bring against them is overwhelming.

But it is not so with wild beasts. A lion, a tiger, or a panther, once
aroused, is wholly insensible to fear. He will rush headlong upon his
foes, however numerous they may be, and however formidably armed. He
makes his own destruction sure, it is true, but, at the same time, he
renders almost inevitable the destruction of some one or more of his
enemies, and, in going out to attack him, no one can be sure of not
becoming himself one of the victims of his fury.

Thus the hunting of wild beasts in the mountains was very dangerous
work, and it is not surprising that the office of grand huntsman was
one of great consideration and honor.

The hunting was, however, not all of the dangerous character above
described. Some animals are timid and inoffensive by nature, and
attempt to save themselves only by flight. Such animals as these were
to be pursued and overtaken by the superior speed of horses and dogs,
or to be circumvented by stratagem. There was a species of deer, in
certain parts of the Mongul country, that the huntsmen were accustomed
to take in this way, namely:

The huntsmen, when they began to draw near to a place where a herd of
deer were feeding, would divide themselves into two parties. One party
would provide themselves with the antlers of stags, which they
arranged in such a manner that they could hold them up over their
heads in the thickets, as if real stags were there. The others, armed
with bows and arrows, javelins, spears, and other such weapons, would
place themselves in ambush near by. Those who had the antlers would
then make a sort of cry, imitating that uttered by the hinds. The
stags of the herd, hearing the cry, would immediately come toward the
spot. The men in the thicket then would raise the antlers and move
them about, so as to deceive the stags, and excite their feelings of
rivalry and ire, while those who were appointed to that office
continued to counterfeit the cry of the hind. The stags immediately
would begin to paw the ground and to prepare for a conflict, and then,
while their attention was thus wholly taken up by the tossing of the
false antlers in the thicket, the men in ambush would creep up as near
as they could, take good aim, and shoot their poor deluded victims
through the heart.

Of course, it required a great deal of practice and much skill to
perform successfully such feats as these; and there were many other
branches of the huntsma