The Horses of the Sahara 36
REMARKS BY THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER.
I have surprised them with horses of pure race, with sleek coats,
foreheads adorned with stars announcing good fortune, flanks lean
through exercise, and flesh firm and hard. I have fallen upon them like
a cloud charged with lightning that hangs over a defile.
It is a horse that, without ever being fatigued, always finishes by
asking pardon of his rider. His head is lean, his ears and lips fine,
his nostrils well open, his neck slender, his skin black and soft, his
coat sleek, and his joints large. By the head of the Prophet! he is of
noble race, and you would never ask how much he cost if you had seen him
marching against the enemy.
When you see the horses of the _goum_ marching proudly, their heads up,
and making the air re-echo with their neighings, rest assured that
victory accompanies them. But, on the other hand, when you see the
horses of the _goum_ marching sadly, with their heads down, without
neighing, but lashing themselves with their tails, be sure that fortune
has abandoned them.
Nevertheless, Allah is wiser than man.
Oh! would that I could see my blood flowing over my _haïk_, white as
ivory from Soudan! It would be the more beautiful for it.
OSTRICH HUNTING.
In the desert there are two principal modes of hunting the ostrich—on
horseback, and in ambush. There is, indeed, a third method which is only
a modification of the second, and consists in killing the bird while
drinking at a stream of water.
The true sport is on horseback. Watching for the bird is no better than
taking a sitting shot with us. The former is a noble and royal pastime,
the latter is only fit for a common fellow, or a poacher. It is not
enough to kill, the thing is to run the bird down. For this purpose the
general sort of education given to a horse will not suffice. A special
preparation is required, just as a race-horse needs a particular
training for some days previous to the contest.
Seven or eight days before a hunting expedition, both grass and straw
are entirely stopped, and nothing but barley given. The horse is watered
only once a day, at sunset, when the water begins to get cool, and he is
then washed all over. He is taken out for a long ride every day, now
walking, now galloping, during which the rider carefully ascertains that
nothing is wanting to the equipment proper for the purpose. At the end
of these seven or eight days, say the Arabs, the belly disappears, while
the neck, chest, and croup show firm flesh. The animal is then ready to
endure the fatigue. This special training is called _teshaha_.
The equipment also is modified with a view to lighten the weight. The
stirrups should be much less heavy than usual, the saddle-bow very
light, the two _kerbouss_, or pommels, of less than the ordinary height
and without the _stara_. The breast-band is likewise omitted, and
instead of the seven pieces of felt only two are used. The bridle, in
like manner undergoes several metamorphoses. The blinkers and headstall
are omitted as too heavy, the bit being simply fastened to a tolerably
stout camel-rope, without any throat-band, and kept in its place by a
make-shift headstall of cord. The reins are also very light, but strong.
All four feet are shod.
The most favourable season for this sport is during the great heats of
summer. The higher the temperature, the less energy does the ostrich
possess to defend itself. The Arabs describe the exact period by saying
that it is when a man, standing upright, casts a shadow no longer than
the sole of his foot. Ostrich hunting implies a regular expedition
lasting over seven or eight days. It requires preparatory arrangements
which are concerted by ten or a dozen horsemen bound in "a knot," as for
a _razzia_. Each hunter is accompanied by a servant, called a _zemmal_,
who is mounted on a camel that carries, besides, four goat-skin bags
filled with water, barley for the horse, wheaten flour, another kind of
flour parched, dates, a pot to boil the food in, leather thongs, a
needle, and a set of horse-shoes and nails.
Each hunter should take only one woollen or cotton shirt, and one pair
of woollen trousers. He winds round his neck and ears a kind of thin
stuff called in the desert _haouli_, and fastens it with his camel-rope.
His feet are protected by sandals attached by cords, but he also puts on
light gaiters [_trabag_]. He takes neither rifle, nor pistol, nor
powder. His only weapon is a club of wild olive or tamarisk, four or
five feet long and terminating in a very heavy knob. The party do not
start until they have ascertained from travellers, or caravans, or from
messengers sent forward for that purpose, where a large number of
ostriches are collected at one point. These birds are generally met with
in places where there is a good deal of grass, and where rain has
recently fallen. According to the Arabs, whenever the ostrich sees the
lightnings flash and a thunder storm coming on, it immediately hastens
in that direction, however distant it may be, for it thinks nothing of
going ten days on the stretch. In the desert it is proverbially said of
a man who is particularly careful in tending his flocks and supplying
them with what is necessary, that "he is like the ostrich—where he sees
the lightning flash, he is there."
