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The End of Cool Japan is a forceful intervention into the study and flow of
Japanese pop culture around the world. Taking the arousals of fandom ser-
iously, the essays also consider the ways J-pop culture gets both manipulated
and constrained (by politics, legal constricts, religion, nationalism) to make it
decidedly “uncool” at various hands. Advocating for a critical pedagogy that
scrutinizes Japanese pop culture in all its complexities and iterations, the
volume is sharp-edged and smartly conceived throughout. This is an invaluable
contribution to the field—that of Japanese studies and also beyond.
Anne Allison, Duke University, USA
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The End of Cool Japan
Today’s convergent media environment offers unprecedented opportunities for
sourcing and disseminating previously obscure popular culture material from
Japan. However, this presents concerns regarding copyright, ratings and
exposure to potentially illegal content, which are serious problems for those
teaching and researching about Japan. Despite young people’s enthusiasm for
Japanese popular culture, these concerns spark debate about whether it can
be judged harmful for youth audiences and could therefore herald the end of
‘cool Japan.’
This collection brings together Japan specialists in order to identify key
challenges in using Japanese popular culture materials in research and teach-
ing. It addresses issues such as the availability of unofficially translated and
distributed Japanese material; the emphasis on adult-themes, violence, sexual
scenes and under-age characters; and the discrepancies in legislation and rat-
ings systems across the world. Considering how these issues affect researchers,
teachers, students and fans in the USA, Canada, Australia, China, Japan, and
elsewhere in Asia, the contributors discuss the different ways in which aca-
demic and fan practices are challenged by local regulations. Illustrating from
personal experience the sometimes fraught nature of teaching about ‘cool
Japan,’ they suggest ways in which Japanese Studies as a discipline needs to
develop clearer guidelines for teaching and research, especially for new scholars
entering the field.
As the first collection to identify some of the real problems faced by tea-
chers and researchers of Japanese popular culture as well as the students over
whom they have a duty of care, this book will be of great interest to students
and scholars of Japanese Studies and Cultural Studies.
Mark McLelland is Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Uni-
versity of Wollongong, Australia, and a former Toyota Visiting Professor of
Japanese at the University of Michigan, USA. His recent publications include
Love, Sex and Democracy in Japan during the American Occupation (2012);
and The Routledge Handbook of Sexuality Studies in East Asia, edited with
Vera Mackie (Routledge, 2015).
Routledge Contemporary Japan Series
Heritage Conservation and Japan's Japanese Women in Science
Cultural Diplomacy and Engineering
Heritage, national identity and History and policy change
national interest Naonori Kodate and
Natsuko Akagawa Kashiko Kodate
Religion and Psychotherapy in Japan’s Border Issues
Modern Japan Pitfalls and prospects
Edited by Christopher Harding, Akihiro Iwashita
Iwata Fumiaki and
Yoshinaga Shin’ichi Japan, Russia and
Territorial Dispute
Party Politics in Japan The Northern delusion
Political chaos and stalemate in the James D.J. Brown
21st century
Edited by Ronald J. Hrebenar and Fukushima and the Arts in Japan
Akira Nakamura Negotiating disaster
Edited by Barbara Geilhorn and
Career Women in Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt
Contemporary Japan
Pursuing identities, fashioning lives Social Inequality in
Anne Stefanie Aronsson Post-Growth Japan
Transformation during economic
Visions of Precarity in Japanese and cemographic stagnation
Popular Culture and Literature Edited by David Chiavacci and
Edited by Kristina Carola Hommerich
Iwata-Weickgenannt and
Roman Rosenbaum The End of Cool Japan
Ethical, legal, and cultural
Decision-Making Reform in Japan challenges to Japanese
The DPJ’s failed attempt at a popular culture
politician-led government Edited by Mark McLelland
Karol Zakowski
Regional Administration in Japan
Examining Japan’s Lost Decades Departure from uniformity
Edited by Yoichi Funabashi and by Shunsuke Kimura
Barak Kushner
The End of Cool Japan
Ethical, legal, and cultural challenges to
Japanese popular culture
Edited by
Mark McLelland
Add Add
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First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Mark McLelland
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: McLelland, Mark, editor of compilation.
Title: The end of cool Japan : ethical, legal, and cultural challenges to
Japanese popular culture / edited by Mark McLelland.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,
2017. |
Series: Routledge contemporary Japan series ; 65 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016009965| ISBN 9781138638259 (hardback) | ISBN
9781315637884 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Popular culture–Japan. | Popular culture–Moral and
ethical aspects–Japan. | Japan–Study and teaching. | Popular culture–Study
and teaching. | Popular culture–Research. | Mass media–Social aspects–
Japan. | Comic books, strips, etc.–Social aspects–Japan. | Child
pornography–Social aspects–Japan. | Japan–Social conditions–1989-
Classification: LCC DS822.5 .E5165 2017 | DDC 306.0952–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016009965
ISBN: 978-1-138-63825-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-63788-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Taylor & Francis Books
Contents
List of figures ix
List of contributors x
Acknowledgement xiii
Note on language xv
1 Introduction: Negotiating “cool Japan” in research and teaching 1
MARK MCLELLAND
2 Death Note, student crimes, and the power of universities in the
global spread of manga 31
ALISA FREEDMAN
3 Scholar girl meets manga maniac, media specialist, and
cultural gatekeeper 51
LAURA MILLER
4 Must we burn eromanga?: Trying obscenity in the courtroom and
in the classroom 70
KIRSTEN CATHER
5 Manga, anime, and child pornography law in Canada 94
SHARALYN ORBAUGH
6 “The lolicon guy”: Some observations on researching unpopular
topics in Japan 109
PATRICK W. GALBRAITH
7 All seizures great and small: Reading contentious images of
minors in Japan and Australia 134
ADAM STAPLETON
8 “The love that dare not speak its name”: The fate of Chinese
danmei communities in the 2014 anti-porn campaign 163
LING YANG AND YANRUI XU
viii Contents
9 Negotiating religious and fan identities: “Boys’ love” and
fujoshi guilt 184
JESSICA BAUWENS-SUGIMOTO
10 Is there a space for cool manga in Indonesia and the Philippines?:
Postcolonial discourses on transcultural manga 196
KRISTINE MICHELLE SANTOS AND FEBRIANI SIHOMBING
Appendix I: Interview with Uchiyama Aki 219
Index 222
List of figures
2.1 Penny Booth, “Love Note” 46
4.1 “Carnival, Carnival” in Misshitsu: Honey Room 83
4.2 Honey Room cover images 85
4.3 Abyu-kyo’s manifesto 89
10.1 Cover of chapter one of Ninja Girl Ko by Kriss Sison, a
Mangaholix comic 204
10.2 Magic of Love by Anzu Hizawa 210
List of contributors
Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto is a full-time lecturer at Ryukoku University,
Faculty of Intercultural Communication. Her research focuses on issues of
gender and ethnicity in comics and manga. Recent publications include,
“Manga Studies #3: On BL Manga Research in Japanese” in Comics Forum
(comicsforum.org/2014/07/29/manga-studies-3-on-bl-manga-research-in-japa
nese-by-jessica-bauwens-sugimoto/); “The Import and Reproduction of
Europe, and its Re-importation and Re-reproduction – On Gothic and
Lolita Fashion” (in Japanese), in Japanese Association for Semiotic Stu-
dies, ed., The Semiology of Wearing and Stripping (Shinyosha Publishers,
2014); and “Fanboys and Naruto Epics: Exploring New Ground in Fanfiction
Studies” (co-written with N. Renka) in J. Berndt and B. Kuemmerling
Meibauer, eds, Manga’s Cultural Crossroads (Routledge, 2013).
Kirsten Cather is Associate Professor of Japanese Literature and Film at the
University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include censorship,
pornography, suicide, and literary and filmic adaptations. She is author of
The Art of Censorship in Postwar Japan (University of Hawaii Press, 2012),
on the obscenity trials of Japanese literature, film and manga. She has also
published articles on a Pink Film adaptation of Ozu (“Perverting Ozu:
Suo- Masayuki’s Abnormal Family (1984)”), another on Nikkatsu Roman
Porno director Kumashiro Tatsumi (“The Politics and Pleasures of Histor-
iographic Porn”), and one that sketches the history of postwar censorship
of erotic films (“Policing the Pinks”). She is currently working on her
second monograph, Scripting Suicide in Modern Japan.
Alisa Freedman is Associate Professor of Japanese Literature and Film at the
University of Oregon. Her books include Tokyo in Transit: Japanese Cul-
ture on the Rails and Road (Stanford University Press, 2010), an annotated
translation of Kawabata Yasunari’s The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa (University
of California Press, 2005), and co-edited volumes on Modern Girls on the
Go: Gender, Mobility, and Labor in Japan (Stanford University Press,
2013) and Introducing Japanese Popular Culture (Routledge, 2017). She
has authored articles and edited collections on Japanese modernism, urban
studies, youth culture, gender discourses, television history, and intersections
List of contributors xi
of literature and digital media, along with publishing translations of
Japanese novels and short stories.
Patrick W. Galbraith received his first PhD in Information Studies from the
University of Tokyo, and is currently pursuing a second PhD in Cultural
Anthropology at Duke University. He is the author and editor of many
books on Japanese media and popular culture, most recently The Moe
Manifesto: An Insider’s Look at the Worlds of Manga, Anime and Gaming
(Tuttle, 2014), and Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan: Historical
Perspectives and New Horizons (Bloomsbury, 2015).
Mark McLelland is Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Uni-
versity of Wollongong, and author or editor of ten books focusing on
issues to do with the history of sexuality, popular culture and new media –
most recently, Love, Sex and Democracy in Japan during the American
Occupation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), and The Routledge Handbook of
Sexuality Studies in East Asia, edited with Vera Mackie (Routledge, 2015).
