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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
NOVEMBER, 1921
more particularly Typha latifoliu (Ar. bardi). This land dries up by July. The other comiacn marsh plant is the reed, Phragmites karka Trin. (Ar. qasab, pronounced gasab), which cannot withstand desiccation 60 well as the bulrushes, and is consequently confined to the area of permanent marsh. The surface of the water in many places is covered with a dense growth or scum of floating water plants.
There is no timber of any kind throughout the marsh country, and wood is used for hardly any other purpose than for the construction of the canoe and its paddle. Thero is no clay, and water-pots are bought in the towns.
Birds. Birds are rare in the marshes in summer. Of those which are eaten by the Marsh Arabs are the Gallinule or Purple Coot (Porphyrio poliocephala, Ar. Barhan); the Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea, Ar. Erkheawwi), the Goliath Heron (Ardea goliath, Ar. Ahmirar), and the Pigmy Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus, Ar. Eléchi). The Darter (Plotus rufus, Ar. Warda or Warida) is resident, but we do not know that it is eaten. In winter the marshes are visited by myriads of duck (Ar. Bash) and geese (Ar. Bat), and more than ad ozen species of duck are common. Harra is the general name for teal, widgeon and other small duck. A Marsh Arab was met who appeared to distinguish at any rate most of these, and to be able to pick out from a number of fowl which had been shot an appropriate duck for each drake. There are few European sportsmen who could pass such a test.
The Marsh Arab catches duck in two ways, in a net, and with a gun. The net has a mouth from ten to fifteen feet in diameter and tapers to its tail about fifty feet away. The mouth is held open above the water by means of reeds, and the ducks are attracted by paddy scattered on the surface of the water just inside the mouth. The paddy is renewed daily for a few days until the birds have gained confidence, and then, when there are many of them inside, the mouth is caused to fall into the water by a man (concealed some distance, away in the reed beds), who pulls a string attached to a prop. When the gun is used, a man swims slowly and silently, concealing himself behind a bundle of reeds, which he pushes along the surface of the water in front of him, until he approaches close to a flock of birds feeding on the mud. He then discharges at it his ancient muzzle-loader, which has been filled with a charge of black powder and bits of iron, brick, wire, lead, or old copper pots : if lucky, he will kill perhaps twenty or more birds with the one shot. .
Ducks find a ready sale at Amâra and Başra, but in the markets at these places most of those we have seen for sale have been alive, either domesticated or wild, caught by the net, and we remember only once eating duck when living, with the rich, rice-cultivating Arabs of the edges of the marshes. It seems probable, therefore, that most of the birds killed in this way are eaten by the Marsh Arabs themselves. We also know that they eat the eggs of the Gallinule, and presumably of other water fowl also.
Mammals. The only mammal which is hunted is the otter (Ar. Chalab al mai, i.e., "Water-dog," pl. Chalab al mai). It is comparatively common, and is speared at night, by the light of the moon, by men who lie up for them. The skins are in consequence much gashed, but find a ready sale to Turkish and British officers. In 1918, at 'Amara, a pound was asked for a skin, but we bought five skins for seven shillings and six pence. Major Marrs reports that the otter is sometimes domesticated by the Marsh Arabs, and will faithfully follow its master whereever he goes.
3 In correct Arabic duck are called Bat and wild geese Was al bara.
