Part 18

Paternal love is a strong passion in the male ostrich. He never deserts his young, and fears no danger, be it what it may, whether from dogs, hyænas, or man himself. The female, on the contrary, is easily frightened, and forsakes all in her terror. Thus, in speaking of a man who defends his tent with courage, they compare him to the _delim_; while a feeble, timid man is likened to the _reumda_. Ostriches are generally met travelling together in couples, or in family parties of four or five couples. But, where rain has fallen, one is certain to find two or three hundreds of these birds together. From a distance, they resemble a flock of camels. They never approach a spot that is inhabited except to drink, after which they flee away in haste.

The Arabs hunt the young of the ostrich by a very simple method. Once upon the track, and at a short distance from the birds, they begin to shout aloud. The young ones, being frightened, run for protection to the parent birds; and the hunters, coming up with them, seize upon their prey in spite of the male, and under his very eyes. The _delim_ becomes terribly excited, and exhibits the most poignant grief. Sometimes greyhounds are employed in this sport. While the old birds are defending themselves against the dogs, the hunters carry off the little ones without any difficulty, and bring them up in their tents, where they are easily tamed. They play with the children and sleep under the canvass. In the wanderings of the tribe they follow the camels. There is no instance of any bird brought up in this way taking to flight. They are full of spirits, and frolic with the horsemen, dogs, etc., etc. Does a hare happen to start up, away go the men in full chace, and the ostrich, becoming excited, rushes after them and takes part in the hunt. If it meets in the _douar_ a child with something in its hand of an eatable nature, it lays him gently on the ground, and endeavours to take it from him. The ostrich is a great thief; or rather, as I have already said, it desires to swallow everything it sees. The Arabs, therefore, distrust it when they are counting out money, for two or three _douros_ would soon disappear.

It is no uncommon thing to see a wearied child placed on the back of an ostrich. The bird proceeds with its burden straight to the tent, the little fellow holding on by its pinions. But it would not submit to carry a heavier load—a man, for example, but would hurl him to the ground by a blow from its wing. On the march, in order to keep it from running about to the right or left, they pass a cord round one of its hocks, to which they fasten another cord by which to hold it. In the desert, the ostrich has no other enemy to fear than man. It can repel the dog, the jackal, the hyæna, and the eagle, but yields, perforce, to man.

I mentioned that there was a third mode of hunting the ostrich, when on its way to water. The Arabs simply make a hole near the water, conceal themselves in it, and fire upon the creature as it approaches to drink.

Ostrich hunting, in the Sahara, makes numerous and excellent marksmen, who practice at hitting nothing but the head, in order that the blood may not stain the feathers. A marksman of note always carries a chaplet of talismans behind the lock of his rifle, and his name is quoted in the tribes. Among the defenders of Zaatcha there was more than one crack hunter of ostriches.

The ostrich drinks every fifth day if water is to be had: if not, it can endure thirst for a long time. Ostrich hunting is a very profitable sport. The Arabs say of a successful speculation: "It is an excellent transaction—as good as an ostrich hunt."

The Arab to whom I am indebted for these particulars is an Oulad-Sidi-Shikh, named Abd-el-Kader-Mohammed-ben-Kaddour, a professional hunter. According to him, the country for ostriches is comprised in a triangle contained by lines drawn from Insalah to Figuig, from South to North—from Figuig to Sidi-Okba, from West to East—and from Sidi-Okba to Ouargla, from North to South.

GAZELLE HUNTING.

The chace of the gazelle is not, like that of the ostrich, at the same time a lucrative and a toilsome enterprise—it is merely an exercise, a pastime, a party of pleasure. The gazelle is barely worth a franc or a franc and a half, and it is not for such a valueless prey that an Arab will prepare, train, fatigue, and even risk the loss of a horse,—as frequently happens in ostrich hunting. Besides, in this species of sport, the chief credit belongs neither to the man nor to the horse,—for whom it is, properly speaking, nothing more than a promenade—but to the greyhound, that other companion of the noble of the desert, of whom I shall have occasion to speak hereafter.

If the gazelle be of little value, it is because it is by no means rare. Everywhere, but above all in Sersou, is found the _sine_, or diminutive gazelle; in the Tell and in mountainous districts, the _ademi_, the largest kind; and in the Sahara, the _rime_, or intermediate species, distinguished by the whiteness of its belly and thighs, and the length of its horns. All these varieties alike travel in herds of four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, a hundred; and not unfrequently as many as two or three hundred are found herding together. At a distance they may be taken for the flocks of an emigrating tribe. A herd of gazelles is called a _djeliba_.