Laura Miller is Ei’ichi Shibusawa-Seigo Arai Endowed Professor of Japanese
Studies and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri – St
Louis. She has published more than 70 articles and book chapters on
Japanese culture and language, on topics such as English loanwords in
Japanese, girls’ slang, Himiko, self-photography and Tarot cards. She is the
author of Beauty Up: Exploring Contemporary Japanese Body Aesthetics
(University of California Press, 2006), and co-editor of three other books.
She recently edited a special section of Japanese Language and Literature
on “The Politics of Speaking Japanese” (October, 2015), which includes
her contribution “Linguistic Folk Theories and Foreign Celebrities of the
Past.”
Sharalyn Orbaugh is Professor in the Department of Asian Studies, Uni-
versity of British Columbia. One major research stream is the visual and
popular narrative culture of Japan from the 1930s to the present, particu-
larly queer, SF and oppositional discourses. Recent publications include
Propaganda Performed: Kamishibai in Japan’s Fifteen-Year War (Brill,
2015); and “Who Does the Feeling When There’s No Body There?
Cyborgs and Companion Species in Oshii Mamoru’s Films,” in Jennifer L.
Feeley and Sarah Ann Wells, eds, Simultaneous Worlds: Global Science
Fiction Cinema (University of Minnesota Press, 2015).
Kristine Michelle Santos is a PhD candidate in the School of Humanities and
Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong. Her research focuses on issues
surrounding the history and transcultural flows of gender, popular culture
and new media in Asia. Her recent publications include “The Death of
Philippine Comics” (in Japanese), in Global Manga Studies 4 (2014); and a
chapter titled “Pinoy Manga in Philippine Komiks” in Global Manga
(Bloomsbury, 2015).
xii List of contributors
Febriani Sihombing is a PhD candidate in Information Science at Tohoku
University, Japan. Her research focuses on the presentation of couple
characters in boys’ love (BL) comics and the polemics around “Japanese-
ness” in Indonesian comics. Her publications include “On the Iconic Dif-
ference between Couple Characters in Boys Love Manga,” Image &
Narrative: Online Magazine of Visual Narrative, 12(1) (2011); and “‘Influ-
ence’ and ‘Style’ as the Foundation of Comics Politicization: The Case of
Indonesian Comics” (in Japanese), an International Manga Research Center
online publication (2014). She is also currently working as a full-time
trading company employee and a full-time fan activist.
Adam Stapleton is a PhD candidate at the University of Wollongong. He has
published several articles on Anglophone child pornography legislation
and its collision with different areas of visual culture.
Uchiyama Aki was a bestselling manga artist in Japan in the early 1980s
publishing not only in niche magazines such as Lemon People, but also
mainstream ones such as Sho-nen Champion. Uchiyama helped popularize
lolicon (Lolita complex) works featuring cute girl characters in erotic
situations. Disappearing from the scene after the end of the lolicon boom
in 1984, Uchiyama today lives a reclusive life and publishes only fanzines.
Yanrui Xu is Associate Professor of Communication at Ningbo Institute of
Technology, Zhejiang University, People’s Republic of China. Her research
focuses on women’s literature and popular culture. She is the author of
Media and Gender: Femininity, Masculinity and the Formulation of Gender
in Media (Zhejiang University Press, 2014), and Contemporary Feminist
Literary Criticism in China 1980s–2000s (Guangxi Normal University
Press, 2008). Xu is also a BL novelist and her stories have appeared in
Chinese BL magazines and literature websites such as Jinjiang, Lucifer
Club, and My Fresh Net. She has been collaborating with Ling Yang on
BL research since 2012 and has received funding from the Sumitomo
Foundation.
Ling Yang is Assistant Professor of Chinese at Xiamen University, People’s
Republic of China. She is the author of Entertaining the Transitional Era:
Super Girl Fandom and the Consumption of Popular Culture (China Social
Sciences Press, 2012), and the co-editor of Fan Cultures: A Reader (Peking
University Press, 2009). She has published on Chinese fan culture, popular
culture and youth fiction, in both English and Chinese. She has been col-
laborating with Yanrui Xu on BL research since 2012 and has received
funding from the Sumitomo Foundation.
Acknowledgement
The idea for a collection on contentious areas of research and teaching in
Japanese Studies first came about at the “Teaching Japanese Popular Culture”
conference convened at the University of Singapore in November 2012, at
which I was invited to reflect on my experience of teaching and researching
about Japan in an Australian context. This led me to begin to outline some of
the legal and ethical issues raised by my research into Japanese popular
culture due to some significant legislative and cultural differences between
Australia and Japan. I would like to thank the organizers of the Singapore
event for this fruitful opportunity.
Subsequently I put together a workshop entitled “The End of Cool Japan”
which looked at growing concern expressed, particularly in the Anglophone
media, about certain aspects of Japanese popular culture that are considered
inappropriate for a youth audience, or even for today’s undergraduates. The
workshop was sponsored by the Center for Japanese Studies at the University
of Michigan in April 2014 and featured several of this volume’s contributors.
We would like to thank Professor Markus Nornes, in particular, for his
support for the event and his kind hospitality at the workshop.
The majority of the chapters in this volume were further developed at the
conference “Manga Futures: Institutional and Fan Approaches in Japan and
Beyond,” held at the University of Wollongong in November/December 2014
(mangafutures.com). This was the sixth international scholarly conference on
manga sponsored by Kyoto Seika University’s International Manga Research
Center (IMRC). I would like to thank the co-organizer of this event, Deputy
Director of the IMRC Professor Jaqueline Berndt, and President of Kyoto Seika
University Professor Takemiya Keiko, for enabling this gathering of international
scholars and for providing such a fertile ground for the exchange and development
of ideas in the field of manga studies. We would also like to thank the Japan
Foundation for a generous grant that enabled Kirsten Cather, Alisa Freedman,
Patrick W. Galbraith, Laura Miller, Sharalyn Orbaugh and Jessica Bauwens-
Sugimoto to attend, and the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts at
Wollongong that provided the facilities, catering and logistics for the event.
The research in this volume is also supported in part by grant FT120100388
awarded to Professor Mark McLelland by the Australian Research Council.
xiv Acknowledgement
The research in the chapter by Ling Yang and Yanrui Xu was supported by
a grant for Japan-related research projects from the Sumitomo Foundation.
Ling Yang would also like to thank her students Shengjie Li and Jing Zhao
for providing her insider information about Chinese fandoms of Japanese pop
culture.
Note on language
All Japanese names are listed in Japanese order, with surname first, and thus
appear in the references without commas; the exception is Japanese authors
who usually write in English and use the Western name order accordingly.
When romanizing Japanese terms, long vowels have been represented by
macrons, except in terms commonly written in English, such as place names
and period reigns. Capitalization in transliterated Japanese has generally been
avoided except in instances when these terms would normally be capitalized
in English, including personal and place names.
This page intentionally left blank
1 Introduction
Negotiating “cool Japan” in research
and teaching
Mark McLelland
The end of “cool Japan”
In June 2014 when the Diet, Japan’s parliament, moved finally to criminalize
the simple possession of child pornography images, expanding an earlier 1999
law that had already outlawed the production and dissemination of such
images, there was consternation in the Anglophone1 (that is, English-language)
press. Numerous reports argued that Japan had not gone far enough – since
the legislation was not extended to the creation or possession of fantasy
images of characters who might “appear to be” children such as can be found
in manga or anime. A plethora of sensationalist articles appeared over the
course of a few weeks, condemning Japan as, among other things, “the
Empire of Child Pornography” (Adelstein and Kubo 2014; see also Fackler
2014). Among them, an “undercover” CNN video report showed a scanda-
lized journalist holding up a blurry image of a supposedly abusive manga
cover (Ripley and Whiteman 2014). The reporter, however, chose a poor
example for condemnation – the title blurred-out because it was “too gra-
phic” to show was Dolls Fall 2, which is, in fact, a popular title in the mystery/
horror genres (see Vincent 2014),2 and is available for purchase in the United
States on Amazon (where the cover can be easily viewed). It can also be read
for free in an unauthorized English translation on sites such as Mangafox,
where it received a 4.5 star viewer rating.3 Any manga or anime fan familiar
with Japan would have been able to see through the CNN report as the beat-
up it was, just another episode in the Anglophone press tradition of “Japan
bashing.” Indeed, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) accused
the CNN report of peddling misconceptions and “deliberate hyperbole”
(Williams 2015).
I ended up being pulled into this controversy due to my perceived expertise
in Japanese popular culture and sexuality in Japan. If you do a Google
Scholar search for the terms “manga” and “pornography,” then several arti-
cles I have authored appear on the first page – alongside a good number by
academic friends, colleagues and acquaintances. Since several of these scho-
lars are also Facebook friends, I know that it is not unusual for us to be
contacted, at short notice, by members of the press requesting information
2 Mark McLelland
about some aspect or other of Japanese popular culture – often regarding
sexual content. These encounters rarely end well. This is largely to do with a
mismatch of expectations: academics want to take time to define terms,
introduce historical and cultural comparisons, and avoid generalizations,
whereas journalists are often looking for a short soundbite – something that
can be dropped into an already prefigured opinion piece about the behavior
or psychology of “Japanese people.” As Atlantic journalist James Fallows
portentiously observed in 1986, “the Japanese are different from you and me,”
designating Japan’s “underlying social motif” as a “half-conscious, low grade
pedophilia” (Fallows 1986: 35). Indeed, as I have discussed elsewhere
(McLelland 2003), this journalistic interest in the sex lives of the Japanese is
longstanding and seldom affirming.
