The Horses of the Sahara 40

The Horses of the Sahara 40

REMARKS BY THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER.

 

The Arabs recognize four species of birds of noble race, which they

employ in the chace. These are the _berana_, the _terakel_, the

_nebala_, and the _bahara_. The _berana_ and the _terakel_ are the most

esteemed; especially the _terakel_, which is the largest—the female

sometimes attaining the size of an ordinary eagle. This species has

black wings, gray on the under side. The belly is black and white, the

tail black, as is also the head when young, but gradually turning gray

and then white as the bird grows older. Its beak is very hard and sharp,

and its talons solid and vigorous. The _berana_ is less strong and

somewhat smaller than the _terakel_. Its wings are of a whitish gray,

its breast white, its tail gray and white, the latter predominating. The

head is of many hues, but there also white is the dominant colour. The

_bahara_ is almost entirely black, with the exception of a few whitish

spots on the breast. "It is a negro, and not worth much." In the

_nebala_, gray predominates; there are some white spots, however, on the

wings, and the feet are yellow. All these birds mew at the end of

summer.

 

In certain districts, the following species are likewise valued; the

_shashin_, the _aogab_, the _meguernes_, and the _baz_. The _baz_ is the

most courageous. Its plumage is of a dark red, its eyes deep set, with

arched eyelids, its shoulders wide apart, its feathers soft, its breast

broad, its rump thick, its tail short, its thighs wide apart, its legs

white, and its feet broad. The heavier it feels on the hand, the swifter

it is on the wing. It is said that its wind is bad.

 

The bird of noble race is given away rather than sold; whoever catches

one takes it to the master of a large tent, who makes him a present in

return. It is in the summer-time that they endeavour to procure these

noble birds, in order to have time to train them for the hawking season,

which is towards the end of autumn. They go to work in the following

manner.

 

They envelope a pigeon in a sort of shirt made of horse-hair and a

quantity of wool. A horseman rides about a desert place carrying this

lure with him, and when he sees a bird of race, throws it up into the

air and then hides himself. The falcon stoops and strikes it, but her

legs and talons become entangled in the wool and hair, and her struggles

only make her position worse. At last, stupefied and exhausted, she

finishes by alighting, or rather by falling on the ground, when the

horseman issues from his hiding place and secures her. A perch is

prepared for her in the chief's own tent, to which the bird is fastened

by an elegant thong of _filali_.[87] It is needless to add that the

greatest care is taken to attach the jesses, so as not to hurt the bird,

or cause her unnecessary inconvenience. The master of the tent feeds her

with his own hands once a day, about two in the afternoon. Her ordinary

food is raw mutton, very clean, and carefully cut up. She is not stinted

as to quantity, may eat to satiety, and is even expected to improve in

condition.

 

By way of commencing her education, they proceed in this manner. They

show her a large piece of flesh, and at the same time call to her three

times, with a cry that may be represented by the sound long drawn out of

"Ouye! ouye! ouye!" The bird throws herself upon the meat, which is not

given up to her, but which she fights hard to get hold of. They draw it

away slowly, still showing it to her and teasing her, until she is quite

exhausted, when they give her several small morsels on her perch. Up to

that time, the falcon is kept scrupulously within the tent, remaining

hood-winked all day, and also during the first few nights, until she is

accustomed to live with the women and children, the dogs and other

animals. This last point is difficult to manage, and is never completely

achieved.

 

When the "gentle" bird has got thus far, when she is used to accept her

food upon the perch, in the manner above described, the circle of her

prison is extended. She is fastened by the foot to a cord, or creance,

of camel's hair, soft and pliable, from fifty to sixty cubits in length,

which allows her to go abroad. Outside of the tent, they repeat the

lesson of calls to come and be fed, cautiously feeling their way. The

falcon is in this manner tended a long time within the tent, going out

only to receive her food. When her master is quite sure of having

accustomed her to himself, he takes her with him on his fist to a

considerable distance, putting on and off her hood several times, at

different intervals. It is not without difficulty, without many

struggles, that the bird accommodates herself to the scene abroad, but

by degrees she becomes used to that also.

 

At this period, the last touch is given to her education, by means of

the same calls, the same alternations of teasing and gratifying; but far

from the tent and the _douar_, without hood and without leash, her food

is given to her. As soon as she is gorged, the hood and leash are

replaced. After that, her master never moves a step without her perched

upon his fist. But this is not enough. The bird is only tamed—she has

yet to be trained for the sport. Accordingly, they take a hare and cut

its throat, disclosing the gash by drawing back the skin, so as to let

the flesh appear. Then, inside the tent, they take off the hood of the

falcon, who springs at the throat of the animal, and is allowed to worry

it for a time in order to get a taste for it; and a little later they

give her some of the flesh. This manœuvre is repeated seven or eight

days following, with a live hare, whose ears the master keeps pulling to

make it squeal, while he himself utters the call "Ouye! Ouye!" The

falcon precipitates herself on the head of the animal and fights for it,

pecking out the eyes, and sometimes the tongue. The hare is then opened,

and some of the flesh given to the bird. This exercise is repeated more

or less frequently, according to the bird's aptitude for learning.

