Persians were equally noted for their love of field sports; and, like the Egyptians, they had spacious preserves § where the game was enclosed; the grounds of the royal palaces containing antelopes and other animals,

* Whence in Exodus xxiii. 29. : "I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee."

+ Ammian. Marcell. lib. xxvi. c. 6. Diod. 2.

Athen. lib. xii. 9.

§ Xenoph. Cyr. lib. i. “Ev πapadɛog." Dio. Chrysost. in Orat. 3.

pheasants, peacocks, and abundance of birds, as well as lions, tigers, and wild boars.*

The Egyptians frequently coursed with dogs in the open plains, the chasseur following in his chariot, and the huntsmen on foot. Sometimes he only drove to cover in his car, and having alighted, shared in the toil of searching for the game, his attendants keeping the dogs in slips, ready to start them as soon as it appeared. The more usual custom, when the dogs threw off in a level plain of great extent, was for him to remain in his chariot, and, urging his horses to their full speed, endeavour to turn or intercept them as they doubled, discharging a well directed arrow whenever they came within its range.

The dogs were taken to the ground by persons expressly employed for that purpose, and for all the duties connected with the kennel, the xuvaywyout of the Greeks, and were either started one by one, or in pairs, in the narrow valleys or open plains: and when coursing on foot, the chasseur and his attendant huntsmen, acquainted with the direction and sinuosities of the torrent beds, shortened the road, as they followed across the intervening hills, and sought a favourable opportunity for using the bow or marked with a watchful eye the progress of the course in the level space before them. For not only was the chasseur provided with a bow, but many

*Curtius, lib. 7 and 8. Xenoph. Cyrop. lib. i.
+ J. Pollux, iv. 5.

As the Arabs of the present day, in the same districts.