It is because of perceptions like the above that I am not enthusiastic about
engaging with journalists seeking out an academic opinion aimed at explain-
ing supposed “Japanese” attitudes or behaviors. This happened most recently
when I was contacted by a reporter from the Australian Broadcasting Cor-
poration (one of the country’s more reputable news sources), asking me to
explain why the Japanese Diet had “failed to include” manga and anime
images of sexualized characters appearing to be minors among the items
prohibited in its newly drafted legislation. I tried to explain that there have been
ongoing media panics about sex and violence in comic books since Frederic
Wertham’s now discredited study, Seduction of the Innocent: The Influence of
Comic Books on Today’s Youth, was first published in 1954 (Tilley 2012). In
response to the misleading but oft-repeated charge that the failure to include
manga and anime images was “a concession to the nation’s powerful pub-
lishing and entertainment industries” (Fackler 2014), I pointed out that leg-
islators could not simply introduce a blanket ban on fictitious images for
constitutional reasons, and in this respect Japan was in a similar position to
the United States, where attempts to regulate “virtual” (that is fictional/
unreal) child-pornography images have proven controversial (Akdeniz 2008:
15). It is significant that in their efforts to brand Japan as a pariah in failing
to abide by “international standards,” not one report mentioned the challenge
by The Free Speech Coalition to the 1996 US Child Pornography Prevention
Act, which had sought to include fictitious images in its purview. In 1999 this
court challenge was successful in overturning prohibitions on “images of fic-
titious children engaged in imaginary but explicit sexual conduct” in the
United States (Akdeniz, 2008: 102, my emphasis).
It became clear after a few minutes into the conversation that the journalist
was fixated on a story about Japanese exceptionalism and uniqueness. He was
uninterested in the fact that even in the context of comparable societies such
as the United States and Canada, “there has been competition between leg-
islative and judicial decision-makers regarding the appropriate limits of free-
dom of expression, with differences of opinion amongst the judges and
between courts and legislatures” around the issue of what constitutes child
pornography, and that it is a “myth” that any jurisdiction has “the right
Introduction 3
answers” (Johnson 2006: 378; see also Orbaugh in this volume). It became
obvious that the journalist had stopped listening to my attempts to add
nuance to his rather reductionist assumptions about the situation in Japan.
The account I offered was simply too long and complicated, too full of his-
torical and inter-cultural comparisons, and would have proven impossible to
summarize in the word limit he had available for the article. As soon as he
could politely do so, he exited the conversation.
The chapters in this collection challenge the kinds of attention-grabbing,
pearl-clutching perspectives on Japan that are so common in today’s media
reports. All the authors in this collection – as students, researchers and
teachers – have been caught up to varying degrees in debates around these
contentious issues – aspects of Japanese popular culture that are judged “not
cool.” Because of persistent press beat-ups of Japan, these issues cannot be
sidelined or ignored as they now constitute part of a growing public con-
sensus that there is a “dark side” to Japanese popular culture that is evidence
of a distinctly Japanese pathology (see for example, McGinty 2000; McLel-
land 2003). The purpose of the collection is not to offer exculpatory readings
of these less attractive aspects of Japanese popular culture but to place these
issues and themes in an academic – not a journalistic – frame, and in so doing
add the nuance and context so often lacking in the latter.
From salarymen to Sailor Moon: changing representations of Japan
In keeping with the personal tone of many of the contributions to this
volume, I would like to start by explaining how the idea for a volume on the
pleasures and perils of teaching and researching about popular culture in
Japan first arose. The original idea came about at the “Teaching Japanese
Popular Culture” conference convened at the University of Singapore in
November 2012, where I was asked to reflect on my experience teaching
undergraduates in Australia. This necessarily led me to reflect on my own
experience as a student of Japanese, and the ways in which my subsequent
teaching and research have changed over time. As part of these reflections I
engaged some of my senior colleagues in conversations about how they first
encountered Japan, how they came to study Japanese language and culture,
and how they thought the role of teacher or researcher had changed over the
course of their careers.
It became apparent during these conversations that there were a number of
similarities in our experience, largely due to the ways in which the image and
appeal of “Japan” has changed drastically since the 1970s, at least for stu-
dents in Europe, North America and Australia. During the 1970s and 1980s,
it was Japan’s economic performance that was attracting interest – as well as
some anxiety. It was during this time that the term “Japan bashing” gained
currency, referring to a range of representations across film, news and other
media that represented Japanese salarymen, in particular, as fanatical workers
whose selfless devotion to the company and the nation gave them an unfair
4 Mark McLelland
edge in global exports (see Freedman, this volume; also Morris 2011). At this
time if you had expressed an interest in “manga” or “anime,” people would
have looked at you blankly. In fact, in 1983 manga translator and scholar
Frederick Schodt wondered, “Will Japanese comics now follow Toyotas and
Sony overseas?” finding it unlikely, since their style and content was so alien
to the American comics tradition (Schodt 1983: 153; see also McLelland
2016a).
As far as university teaching on Japan went, courses were heavily weighted
toward history, political economy and literature (of the Canonical kind). If
you were lucky and studying at a major hub for Japan Studies, you might
have got to do a course on film (also of the Canonical kind), but none of the
offerings could really be described as involving anything “popular.” Discus-
sion of the popular, including Japanese TV, manga and music, tended to
happen in the Japanese language classes with the native-speaking instructors,
but the information shared there was not the kind of knowledge tested in
examinations and the use of the colloquial expressions picked up from these
sources was actively discouraged.
My experience as a student of the Japanese language and later a researcher
and teacher about Japan dates from the peak of Japan’s “bubble economy” in
the late 1980s when perceptions of Japan revolved around business acumen
and gadget fetishism – spurred on by the recent success of Japanese car
exports and the miniaturization boom in mobile electronics symbolized by the
Sony Walkman. I first went to study in Japan in 1988 as a graduate student
and my reason for going was to research Japanese religion (I had been a
Religious Studies major). For the 18 months of the fellowship I dutifully tra-
veled around Japan interviewing rural Buddhist priests about their changing
roles, identities and job requirements at a time of rapid industrialization and
urbanization when the role of the local temple seemed to be reduced to a
place that family members only thought of in terms of funerals. The son of
one of my informants, destined to inherit his father’s job as local priest in an
out-of-the-way village in Oita, confided that he really had no interest in fol-
lowing the priestly profession, but would rather become a travel agent.
Another young man, the nephew of a priest who had only daughters, let me
know with some relief that he had managed to avoid being forced into taking
over his uncle’s position by landing a good job in one of Japan’s top film
production companies. Not finding my orientalist enthusiasm for “tradi-
tional” Japan mirrored by my informants, suddenly Japanese religion did not
seem all that interesting any more.
Upon returning to undertake a postgraduate degree in Japanese Studies at
a UK university in the early 1990s, there was no mention of anything vaguely
“popular” in the curriculum (one reason I dropped the course to return to
Japan). I had become interested in pursuing research into sexual minority
history and identity in Japan but had been discouraged from doing so by
professors in the UK due to a supposed lack of original source material in
Japanese. I knew, however, from experience of watching Japanese television
Introduction 5
(including anime) and reading manga, in particular, that there were multiple
representations of gender and sexual nonconformity in popular culture – it
just seemed that academics were not talking about these issues. Yet, such
representations were unavoidable – as brought home powerfully in 1988 when
watching, for the first time, at my host family’s home in Oita, the annual New
Year’s Eve show, the Red and White Song Contest (Ko-haku uta gassen). The
show featured as the highlight of the men’s team the cross-dressing enka
singer, comedian and actor Mikawa Ken’ichi.
Back in the late 1980s, there were few scholars in Japanese universities,
either, who were able to comment on issues of sexual and gender non-
conformity in the media. For instance, my native Japanese-speaking teachers
were unable to help me with my question about how to talk about sexual
minorities in Japanese in a non-discriminatory way. Their advice was simply
not to discuss the topic at all. My understanding of the role and place of
sexual and gender diversity in Japanese media and society more generally was
almost entirely picked up from watching TV, reading manga and interacting
with gay men in Shinjuku’s ni-cho-me area that is chock full of specialty bars,
cafés and bookshops. Although I did subsequently learn a great deal from
two early pioneers of media representations of homosexuality in Japan, James
Valentine (1997) and Wim Lunsing (1997), the historical material I later
uncovered (McLelland 2005) was largely based on my own archival research.
Not finding the aspects of Japan that had most intrigued me included in
any course offerings available in the UK, I returned to Japan in 1991, a
period that saw the beginning of a “gay boom” in media coverage, when
interest in male homosexuality escalated across various media including film,
magazines and literature. From this point on it became impossible to argue
that there was insufficient material to support PhD research on the topic. I
went on to document the gay boom in my first book, Male Homosexuality in
Modern Japan: Cultural Myths and Social Realities (McLelland 2000). In my
subsequent, more historical works, Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the
Internet Age (McLelland 2005) and Love, Sex and Democracy in Japan during
the American Occupation (McLelland 2012a), I went on to show how this
interest in sex and gender nonconformity was hardly a contemporary trend
but had been evident across a range of Japanese media since content restric-
tions (excepting politically sensitive issues) were lifted in the Occupation
period in 1945. A close engagement with and study of the “popular” has been
central to my academic career from the very beginning.
Today, driven by student demand and new media networks that make
Japanese culture so much more accessible, Japan Studies must necessarily
engage with the popular in a manner that simply was not on the horizon back
in the 1980s. Although niche interest in aspects of Japanese popular culture
had existed among some people since the initial export of Japanese anima-
tions to Western countries in the 1960s, from the 1990s onward Japanese
anime, in particular, has gained a mainstream audience. Anime and asso-
ciated merchandise (games, manga, figurines, cards, cosplay) linked to
6 Mark McLelland
globally successful franchises such as Sailor Moon, Naruto, Power Rangers
and Pokémon (Napier 2010; Allison 2006; Tobin 2004) have become part of
the childhood experience of many children in Australia, the United States and
elsewhere, and the animated feature films of Studio Ghibli have also attracted
a widespread adult audience.
As a result, across the last two decades, no matter what their original dis-
cipline, due to student and institutional demands, many of my colleagues with
Japan Studies expertise have ended up teaching into or devising courses built
around Japan’s “popular” culture, most usually involving manga, anime, gaming,
music, food and fashion. Institutions in Japan are also offering such courses,
serving both study-abroad as well as local Japanese students. Such courses
include a very different kind of content from the curricula predominant in the
1970s and 1980s that my colleagues and I first encountered.
