The Late Sir O. St. John
Identifies The Bird Described As The Shahin (Falco Peregrinator), One
Variety Of Which, The Farsi, Is Abundant In The Higher Mountains Of S.
Persia.
It is now little used in that region, the Terlan or goshawk
being most valued, but a few are caught and sent for sale to the Arabs of
Oman.
(J. R. G. S. XXV. 50, 63, and Major St. John's Notes.)
["The fine falcons, 'with red breasts and swift of flight,' come from
Pariz. They are, however, very scarce, two or three only being caught
every year. A well-trained Pariz falcon costs from 30 to 50 tomans (12l.
to 20l.), as much as a good horse." (Houtum-Schindler, l.c. p. 491.)
Major Sykes, Persia, ch. xxiii., writes: "Marco Polo was evidently a
keen sportsman, and his description of the Shahin, as it is termed,
cannot be improved upon." Major Sykes has a list given him by a Khan of
seven hawks of the province, all black and white, except the Shahin,
which has yellow eyes, and is the third in the order of size. - H. C.]
NOTE 6. - We defer geographical remarks till the traveller reaches Hormuz.
[1] A learned friend objects to Johnson's Hundwaniy = "Indian Steel," as
too absolute; some word for steel being wanted. Even if it be so, I
observe that in three places where Polo uses Ondanique (here, ch.
xxi., and ch. xlii.), the phrase is always "steel and ondanique."
This looks as if his mental expression were Pulad-i-Hundwani,
rendered by an idiom like Virgil's pocula et aurum.
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