The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1881-01-06
CANTON, T, THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1881
HUNTING ON THE NILE.l

HUNTING ON THE NILE.l
Kinds Of sport Popular in Ancien,
Egypt.
Nineteenth Century.
Like their Asiatic neighbors and con
geners, the Egyptians were arden
followers of the chase. Lion hunting
we are told by Sir Gardner Wilkinson
speakingfrom the representations on the
tombs, was frequent occupation of tht
kings, who were proud to have thei]
success On such occasions recorded
Amunoph III. boasts of having de-
stroyed no less than one hundred and
two head in one battue. Ethiopia, ir
which lions abounded, was the princi.
pal scene of this sport, but lions were
also to be found in the deserts of Egypt
Athenaus mentions one having beer
killed by the Emperor Hadrian when
hunting in the neighborhood of Alex
andria. According to Sir Gardener
Wilkinson, the kings sometimes went
far to the south in pursuit of elephants
lie does not mention whether any rep
reservations of an elephant hunt is to
be found on the monuments. The
taste for hunting, Sir Gardner tells us,
was general with all classes. The aris,
tocracy had their parks for preserving
game in the valley of the Nile, which
though on a less extended scale than
those of the Asiatic neighbors, were
still sufficiently large to enable them
fully to enjoy the sport.
The animals they chiefly hunted
were the hare, the gazelle, the stag and
other deer, the wild goat or ibex, the
oryx, the wild OK, the kebsh or wild
sheep, and the porcupine The ostrich
too, was pursued for the sake of its
plumes, which were highly valued by
the Egyptians.
One form of sport in which they in
dulged was that of pursuing the game
with dogs, which, however, do not ap-
pear to have been used on such occa-
sions for the purpose of finding the
game, but were kept in slips ready to
be let go as soon as the game was start
ed. If the dogs succeeded in catching
the animal, we'll and good. But gener-
ally their speed was not trusted to
alone, though this might sometimes be
done. Usually the sportsman followed
in his chariot, and urging his horses to
their utmost speed, endeavored to in
tercept the object of pursuit or to get
sufficiently near to it to be enabled to
use his bow with effect. When the ma
ture of the locality prevented the use
of the chariot, the hunter taking ad-
vantage Of the sinuosities of the ground,
endeavored to get within reach of the
game as it doubled and to bring it
down with an arrow. The horned ami
mails Of the larger kind, such as the
ibex, oryx or wild OK, if wounded only,
sometimes TUNED on the hounds and
required the spear of the hunter to dis
patch them.
Sometimes, especially when they
the purpose of placing them in the
parks, they caught them with the lasso
or moose, in the use of which the Egyp-
tan huntsmen appear to have been ex-
tremely skillful, throwing the moose
round the neck Of the gazelle or deer,
or over the horns of the wild OK.
1t may not be uninteresting to OBJ
serve that while the Egyptians had
several varieties of dogs,-some OF
them chosen, Sir Gardner Wilkinson
silly obs erves, "as at the present day,
for their peculiar ugliness, "-proba-
bly, the pet dogs of the Egyptian Ia,
dies,--the hound, as C. g.. exhibited in
drawing 23G of Sir Gardner Wilkinson's
work. has, as with US, its peculiar and
unmistakable characteristics. The
hounds in the Egyptian painting would
give one the idea of cross between
the English harrier and fox-hound,
though perhaps little taller and long.
er than the former, and lighter than
the later. The head is unmistakably
that of the hound. The kings and
great men sometimes hunted with
lions tanned and trained, as the cheetahs
aCe in India, expressly for hunting
In No. 24O of Sir Gardner Wilkinson's S
drawings is the representation of a
lion, with which the chasseur is hunt
ing, and which has just seized an ibex.
When sport was desired on larger
scale than could be had in the imme-
diate vicinity of the Nile, where the
land was cultivated and thickly peo.
pied, it was sought in the neighboring
deserts. When this was to be done a
considerable extent of ground was in
closed by nets, into which the animals
were driven by beaters, the place
chosen for fixing the nets being, if pos.
sible, across narrow valley, or torrent
beds lying between rocky hills. In the
Egyptian paintings these long nets are
represented as surrounding the space
in whicr the hunt is to be carried on
The net used for this purpose is thus
described by Sir Gardner Wilkinson
and the description, corresponding as
it does with that given by Xenophon,
may be taken as correctly describing
the nets in universal use in the ancient
world: "The long net was furnished
with several ropes. and was supported
on forked poles, varying in length to cor
respond to the inequalities of the
ground, and was so contrived as tC
inclosc any space by crossing hills
valleys, or streams, and encircline
woods, OF whatever light present itself
Smaller nets for stopping gaps were al
! so used, and a circular snare, set round
with wooden or metal nails and at
tached by rope to log of wood and
used for catching deer, resembled one
still made by the Arabs" Being thus
inclosed, the game was started by beat
ers and dogs, the sportsmen being sc
placed as to waylay the animals or gel
within reach of them with the bow. A
spirited sketch of chase in the desert
of Thebaid, copied by Sir Gardne,
Wilkinson from tomb of Thebes, Civ.
ing a vivid representation Of such a
hunting scene. Hares, deer, gazelles
wild oxen, the ibex, the oryx, and
ostriches, together with the foxes and
hyenas, pursued by hounds, are dash.
ing at full speed across the plain, while
in the midst of them is a porcupine
who is taking things very cody, as il
conscious that his rate of speed was by
no means equal to that of his nimblel
associates, and that any attempt to
keep up with them would be vain.
The slaughter on such occasions would
appear to have been very great.
In one respect the Egyptians were
sportsmen in the sense in which we
| III 81