From the early 2000s, emphasizing “Japan cool” (McGray 2002) has also
become a common marketing strategy on the part of Japanese businesses and
government agencies (McLelland 2009). Drawing on Joseph Nye’s (1990)
notion of “soft power,” referring to the ways in which a positive interest in
and appreciation for a nation’s culture can also support that nation’s broader
political agenda, the Japanese government has increasingly been investing in
“cool Japan” strategies and programs, especially in Asia, where there still
exist tensions between Japan and neighboring countries as a consequence of
Japanese imperialism in the last century. Koichi Iwabuchi (2010) argues that
Japanese government investment in cool Japan, which he terms “brand
nationalism,” is an attempt to deploy this soft power as a kind of cultural
imperialism. He points out how the aim is to promote an image of Japan, in
Asia in particular, that is more “‘liberated’ and ‘humane’” (ibid.: 72). This
strategy has been met with suspicion in some contexts in Asia (see Santos and
Sihombing in this volume).
Yet despite the embrace of “cool Japan” marketing tactics on the part of
universities attempting to attract increased student numbers, and by Japanese
agencies looking to capitalize on the positive ambience generated by young
people’s interest in and affection for Japan’s popular culture, there are a
number of factors complicating this strategy. These are to do with the manner
in which students and fans access Japanese material (seldom through official
channels), the kinds of material that they choose to access (often involving
controversial imagery and scenarios), and how audiences use these materi-
als. As outlined below, neither the Japanese content industries nor the Japa-
nese government (nor indeed classroom instructors) have any control over
how, in today’s “remix” world, cultural content is accessed, (re)interpreted
and (re)distributed among networks of fans and consumers (McLelland 2009).
What is “cool” about Japan for young people often includes aspects of the
culture that are different and disapproved of by authority figures. Ian Condry,
pointing to the subcultural manner in which these texts circulate, argues that
“cool” is not really the best moniker to capture the range of fan interests,
suggesting instead “geek Japan,” a far less upbeat label (Condry 2013: 205).
Introduction 7
As is pointed out by several of the contributors to this volume, it is the “vir-
tual” (deliberately non-realist) manner in which manga and anime worlds are
presented that allows characters to go beyond conventional depictions of
gender, sexuality and embodiment. The fact that these texts are usually con-
sumed in the context of vibrant fan communities also captures young people’s
imagination and engages them in a process of mutual exploration and self-
fashioning. As well as the edgy characters and plots that fans find exciting,
the “disjunctive imaginaries” on offer also appeal to young people precisely
because they are “in sync with lived experiences of fragmentation, mobility
and flux” (Allison 2006: 11) in our increasingly globalized world.
It is this instability of both the image and the content of “cool Japan” that
has seen the development in recent years of a new kind of “Japan bashing,”
this time it being certain content that is supposedly alien or “other,” particu-
larly in manga and anime (Hinton 2014: 93–94), that is judged harmful for
youth audiences (McLelland 2009). These anxieties are, of course, not parti-
cular to material from Japan but have been a recurring feature in journalistic
reports about the “effects” of popular culture more generally for over a cen-
tury. As Kristine Santos and Febriani Sihombing point out in their chapter,
popular culture is “formed always in reaction to, and never as part of, the
forces of domination” (Fiske 2010: 43). There has been a long history of
pundits happy to point out the supposedly deleterious effects of such things as
the novel, the movies, radio, comic books, television, rock music, video
games, the Internet (the list goes on) on “the masses” and on “juveniles” in
particular. Yet, as Williams and Zenger argue, these days “popular culture”
has become a crucial resource that “young people are appropriating and
reusing … to perform identities and make meaning in their own lives” (Wil-
liams and Zenger 2012: 3), and as such, pop culture materials are an appro-
priate and important resource in the humanities classroom. Although each
author in this collection engages with these ongoing debates in order to frame
their analysis, their chapters all adopt a personal tone. These are chapters by
(and for) scholars and students who have a deep investment in and enthu-
siasm not only for Japanese culture but for “popular” culture more broadly
defined.
Teaching Japan Studies in the convergent classroom
In recent decades interest in “cool Japan,” particularly young people’s
engagement with animation, comics and gaming, is widely acknowledged to
be a driving factor in recruitment to undergraduate Japanese language and
studies courses at universities around the world. Unlike the 1980s when
obtaining original Japanese-language materials outside Japan was time con-
suming and expensive, contemporary students now live in a convergent media
environment where they occupy multiple roles as fans, students and “pro-
dusers” (producers + users; Bruns 2008) of Japanese cultural content that is
available via the Internet. The field of Japan Studies has seen not only a
8 Mark McLelland
transformation in the kinds of students attracted to the discipline, but also in
the modes of engagement that these students have with Japanese popular
culture more generally.
In comparison with the large numbers of manga and anime produced and
made available in Japan, only a very small proportion of titles are ever com-
mercially released in English. Furthermore there can be a long time lag
between the original Japanese release date and the licensing of an English
translation, which makes fans impatient. Also important is the fact that many
Japanese anime are altered in the localization process – most often sexual
references are edited out and any violence is toned down so as to fit with local
notions of what is acceptable for a young audience (see for example, Fujimoto
2015: 38; Hinton 2014: 99–100; Parini 2012; Allison 2006: 150–151). This
frustrates many die-hard fans who are eager to view the original una-
dulterated series (Daniels 2008: 710). As a result, as well as the mainstream
products that have been officially licensed to overseas companies, translated
into English, given appropriate viewer ratings and conventionally distributed,
an enormous amount of unofficially translated and transmitted material also
exists on the Internet, driven by fan demands. Original Japanese anime titles
are dubbed or subtitled (so-called “fandubs” and “fansubs”), and manga
scanned and translated (so-called “scanlations”) into English and other languages
by circles of fans, and distributed via fan sites and peer-to-peer networks (see
Freedman, in this volume; Lee 2012; Condry 2010; Hatcher 2005).
New technologies not only enable the spread of these unofficial versions of
Japanese media products to a wider audience but they break “the link
between media content and delivery platforms” (Flew 2012: 7). Accordingly,
fans themselves have taken on “active roles as mediators and distributors,”
and facilitated the “bottom-up spread of culture across geographical and lin-
guistic borders” (Lee 2011: 113) in a manner that evades industry, govern-
ment and censorship board regulation. The ease of manipulating digital
content in today’s “remix culture” (Lessig 2008) has also resulted in an
equally voluminous amount of fan-generated content based on Japanese ori-
ginals. Known in Japanese as do-jin (coterie) products, these “transformative
works” are also widely available online and popular among fans (Lam 2010;
Hatcher 2005).
New circuits of distribution enabled by social media, including sites like
Tumblr, Facebook and Reddit as well as video-sharing sites such as YouTube
and the Japanese site Niconico, have made this remixed material widely
available. Despite the fact that fansubbers evince a “strong desire to support
the local animation industry by promoting anime culture and widening
anime’s accessibility” (Lee 2011: 1138; see also Hatcher 2005), their activities
can impact negatively on sales. Also, given that these circuits of production
and redistribution are illegal in terms of international copyright law, they
have at times resulted in the Japanese manga, anime and gaming industries
taking legal action (Lee 2012). Hence, students’ easy access to and manip-
ulation of Japanese cultural content through sites that offer scanlation and
Introduction 9
fansubbing hosting services, as well as sites that enable the production and
dissemination of derivative do-jin works, raises a number of ethical and legal
issues, not least infringement of copyright. As a student pointed out to Alisa
Freedman (see her chapter in this volume), drawing on unlicensed and unre-
gulated material in the classroom can result in activities that are “all kinds of
illegal,” and this challenge requires that academics help students think about
source materials in new ways, including a range of ethical positions regarding
fansubs (Condry 2013: 174–176).
In addition to concerns over copyright, there are problems to do with the
increased flow of Japanese cultural materials that are treated differently by
various viewer-ratings systems. A clear example of these inconsistencies is the
treatment of the parody anime Puni Puni Poemy (2001), directed by Wata-
nabe Shin’ichi (who also made the popular Excel Saga). This title has
received an MA15+ rating in Australia, a TV-MA rating in the United States,
an R18+ rating in the United Kingdom, but was banned in New Zealand in
20044 in what has been described as a “standard-setting case” over concerns
about “gateway scenes” depicting rape (ECPAT International 2012: 35). This
example illustrates Murray Eiland’s (2009: 406) point that “obscenity is based
upon cultural norms,” which can differ even among societies as closely related
as those mentioned.
In fact, in recent years, the violent and sexualized content of some Japanese
media, particularly in regard to representations of characters who may
“appear to be” minors, has caused considerable concern in some countries,
notably the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, New
Zealand and Australia, where fictional depictions of child characters have
been included in the definition of “child-abuse publications” (McLelland
2012b; Eiland 2009; Zanghellini 2009). The ever-expanding scope of this leg-
islation has led to serious charges being laid against some manga and anime
collectors in these and other jurisdictions. In 2010 in Sweden, a professional
manga translator was prosecuted over cartoon images stored on his computer
which appeared to depict minors in sexual contexts (Orange 2012). Although
this conviction was later overturned in Sweden’s Supreme Court, it demon-
strates how fans, academics and students alike should exercise extreme cau-
tion over which images they choose to archive, since it is not uncommon for
the media to contain sweeping judgments about the connection between
anime and actual child-abuse material. One judge observed in a recent Aus-
tralian case, “those who view anime will go on to view images of actual chil-
dren being sexually abused” (Marcus 2015). Hence Eiland advises that, “[n]o
one with comic images in their possession – which can include viewing them
on a computer – can afford not to know the law” (Eiland 2009: 396).
