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.

In the desert, the male bird is called _delim_; the female, _reumda_; a
one-year old, _ral_; over one year, _oulid gleub_; a two-year old,
_oulid bou gleubtin_; a three-year old, _garah_, at which age the bird
attains its full growth.

The fat of the ostrich is used in the preparation of food—of
kouskoussou, for instance—and it is likewise eaten with bread. The Arabs
also apply it as a remedy in many diseases. It is sold in the
market-place, and in the tents of the rich a store of it is often kept
to give away to the poor, as a medicine. It is not, however, by any
means expensive—one pot of ostrich grease being exchanged for only three
pots of butter.

The plumes are sold in the _kuesours_, at Tougourt and at Leghrouât, and
among the Beni-Mzab, who, at the time of the purchase of grain, bring
ostrich skins down to the seaboard. Among the Oulad-Sidi-Shikh the skin
of the male was formerly sold at from four to five _douros_, and that of
the female at from ten to fifteen francs; but of late the price has
risen considerably. In the Sahara, before our time, the beautiful
ostrich plumes were only used to ornament the top of a tent or a straw
hat. The Shamba strengthen their shoes with the skin of the under part
of an ostrich's foot. They place a strip under the toes, and another
under the heel, and the sole will thus wear a long time. With the sinews
they make laces to sow the saddles, and to mend various articles made of
leather.

In the eyes of the Arab ostrich hunting possesses the double charm of
profit and pleasure. It is a favourite exercise of the horsemen of the
Sahara, and it is also a remunerative enterprise, the value of the skin
and fat much more than covering the expense. Notwithstanding the
numerous train indispensable for this species of sport, it is not by any
means the exclusive privilege of the rich. Any poor man who feels that
he can acquit himself well can generally contrive to join a party of
horsemen who propose to hunt the ostrich. He goes to a wealthy Arab, who
lends him a camel, a horse and harness, and two-thirds of the barley
required, two-thirds of the goat-skins, and two-thirds of the supply of
food. The other third of all things is provided by the borrower, and the
produce of the chace is divided between the two in the same proportions.
The servant who, during the expedition, rides the camel lent to the poor
man, receives from the latter two _boudjous_ for every male killed, and
one _boudjou_ for every female. He is, besides, fed from the provisions
taken with him by the horseman.

The ostrich is also hunted by lying in ambush, after it has laid its
eggs, or towards the middle of November. Five or six horsemen, taking
with them a couple of camels loaded with supplies for at least a month,
go in search of places where rain has recently fallen, or where ponds
are to be found. In such localities there is certain to be abundance of
herbage, which never fails to attract the ostriches in considerable
numbers. To avoid idle wanderings to and fro, they question every
individual, every caravan, they happen to meet: besides, they know
beforehand the most likely stations. On these occasions they provide
themselves, not with a cudgel, but with a rifle and an ample supply of
powder and ball.

As soon as they come upon ostrich tracks, the hunters examine them
closely. If they appear only in the form of patches here and there eaten
down to the ground, it shows that the ostrich has come here merely to
graze. But if the tracks cross each other in all directions, if the
grass has been trampled under foot, but not eaten, it is a sure sign
that the ostrich has made her nest in the neighbourhood. The hunters
thereupon search attentively for the spot where she has deposited her
eggs, and approach it with the greatest precautions. While the ostrich
is digging out her nest, all day long her plaintive moanings may be
heard, but after her eggs are laid she never utters her usual cry until
about three in the afternoon.

The female sits on her eggs from morning till mid-day, while the male
goes to the pasture. At noon he returns, and the female goes to feed in
her turn. When she comes back, she places herself four or five paces
from the nest, in front of the male, who incubates all night. The male
himself keeps watch over the eggs to defend them from all enemies.
Jackals, among others, often times place themselves in ambush near at
hand ready to play them an evil turn, and their bodies have frequently
been found by the hunters lying not far from the nests, stricken to
death by the male—the female being too timid to inspire any fear.