 

The hawking season is now at hand. The bird must be put to the proof, to

ascertain if she has profited by these lessons so skilfully graduated,

by this education so laboriously inculcated, and so appropriate to her

nature and to the style of sport for which she is intended. They go out,

therefore, on horseback, taking the "gentle" bird hood-winked, and

proceed to an open plain, or a vast plateau, having first provided

themselves with five or six live hares. Having reached the appointed

spot they take a hare and, having broken its four feet, let it go within

the scope of the bird's ken. Squeaking and moaning it hobbles on as well

as it can, when they unhood the falcon, and throw her off—exclaiming _Bi

es-sem Allah! Allah akbar!_ The _terakel_, impatient, soars straight up

toward the sky, and from a great height swoops down upon the hare, which

she kills, or stuns, with a single blow with her tightly closed talons,

as with a fist. The hunters come up, bleed and open the animal, and give

the entrails, the liver, and the heart to the bird, who devours them on

the spot. After repeating this lesson several days in succession, the

training of the bird is considered complete.

 

This course of instruction has extended from summer to near the end of

autumn, which is the favourable season, for the falcon only hunts well

in cloudy and cold weather. She cannot endure the glare of the sun, nor

yet thirst or heat. She would leave her master to go in search of water,

which she sees from afar, and would never return. At that period, then,

a party sets out after a light breakfast, at about eleven in the

morning, with the falcon on the shoulder or on the fist. The only

provisions they take with them are camel's milk, dates, bread, and dried

grapes.

 

But the sport does not begin until after a tolerably long ride, towards

three in the afternoon. The cavalcade is usually a numerous one. Having

reached a suitable spot, they scatter about, beating the brushwood and

tufts of _alfa_ in the hope of starting a hare, which they drive towards

the man who holds the falcon. As soon as the quarry is sighted, the

latter unhoods the bird, and throws her off; pointing with his finger to

the hare, and exclaiming _Ha hou!_ "there it is!" While her master is

pronouncing the sacramental _Bi es-sem Allah! Allah akbar!_ the bird is

off, soars out of sight, keeping the hare in view all the time with her

piercing eye, and then precipitates herself upon it, and strikes it,

either on the head or on the shoulder, one blow with her closed talons,

violent enough to stun, if not to kill it. The horsemen, seeing the

falcon stoop, gallop up from all quarters, surround her, and generally

find her engaged in picking out the eyes of the hare. To make her let

go, some one draws out from below his burnous the skin of another hare,

and throws it down a little way off, when she immediately pounces upon

it. Her _curée_, or reward, is not given to her until after their return

to the _douar_.

 

It will be readily understood that, though the bird was fed abundantly,

and even to excess, during the time she was being tamed, and taught to

obey the call, she is kept somewhat sparingly during the hawking season,

to avoid making her dull and depriving her of her full power, and in

order to make her a good hunter, that is, ardent and alert.

 

It is no uncommon thing with two or three falcons to kill from ten to

fifteen hares in a day. A large bird called the _habara_[88] is also

hunted with the _thair el horr_, and in this wise. The hunters ride on

until they meet with _habaras_, who generally go in couples, or in

companies of half a dozen and more. The falcon is on the fist. Her hood

is removed, and the birds are pointed out to her. When thoroughly

roused, she is thrown off with the invocation, _Bi es-sem Allah_! She

soars aloft, stoops upon her quarry, strikes it on the head, and holds

it in the pitiless grasp of her talons in spite of the desperate

struggles of the victim, until the horsemen come up and snatch it from

her. One of them then bleeds it to death, and gives the falcon her

reward. The flesh of this bird intoxicates the falcon, according to the

Arabs, either because of the perfumed vapour emanating from it, or

because she is proud of the capture of a _habara_, a dainty fit to set

before a Sultan. Thus, when she is replaced on the shoulder, she struts

and balances herself, and executes her fantasia. If the _habara_

attempts to fly, the falcon soars, and both mount together, the latter

rising higher and higher till she is well above the other, when she

precipitates herself upon it like a thunder-bolt, and breaks, first a

wing, and then the sternum. They fall together, tumbling over and over,

but the falcon always managing to keep uppermost and to hold her victim

beneath her, so that it alone may feel the shock of this frightful fall.

 

The "gentle" bird hunts, also, the _seroun_, the _hamma_, and the

_agad_. Some falcons will not hunt the _habara_. They are never trained

to hunt partridges, as it is feared that, if they became accustomed to

it, they would prefer a feathered quarry to one with a skin. If a bird

delays to return to her master, a horseman, holding in his hand the skin

of a hare furnished with ears and feet, gallops up towards her and

throws this lure to her, at the same time hooping "Ouye!": she generally

answers to the call. This interjection, if I may so express myself, is