Furthermore, while anime such as Puni Puni Poemy that have been licensed
and distributed through official channels at least have ratings attached, do-jin
works, which might have received a PG rating for their official versions, are
often “sexed up” in fan creations to an extent that they would receive adult-
only ratings or be banned altogether in some jurisdictions. Take for example
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
Ca'tle, the chief Riches of this Country. 2^8 Phyfical and
Mifcellaneous Secret. The Matter was accordingly agreed upon, and
JMahomet was reftored ; who to fulfill His Covenant with the Dey of
Algiers, forthwith fent Him, with great Pomp and Ceremony, a
Number of Mattocks and Plowihares ; thereby embiema'tically
initruding the u4lgenne, that the Wealth of His Kingdom was to arife
from a diligent Attendance upon Agriculture and Husbandry ; and
that the only Philofophers Stone He could acquaint Him with, was
the Art of converting a good Crop into Gold. CHAR II. 0/ the
Quadrupeds, Birds, Infers, Fiflies 8rV. AS the principal Riches of the
Bedoween ^rahs, no lefs than of the Patriarchs and Princes of old,
continue to be cftimated from the Number ' and Quality of their
Cattle, I ihall begin the Hiftory of the Animals of this Country, with
the Defcriptions of fuch of them, as are domefticated, and therefore
of more general Ufe to Mankind. The Horfe. The Horfc formerly the
Glory and diftinguiihing Badge of Kumidiay hath of late Years very
much degenerated in thefe Kingdoms ; or rather the y4rabs have
been difcouraged from keeping up a fine Race, which the ΤηνΜβο
Officers were fure at one Time or other to be the Mailers of At
prefent therefore the Tingitanians and Egyptians have juftly the
Reputation of preferving the beft Breed, which no longer than a
Century ago, they had only in common with their Neighbours. A
valuable and well taught Barhary Horfe (befides the fuppofed Quality
of never lying down, and of Handing quiet, when the Rider quits
him, by dropping the Bridle,) is to have a long Pace , and to ftop
Ihort , if required, in a full Carreer : the firft Quality ihewing the
Goodnefs and Perfedtion of the Horfe, and a proper Management of
the latter, the whole Dexterity and Addrefs of the Rider. No other
Motions are either I Ana, Abraham was very rich in Cattle. Gen. 13.
2. and j. Aid Lot λΙ[ο which went with Abraham, had Flocks and
Herds. ]oh's Subfiance was [even thoiifand Sheep, and three
thoufand Camels, and five hundred yoke of Oxen, and five hundred
fie Ajfics Sec. Jobi. 3. and 42. 12. Familise aliquot cum mapalibus
pecoribufque fuis (ca pecunia illis eft) perfecuti funt Regcm
(Mafaniilam) ccetcra Mairyliorum multirudo in ditioncra Svphacis
concciBr. Liv. 1. 29. pradifed
Ohfervations 5cc. 2?q pra£lifed or admired in this Country ;
it being accounted very impolite among the y^rahs to trott and
amble. But the Egj/ptian Horfes have defervedly the Preference of all
others for Size and Beauty; the fmalleft of which are ufually fixteen
Hands high, and all of them ihaped, according to their Fhrafe, iKiff el
Gazel J!;*^^ «-^^] like the Ant'ilope. The Afs and the Mule are the
moil hardy Creatures of Bar- The kk a,d hary, not requiring half fo
much Attendance as the Horfe. The '''' ^''^''' firft is not fo generally
trained up for the Saddle at Algiers as at Tunis y where they are
frequently of a large Size ; but the Mule is in general Demand at
both Places, and preferred to the Horfe for common Ufe and Fatigue.
It is certainly furer footed and vaftly ftronger in Proportion. I could
never learn that the Mule was prolific; which Notion Tlinjf' and fome
other Authors feem to give into. To the Mule we may joyn the
Kumrah, as, I think, thefe f/., Kumrah People call a little ferviceable
Beaft of Burthen, begot betwixt an Afs and a Cow. That which I faw
was fmgle hoofed like the Afs, but diftinguiihed from It in all other
Refpeols, having a fleekerSkin, and the Tail and Head (excepting the
Horns) in Fafliion of the Dam's. Yet all thefe are vaftly inferiour to
the Camel for Labour 7,;,, cmci. and Fatigue. For this Creature will
travel four ' or five Days together without Water ; and half a Gallon
of Beans and Barley, or elfe a few Balls made of the Flower, will
nouriih It for a whole Day. This I faw often experienced in our Way
to Mount Sinai ; notwithftanding the Burthen of each Beaft was at
leaft feven Quintals, and our Days Journey confifted fometimes of
ten, fometimes of fifteen Hours, at the Rate of two Miles and an half
an Hour. Thefe extraordinary Qualities, are, without Doubt, fufficient
Encouragements for thQ^rabs of all Places to keep up and multiply
the Breed •. which, I have been 1 Eil in annalibus noftris , pepeiiiTe
f^pe ( mulam ) verum prodigii loco habitum. Theopbraflus vulgo
parere in Otppadocia tradic : fed efTe id animal ibi iui generis, Plin.
1. 8. cap. 44. 2 Sitim & qiiatriduo tolerant (Cameli } implenturquc,
cum bibendi occgfio eft, & in prKteritum & futurum, obturbaca
proculcatione prius aqua: aliter potu non gaudent. Plin. Nat. Hift, 1.
8. cap. 18. yit the Top of the fecond rentrule (of the Dromedary)
there were jeveral fqiure Holes, winch were the Orifices of about
twenty Cavities , made like Sacks placed between the two
Membranes 7vhich compofe the Subflance of this Venticle. The Fiew
of thefe Sacks made us thinh^that they might well be the
Refervatorfs where Pliny p/i that Camels do a long time k?ep the
Water, which they do drink^ in great Sundance when they meet with
it, to fupply the Wants which they may have thereof in the dry
Deferts, where they are iifed to travel. Memoirs for the Natural
Hiftory of Animals &c. by the Academy at Paris. Ο Ο Ο X in
240 Phyfical and Mifcellaneous informed, is equal at leaft, if
not fuperiour in Number to the other Beafts of Burthen already
mentioned. Tht Maihary, That Specics of the Camel-kindj which is
known to us by Dromed^iT. the Namc of the Dromas or Dromedary ,
is here called Maihary '\ though it is much rarer in Barhary than in
the Levant. It is chiefly remarkable for It's prodigious Swiftnefs; the
Arahs affirming, that It will run over as much Ground in one Day, as
one of their belt Horfes will perform in eight or ten. The Shekh who
conduoled us to Mount Sinai rode upon a Camel of this Kind, and
would frequently divert us with an Inftance of It's great Abilities. For
He would depart from our Cara'uan, reconnoitre another juft in View,
and return to us again in lefs than a quarter of an Hour. It differeth
from the common Camel in being of a finer and rounder Shape, and
in having upon It's Back a lefler Bunch or Protuberance. The Came^
Thc Malcs of thc Camel-Kind, from being tame and harmsrZg.'" ''lefs
in all the other Seafons, become unruly in the Spring, the ufual Time
when they follicit the Females. Their Familiarity is generally in the
Night, in the fame Manner with Creatures of the Cat-Kind: the
Sheath of the Tenis (in thefe, no lefs than in other Animals that reft
a long time together upon their lower Belly) being then brought
forwards, which, at other Times, Nature hath thrown backwards for
the more convenient Difcharge of the Urine. The Females are
pregnant near a whole Year, or from one Spring to the other ; and
the young Dromedaries, I am told, are blind, like Kittens or Puppies,
feveral Days after their Birth. Them-.Mk After the Beafts of Burthen,
we are to defcribe the Black Cattle of this Country, which are
generally very fmall and flender; the fatteft of them, when brought
from the Stall, rarely weighing above five or fix Quintals. Neither is
their Milk in Proportion to their Size : for notwithftanding the rich
Herbage of this Country from ^December to Jtdy^ the Butter hath
never theSubftance or Richnefs of Tafte with what our Εηφβ Dairies
afford us in the Depth of Winter, ^dy Bapjaw^ the late Dey oi
Algiers, was no lefs furprized than His Minifters, I Afahah rapportc
que le Chameau dit Almahares ou dc Mahrah eft ainfi nomme a
caufe de M
Ohjervations &c. 241 when Admiral Caα<υΊά' carried, with
other Provifions, to the Camp of Saul. They have no other Method of
making Butter than by puttings Butter, their Milk or Cream into a
Goat's Skin ; which, being fuipended from one Side of the Tent to
the other and preiTed to and fro in one uniform Direftion, quickly
occafioneth that Separation which is required of the unduous and
whayie Parts. The Goat is the fame with that of other Countries; hut
ne^ro^dThey have two Sorts of Sheep, which are not known in
E^J"'^"^^'"'^rope. One of them, which is common all over the
Levant, as well as the Kingdom of Tunis, is noted for a broad Tail^
Avhich endeth in fome of Them in a Point, but, in others' continueth
broad quite down to the Bottom. The Mutton of this Species tafteth
generally of the Wool : neither hath It the tender Fibres of the
fmaller tailed Sheep: yet the Tail itfelf is greatly efteemed in their
Cufcajowes and Tilloes, confifting of a hard folid Fat, not inferiour in
Tafte to Marrow. The r^, ^^,,^ ,/ other Species, which is bred in
the Neighbourhood oiGaddemz/'"^'^^'^' Wurglah, and other Places
of the Sahara, is near as tall as our Fallow Deer; and, excepting the
Head, not much different in Shape. The Heat of the Climate, the
Scarcity of Water, with the Coarfnefs of the Herbs they feed upon,
may be the' Occafion perhaps, why their Fleih is dry to the Palate,
and their Fleeces are as coarfe and hairy as the Goats. I ί 5
212 Phyfical and MtfceJlaneous No Geldings A Geldiiig
among the Horfes, or a Weather among the ^^' Sheep, is rarely if
ever known in this Country. For fuch Males of Sheep or of the Black
Cattle, as are more than fufficient for the Prefervation of the
Species, have, when they are about three Months old, their Tefticles
only fqueezed or difcompofed ; the Mahomet ar/s accounting it an
ΑέΙ of great Cruelty, to caftrate any other Creatures, except thofe of
their own Species. Th, mmkr Befides the great Variety of the Cattle
of this Country, we aftbehFiocks. ^^^^^ obfcrve further, that each
Species is very numerous and proliiick. Several AraVian Tribes can
bring into the Field only three or four hundred Horfes, at the fame
Time they are poifeiTed of more than fo many thoufand Camels, and
triple again that Number of Sheep and Black Cattle. The Arabs rarely
kill any of their Flocks, living chiefly upon their Milk and Butter, or
elfe upon what they get in Exchange for their Wool. Such Cattle
likewife, as are brought to the neighbouring Towns and Villages , are
a very inconfiderable Number, when compared with the yearly Breed
and Increafe. By proper Care therefore and Attendance ; nay if thefe
numerous Flocks and Herds had Shelter only, during the Winter
Seafon, from the Inclemency of the Weather, this whole Country, in
a few Years, would even teem and be over-run with Cattle. The
Bekker Of Cattle that are not naturally tame and domefticated ,
tUlmie" thefe Kingdoms afford large Herds of the Neat Kind, called
Bekker el Wafh ' by the Arabs. This Species is remarkable for having
a rounder Turn of Body, a flatter Face, with Horns bending more
towards each other than in the tame Kind. It is therefore, in all
Probability, the Bos Africanus of Bellonius % which He feems juftly
to take for the Bubalus of the Antients ; though, what He defcribeth,
is little bigger than the Caprea or Roe Buck, whereas ours is nearly
of the fame Size with the Red-Deer, with which alfo It agreeth in
Colour. The young Calves of this Species quickly grow tame, and
herd with other Cattle. I (;yi.a.*M jh i. e. Bos Sllveftris. (_.i»a.5
(waihy> enim Fcrum, Sylveilrc animal fignificat. Gol. 2 Vid. ^et.