It is in the morning, during the time the female is sitting, that the
hunters dig on each side of the nest, and not above twenty paces
distant, a hole deep enough to contain a man. They then cover it over
with the long grass so common in the desert, so that only his rifle is
seen. The best marksmen are, of course, placed in these holes.

Seeing all these preparations, the female takes fright, and runs off to
join the male, who beats her and compels her to return to the nest. If
these preparations were to be made while the male is brooding, he would
go off to join the female, and neither of them would ever come back
again.

When the female returns to the nest, they take care not to molest her,
it being the rule to kill the male in the first instance. It is,
therefore, customary to await his return from the pasture, which happens
about noon, when the hunter holds himself ready. The ostrich, while
engaged in incubation, spreads out its wings so as to cover all the
eggs. In this position, with its legs bent under the body, the thighs
are very conspicuous. This circumstance is favourable to the marksman
who aims to break the leg of the bird. All chance of escape is thus cut
away, which would not be the case were it is wounded in any other part.
As soon as the ostrich is down the hunters run up and cut its throat.
The two marksmen come out of their holes, and their companions,
attracted by the report, lend their assistance. All traces of blood are
quickly covered with sand, and the body of the bird carefully concealed.
At sunset the female returns as usual to pass the night close to the
nest. The absence of the male causes her no anxiety, for she fancies he
has merely gone away to feed, and she quietly sits upon the eggs. She is
then killed in the same manner as her mate, by the hunter who has not
previously fired. The one who shot the male receives a _douro_ in
addition to his proper share; but if, what rarely happens, he should
miss his aim, he pays to his companions the value of the bird: "We chose
thee," they say, "as the best shot: we placed thee in the good position
to do us a benefit, and lo! thou workest us such a wrong as this. Thou
shalt pay for it." The hunter who killed the female receives only an egg
over and above his share. If he miss, he forfeits what would have come
to him from the price of the male and the eggs. The one who is to fire
at the male is appointed beforehand.

The nest of an ordinary couple contains from twenty five to thirty eggs,
but it frequently happens that several couples combine to lay in common.
In that case, they form a large enclosure, and the oldest couple are
placed in the centre, with the others around them in regular order—so
that, if they are four in number, they will occupy the four angles of a
square. When the eggs are all laid they are pushed towards the centre,
but not mingled together; and when the oldest male comes to sit the
others take their places around, where their eggs were laid—and the same
with the females. These companies are composed of the young of the same
family—in fact, of the young of the oldest couple. They do not all lay
the same number of eggs. The one-year olds, for instance, do not lay
more than four or five, and those of a small size. At times as many as a
hundred eggs are found in the same nest. These family gatherings are
most common where the herbage is most abundant. The Arabs have observed
a very singular circumstance. The eggs of each couple in these monster
nests are carefully piled up together, with one egg conspicuously at the
top. It is the one first laid, and it serves for a special purpose. As
soon as the male perceives that the moment has arrived for hatching, he
breaks with his beak the egg he judges to be the most forward, and at
the same time very carefully makes a small hole in the one which
surmounts the others. The latter furnishes their first meal to all the
young ones as they are hatched, and, though open, will remain sweet for
a considerable time. This quality is peculiarly useful; for the male
does not break all the eggs on the same day, but only three or four at a
time, when he hears the young ones moving inside. The egg which supplies
them with nourishment is always liquid, whether through the prevision of
nature, or that the old birds have instinctively avoided sitting on it.

The fledglings, after having partaken of their first meal, and being
speedily dried in the sun, begin at once to run about, and at the end of
a few days follow the parent birds to the pasture: in the nest, they
always nestle under their wings. The nest is generally of a circular
form, and is formed in a sandy soil. The ostrich constructs it with its
feet, by simply throwing out the sand from the centre to the
circumference. The dust raised by this operation may be seen at some
distance. The period of incubation lasts ninety nights.

