56.)
["Marco Polo's apples of Paradise are more probably the fruits of the
Konar tree. There are no plantains in that part of the country. Turtle
doves, now as then, are plentiful, and as they are seldom shot, and are
said by the people to be unwholesome food, we can understand Marco Polo's
saying that the people do not eat them." (Houtum-Schindler, l.c. pp.
492-493.) - H. C.]
The Francolin here spoken of is, as Major Smith tells me, the Darraj of
the Persians, the Black Partridge of English sportsmen, sometimes called
the Red-legged Francolin. The Darraj is found in some parts of Egypt,
where its peculiar call is interpreted by the peasantry into certain
Arabic words, meaning "Sweet are the corn-ears! Praised be the Lord!" In
India, Baber tells us, the call of the Black Partridge was (less piously)
rendered "Shir daram shakrak," "I've got milk and sugar!" The bird seems
to be the [Greek: attagas] of Athenaeus, a fowl "speckled like the
partridge, but larger," found in Egypt and Lydia. The Greek version of its
cry is the best of all: "[Greek: tris tois kakourgois kaka]" ("Threefold
ills to the ill-doers!"). This is really like the call of the black
partridge in India as I recollect it. [Tetrao francolinus. - H. C.]
(Chrestomathie Arabe, II. 295; Baber, 320; Yonge's Atken. IX. 39.)
NOTE 2. - Abbott mentions the humped (though small) oxen in this part of
Persia, and that in some of the neighbouring districts they are taught to
kneel to receive the load, an accomplishment which seems to have struck
Mas'udi (III. 27), who says he saw it exhibited by oxen at Rai (near
modern Tehran). The Ain Akbari also ascribes it to a very fine breed in
Bengal. The whimsical name Zebu, given to the humped or Indian ox in
books of Zoology, was taken by Buffon from the exhibitors of such a beast
at a French Fair, who probably invented it. That the humped breeds of oxen
existed in this part of Asia in ancient times is shown by sculptures at
Kouyunjik. (See cut below.)
[Illustration: Humped Oxen from the Assyrian Sculptures at Koyunjik.]
A letter from Agassiz, printed in the Proc. As. Soc. Bengal (1865), refers
to wild "zebus," and calls the species a small one. There is no wild
"zebu," and some of the breeds are of enormous size.
["White oxen, with short thick horns and a round hump between the
shoulders, are now very rare between Kerman and Bender 'Abbas. They are,
however, still to be found towards Beluchistan and Mekran, and they kneel
to be loaded like camels. The sheep which I saw had fine large tails; I
did not, however, hear of any having so high a weight as thirty pounds."
(Houtum-Schindler, l.c. p. 493.) - H. C.]
The fat-tailed sheep is well known in many parts of Asia and part of
Africa.