Bellon. Obfervat. 1. 2. cap. 50. Infignia Bourn fcrorum genera,
jubatos Bifontes excellentique & vi & velocitate Vros, quibus
imperitum vulgus Bubalorum nomen imponit, cum id gignat j4fr'ic4,
vituli potius CVrvive quadam fimilitudinc. Plin. I 8. cap. ly. Vros
inapcrit,um vulgus vocat βΜέ<ι/οχ, cam Buball pcnc ad cerr'inam
fuiem in .Africa procreentur. y. Solin. Polyhift. cap. 32. The
Ohjervations &c. 245 The Arabs place likewife among the
Becker el Waflj , a 7'/^«'• ^^^'• Species of the Deer-Kind^ which
hath the Horns exadly in the Failiion of the Stags, but is in Size only
betwixt the Red and • Fallow Deer. Thofe, which I havefeen, were
caught in the Mountains near Sk'igata, and appeared to be of the
fame mild and tradable Nature with the Behker el IVapj. The Female,
having no Horns, is called in Deriilon, [Fortafs u--^^^»] The Broad
Scalp, or ScaWdHead. The FifljtUl or Lerid/ee, is the moil timorous
Species of the r^^ Finitaii Goat-Kind, plunging Itfelf, when purfued,
down Rocks and"''^"^'"^' Precipices. It is of the Bignefs of an Heifer
of a Year old ; but hath a rounder turn of Body; with a Tuft of
iliagged Hair upon the Knees and Neck ; this near aFoot, the other
only about five Inches long. It agreeth in Colour with the Bekker
ellVafj but the Horns are wrinkled and turned back like the Goats;
from which likewife they differ in being more than a Foot long, and
divided only, upon their ilTuing out of the Forehead, by a fmall Strip
of Hair as in the Sheep-Kind. The FiptUl, from It's Size, Shape, and
other Circumftances, feems to be ih^Tragelaphus' of the Antients;
an Animal, we are to fup-r/^iTragckpofe, fuch as this is, betwixt a
Goat and a Deer. Tliny in-^^"'' deed obferveth that It was peculiar
to the Banks of the Thafis ; a Miftake probably of the fame Kind with
what imlΉediately follows, that the Stag was not an Animal oi Africa.
Befides the common Gazell or Antilope , (which is well r>&. Cazeii
known in Europe,) this Country likewife produceth another"' ^""'''^^'
Species, of the fame Shape and Colour, though of the Bignefs of our
Roe-Buck, and with Horns fometimes of two foot long. This the
Africans call Lidmee, and may, I prefume, be the ^-^^ Li^mee,
Strepftceros^ and Addace of the Antients. Bochart ,
from<^^'o^"^*«^ the fuppofed Whitenefs of the Buttocks, finds a
great Affinity betwixt the Addace \ I have mentioned, and the
\s^^n\ D'tfon^ which, in T>eut. 14. 5•. our Tranflation renders the
Tygarg, after the Septuagint and Vulgate Verfions. I Eadem eft
Specie, (cum Ccrvo fc.) barba tantutn & armorum viJlo diftans, qucm
Tragelaphon vocant, non alibi, quam juxta Ρ/μ/ϊ» amnem, nafcens.
Cervos yi/ricrf propemodumfolanongignit. Flhu 1. 8. cap.33. 2
Coj««4 erefta, rugarumqueambitu contorta, & in leve faftigium
exacuta (ut Lyras diceres) Strepficeroti, quein Addacem /ifrica
zppdht, «attira dedtt. Plin. l.n. cap. 27. 3 A cinereo nempe colore,
qui Hebvsis fWl Difen dicicui•. Boch. Hieroz. 1. ?. can. ?. The -"X
24-4 Phyfical and Mifcellaneous ηφ Species The Bekker el
Pf^afj and the GazellYSmas^ are both of them gregar.ous.
g^.^g^^. j^^g ^ haviiig the like Habit, in running, ftopping on a •
Hidden, and facing the Purfuers. The Haunts alfo of them both are
the fame, being for the moft Part upon the Confines of the Tell and
Sahara. Gazell [ji>c] is improperly interpreted by Bochart and others
', either the Hart, or the Fawn, It being always underftood, both in
the Levant and in Barbarj, ofthat Animal, which we call the
^;^/i/(9/?e'. τheL•yona,ιd Among the Quadrupeds of a lefs
tameable Nature, we may Fanthcr. ^.^^ ^^^ ^^^ pj^^^ ^^ ^^^
l^yoYi and thc Panther; the Tyger not being a Native, of thefe Parts
at leaft, of Barhary. The Females of both Species have two Rows of
Nipples like a Bitch, giving Suck to three, fometimes to four or five
Whelps at a Time. The Arahs affirm, that when the little ones breed
their Teeth, they are feized with a Fever, which generally carries off
three in four: and that This is the Reafon, why their Numbers are fo
inconfiderable at prefent. But whe. ther This is owing to fuch
Difeafes, or to a greater Difperfion of the ArahSy or perhaps, fince
the Invention of Fire Arms, to the much eafier Way of killing them ;
whatever I fay may be the Caufe, it is certain, there would be great
Difficulty at prefent, to procure a fiftieth Part of the Number of wild
Beafts, that Africa may be fuppofed to have formerly contributed to
the Diverfions of Rome \ the Lyon not \ have rcad in fome
Defcriptions of this Country, that the in. ''^^'" Women can be
familiar with the Lyon; and that, upon taking up a Stick and calling
Him ( Ta-hanne ) Cuckold and fuch like Names, He will immediately
lofe his Fiercenefs and fly from the Flocks they are attending.
Something perhaps of this Kind may happen when they have been
well fatiated with Food : at which Time, the Arabs tell us, the Lyons
lofe their Courage, and that they can feize upon their Prey, and
refcue It out of their Jaws. But thefe Inftances are very rare ; it I
Capreas hinnulus Jl^ Gaz.al ^rAbice dicitur (vulgo Gazella) ut
Hebrake ?T1V in Pomario & Clialdaice H>?"11i< inferto R, ut paffim,
& prima gutturali Aj'in in Alepb mutato. Bocb. H'leroz.. ibid. cap. i8.
Nomcn Gafel, five CERViE (equo impofitum.) Kew;>/. Ama?nic. Exot.
Fafc. 2. 2 Lconum fimul plurium pugnam, Roma Princeps dcdit
^^Scxvola P. filius in curuli jEdilitate. Centum autem jubatorum
primus omnium L. Scylla, qui poftea Didator fuit, in Prxtura. Poft
eum Potnpeius Magnus in Circo DC. in ijs jubatorum cccxv. Cifar
Diftator cccc. Capere eos, ardui erat quondam operis, foveifque («f &
nunc eft) maxime. P/i». 1. 8. cap.iiS. Scaurus iEdilitate fua Varias
(i.e. Pantheras) centum quinquaginta univerfas (in Romam) mifit :
dein Potnpeius Magnus quadringentas decern : Divus ./i'/f /?tti
quadringentas viginti. Id. ibid. cap. 17, oftner
Ohfer^iations 6cc. 245• oftner falling out, that Women as
well as Men, have \tQtx\no*ofFhe, devoured for Want of other
Creatures. Fire is what they are moil afraid of; and yet
notwithftanding all the Precaution of the Arabs in this Refpett,
notwithftanding the Barking of their Dogs^together with their
ownCrys and Exclamations, all the Night long, it frequently happens,
that thefe ravenous Beafts, out-braving all thefe Terrors, will leap
into the Midft of a Doiiwar, (where the Cattle are enclofed in the
Night) and bring out along with them a Sheep or a Goat. If thefe
Ravages r-^^ way of are repeated, then the ^r. CLq q The
.2Λβ Phfical and Mtfcellaneous the shibear- Thc otlicr hath
a fmall pointed Head , with the Teeth^ ShGmeiitFeet, and other
Charaderifticks of the Weefel-Kind. The Body is about a Foot long,
round and (lender, with a regular SucceiTion of black and white
Ringlets upon the Tail. This, as well as the Ichneumon, fearcheth
after Poultry, and, provided It were tamer (as It is fometimes well
fcented) we might take It for the Gineita ; though the Creature, I am
defcribing, is fmaller, having alfo a finer Shape and fliarper Nofe,
than That which hath been defcribed by feveral Authors'. GeJ?ier"
{\χγ' pofeth the Ginetta to be a Species of the Tbos or Leffer Tanther
of Oppian ; whereas the Marks left us by the Antients of the Foriner ,
are fo various and undetermined, that it will be difficult to reconcile
them to any certain Family: whiift the Leffer Tanther, befides being
(as it may be prefumed) of the Cat-Kind, muft ftill be thought a more
formidable Creature than This, which is lefs than aFoxe's Cub,
according to His own Defcription \ Some of the Moors call the Animal
I am fpeaking of [Gat el Ber-ranjy,'] the flrange or foreign Cat \ and
others Shib-heardou. The Dubbah, The Diihbah is about the Bignefs
of a Wolf, but of a flatter or Hyxna. g^^j^^ ^^^ naturally limpeth
upon his hinder right Leg. Yet notwithftanding this Imperfedlion , it
is tolerably fvvift, and cannot be fo eafily run down as the wild Boar.