The hunters eat the eggs if they are fresh, and not near ready to be
hatched. The shells they either throw away, or take with them, to give
as presents to friends, or to deposit them in the _koubba_.[85] However,
for some time past, the Arabs have become aware that eggs are an article
of traffic on the seaboard, and they now reserve them for that object.

The ambush hunt is very lucrative. It is quite possible to kill several
birds and carry off their eggs. At that season, the ostrich itself is
very lean; but, on the other hand, the feathers are better and hold more
firmly together. Where several couples are assembled together in one
nest, it is only the oldest male and female that are killed. Were the
hunters to make as many holes as there are birds, they would very soon
be discovered, and the whole company would take to flight.

According to the Arabs, ostriches kill vipers with a stroke of their
beak, and swallow them. They eat, also, serpents, locusts, scorpions,
lizards, and a very large fruit called _hadj_, abundant in the desert,
and produced by a creeping plant, bitter as turpentine, having leaves
like those of a water-melon: in short, they digest anything, even
stones. Such is the voracity of this bird that where it is kept in a
domesticated state, it bolts everything it comes across, knives,
jewelry, bits of iron. The Arab who gave me these details declared that
a woman one day had a coral necklace snatched from her neck and
swallowed by an ostrich, and I have heard an officer of the African army
relate how one tore off and bolted a button from his tunic. It is at the
same time very adroit, and will snatch a date from a man's lips without
hurting him. When lightnings flash and announce a coming storm, they
cannot contain themselves for joy. They jump about, and hasten towards
the water of which they are so fond, though capable of long endurance of
thirst.

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.

Having arrived at this point, the bird may be taken out to hunt. The
owner mounts his horse and takes her with him, hooded, and perched upon
his head or his shoulders. As soon as he sees a hare, he unhoods her and
excites her with his voice. The falcon soars into the air, and swoops
down suddenly with a sharp cry, and kills the animal with a single blow;
after which the hood is immediately put on again. Sometimes the hare is
killed so far off that the hunter cannot bleed it in time, according to
the religious injunction; but this inconvenience is obviated by his
exclaiming, when he throws off the bird, _Bi es-sem Allah! Allah
akbar_—"in the name of Allah! Allah is great!" If the falcon has
devoured a part of the game, the rest may be eaten by the hunter,
because the bird of prey has been trained to return to her master when
he calls her, and not to eat the game. A bird of race will no more eat
carrion than will an eagle. She will kill hares, rabbits, the young of
the gazelle, the _habara_—a bird, they say, as big as a bustard—pigeons,
and turtle-doves.

The principal tribes of the Sahara that practice hawking are: in the
province of Constantine, the Douaouda, the Selmya, the Oulad-Moulat, the
Oulad-ben-Aly, the Sahari, the Oulad-Mahdi, the Oulad-Bou-Azid, the
Rahman, and the Oulad-Zid; in the province of Algiers, the Bou-Aysh, the
Oulad-Mokhtar, the Oulad-Yagoub, the Oulad-Shayb, the Oulad-Ayad, the
Mouidat, the Zenakha, the Abadlya, the Oulad-Naïl; and in the province
of Oran, the Hassasna, the Rezayna, the Oulad-Mehalla, the Beni-Mathar,
the Derraga, the Harar, the Angades, the Hamyân, the Oulad-Sidi-Shikh,
and the Oulad-Khelif; and the inhabitants of all the regions where
_alfa_ grows in abundance. Hawking is also pursued in the higher
table-lands, on the borders of the Sahara.

                   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
the vocative of the bird of race. The falcon, when properly trained,
seldom betrays, that is, escapes from her master. They are sometimes
lost, however, by their passion for a desert bird called _hamma_, which
they pursue with fury.

