The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
“The camel-man, however, in this case proved to be correct,
as we soon noticed the Gazelle walking leisurely away. It
disappeared behind a mound of sand, where it must have remained,
for, on reaching the place about half an hour later, we were
surprised to come suddenly on the Gazelle, now only some 200
yards off. It was a fine female, very white in colour. Not
wishing to disturb any others that might be near, I did not
fire. We found, however, that it was alone. At 12 o’clock or
thereabouts we came upon the skirt of the plateau, from which
the Fayoum can be seen, and here the shikaries decided to turn
back, as they said we had passed the ‘White Gazelle ground’; so,
after returning about two miles, we set up the tents and waited
for the evening, the sun being so hot that it was impossible to
continue our search.
“During the afternoon the two shikaries constructed traps, which
we set in the evening.
“The Gazelle trap, except the small hemp-platted rope, is
made entirely from the date-palm. Taking the long leaves, the
shikarie first constructs by platting them together a deep ring,
about 3 inches in diameter and about 4 inches deep: it should,
in fact, fit well into a golf-hole and make its walls secure. He
now takes an old stalk from which the dates have been picked,
and separating about twenty of the fibres which compose it,
and run its whole length, he twists them into a rude bracelet
about three inches in diameter. Then taking three more fibres,
in place of twine, he binds the ring securely; the ring or
bracelet has then a form much resembling a diminutive ‘Ringold’
ring. The shikarie now breaks off the points of the date-thorns
until he has about twenty-five of them 2 inches in length;
these he pushes through the fibrous sides of the ring until all
the points meet in the centre, so that when finished this ring
has much the appearance of a small sieve. All the thorn-points
overlap slightly in the centre of the ring. This ring, holding
all the thorns, the deep ring of platted leaves, and a soft
thick hemp rope, made by the Arab himself, by the ordinary
three-plat from raw hemp (this rope, being soft, not only binds
itself more securely to the Gazelle, but does not cut the skin
when drawn tight), attached to a date-stick about a yard in
length, are all the implements that an Arab requires to catch a
Gazelle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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