The Horses of the Sahara 38

The Horses of the Sahara 38

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