ACCIDENTAL IMMERSION DURING WINTER
If your hawk, in pursuit of a water-fowl, happen to fall into the
water in the depth of Winter, she will, if you do not apply remedies,
certainly perish.[775] _Treatment_: if the hawk has taken the quarry,
give her its warm heart and liver. Then “mail” her, place her in the
bosom of a falconer and send him home. He should carry the hawk into
the bath[776] or into a warm room and there take her out of his bosom
and “unmail” her; and if she have digested the heart and liver he gave
her, he should give her a proper meal of warm chicken. _Item_: mail
the hawk and light a fire. Place the hawk in your waist-shawl, or
in the skirt of your cloak, or in a handkerchief, and hold her some
distance from the fire so that she may be gradually warmed through:
feed her as described above. _Item_: should you be in a spot where
fuel is unobtainable, “mail” your hawk, place her in your horse’s
nosebag and put the nosebag on the horse’s head. Then mount and ride
hard for home. The horse’s breath will give life to your hawk: it will
save her from death. Arrived home, feed her. Though by this expedient
the hawk’s feathers will get ruffled and perhaps broken, still this is
a lesser evil.
FOOTNOTES:
[775] During a Panjab winter, if a hawk falls into water, even late in
the evening, she will suffer no harm if fed up on warm flesh—provided,
of course, she is in proper flying condition and not too thin. The
cold in Persia, however, can be intense, while in the open desert an
icy, paralysing wind often springs up and blows with such force that
it is difficult to make headway against it.
[776] _Ḥammām_: even the villages in Persia have “Turkish baths,”
which are used by all. A Persian gentleman usually has a private bath
attached to his own house.