The _biaz_—such is the name of the falconer, the individual whose
special duty it is to tend and feed the falcon—sometimes entertains a
blind and fatal attachment for his pupil. He will pet and pamper her to
excess; and although it is proverbially said that "vanity is her only
counsellor and sole motive of her actions," yet, if she be not hungry,
instead of hunting, she resumes her liberty. A bird, however, must be
exceedingly well trained and even renowned, to be kept for more than one
year. As a rule, unless she has displayed an exceptional prowess, she is
turned loose at the end of the season, as another is sure to be obtained
before the time comes round again. Birds that have been kept for three
years are quoted as something quite out of the common run.

When the _djouad_, or nobles, go out hawking, it is in parties of
five-and-twenty to thirty, without reckoning their attendants, and
wagers are often laid. For a trained falcon, a camel is given, or a
hundred _boudjous_, and at times even a horse. The falcon is regarded as
a member of the family. She lives in the tent, and is the object of the
most constant attention. Some chiefs are never to be seen without their
falcon, which they carry about with them everywhere. It is a sign of
distinction and of gentle birth to have marks of a falcon's muting on
one's burnous. In the Sahara, little or great, rich or poor, all alike
love and caress the "gentle" bird.

"And how should it be otherwise?" said to me one day a noble Arab; "we
love pomp, splendour, and magnificence, and one must be more or less
than an Arab not to feel joy and excitement at the sight of our warriors
returning from hawking. The chief rides on in front, followed by many
horsemen, and carrying two falcons, one on his shoulder, the other on
his fist, guarded by a leather gauntlet. The hoods of these birds are
enriched with silk, morocco leather, gold, and small ostrich plumes,
while their jesses are embroidered and ornamented with silver bells. The
steeds neigh, the camels are loaded with game, and their drivers murmur,
in a melancholy tone, one of those chaunts of love, or war, which never
fail to find the way to our hearts. Yes; I swear by the head of the
Prophet, next to a goum taking the field, there is nothing so striking
as the departure or return of a hawking party. Thus, however weary,
exhausted, and out of breath one may be, sleep is less refreshing than
the hope and expectation of recommencing on the morrow."

                               THE CHACE

                            BY ABD-EL-KADER.

It is related that an Arab Sheikh was seated in the centre of a numerous
group, when a man who had lost his ass presented himself before him, and
asked if any one had seen the animal that had gone astray. The Sheikh
immediately turned to those around him, and addressed them in these
words:—"Is there any one here to whom the pleasures of the chace are
unknown? Who has never pursued the game at the risk of life and limb, if
he fell from his horse? Who, without fear of tearing his clothes or his
skin, has not thrown himself into the midst of brushwood bristling with
thorns, in order to overtake the wolf? Is there any one here who has
never experienced the happiness of again meeting, the despair of leaving
a woman who was dearly loved?"

One of his hearers answered: "For my part, I have never done, or
experienced any of those things you mention."

Looking to the owner of the ass, the sheikh thus spoke: "Behold the
beast you were looking for! Lead him away."

The Arabs, indeed, have a saying that "he who has never hunted, nor
loved, nor felt emotion at the sound of music, nor prized the perfume of
flowers, is not a man, but an ass." With us, war is especially a contest
of agility and craft. Consequently the chace is the highest of all
pastimes, as the pursuit of savage animals teaches how to pursue men. A
poet has written the following eulogy of that art:

"The chace disengages the mind from the cares by which it is harassed.
It adds to the vigour of the intelligence, brings joyfulness, dissipates
chagrin, and renders useless the science of the physicians by
maintaining perpetual health in the human body.

"It forms good horsemen, for it teaches them to spring quickly into
their saddles, to alight promptly on the ground, to rush a horse across
rocks and precipices, to clear stones and bushes at full gallop, to push
on without stopping, even though some part of the harness has been lost
or broken.

"Every one who gives himself up to the chace, makes progress day by day
in courage, and learns to despise accidents.

"To fully enjoy his favourite diversion, he withdraws from perverse
people. He puts falsehood and calumny to the rout, escapes from the
corruption of vice, and emancipates himself from those fatal influences
which tinge our beards with gray, and burden us, before our time, with
the weight of years.

