SAGE ADVICE
Never forget the advice I will now give you. _First_: borrow nothing
from any man, neither one penny nor a million; for if your request
be granted, you are under an eternal obligation and must ever carry
out the orders of him who hath obliged you.[779] Borrowing hawks, and
dogs, and greyhounds, which are instruments of the chase—bad though
such borrowing be—does not place you under a very great obligation,
and further, should the loan be refused, it is no great slight to you.
_Second_: Three things you should never lend to any friend or
sportsman; your own special horse, your own special gun, and your own
special hawk. Lending any one of these is like lending your wife;
therefore, my friend, lend none of these; for, if you do, the bands
of friendship will be changed for the bonds of enmity. Bestow things
freely, if you like, for giving is generosity.
Lend not at all, or else when thou hast lent
Seek not again from the recipient:
Of what they’ve lent, they seek no restitution
Such as be men of gen’rous constitution.
“HALSBAND” DANGEROUS IN HILLY OR WOODED COUNTRY.—
_Third_: before you go hawking in hilly or woody country, remove the
“halsband”[780] from your goshawk’s neck, and this for two reasons:
(1) the “halsband” interferes with her foot-work when she puts in; she
perhaps gets her foot entangled in it, and the partridge or pheasant
goes out at the other side of the bush; (2) it often happens that
a lost hawk is found hanging dead from a branch, suspended by its
“halsband.” Hence in hilly and woody country the hawk should be freed
from what is there an encumbrance.
“HALSBAND” NECESSARY IN THE PLAINS.—In plains, however, a “halsband”
is necessary to support the hawk when she is cast off and to prevent
a strain to her loins: for, in the plains, you put your horse into
a gallop that your hawk may start from the fist with the force of a
bullet,[781] and to this impetus you add the force of your arm when
casting her. However, when flying at _chukor_ and _seesee_ in the
hills, the flight is down-hill, and the hawk has the advantage of
gravity, so it is unnecessary to use hand-force in casting her.
FOOTNOTES:
[779] This “placing a person under an obligation” is a common Eastern
idea. Indian falconers will press their perquisites of old bells,
jesses, and hoods, on their friends in order to “mount an obligation
on him.”
[780] _Chalqū._
[781] Considerable skill is necessary to cast off a short-winged hawk
so as to really aid her. The difference that skilful casting makes, in
the amount of quarry taken, is astonishing.