The Neck of It is fo remarkably ftiff, that in looking behind or
fnatching obliquely at any Object, it is obliged to move the whole
Body, in the fame Manner with the Hog, the Badger, or Crocodile. It
is of a buif or dun Colour , inclining to be reddiili, with fome
tranfverfe Streaks of a dark brown ; whilft the Hair upon the Neck is
near a fpan long , though much fofter than the Briftles of the Hog.
The Feet are large and well armed, ferving to lay open (in want of
other Food) the Cephagl'ione or young Shoots of the Talmeta, to dig
up the Roots of Plants, and fometimes the Graves of the De^d ;
which, particularly among the Bedoweens , are not fecured by either
Walls, Trenches or Inclofures. When any of thefe Creatures are taI
VId. Gi/»!. de Quadrup. p. f49, fjo. /ow/?. de Quadrup. Cap. 12.
K^iySynopf Animai. Quadiup. p. 201. 2 Quasrendum an genus
aliquod iit Tims vcl P.tiitheris Mhwris quorum nieminit 0/>/»;'ληη;.
Convcniunt enim magnitudo, macule, ingenium (nann & Pamhera
minorcni innoxium cite Oppianus fcribit) & ufus pelJium ad vcltcs
prctiofus & infuper odor fuavis. Gefn. ut fupra. 3 Genctba vcl potius
Genetta aut Ginetta {Geiwclht apud AWatum perperam) eftbeftia
pauIo major (minor, Albfr. & rede) vulpecula&c. Id. ibid. ken.
Ohfervations &c. ^247 ken, the Avals are very induftrious
to bury the Head, leait the Brain, according to their Superftition,
iliould be made ufe of in Sorcery and Enchantment. After the Lyon
and Panther, the Dtihhah is the fierceft of the wild Beafts oiBarhary\
which, from having a Mane, moving It's Neck with Difficulty, and
difturbing the Graves of the Dead ', may lay in a greater Claim to be
reckoned xhtHyiena of the Antients,than thcCheiCat, which is fpotted
and no Native of this Country ; or the Badger, which is a leiTer
Animal, and not known, as far as 1 have heard, in Barbary. The Veeh
[o^<>^^] or Jachall [->^'=^ Chathai] is of a darker ^^^di^^j^P'
Colour than the Fox, and about the fame Bignefs. It yelps every
Night about the Gardens and Villages, feeding, as the Duhhah doth,
upon Roots, Fruit and Carrion. y^x.Ray ' fuppofeth it to be the Lupus
Aureus of the Antients : but what Oppian defcribeth as fuch, is of a
much fiercer Nature \ The Gat clKhallah, Slyah Ghufi, or Karrah Ku-
lah, (i. e. The f^^f^^^^ Black Cat , or Black-ear d Cat, as the
Arab'ick, Terfian and Turkifj Names fignify,) is of the Bignefs of a Cat
of the largeft Size. The Body is of a reddifli-brown, the Belly of a
lighter Colour and fometimes fpotted, the Mouth black, the Ears of a
deep grey, with the Tips of them diftinguiilied, byfmall Tufts of black
ftiff Hair, as in the Lynx. The Figure given us of this Animal by
Charleton\ is very different from the Barbary S'lyah Ghup-), which
hath a fuller Face and black Chops, though in other Refpefts it is
exadlly ihaped like a Cat. This Animal,no lefs than they^c^^//,hath
been fuppofed to find '"'*, ψ ^Jout Prey for the Lyon, and is
therefore commonly called the '^^'■• Lyon's Provider ; though it
may be doubted, whether there be any fuch friendly Intercourfe
betwixt two fuch different Creatures. In the Night time indeed,
when, (agreeable to the Obfervation of the H. Pfalmift ') all the
Beafts of the Forreft do move, Thefe, in like Manner with other
Kinds, are prowling I Hj£iiam quoque mittit JfrUa, cui cum fpina
rigct, collum continua unicate fleoli ne' " . ^ -.. ^ „ - -^ cap. y. Vid.
Bach. H\eroz. I.3 cap. xl. 2 Vid. Riti/ Synopf. Animal, p. 174. J Ou
hu/.Q', a>XdL ?M>s 'αζβρξ'ίςυ.ν>! , cuTrlj-mQi' S*p. Opp'iati. Cyneg.
1.3. '■''"' lie Heb. [2h.\] Zaal;, Gold. 4 Q_q q X after 3 yju ivjf.fjjr-,
afj\a. f:jy.\s <αζβγψ.ςα.τηί, cUTTJ-m^ C^p. Uppian. Cyneg. 1.?.
However Bochart dcducech the Name from the Heb. [3^i] Zaab,
Gold. 4 Vid. Charl. Exercit. p. 23. j Pf. lo^. 2q, it and 22.
2±S Ph)j==r'] ' and tht Jerboa or Terh'oa [a'^''\ are two
litjcrboa. ^|g harmlefs Animals, which burrow in the Ground. They
chiefly frequent the Sahara^ though I have often feen the latter in
the Neighbourhood of Warran. Each of them is of the Bignefs of a
Rat, having their Bellies white, but their Bodies of a Sorrel Colour.
The Ears likewife of them both, are round and hollow •, agreeing
with the Rabbit, in the Order of their Fore-teeth, and in the Briftles
of their Chops. But they differ in other Refpefts; for the Head of the
Jird is fomewhat pointed, and covered all over with Fur ; whereas
the Noftrils of the Jerhoa are flat and naked, lying nearly in the fame
Plain with the Mouth ; wherein it diifereth from Thofe which have
been brought from^leppo, and are defcribed by Mr. Haym\ All the
Legs of the Jird are nearly of the fame Length, with each of them
five Toes ; whereas the Fore-feet of the Barhary Jerboa are very
fhort and armed only with three. The Hinder-feet are of the fame
Length nearly with the Body, with each of them four, befides two
Spurs, as we may call the little Toes that are placed at more than the
Diftance of an Inch above them. The Tail of the Jird, though a little
ihorter than in the common Rat, yet is better cloathed : whilft that of
the Jerboa is as long as It's Body, of a yellowiih Colour, with a black
annular Tuft near the Extremity. They are both good to eat : and the
latter, notwithftanding the great Difproportion betwixt the fore and
hinder Feet, runs or rather jumps along with an extraordinary
Swiftnefs ; the Tail, which It carrieth for the moil part ereft or
occafionally reclined, contributing all the while to the Regularity of
the Motion. I Bochart ( Hleroz.. 1. 2. p. 249. ) renders it the Great
Μοφ. 2 Vid. Nic Haynt. Teforo Britannico. Vol. 2. The
The text on this page is estimated to be only 27.59%
accurate
Ohfervat'ions &c. 249 The yerhoa hath been taken by fome
Authors ' for the RsTi;] ue jerboa 1 1 1 -Til 1 τ 1 ί '*•Γ?' for the
Saphan\ of the Scriptures, though the Places, where I have saphan;
feen their Burrows, have never been among the Rocks ; but either in
a ftiff or loamy Earth, or elfe (where their Haunts ufually are) in the
loofe Sand of the Sahara. Where there is any Tuft of reedy Grafs,
Spurge, Lawrel, or other Plants peculiar to the Sahara, there
efpecially we are fure to find the Jerboa. That very remarkable
Difproportion betwixt the fore and hinder Legs of this Animal ,
(though 1 have never obferved It to run, only frequently to ftand
upon the latter) ^^r^p^/^ tin may induce us to take it for one of
the δ/ττο/μ ^ or two footed SlrlLi/^'^ Rats of Herodotus, and other
Authors. Befides the Creatures above mentioned, Barbary alfo pro-
•^'""^ "^^^'^ ι•ι•ιι • -1 An:mals of duceth others which it hath
more in common with other Places. ^^''■' Country. Such is the Bear,
\ox'Dubh\'] the Ape, [or 5/^^^^^,] the Ichneumon, [οϊ Tezer-dea,']
the Porcupine, [oxTzur-ban\']t,hQ Hedge-Hog, [or Kun-foode ^*"»]
the Fox, [or Thaleb c-^i*n the Ferret, [or Ntmfe,'] the Weefel, [or
Fert el Heile,'] befides the Mole, the Rabbit, the Hare and the wild
Boar, which are every where in great Numbers. The Lyon is fuppofed
to prey chiefly upon the latter^ which notwithftanding hath
fometimes been known to defend Itfelf with fo much Bravery, that
the Viftory hath inclined to neither Side, theCarcafles of them both
having been found lying dead together, all in Gore and mangled to
Pieces. Among the oviparous Quadrupeds of this Country, we^-
^^Tortoii-. are to reckon the Land and Water Tortoife ; the latter of
which hath a flatter Body, and is unwholefome to eat. The TattaV,
Bou'iah or Chamieleon, may be difcovered by a goodkon!" Eye ,
upon every Hedge. The Tongue is four Inches long, 1 Vid. £»<:/;.