"Days spent in the chace are not counted among the days of one's life."

In the Sahara, the chace is the sole occupation of the chiefs and rich
people. When the rainy season sets in, the inhabitants of that region
transport themselves to the shores of the small lakes formed by the
rain; and, if game get scarce at one spot, they open up a new scene in
their wandering life. A legend familiar to every Arab shows with what
force the passion for the chace may seize upon the heart of an African.

A man of distinction fired at a gazelle and missed it. In a hasty
moment, he took an oath that no food should come near his mouth until he
had eaten the animal's liver. Twice again, he fired at the gazelle, and
with no better success, but not the less did he continue the pursuit for
the whole of that day. At nightfall his strength gave way; but true to
his oath, he refused to take any nourishment. His servants, therefore,
resumed the chace, which lasted for three days more. At last the gazelle
was killed, and its liver brought to the dying Arab, who touched it with
its lips and yielded up his last breath.

The Arabs hunt both on foot, and on horseback. A horseman who would
chace the hare must take with him a greyhound, which is called
_slougui_, from Slouguïa, a spot where they were originally produced
from the coupling of she-wolves with dogs. The male _slougui_ lives
twenty years, the female twelve. Greyhounds that are able to run a
gazelle down are rare. Few of them will give chace either to the hare or
to the gazelle, even if those animals pass close to them. Their
customary object of pursuit is the _bekeur-el-ouhash_, which they
generally catch by the ham and pull to the ground. It is said that this
animal, in trying to recover itself, falls forward on its head and is
killed. Sometimes, the _slougui_ seizes the _bekeur-el-ouhash_ by the
throat, and holds it until the hunter comes up. Many Arabs hunt this
beast on horseback, and strike it from behind with a spear. It is also
on horseback that they generally hunt the gazelle, which goes in herds.
They select from among its companions the animal they intend to bring
down, and shoot it without for a moment pulling up their horse, on which
they started at full speed. There is an Arab proverb: "More forgetful
than a gazelle." This pretty creature, in fact, appears to have the
giddy brains as well as the soft, mysterious glance of woman. The
gazelle, if missed, runs a little way further on, and again stops,
without heeding the ball which, in another minute, will again seek its
life. Some Arabs hunt this animal with the falcon, which is trained to
strike at the eyes.

It is especially among the Arabs of the Eshoul country that this variety
of sport chiefly prevails. I have there met with a small tribe, called
the Es-Lib, who lived entirely on the products of the chace. Their tents
were made of the skins of gazelles and of _bekeur-el-ouhash_; and their
clothing, for the most part, was nothing but the skins of wolves. A
member of this little tribe of hunters told me that when he went out to
hunt he generally took with him an ass laden with salt. Each time he
knocked over a gazelle, he cut its throat, opened the belly, and rubbed
the entrails with salt, and then left it to dry on a bush. After a while
he retraced his steps, and carried to his family all the animals that he
had thus prepared, for in that district there are no beasts of prey to
dispute with a hunter for his game. The Es-Lib are so accustomed to feed
upon flesh, that the children threw away the biscuits I gave to them,
never supposing that they were good to eat.

The hunt in ambush is often practised against both the male and female
of the _bekeur-el-ouhash_. When the great heats have dried up the ponds
in the desert, a hole is dug close to the springs whither they resort to
drink, and they meet with their death while in the act of quenching
their thirst. The chace that demands the greatest intrepidity is that of
the _lerouy_, an animal resembling the gazelle, but larger, though
without attaining the size of the _bekeur-el-ouhash_. The _lerouy_,
which is likewise called the _tis-el-djebel_, or mountain goat,
frequents rocks and precipices, among which it must be pursued on foot,
amid a thousand perils. As these animals have very little speed, any
ordinary dog can catch them easily if they descend into the plains. But
they have a singular peculiarity, as I am assured. A _lerouy_ closely
pressed by hunters throws itself down a precipice a hundred cubits deep,
and falls on its head without receiving any hurt. The age of the animal
is known by the knobs on its horns—each knob indicating a year. Both the
_lerouy_ and the gazelle have two incisor teeth, but they have not those
situated between the incisors and the canine teeth.

