Omaha daily bee., 1911-12-17
SERENADERS OF THE DESERT
Jacksls Fill the Nights with Fearful
Disoord.
mE AWAY DURING THE DAY
No DissernibIe Hiding Place In che
Desert, Yet No One Ever Gets
sight of the Providing
Beasts In Daytime.
by SVEN HEDN.
The Famouu swedish ExpIorer

Tebbes in the middle Of the Persian
desert, where springs a grove of 10000
palms to invite to rest and refreshment.
How you would wonder at the strange
serenade which sounds through the clear
desert air every night.
You are sitting outside your tent read
ing by the dwindllng hight, then you look
up from your book and listen and you
feel strange fear creeping over you
as you are sitting there alone. But every
night the same serenade lie repeated as
surely as the sun goes down, and gradu-
ally you grow used to II until at last
you do not notice II at all.
It is only the jachals singing their even
ing song. The word jackal is Persian,
and the jackal is the original ancestor
OF the dog. the cousin Of the wolf and
the fox. 1t is yeIlowish-gray in color
and not very large. has pointed ears and
small. lively, intelligent eyes and carries
its tail straight not hanging like the
wolf. 1t is beast of prey and prowls
during the night. II is not particular
about its food. but loves grapes and
chicken above anything. II It cannot find
anything else It eats dates and plumbers
the palm trees mercilessly. / was as
surprised as l was angry when one night
jackals broke into our garden and stole
our only rooster right in front of our
dogs. We were aroused by dreadful
noise, but in the fight with the dogs the
isckals carried off the victory and the
last we heard was the death cry of our
poor rooster in the distance.
God knows where the beasts keep
themselves as long as the sun Is up. In
our text books OF natural history we read
that the jackal hides in caves, but have
never seen a cave anywhere in the oasis
of Tebbes, and stu the jackals came
around every night in scores. They are
as mysterious as the desert itself; they
are everywhere and nowhere. Many times
! hoped to scare up some of them during
my expeditions in Tebbes. and never saw
an animal of any kind. but when twilight
came they stood all around my tent and
mockingy asked IL / had no more
roosters.
AS soon as the sun is down and twilight
lowers its veil and the palms go to sleep
longing for the return OF light. then be-
gins quite close by the seIenade Of the
jsckals, 1t sounds like short broken
laugh, rising from the deepest base to
the highest treble, like a moan that rises
and swells until II is answered by am
other crowd or like 'the cry of a hundred
scared children. can describe 1T no
better. 1t rolls across the oasis like a
mighty wave. The howl of the jackal is
the voice Of the desert; IT cries for food.
Comrades we are hungry" they howl
at each other, 'let us go hunting for
prey" Cautiously they sneak UP to the
oasis, quick as lightning they Jump
across walls and hedges and find their
way. everywhere, , If chickens had the
least bit of brains they would hide under
friendly roofs as soon as they heard the
evening song of the Jackals.
What kind of crimes have they not COM
mitted, these robbers who are found any
where from Cape Verde, the green
promontory in the extreme west of the
old world, to the center OF india Their
history goes back almost as far as that
of the palms, Their home is not limited
to the quiet desert. When the regimental
band plays in front of the clubs near the
summer residence Of the viceroy OF India
at Simla you need only put your head
outside the window to hear their moan
ing, barking and bowling.
And these beasts are by no means
$50 people in Bengal were killed by jack
ais. 1t ia awful when It goes mad. The
last boundary commission in Seistan had
reason to learn this. One night a jackal
sneaked into the camp and bit a sleep
ing man in the face. He died six weeks
later. Others sneaked in to houses Of the
natives, concealed themselves there and
waited for a chance to bite. But the
most terrible event happened during
cold winter night when the storm was
bowling. raising clouds of dust, and
jackal sneaked into the English camp. 1t
crawled into a tent where several men
were sleeping. They jumped up and
snatched their arms. The camp consisted
Of three divisions and several hundred
dromedaIies. In the darkness it was i'm
possible TO locate the jackaI but you
heard row now here, now there, the
dromedaries roaring with fear and des-
pair and at dawn 1t was found that sew
enty-eight of them had been severely
bitten. They were separated from the
rest and. when they all developed hydro.
phobia, they were killed. Goats and dogs
that had been bitten by the jackal were
shot Immediately.
Twenty years ago l myself had an ad-
venture with one OF these beasts. With
two servants and several horses, l was
riding through the Interior of Persia to-
wards the shore OF the Caspian sea and
stopped one night In a village in the FL
nurs mountains. AS the caravansery was
notorious for its poisonous vermin, / de-
cided to camp in a garden. the fruit trees
and poplars Of which were protected by a
high wall without any door. To get into
the garden, you had to scale this wall
IN the evening my servants went to the
Village, while 1 wrapped myself in my
cloak and blankets ana soon fell asleep
with my head on my saddle | had slept
probably couple OF hours when / was
awakened by q scratching sound coming
from two leather cases containing what
was left OF my supper, bread, honey and
apples. / sat up and listened, but could
hear nothing but the babbling OF a brook.
II was too dark TO see anything and
laid down and fell asleep once more. A
little while afterwards l was awakened
by the same sound. This time | got up
and saw half a dozen Jackals d sappear-
ing among the trees. There was no more
sleep that night, for had all could do
TO keep the beasts away. AS soon as
laid down, they crept up close and
scratched At the cases, and. when 1