Note 18 — The Fourteenth New Year’s Feast from the Auspicious Accession

In Ahmadabad I had two male mārk͟hūr goats. As I had not a female in my establishment to pair with them, it occurred to me that if I could pair them with Barbary goats, which they bring from Arabia, especially from the port of the city of Darkhar,18 young of their form and qualities might be obtained. In short, I paired them with seven Barbary ewes, and after six months had elapsed each of the latter had a young one at Fatḥpūr: there were four females and three males, very pleasing in appearance, of good shape and good colour. In their colour, those (kids) which resembled the male (taka, not baka, as in the printed copy) were dun-coloured with black stripes on their backs. Red,19 indeed, appears to me a more pleasing colour than any other, and it is the mark of a better breed. Of their liveliness and laughable ways and their manner of gamboling and leaping, what can be written? Some of their ways are such that the mind derived uncontrolled pleasure from looking at them. It is notorious that painters cannot draw properly the motions of a kid. Granting that they may chance to draw the movements of an ordinary kid after a fashion, they certainly would have to acknowledge themselves at a loss how to draw the motions of these kids. When one month, or even twenty days old, they would leap up upon high places and throw themselves on to the ground in a way that if any other but a kid were to do so, not one limb would be left whole. As it pleased me, I ordered them always to be kept near me, and I gave each of them an appropriate name. I am much delighted with them, and pay great attention to bringing together mārk͟hūr males and well-bred she-goats. I desire to have many young ones from them, and that they may become well known among men. After their young shall have paired, most probably more delicate ones will be obtained. One of their peculiarities is that ordinary kids immediately they are born, and until they begin to suck, make a great bleating, whilst these, on the contrary, make no sound, and stand quite contented and without wailing. Perhaps their flesh would be very pleasant to the taste.