If _lerouy_ hunting be the glory of the pedestrian, ostrich hunting is
the glory of the horseman. In the season of the sirocco, when a sort of
burning sleep seems to weigh down all nature, when it might be thought
that all animated beings must be condemned to repose, the dauntless
hunters mount on horseback. Of all animals, the ostrich is known to be
the least provided with craft. It never takes a circuitous course, but,
confiding in its swiftness alone, endeavours to escape in a line
straight as that of an arrow. Five horsemen station themselves at
intervals of a league in the direction it is certain to take. Each one
acts as a relay. When one pulls up, the next clashes off at a gallop in
pursuit of the bird, which is thus deprived of a moment's rest, and has
to contend against horses that are fresh. The horseman who is the last
to start is necessarily the victor, but his victory is not achieved
without danger. In falling, the ostrich, by the movement of its wings,
inspires the horse with a panic that is often fatal to the rider.

On horses that have to accomplish this terrific running they place only
a saddle-cloth, and a saddle of extreme lightness. Some hunters use only
wooden stirrups, and an extremely light bit attached to a simple
pack-thread. Each one takes with him a small leathern bottle filled with
water, and from time to time moistens the bit, in order to keep the
animal's mouth tolerably cool. This racing of five horsemen is not,
however, the only mode of hunting the ostrich. Sometimes, an Arab who is
thoroughly acquainted with the habits of the bird, takes his post by
himself close to a spot where it is in the habit of passing—near a
mountain defile, for instance—and as soon as the ostrich comes in sight
he gives chace at full gallop. But it is rare for a hunter to succeed by
himself, as very few horses can overtake the ostrich. However, I once
possessed a mare that excelled in this sport.

Although the horse is usually employed in this as in other kinds of
hunting, he is not indispensable to man. Craft may sometimes of itself
overcome the ostrich. In the laying season the hunters dig holes near
the nests, in which they squat down, and kill the parent bird as it
comes to visit its eggs. The Arabs have recourse, likewise, to
disguises. Some of them will clothe themselves in the skin of the bird,
and thus approach close to those they wish to kill; but hunters,
disguised in this fashion, have sometimes, they say, been shot by their
own companions. If an ostrich has had a leg broken by a ball, she
cannot, like other bipeds, run along, hopping on the other leg. This is
because there is no marrow in its bones, and, without marrow, bones will
not mend when they have been fractured. The Arabs affirm that the
ostrich is deaf, and that the sense of smell replaces that of hearing.

The hyæna is a powerful animal, with formidable jaws, but a coward and
afraid of daylight. For the most part it dwells in caves which it finds
in ravines and among rocks. It seldom goes abroad but at night, and
searches for carrion and dead bodies, and commits such ravages in
graveyards, that the Arabs, by way of prevention, bury their dead at a
great depth. In some districts they even construct two chambers for a
single corpse, which is then interred in the lower one. As a rule, it
does not attack the flocks; but sometimes at night, prowling round an
encampment, it carries off a dog. The Arabs take little notice of it,
though they amuse themselves by hunting it on horseback, and let it be
pulled down by their greyhounds, but never pay it the compliment of
firing at it. After they have carefully reconnoitred the cave in which
it makes its lair, it is no uncommon thing to find Arabs who despise the
beast sufficiently to penetrate boldly into its den, after having
carefully closed the entrance with their burnouses, so as not to allow
any light to enter. Having got thus far, they go up to it, talking with
great energy, seize hold of it, gag it, without the slightest resistance
on its part—so terrified is it—and then drive it out with heavy blows
with a stick. The skin of such a cowardly brute is little esteemed. In
many tents they would not permit it to enter, for it can bring nothing
but misfortune. The common people eat the flesh, which is not at all
good, but they carefully abstain from touching the head or
brains—contact with which, they believe, would make them go mad.

