Instead of shooting the wild ass, or hunting him to the death with hounds, an endeavor was sometimes made to take him alive. [PLATE CXXI., Fig. 4] A species of noose seems to have been made by means of two ropes interlaced, which were passed—­how, we cannot say—­round the neck of the animal, and held him in such a way that all his struggles to release himself were vain.  This mode of capture recalls the use of the lasso by the South Americans and the employment of nooses by various nations, not merely in hunting, but in warfare.  It is doubtful, however, if the Assyrian practice approached at all closely to any of these.  The noose, if it may be so called, was of a very peculiar kind.  It was not formed by means of a slip-knot at the end of a single cord, but resulted from the interlacing of two ropes one with the other.  There is great difficulty in understanding how the ropes were got into their position.  Certainly no single throw could have placed then, round the neck of the animal in the manner represented, nor could the capture have been effected, according to all appearance, by a single hunter.  Two persons, at least, must have been required to combine their efforts—­one before and one behind the creature which it was designed to capture.

[Illustration:  PLATE 122]

Deer, which have always abounded in Assyria were either hunted with dogs, or driven by beaters into nets, or sometimes shot with arrows by sportsmen.  The illustration (PLATE CXXII., Fig. 1) represents a dog in chase of a hind, and shows that the hounds which the Assyrians used for this purpose were of the same breed as those employed in the hunt of the lion and of the wild ass.  In [PLATE CXXII., Fig. 2.] we have a stricken stag, which may, perhaps, have been also hard pressed by hounds, in the act of leaping from rocky ground into water.  It is interesting to find this habit of the stag, with which the modern English sportsman is so familiar, not merely existing in Assyria, but noticed by Assyrian sculptors, at the distance of more than twenty-five centuries from our own time.

When deer were to be taken by nets, the sportsman began by setting in an upright position, with the help of numerous poles and pegs, a long, low net, like the [dikrvov] of the Greeks. [PLATE CXXII., Fig. 1.] This was carried round in a curved line of considerable length, so as to enclose an ample space on every side excepting one, which was left open for the deer to enter.  The meshes of the net were large and not very regular.  They were carefully secured by knots at all the angles.  The net was bordered both at top and at bottom by a rope of much greater strength and thickness than that which formed the network; and this was fastened to the ground at the two extremities by pegs of superior size. [PLATE CXXIII., Fig. 2.] The general height of the net was about that of a man, but the two ends were sloped gently to the ground.  Beaters, probably accompanied by dogs,