Gazelle hunting is not a sport exclusively reserved for horsemen. In the incessant and daily wanderings of the Sahara tribes, as soon as the camp is fixed near a fountain or river, the hunters set off in great numbers, taking care to go up the wind. The gazelles possessing a very fine sense of smell, the scent of the men wafted on the wind would soon put them to flight. The hunter advances under shelter of bush after bush, and from time to time imitates the cry of the gazelle. The latter stops, looks about on all sides, and seeks the companion it supposes to have gone astray. The hunter approaches close to it, and may even be seen without scaring it away. At a proper distance he pulls the trigger, and rarely misses his aim, "unless a spell cast upon his rifle causes it to hang fire, and prevents it from going off during the whole day." At the sound of the report the entire herd dashes off at top speed, but at the end of a league or a league and a half, their fright has passed off with the recollection of the cause of their alarm, and they again halt and go on browsing as before.

The genuine hunter is a hardy, indefatigable walker. Experience teaches him in what direction the herd is likely to stop, and to that he bends his steps. Again he conceals himself and repeats the former manœuvre. In this manner, in the course of the day, he can bring down three or four gazelles, which his friends or servants will lift up and carry to the camp in triumph. In the spring time, when the _djedi_, or fawns, sleep amidst the _alfa_, having taken their fill of the milk of their mother, it is easy to catch a dozen or fifteen of them in a single morning. It is the old hind that generally betrays them.

But not such is the sport of persons of distinction, of the real horsemen. What the great chiefs affect is to hunt them on horseback. A dozen or fifteen cavaliers take the field, accompanied by their servants, and seven or eight greyhounds, and carrying with them tents and provisions. Directing their course towards a place where gazelles are usually found, they ride forward at a venture. When a herd of gazelles appears in the distance, they proceed towards it, covering their advance as much as possible by means of shrubs and the inequalities of the ground. When they get within a quarter of a league, the attendants who hold the hounds in leash, squeezing their throats to prevent them from giving tongue, dismount and let them slip. No sooner do they find themselves free than they go off like an arrow, the Arabs stimulating them to still greater speed by shouts and passionate invocations: "My brother! my lord! my friend! there they are!" The horsemen follow leisurely at a gentle gallop, so as not to be quite thrown out; and behind them comes the baggage. The best greyhounds will not fairly overtake the herd until after a course of two or three leagues. Then, at last, the spectacle becomes full of incident and interest. A thoroughbred greyhound picks out the finest animal of the herd, and springs forward. A contest of agility and swiftness ensues. The gazelle doubles, now to the right, now to the left, bounds forwards and backwards, leaps even over the greyhound, and strives sometimes to throw him out, sometimes to strike him with its horns. Its windings and doublings are all to no purpose. Ardent and indefatigable, its enemy hangs close upon its track. When on the point of being pulled down it utters plaintive cries, and chants, as it were, its death song—song of death to it, but of victory to the greyhound who seizes it by the back of the neck, and snaps the vertebral column with its teeth. The gazelle falls to the ground, and lies motionless at the feet of the victor, until the hunters come up and cut the throat of the still living animal.

Now, as every true Believer should conform to the Law, and as it is possible that he may not reach the spot for a quarter of an hour after the gazelle has been pulled down, the hunters, before letting the hounds loose, do not omit to exclaim: _Bi es-sem Allah! Allah akbar!_ "In the name of Allah! Allah is great!" For the Prophet hath said: "When thou hast let loose thy dog and hast invoked the name of Allah, if thy dog has not killed the game that he has overtaken, and thou hast found it yet alive, cut its throat to purify[86] it; and if it was already dead when thou hast found it, and thy dog has not eaten of it, thou mayest eat of it." If the previous invocation was omitted through accident, the game may still be eaten; but not if the omission has been voluntary.

The horsemen who are well mounted, and own the best greyhounds, renew the chace, and not until the evening do men and animals take rest. Sometimes the hunters cook the gazelle on the spot where they have pitched their camp. At other times, on their return home on the morrow, they send the product of the chace to their friends and relatives, and these presents give rise to family feastings at which the chief dish consists of the flesh of this animal, so highly esteemed by the Arabs. Gazelles are brought up in the tents, and are driven with the sheep at every change of encampment; but in the end they always contrive to escape. The winter is the proper season for hunting the gazelle and the antelope. The earth, softened by the heavy rains, retards and embarrasses their flight, while the dogs and horses find water everywhere. When the snow is on the ground, if a party of Arabs come upon a herd of gazelles, a regular massacre ensues. They are then unable to run, and being famished are easily overtaken. Ten or a dozen may be killed by each Arab. In hunting this animal the Arabs take with them three burnouses, boots, and shoes, and carry the horse-cloth upon the top of the saddle.

