Hunting
Usāmah devotes a section of his book to his hunting experiences. He describes the hunting practice of Zengi:
The falconers would proceed ahead of us with the falcons which would be flown at the waterfowl. The drums would be beaten in accordance with the prevailing custom. The falcons would catch whatever birds they could. ..
He also describes hunting partridges with his father:
My father would draw near the sleeping partridge and throw at it a stick from his hand. The moment the Partridge was flushed he would throw off al- Yahshiir (the falcon), who would seize it. ..The falconer would then descend to it, slay the bird...
The falconer had to slay the bird himself as it was forbidden by the Qur'an to eat anything which is killed by a blow. Usāmah also describes a system of hunting using sakers:
At first should be sent the leader which, striking a gazelle, binds on its ear. The auxiliary is sent after the leader, and hits another gazelle...The leader, now clutching the gazelle by its ear, isolates it from the herd.
Read more about this topic: Kitab Al-I'tibar
Famous quotes containing the word hunting:
“They take unbelievable pleasure in the hideous blast of the hunting horn and baying of the hounds. Dogs’ dung smells sweet as cinnamon to them.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“Signal smokes, war drums, feathered bonnets against the western sky. New messiahs, young leaders are ready to hurl the finest light cavalry in the world against Fort Stark. In the Kiowa village, the beat of drums echoes in the pulsebeat of the young braves. Fighters under a common banner, old quarrels forgotten, Comanche rides with Arapaho, Apache with Cheyenne. All chant of war. War to drive the white man forever from the red man’s hunting ground.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“Escape
from the power of the hunting pack,
and to know that wisdom is best
and beauty
sheer holiness.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)