Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/263

Rh ANIMALS.] ARABIA 243 Yemen, even in the Hejaz ; their ordinary colour is grey. The same animal runs wild in many of the open and mountainous regions of Arabia, and is hunted for the sake of its skin by the Bedouins ; but the onager or zebra of Outch is not met with in this peninsula. Mules and hinnies, common throughout Syria and Meso potamia, are extremely rare in Arabia proper, where a prejudice exists against their use. The Arab dog differs very little from a jackal in appear ance as in habits ; its muzzle is pointed, its colour sandy, and its long and somewhat bushy tail is curled over the back. When domesticated, the breed improves, approaching the European wolf-dog; these animals, by training, become very tolerable indoor and outdoor guardians, both of flocks and herds and of dwellings, and in this capacity they are to be found everywhere, both in the towns and villages and in the open country, where they are not less useful to their masters than annoying to strangers. Another kind of dog, belonging to the greyhound species, and evidently of exotic origin, is often reared in Arabia ; the swiftest and most enduring of this kind are from the province of Hasa. They are in great favour as harriers. Arab cats differ in no respect from their congeners in Europe except in being rather smaller. The house-mice too are absolutely the same ; but the rat is more akin to the old black species of England, now nearly extinct. Wild animals are not very numerous in any part of Arabia proper, a fact which is sufficiently accounted for by the want of running streams and open pools, as also by the thinness of cover and forest growth ; yet the records of the country make mention of the existence of some kinds of beasts which have subsequently disappeared altogether. Thus the long-maned lion, and, it would appear, a large kind of ape resembling the African gorilla, often mentioned by the early writers, are no longer to be found in the peninsula. But a small tiger, formidable from its ferocity even to man, is still met with in the wild hilly regions north of Ncjran, and again in the inland recesses of the Oman mountains ; Avhile the &quot; fahd,&quot; or panther, belongs to no particular province ; it haunts the neighbourhood of vil lages, and devottrs the smaller stock. Lynxes have been seen in the Hejaz and Nejd ; wolves are common in the mountains, and sometimes descend to attack the flocks in the open plains. There are foxes too, but small and greyish in colour. The Arab hyaena is large and fierce ; it is said, when pressed with hunger, to be dangerous even to men, and figures in many a story of Arab adventure. Jackals are more numerous in the northern than in the southern districts. Small black-faced long-tailed monkeys are to be met with by herds in Yemen, and even, though less often, in Kejd. A pretty little beast, the &quot; yerbooa,&quot; jerboa, or kangaroo-rat, burrows in the sand, and comes out to look with great curiosity on passers-by ; its hind legs, long, and provided with equally long feet and toes, are out of all proportion to the shortness of its fore-paws; its motion, especially when pursued, is like that of the kangaroo, and is performed with the help of its long sinewy tail. Its colour, partly fawn, partly white, is very agreeable to the eye. The Arabs eat its flesh, which resembles that of the rabbit. Of the deer tribe the gazelle is the most common ; it abounds not only in the open grounds, but even among the villages and near the towns. It is sometimes, but not often, hunted by the natives. Chase is more often given to the mountain goat, partly on account of its flesh, which is excellent, partly for the sake of its long recurved horns, which are like those of the Alpine steinbock, only larger. But the hare, which is coursed with dogs, and which resembles the European animal in every respect except size, for it is smaller, is the favourite game of the Arabs, who, unlike the Persians and Turks, have no scruple as to the use of the meat. The ornithology of Arabia is copious, but has been little Birds, studied. Birds of prey, grey eagles, vultures, bustards, and sparrow-hawks, abound in the open lands ; while partridges, especially of the mottled kind called &quot; kata,&quot; are to be seen crossing the desert in quest of water by flocks ; quails frequent the mountain districts in immense numbers, so also do rock-pigeons, wood- pigeons, and a species of wild guinea fowl ; wild ducks are met with in plenty along the coast. Cranes, larks, sparrows, finches, and the like, frequent the cultivated lands ; so also does the hoopoe, a bird held in high honour by the Arabs on account of its traditional services as messenger between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba or Belkeys. A large mottled thrush, also considered to be of good omen, is seen everywhere. Flocks of swallows, the flight of which is invariably from the east, pay annual visits to Arabia, where they are very useful in diminishing the swarms of locusts, their favourite food ; one species of this bird appears, however, to be indigenous to Yemen. Peacocks and parrots are also found in the southern provinces, and in Nejd, Hasa, and Oman; hawks are kept by many, and are carefully instructed for the purpose of falconry. But the most remarkable bird of Arabia, and the only The one which forms a regular object of chase among the ostrich, natives, is the ostrich. Its extreme timidity, joined td the swiftness of its pace for although it does not fly, it assists its running by the movement of its extended wings renders it in vain for the hunter to attempt overtaking it on horse back ; he therefore seeks to approach it generally when on its nest by artifice, and kills it by a long shot ; sometimes he snares it by a running noose. The feathers, the best of which belong to the male bird, are sold at Damascus or Baghdad ; the eggs are eaten, and the shells are used for ornament. The finest ostriches are those of the neighbour hood of Shorner and the uplands of Toweyk ; they are often to be seen, but at a safe distance, scudding across the sands in a file of twenty or thirty at a time. Reptiles, except those of the lizard species, are com- Eeptilca. paratively rare in Arabia, though serpents are occasionally met with ; but, except the &quot; afai &quot; and the &quot; rukta,&quot; both snakes of the viper class, the former brown and the latter banded, and considered the deadlier of the two, none are venomous. Boa-constrictors, resembling the Indian rock- snake, have been also seen, none, however, large enough to warrant the wonderful stories told about them by the Arabs themselves, whose love of the marvellous often leads them beyond the limits of truth. Insects are, however, numerous enoiigh : little scorpions, Insects, scarce an inch in length, but capable of inflicting by their sting extreme pain, swarm in the desert sands ; and large ones, four or even six inches long, infest the houses. Centipedes, too, are common ; wasps and wild bees tenant the rocks ; flies are troublesome everywhere, and mosquitoes on the coasts ; ants of all kinds, some enormous in size and venomous in bite, are to be found here ; and a very poisonous spider, called, from its double pincers, &quot; aboo hanekein,&quot; inhabits the crevices of old walls on the western coast, and is much dreaded by the natives. Scolopcndras, too, are not rare. It is some compensation, however, for these serious yet only occasional inconveniences, that no fleas or bugs exist in any part of Arabia. But a, serious drawback the &quot; arda,&quot; or white ant, the Termes fatalis of Linnaeus, is hardly less troublesome and destructive in the southern provinces than in India itself. Lastly, vast swarms of locusts, larger and darker in colour than those Locusts, commonly seen further north, often infest the peninsula, and commit great ravages, especially when, as too frequently happens, their visit is in the spring or early summer. Their