of those also who accompanied him; and the number of head brought home was naturally looked upon as the criterion of his good day's sport.

Having with eager haste pursued on foot, and arrived at the spot where the dogs had caught their prey, the huntsman, if alone, took up the game, tied its legs together, and hanging it over his shoulders, once more led by his hand the coupled dogs, precisely in the same manner as the Arabs are wont to do at the present day; this, however, was generally the office of persons who followed expressly for the purpose, carrying cages and baskets on the usual wooden yoke, and who

No. 322. A huntsman carrying home the game, with his coupled dogs.

Thebes.

took charge of the game as soon as it was caught; the number of these substitutes for our game cart

chase, and the abundance they expected to find. Sometimes an ibex *, oryx, or wild ox, being closely pressed by the hounds, and driven to an eminence of difficult ascent, faced round and kept them at bay, with its formidable hornst, and the spear of

No. 323. Bringing home the game: a gazelle, porcupines, and hare.

Beni Hassan.

the huntsman, as he came up, was required to decide the success of the chase.

It frequently happened, when the chasseur had many attendants, and the district to be hunted was extensive, that they divided into parties, each taking one or more dogs, and starting them on whatever animal broke cover; sometimes they went without hounds, merely having a small dog for searching the bushes, or laid in wait for the larger and more formidable animals, and attacked them with the lance.

The noose was also employed to catch the wild

*The wild goat of the desert, the beddan or taytal, of the Arabs, which are still common in the desert between the Nile and Red Sea. † I have occasionally witnessed instances of this in the desert.

ox, the antelope, and other animals; and as they are always represented on foot, when throwing it, we

No. 324.

Catching a gazelle with the noose.

Beni Hassan.

may suppose they lay in ambush for this purpose, and that it was principally adopted when they wished to secure them alive: since we find they frequently

No. 325.

Catching a wild ox with the noose or lasso.

Beni Hassan.

chased the same animals with dogs, and with the bow. The noose was very similar to the lasso of South America, but it does not appear that the Egyptians had the custom of riding on horseback when they used it; and from the introduction

No. 326.

thrown it, we may suppose the artist intended to convey the notion of his previous concealment.

Besides the bow, the hounds, and the noose, they hunted with lions, which were trained expressly for the chase, like the cheeta or hunting leopard of

*

India but there is no appearance of the leopard or the panther having been employed for this purpose; and the lion was always the animal they preferred. It was frequently brought up in a tame state †, and many Egyptian monarchs are said to have been accompanied in battle by a favourite lion, -as we learn from the sculptures of Thebes and other places, and from the authority of Diodorus. +

The bow used for the chase was very similar to that employed in war; the arrows were frequently the same, with metal heads, but some were tipped with stone, which are represented in the hunting scenes of Beni Hassan, and in many of those at Thebes. The mode of drawing the bow was also the same, though, as I have already observed, the chasseurs sometimes pulled the string only to the breast, instead of the more perfect and more usual method of raising it, and bringing the arrow to the ear; and occasionally, one or more spare arrows were held in the hand §, to give greater facility in discharging them with rapidity on the swift antelopes and wild oxen.

ANIMALS.

The animals they chiefly hunted were the gazelle, wild goat or ibex, the oryx, wild ox,

* Bagajet I. (Byazeéd) had 12,000 officers and servants of the chase. Besides hounds of various breeds, he had leopards, whose collars were set with jewels. Gibbon, xi. 64.

I have seen two or three tame lions in Cairo. easily tamed in those climates than in Europe. Diod. i. 48. And the sculptures of Dayr, Kalabshi, &c.

Vide wood-cut, No. 327.; and No. 30., in Vol. I.

Animals are more

Medeenet Haboo,