The proverbial beauty of the gazelle's eyes, and the whiteness of its teeth, have given rise to a curious practice. Women with child have one brought to them that they may lick its eyes with their tongue, in the belief that the eyes of their infant will have the same lustrous melancholy. Under a similar idea they touch its teeth with a finger, which they afterwards put into their own mouth. The horns, shaved thin and mounted in silver, are used by women as instruments to put _kohol_ on their eyes; and the skin, after being carefully tanned, is made into _mezoueud_, or cushions, in which they enclose their most valuable articles.

THE GREYHOUND.

If it were necessary to prove how aristocratic are the habits of the people of the Sahara, how lordly their tastes, I could give yet another very simple proof, which some persons may regard as puerile—I mean the love they have for the _slougui_, or greyhound.

In the Sahara, as in all Arab countries, the dog is looked upon as a servant in disgrace, troublesome, and cast off, no matter how useful he may be in guarding the _douar_, or in looking after the flocks. The greyhound alone enjoys the esteem, the consideration, the tender attention of his master. The rich as well as the poor regard him as a companion of their chivalrous pastimes; while for the latter he is also the purveyor that supplies them with food. They do not grudge him, therefore, the most assiduous care. The couplings are as scrupulously superintended as those of their horses. A Saharene will go twenty or thirty leagues to couple a handsome greyhound bitch with a dog of established reputation; for one that is really famous will run down a gazelle. "When he perceives a gazelle cropping a blade of grass, he overtakes her before she has time to swallow what she already holds in her mouth." This is an hyperbolical expression, no doubt, but still it is based on a certain degree of truth.

When the _slouguïa_, or bitch, has pupped, the litter is never lost sight of for an instant. The women will sometimes give their own milk to them. Visitors arrive in troops, the more numerous and eager according to the reputation of the mother. They surround the owner, offering him dates, kouskoussou, etc. There is no sort of flattery they will not lavish upon him in the hope of obtaining a pup: "I am thy friend. Prithee, give me what I ask of thee. I will attend thee in thy hunts," etc. To all these solicitations, the owner usually replies that he will not decide upon what pups he means to keep for himself until after seven days. This reservation has its motive in a very singular observation, or fancy, of the Arabs: in every litter, one of the pups gets upon the back of the others. Is it a sign of greater vigour? or is it mere chance? To ascertain this point they remove it from its habitual position, and if it returns to it for seven consecutive days, the owner builds upon it such extravagant expectations, that he would not accept a negress in exchange. A prejudice causes them to attach the greatest value to the first, third, and fifth pups, in fact, to all the odd numbers.

The pups are weaned at the end of forty days, but are still fed with goat's, or camel's milk, thickened with dates, or kouskoussou. In the Sahara, the flocks are so numerous and milk so abundant, that it is not at all surprising that wealthy Arabs, after having weaned their greyhound pups, should set aside so many she-goats for their nourishment. When the pups are three or four months old, their education commences. The boys drive out of their holes the jerboa, or the rat called _boualal_, and set the pups at them. The latter by degrees get excited, dash after them at full speed, bark furiously at their holes, and only give up the pursuit to begin another. At the age of five or six months, they are assigned a prey more difficult to catch—the hare. Men on foot lead the greyhound close to the form where the animal is couched. Then, by a slight exclamation, they set the young dog, who rushes at the hare, and soon acquires the habit of coursing with speed and intelligence. From the hare, they pass to the young of the gazelle. The Arabs approach the spot where these are lying near their mother, and direct the attention of the greyhound to them. As soon as he is thoroughly excited and rears up with impatience, they let him go. After a few lessons of this kind, the greyhound understands perfectly what to do, and begins to press forward resolutely in chace of the old hinds themselves.

When a year old the greyhound has very nearly reached its full strength. His scent is developed, and he follows the gazelle by its slot. Nevertheless, he is kept under some restraint, and not until the age of fifteen to eighteen months is he regularly allowed to hunt. From that period, however, he is held in leash, and often with great difficulty; for the Arabs say that when the greyhound scents the game, his muscular power becomes so great that, if he stiffens himself upon his paws, a man can hardly make him lift a leg. As soon as he sights a herd of thirty or forty gazelles, he trembles with joy, and looks up at his master, who cries to him: "Ah son of a Jew! thou canst not say this time that thou didst not see them." The hunter then takes off his goat's-skin bag, and pours a little water on the back and belly of the hound, who, in his impatience, casts a suppliant eye on his master. At last, he is free and bounds forward. Presently, he tries to hide himself, stoops down, and follows a circuitous course until he is within an easy distance, when he springs forward with all his might, and picks out for his victim the finest male in the herd. When the hunter cuts up the gazelle, he throws to the _slougui_ the flesh around the kidneys. If he were to offer him the intestines, he would reject them with disdain.

The greyhound that cannot hunt at two years old, will never be able do so. There is a saying to this effect,

A greyhound after two years And a man after two fasts [fifteen years];

meaning thereby that that is the proper age to judge what either will ever be worth.