Let us leave this ignoble animal, and pass on to one much more to be
feared, and the chace of which presents some striking scenes, though its
reputation is far from being in the eyes of the Arabs what it is in the
imagination of Europeans—I allude to the panther.

The panther is found over the whole surface of Algeria, though it
inhabits only wooded coverts, and broken, difficult ground. There are
several species. Some never quit the neighbourhood of their lair, and
are called _dolly_, that is, keeping to the house. Others, again, which
are called _berani_, or strangers, frequently wander away from the place
where they usually dwell, and prowl about the surrounding districts to a
considerable distance.

The _dolly_ panther is larger, stronger, and more dangerous than the
other species. Its coat is speckled with spots more elegantly disposed,
of a very dark shade, and close to one another. The colours are black,
white, and yellow. On the jowl, limbs, and back-bone, there are no
spots, but stripes. Those on the jowl are arranged diagonally. The upper
points start from the lower eyelids, the nostrils, and the corners of
the mouth, and descend towards the neck, gradually melting away into
yellow, and finally lost in the white.

Panthers lap like dogs. They generally roam in couples. In districts
that are well peopled, they are never seen in the daytime. In
uninhabited regions, although they do go abroad in the day, they hunt
only at night. They have not more than two or three cubs. The Arabs are
far from regarding the panther with the esteem they accord to the lion.
The lion, say they, if attacked, harassed, wounded, and surrounded by
enemies, feels his courage heighten in the midst of the uproar and in
the thick of the danger. He fearlessly encounters his assailants and
fights to the death, while the panther only accepts the combat when it
finds no way to retreat. In a word, the lion, as soon as the combat has
fairly commenced, never retires, while the panther escapes whenever an
opportunity presents itself. Another difference is this—the lion will
devour a man, the panther never. The latter generally strikes at his
head, lacerates him with its claws, and inflicts terrible bites, and
then, preferring the flesh of other animals to that of a son of Adam, it
leaves him there and goes in search of other prey. In a country where it
is able to supply itself with the flesh of wild boar, sheep, cattle, and
game of all kinds, and where it can satiate itself with the carcases of
animals, it kills man, not because it is hungry, but in self-defence, as
the only way of shaking off an enemy. In the case of the lion, man is
often the game in quest of which he stalks abroad; while in that of the
panther he is an adversary to be avoided, and never to be provoked. You
may pass boldly and confidently close to the thick brushwood that
conceals it, and, if you do not begin the attack, it will remain
crouched as close as a partridge, even holding in its breath. But if you
fire and miss, it will spring upon, bite, and lacerate you, and then,
still distrustful of itself, will take itself off.

The Arabs have remarked, from the numbers of persons who have come in
collision with panthers, and been wounded without being killed, that it
uses only its teeth; its bite being like that of the dog, and injuring
only the flesh. The lion, on the other hand, by his violent shaking,
breaks the bones of the victim he holds in his powerful jaws. When the
panther has inflicted its bite, it does not trouble itself as to its
being fatal or otherwise, but makes off with fear and caution. The lion
grows more and more furious, and returns to the attack again and again.
It is not enough that the enemy be disabled—he must feel the whole
weight of a lion's wrath. The lion bounds into a _douar_, and plunders
boldly, at his leisure. He seizes his share without any concealment; he
has no fear; he is exercising his right, the right of the strongest. The
panther covers its advance, glides, creeps, crawls along like a thief,
accompanied by shame and fear. The panther's spring, when enraged, is
like a flash of lightning; but after that tremendous effort, its pace is
less swift than that of an ordinary horse. If a panther be surrounded,
tracked down, and hard pressed—maddened by terror rather than by rage—it
will spring on the tree in which the hunters are stationed, and close
with them. But at another time, if only one or two men are lying in
ambush, and it be not shut in on all sides and a path is left for
escape, it forgets its power and runs away. Everywhere and at all times,
the lion is a dangerous enemy, to encounter whom is a terrible
undertaking; whereas no one need dread the panther unless he has first
attacked it. The cry of the latter animal resembles the clear, shrill,
impotent neigh of the mule, and is in no way calculated to inspire
terror like the roar of the lion, which is as the growling of thunder.
But it is quick and agile, and its movements baffle the eye. If the
natural disposition of the panther leads it to spare, or at least to
avoid, man, and to choose for its prey animals wild or tame, such as
sheep, cows, gazelles, and antelopes, that cannot defend themselves, it
is equally instructed by instinct to modify its mode of attack upon
animals whose habits or courage render them difficult or dangerous to
assail—against such, it has usually recourse to surprise. It will not
attack a horse in the centre of a _douar_. Its habitual circumspection
and cowardice will restrain it from seeking to seize upon a prey that
might be rescued in time, or promptly avenged. Even when out grazing, a
horse by itself might escape by galloping off; but if it has not been
seen, or suspected, if with a single bound it can fall upon the horse,
he is lost.

