ON DISEASES OF THE HEAD AND EYES
It may happen that a cataract form on your hawk’s eye. If so:—
_Remedy_: should it arise from humidity of temperament, feed her for
three days on larks and sparrows, giving her the feathers so that she
may cast in the morning. Should she not recover, then brand her with
log-wood[659] between the eye and the nostril on both sides, making
two small brands the size of a peppercorn. _Item_: take a tamarisk
stick and put one end in the fire. Then take a piece of twisted
cotton-wool and apply the oozing sap, quite hot, to the cataract. Give
her also one small dose of manna,[660] so that she be “moved”[661] a
few times. _Item_: remove the fine film with scissors.
Should your hawk’s eye become white, so much so that the pupil is
covered, then, if the disease arises from excessive cold or from the
effects of snow, treat as follows. _Remedy_: steam with snow,[662] and
should this fail foment[663] with water. Should she not then be cured,
foment with curds.
Should the defect be due to cold and snow, it will be removed by
these remedies, but should it arise from a blow, then the cure is as
follows. _Remedy_: draw a stick of lunar caustic twice across the eye,
and she shall be whole. Should she not be whole, then procure a white
cock and slay it according to ordinance, and remove its gall. (You
must be in a state of ceremonial purity and must have performed the
fixed ablutions.) Then cast and “mail” your hawk, and stand facing
the _Qibla_.[664] With a pure heart and single faith, doubting not
that the whiteness will disappear from your hawk’s eye, cry aloud, “O
Holy God! Thou who canst melt the rocks of the mountains, remove this
whiteness from my hawk’s eye.
O Thou who makes the eye both black and white
Change this white spot; restore my hawk to sight.”
Saying this, squeeze the cock’s gall into your hawk’s afflicted eye.
Should a cure not be effected the first time, repeat the remedy, using
the same observances but a fresh cock-gall.[665] Please God she will
recover, for this is a _proved_ remedy.
FOOTNOTES:
[656] “Slice” said of a hawk, “When she mewteth a good distance from
her.”—_Gentleman’s Recreation_, ii, 63.
[657] _K͟hizāna_, the “pannel.”
[658] “... ye shall say cast yowre hawke to the perch. and not set
youre hawke upon the perch.”—_Boke of St. Albans._
[659] _i.e._, with a stick of log-wood (_baqam_) burnt in the fire.
[660] _Shīr-k͟hisht_, a species of manna collected from certain trees.
[661] _It̤lāq shudan_, a medical term.
[662] _Buk͟hūr bā barf kardan_: snow is placed in a basin and a
red-hot stone or iron cast into it.
[663] _Buk͟hūr bā āb dādan_ is either to foment or to steam with hot
water.
[664] _Qibla_, the direction of prayer, that is, towards Mecca.
[665] The cock’s crow is, _Ẕikr Ullah Ẕikr Ullah, yā g͟hāfilīn!_
“Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, oh ye slothful!”