The greyhound is an intelligent animal and full of self-love. If, in slipping him, a fine gazelle is pointed out to him, and he kills only a common looking one, he is very sensible of the reproaches addressed to him, and slinks off, ashamed of himself, without claiming his portion. He has no lack of vanity, and indulges much in fantasia. A thoroughbred _slougui_ will neither eat nor drink from a dirty vessel, and refuses milk in which the hand has been dipped. Has he not been taught this disdainful daintiness? And yet the utmost that is done for the common dog, their faithful and vigilant guardian, is to let him find his food among the offal and bones that are lying about. And while the latter is driven with hootings from tent and table, the greyhound sleeps in the compartment reserved for men, on carpets by his master's side, or on his very bed. He is clothed and sheltered from the cold, like the horse, and is even preferred for being chilly, as that is an additional proof of the purity of his race. The women take pleasure in bedecking him with ornaments, in tying collars of shells round his neck, and in securing him from the evil eye by fastening talismans on him. He is fed with care, nicety, and caution, kouskoussou being lavished upon him. In summer-time, to give him strength, they make a paste of milk and dates, of which the stones have been extracted. There are some who never feed their greyhounds during the day. Nor is this all. The _slougui_ accompanies his master when on a visit, and receives the same hospitality with him, having a portion of every dish.

A thoroughbred greyhound will hunt with no one but his master. By his cleanliness, his respect for decency and the graciousness of his manner, he shows that he recognizes the attention paid to him. On his master's return after a somewhat prolonged absence, the _slougui_ leaps with a bound on to his saddle, and caresses him. The Arabs talk to him: "O friend, listen to me! You must bring me some meat. I am tired of eating dates," and flatter him in many ways. The petted animal leaps about in a frolicsome manner, and seems not only to understand but to wish to reply. The death of a _slougui_ fills the whole tent with mourning, the women and children bewailing him as if he were one of the family. Sometimes it falls to the greyhound to find food for all, and one that nourishes a family can never be for sale. Now and then, however, he may be given away in compliance with the supplications of women and relatives, or of the most respected marabouts.

A greyhound that catches with ease the _sine_ and the _ademi_, is worth a she-camel; but one that can overtake the _rime_ is priced as a valuable horse. They are very generally named _ghezal_ or _ghezala_, "a gazelle." Frequently wagers are laid on such or such a _slougui_, the stakes being sheep, or a feast of _taam_, dates, etc.

The greyhound of the Sahara is far superior to that of the Tell. He is of a tawny colour, and tall, with a sharp snout, broad forehead, short ears, and muscular neck; the muscles of the hindquarters being, also, very prominent. He has no belly, clean limbs, well detached sinews, the hock near the ground, the under part of the paw small and dry, the palate and the tongue black, and the hair very soft. Between the two ilia, there should be the breadth of four fingers, and the tip of the tail should be able to pass under the thigh and reach the hip-bone. Both the fore-arms are generally fired in five lines to harden the muscles.

The most renowned greyhounds of the Sahara are those of the Hamiân, the Oulad-Sidi-Shikh, the Harar, the Arbâa, and the Oulad-Naïl.

HAWKING.

The sporting equipments of a noble of the Sahara are complete when he has a _thair el horr_, or a bird of race; for there men of distinction are still addicted to falconry. The _thair el horr_ is of a dark yellow plumage, with a short, powerful bill, thick, muscular thighs, and very sharp talons. It is very rare, and is caught in the following manner. When a _thair el horr_ has been sighted, they put a tame pigeon into a small net, and throw it up into the air in front of the bird of prey, who swoops down upon it. Her talons, however, get entangled in the net, so that she can neither draw them out, nor fly away, and is thus easily secured. When the falcon finds herself a prisoner, she shows no signs of fear or anger. There is a saying in the desert which is often quoted in seasons of calamity:

A bird of race, when she is caught, never frets.

Rings are passed round her legs and she is fastened to a small perch prepared for her in the tent. To accustom her to the presence of men, they cover her head with a hood, which allows only the beak to appear. Her master unhoods her, gives her fresh meat, holds her on his fist, and caresses and speaks to her as much as possible before a numerous company, to accustom her to noise. At the end of a month the bird knows her master, and is thoroughly tamed. They then take a leveret and tie it by one leg, the hawk also being held fast by a very long "creance." They unhood her, and let the leveret go before her eyes. As soon as the bird sees it, she rises into the air, uttering cries. The leveret stops and squats down, when the falcon swoops and kills it with a blow of her talons. The owner runs up, draws the leveret, and gives a portion to the bird. This manœuvre is repeated until the falcon shows no desire to fly away, which is known by her remaining beside the animal she has killed. The falcon, naturally disposed to seize her prey, is further looked upon as trained, when she answers to the call before she has pounced upon her quarry.