Page 466 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

XlAH.IUri'l) A KAMA 15

aliiu,l a cent apiece. A siring is put on one or both legs, and one or both
'yjujr.s are cleverly dislocated to prevent escape. If the bird is ol a com­
bative disposition, a small feather is thrust through the beak at the im*-
nik This seems to prevent it from pecking. And then file sad last
hours of the bird begin. Upwards and forewards it is thrown into the
tlir only to he pulled ever back again or else it dangles pitifully at the
CM,| of its string while its owner tramps along utterly unmindful.
livery Arab house has its proportion of cats, starving, mangy, cvil-
i-yed. htyigry, wistful animals. No one feeds them so that they are ever
the watch for a chance to steal, which, of course, brings persecution
dii
in its train. How any kitten ever survives to maturity is a problem.
The average kitten is quickly seized on by the nearest child; a string prob­
ably very tight, is fastened round its neck, and the child then drags it
abutit or swings it in the air until it dies. 1 think, in all my twenty-live
years in Arabia, I have never seen an act of kindness to a cat or a kitten,
at the hands of an Arab child. My wife and I have owned cats through
,„llSt of the time we have lived out here and they are always fat, pros­
perous, contented, aristocratic looking animals. We remember particularly
It wo thoroughbred white Persian cats with long silky hair and turquoise
■blue eyes. Two of the handsomest cats that ever were seen. It is almost
impossible to make the Arab believe that it you feed a cat regularly and
iioperlv, nature will do the rest and you will have the magnificent ere; i-
■ure that so many westerners, love and admire.
'The dog comes in for a full share of ill treatment and cruelty. A
—cry popular sport among the boys is to set a pack of street dogs against
nick or injured one. The boys run alongside the pack shouting and
_Jliug and urging them on until they pull the weak one to hits. Perhaps
ir cruellest thing that the boys do to dogs here is to knead up5broken
—ass into dough or rice, give it to the dogs to eat and then watch them
_r in agony, or at all events rejoice in the fact that they will die in
—amy later on.
The Arab is a great hunter but no sportsman. With the advent of
• motor car, gazelle hunting has taken on an aspect which, to all lovers
sport and animals, is revolting. In the old days, that is, up to a few
rs ago, gazelle hunting took skill, perseverance, endurance, and the
itei got his game, one by one
---- :. Now the Ford goes out and simply
~
> the game down. What chance has a gazelle against a 25 horse
.rr engine, in the open desert! And so the Fords come hack, reeking
i Mood and bulging with gazelles. One car is said to have brought
0 m one day this season. We do what we can to rouse public opinion
it looks as though the slaughter will go on until Nature revenges
^»Jf bv making the gazelle as extinct as the dodo................... ......-
Not the least ini-
------1!‘.l,K‘ Ibis horrible butchery is 1 lull probably as many animals
n* >1 as die of rifle and gunshot wounds.