The start is made in the morning. At the end of one or two days' march,
when the hunters have arrived near to the spot where they were told to
look for ostriches, and where tracks are observable, they halt and
bivouac. On the morrow two intelligent servants, stripped to the skin,
and wearing nothing but a handkerchief round their loins, are sent
forward to reconnoitre. They take with them a goat's-skin bag suspended
from the side, and a small quantity of bread, and walk on until they
come upon the ostriches, which usually keep to the high ground. As soon
as they have sighted them, they lie down and observe their movements;
and then, while one remains, the other returns to the camp, and says
that he has seen thirty, forty, sixty ostriches—it is alleged that
_djeliba_ or troops to that number are really to be met with. At certain
times, and especially when mating, the ostriches are seldom found more
than three or four couples together.
Guided by the man who has brought the information, the hunters advance
cautiously in the direction of the ostriches, and on nearing the hillock
on which the birds were sighted, they use every precaution to avoid
being seen. Having at length reached the last inequality of ground that
affords them any sort of cover, they dismount, and two scouts crawl
forward to make sure that the birds are still in the same place. If
these bring confirmation of the former tidings, each rider gives his
horse a small draught of the water brought on a camel's back, for it is
rare to find a place where water is to be had. The baggage is piled up
where the halt takes place, without any one being left to watch it, so
certain are they of being able to retrace their steps to the identical
spot. Every hunter is provided with a _chibouta_, or goat's-skin bag of
water. The attendants follow the tracks of the horses—the camel carrying
only the horses' evening feed of barley and his own, and water for both
men and animals.
Carefully reconnoitring the ground occupied by the ostriches, the
hunters concert their mode of attack. Spreading out, they gradually form
a circle, in which they inclose the quarry at a sufficient distance not
to be seen, for the ostrich is very far-sighted. The attendants fill up
the gaps between the horsemen. Then, when all are at their respective
posts, the latter advance straight upon the ostriches, who flee
panic-stricken, but are met by the horsemen, who at first content
themselves by driving them back within the circle. The ostrich thus
exhausts its strength by the rapidity of its movements; for, when
surprised, it does not "husband its wind." Again and again it repeats
the same manœuvre, always trying to break through the circle and always
driven back in affright. At the first symptoms of fatigue, the hunters
dash at them, and presently the troop scatters in all directions. Those
that are losing strength open out their wings, which is a sure sign of
weariness. The hunters, now secure of their prey, hold in their horses.
Each one picks out a bird, rides after it, overtakes it, and, either
from behind or from the side, fetches it a terrible blow on the head
with the cudgel already mentioned. The head is bald and very sensitive,
whereas other parts of the body would offer greater resistance. Stunned
with the blow, the ostrich falls to the ground, and the hunter,
springing out of his saddle, cuts its throat, taking care, however, to
hold it away from the body, so that the wings may not be stained with
the blood.
The _delim_, or male bird, when its throat is cut, especially if near
its young ones, moans in a lamentable manner, but the _reumda_, or
female, utters not a sound. When the ostrich is on the point of being
overtaken, it is so exhausted that, if the hunter is willing to spare
its life, it is easy for him to lead it away captive, guiding it with
his cudgel; for by that time it can scarcely walk. Immediately after
being bled, the bird is carefully skinned, so as not to spoil the
feathers, and the skin is stretched on a tree or on a horse. When the
camels arrive, salt is plentifully rubbed in.
The servants now light fires and prepare the pots, in which they boil
for a long time over a fierce fire all the fat of the bird. As soon as
it is reduced to a very liquid state, it is poured into a sort of
leather bottle formed of the skin stripped off from the thigh to the
foot, and strongly tied at the lower end; it would spoil if put into
skin taken from any other part of the body. The fat of an ostrich in
good condition ought to fill both its legs. When the bird is brooding,
it is very lean, and at that time its fat would certainly not fill both
legs; and it is, at that time, hunted only for the sake of its feathers.
The rest of the flesh is served up for the hunters' supper, seasoned
with flour and pepper.
The attendants having watered the horses and given them a feed of
barley, and the hunters having refreshed themselves, they hasten, no
matter how fatiguing the chace may have been, to return to the spot
where they left their baggage. There they remain forty eight hours to
rest their horses, on whom they bestow the greatest care. After that,
they regain their tents. Sometimes they send the produce of the chace to
the _douar_, whence the servants bring back a fresh supply of
provisions, and, on receiving favourable intelligence, they start on a new expedition.
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