Hieroz. 1,3. cap.33. 2 The H'l^b Hills are a Refuge for the iuild
Goats, and fo are the Stony Rockj for the [Sa|)liannim CD'JDty]
Conies. Pf. 104. 18. 77;i Conies [Cd''J£)IJ; e ChamiE^- **^βαί•ιζιΐ7ΐ
Λ of.^B/ ί^ -nh mihh. Theoph. apud iEIian. Hift. 1. ly. cap. 2.6. ίν Αΐ}
ύ•?τίω ί^Ί-πο^αα φα7ΐ μχοί ;(v £κ,, ι^^ (xiyahti . \'^τι j «τΐί ;y w
lu.'nejShvi mJkf, ct^λ' i βχ^Ίζχτιν W aunh. y.^mtat 3 λμ7t/f, oici
;Hfeii'. P/;ofi/ii ibid. Εΐίπ j i(5" «τϊ^;/, o< ίΛ,Γ/ζϋί-ί»' irri τϊΓί Λίπ τοοί.
Ατ'φ. de Mur. iEgvpc. 4 2*1 Dab. Urfus. c^jo Dal/il/a enim Arab'ice
ell pilofam habese faciem, undc (_jo Dab faciei pili & villi &c! Boch.
Hieroz. I.3. cap. 9. j uW->^> (^ ο>•ί/->^) a fpiculorum. fc.
concuilu jadluve. |s^ Of the many Porcupines I have feen In Africa, J
never knew any one, though very much provoked, that would dart
it'sfhulls ; their ufual method of defence being to incline tbemfclvcs
on one Side, and, upon the Enemy's near Approach, to rife up
quickly and gore him with the other. 6 Vid. Boch. Hieroz. I. 4. cap, 4.
R r r and.
2 5' ο Phyfical and Mifcellaneous and, in Shape, like a
common Peftle, which it darts with a furprizing Swiftnefs upon Flies
and Infeds ; retaining them afterw^ards by a glutinous Matter,
occafionally excreted from the Tip of It. T\\Q Moors and^r^/^i,after
they have dried the Skin,fufpend it upon their Bofoms to prevent the
Influence of an evil Eye. The Taitah diifereth not much in Name from
the nsto'? Letaa , r;.wanai. which in Lmii. 3. isrendredtheLi^^r^.
The [j^•] ^^^rr^/, or Guarak according to Leo ', is a Lizard
fometimes thirty Inches in Length ; being ufually of a bright reddifli
Colour, with darkiih Spots. Vanjlel• ' very feriouily affirms It to be
ingen. dered from the rotten Eggs of the Crocodile. The Dab. The
[o>--] Dhah or T)ab^ another Lizard taken Notice of likewife by Leo
\ agreeth nearly in the Shape and in the pointed Annull or Scales of
the Tail, with the Caudkerbera, as it is reprefented in Gefner ^ and
Jon ft on. Τ fab \_yi\ ' the correfpondent Word in the Hebrew
Language, is tranflated {Le'O. ir. T9.) the Tortoije. 7*.zermou- This
Climate alfo produceth the common green Lizard, ""'''' which
diifereth not at all from thofe of Europe. The Zermoumeah is no lefs
common in the Hedges and High Ways ; being a flender long tailed
Lizard, of a light brown Colour and ftriated from Head to Tail,with
three or four Streaks of Yellow. r^.skmk,.rThe5fc/i^ (of the Shops)
frequently hideth Itfelf under flat scincus. ' g^Qj^gg^ oj. eife ill the
Holes of old Walls and Ruins. In the like Situation (though they often
come into Houfes, even fo fir The Nije-dai as to crawl over Beds,)
may be found the Nije-daimah, or Boo"''^'' ka-fljaflj, which is of a
dark Colour , feven or eight Inches long, with a flat Head and Body,
and the Tail like the Dab's. I have often obferved, that whatfoever
Wall, Floor or Ceiling this Animal refteth upon. It will beat it with Ifs
Tail; a Circumftance that may induce us to take It for the
Caiidiverbera orUromaftix or Uromafltx of fome Authors'. The IVarral
alfo, in running upon the Ground, ufeth the like Aftion ; whilfl:
the^r^^i gravely tell us, that what Perfon foever is touched by one
of the Vibrations, will become barren and unfruitful. The moft
remarkable Species of the Serpent Kind, is the I J. Leo. Defcript.
/fw*. I. 9. p. 297. 2 Vid. Vari/leb\ Prefcnt Sratc οι Egypt, p. 473 Vid.
J. Leo ut lupra. 4 Gefn. de Quadrup. Ovip. p. 23. Jonll. Hift. Quadiup.
Tab. LXXIX. J ^«/7. Hieroz. 1. 4. cap. i. 6 Vid. Not. 4. Thai
Ohfevvations 6cc. 25-1 Thaihanne ■, probably the
Thehanus Ophites of the Antients. T^i^Thaiban1 have been
informed that fome of them are three or four banurophiYards long,
approaching the neareft^ of this Family, to that^''" monftrous one
which is faid to have been killed by Regiilus \ I have feen fome
Purfes, made of their Skins, which were four Inches or more in
Diameter. The Zurreike, another Serpent of the Sahara, is ufually a-
r/>iZurreike, bout fifteen Inches long. It is of a ilender Body, and,
being '"^■'^'^"''"* remarkable, as the Name ' feems to infinuate, for
darting Itfelf along with great Swiftnefs, may perhaps be the Jaculus
* of the Antients. The moil malignant of this Tribe, is \h^, Lejfah,
which is r«i Leffah, of alefs uniform Turn of Body than the Zurreike,
and rarely "^ '^^'' above a foot long. The burning {torrida) Dipfas,
as Lucan calls it, anfwereth very well both to the Name^ and
Qu_ality of the Leffah. The ^rahs report, that there is the fame
Antipathy betwixt r,SfAntipathe Leffah and the Tattah, which hath
been^ long ago affign-iLJ^'S ed betwixt the Chameleon and the
Viper ; and that a little ^°''''^' Drop of clammy Juice let fall by the
latter upon Uiq Leffah, will throw It into fuch violent Convuliions, as
are attended with immediate Death. In defcribing the more curious
Birds οϊ Barhary, we mayr^^Karaburadd, to the Eagle Kind , The
Karaburno ; an Afh-coloured Hawk of the Bignefs of our Buzzard,
with a black Bill, red Iris, yellow iliort Feet, the Back of an Afli or
fordid blew Colour, the Pinions of the Wings black, with the Belly and
Tail whitiih. The (Graab el Sahara) Crow of the Defert, is fome what
M^^/f^fiJ bigger than our Raven; and from the rednefs of the Feet
andrhO°curax.^^* Bill, may perhaps demand the Title of the larger
Coracias or Tj/rrhocorax. The Shaga-rag, is of the Bignefs and Shape
of a Jay ^rhc s^^^gz* though with a fmaller Bill, and ihorter Legs.
The Back is''^" browniih; the Head, Neck and Belly, of a light green ;
and I Pluribus ille notis variatam tingitur alvum Quam parvis tinaus
maculis Thebanus Ophites. Lucan. deBell. Civ. 1. 92 Vid. p. 147. Not.
I. 3 Sc. a 9,j Zural•^ jaculari. Vid. Gol. in voce. . 4 Jaculique
volucres. Luc. Bell. Civ. 1. 9. ySc. a^»' Laffah mere. Vid. Go/. 6 Vid.
Mian. Hift. Animal. 1. 4. cap. 33. Philcn dc Propr. Aniro. in
Chamsleonte. Scali^. ad Cardanum de Subtilit. apud Gf/«. u: fupra.
Rrr ζ upon
2^2 The Houbaara , or Houbaary. Vhyfical and
Mifcelldneous upon the Wings and Tail, there are feveral Spots or
Rings of a deep Blew. It makes a fqualing ISioife , and builds in the
Banks of the Shelliff] Booherah, and other Rivers. The Hotihaara [or
Houbaary ^5>^] is of the Bignefs of a Capon, but of a longer Habit
of Body. It feeds upon little Shrubs and Infers, like the Graal• el
Sahara, frequenting in like Manner the Confines of the Defert. The
Body is of a light dun or yellowiili Colour , marked all over with little
brown Taches ; whilft the larger Feathers of the Wing are black, with
each of them a white Spot near the Middle. Thofe of the Neck are
whitiili with black Streaks ; but are chiefly remarkable for their
Length, and for being erefted, as in the Ruif and Dung-hill Cock,
when It is attacked or provoked. The Bill is flat, like the Starlings,
nearly an Inch and a half long ; and the Legs agree in Shape and in
the Want of the hinder Toe with the Bufl:ard's. The Gall and the
Contents of the Stomach are in great Efteem for fore Eyes, and have
been fometimes fold for a great Price. Nothing can be more
entertaining than to fee this Bird purfued by the Hawk ; and what a
variety of Flights and Stratagems It is obliged to make ufe of in
Order to efcape. Gol'ius mifinterpreteth Hoohaary, in calling It the
Bufl:ard ; which anfwereth indeed in Colour, in the Habit of Body and
in the Number of Toes, but diiFereth , in being twice as big as the
Bird I am defcribing. r^.Rhaad, The Rhaad or Saf-fafy is a
granivorous and gregarious Bird, which wanteth the hinder Toe.
There are two Species of It ; the fmaller whereof is of the Size of an
ordinary Pullet, but the larger is near as big as the Hoohaara,
differing alfo from the lefler in having a black Head, with a Tuft of
dark blew Feathers immediately below It. The Belly of them both is
white, the Back and the Wings of a buff" Colour fpotted with brown,
whilfl: the Tail is lighter, marked all along with black tranfverfe
Streaks. The Beak and the Legs are ftronger than in Birds of the
Partridge Kind. Rhaad ', which denoteth Thunder in the Language of
this Country, is fuppofed to be aName that hath been given to This
Bird, from the Noife It maketh in fpringing from the Ground; ^sSaf-
Jaf\ the other Name, 1 Sc. a o-c^, Rabad tonuit. 2 uix=A.^,
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