s followed the Emir Hai-dar. This great hunting party consisted of
more than eight hundred persons, about half of whom were mounted, but
all were armed; even those who held the dogs in leash were entitled
to join in the sport with the same freedom as the proudest Sheikh. The
three leaders having mounted and bowed gracefully to each other, the
cavalcades separated and descended into the plain. The moment they
reached the level country, the horsemen shouted and dispersed, galloping
in all directions, and many of them throwing their spears; but, in a
short time, they had collected again under their respective leaders, and
the three distinct bodies, each a moving and many-coloured mass, might
be observed from the castled heights, each instant diminishing in size
and lustre, until they vanished at different points in the distance, and
were lost amid the shades of the forest.

For many hours throughout this region nothing was heard but the firing
of guns, the baying of hounds, the shouting of men; not a human being
was visible, except some groups of women in the villages, with veils
suspended on immense silver horns, like our female headgear of the
middle ages. By-and-by, figures were seen stealing forth from the
forest, men on foot, one or two, then larger parties; some reposed on
the plain, some returned to the villages, some re-ascended the winding
steeps of Canobia. The firing, the shouting, the baying had become more
occasional. Now a wearied horseman picked his slow way over the plain;
then came forth a brighter company, still bounding along. And now they
issued, but slowly and in small parties, from various and opposite
quarters of the woodland. A great detachment, in a certain order, were
then observed to cross the plain, and approach the castle. They advanced
very gradually, for most of them were on foot, and joining together,
evidently carried burdens; they were preceded and followed by a guard
of cavalry. Soon it might be perceived that the produce of the chase was
arriving: twenty-five wild boars carried on litters of green branches;
innumerable gazelles borne by their victors; transfixed by four spears,
and carried by four men, a hyena.

Not very long after this caravan had reached the castle, the firing,
which had died away, recommenced; the sounds were near at hand; there
was a volley, and almost simultaneously there issued from various parts
of the forest the great body of the hunt. They maintained no order on