Nor is the wild boar an easy victim. If it be full grown, and have had
warning, and there be room enough, it will defend itself successfully.
At times, indeed, it comes off absolutely victorious—the Arabs having
found panthers in desert places, ripped up by a boar's tusks. A frequent
struggle, perhaps the only one which the panther openly engages in, is
with the porcupine; but the latter, though it grows to a considerable
size in Africa, is more formidable in appearance than in reality. It has
indeed, the property of bristling up its long, hard, sharp-pointed
quills, which it can even throw to some distance; but these arms cannot
save it. The slightest wound completely paralyses the muscular
contractions by means of which it places itself in a state of defence:
besides, it cannot do anything without something to fall back upon, such
as a tree or a stone.

However timorous and apt to run away the panther may be under ordinary
circumstances, it becomes really dangerous if its cubs have been carried
off in its absence—or under its very eyes by force, which only happens
when the hunters are in considerable numbers. At such times it will
sometimes perish in the attempt to save them—at least, the _dolly_, or
larger species will do so; but the _berrani_, or small panther, makes
off, uttering the while lamentable cries. The cubs, thus torn from their
mother, are given to chiefs residing in towns, to Sultans, Pashas, and
Beys; but they are never kept in a tribe, for when still quite young
they are dangerous even in their play, and no sort of attention will
ever tame them or guarantee the master of the tent, or his wives and
children, from a momentary outburst of fury on the part of the
perfidious and capricious brute. We may mention, however, that in
certain _zaouïas_ lions are tamed by marabouts and led up and down the
tribes. Thus summoning curiosity to the aid of charity, they augment the
amount of the alms which they beg for their congregation. The most
celebrated _zaouïa_ in which tame lions are kept is that of
Sidi-Mohammed-ben-Aouda, a tribe of the Flittas in the province of Oran.

With this special exception the Arabs—and it is a characteristic trait
worthy of note—never rear any but inoffensive animals. There is not a
tent without a gazelle, an antelope, a jackal, an ostrich, or a falcon;
but in no _douar_ is a savage beast ever to be seen, such as a hyæna, a
panther, or a lion. Some tribes take pleasure in rearing a young wild
boar, under the idea that it amuses the horses, which like its smell.
The little pig is faithful and always in motion. When the tribe is
changing ground, it trots about, grunting joyously in the midst of the
other animals, and accompanies the sheep and the calves to the pasture.
It is called "the father of good fortune," and strangely enough, it is a
lucky omen to meet a wild boar on issuing from one's tent. Prior to
Mohammed the Arabs used to eat swine's flesh, but the Prophet forbade it
to them, as well as the blood of animals and the flesh of every creature
that has not been bled.

The panther, as I have already remarked, seldom goes abroad during the
day; but if, by chance, shepherds or travellers happen to alight upon
one near an inhabited neighbourhood, they utter in shrill tones _ha
houa!_ "there it is!" These cries are repeated with incredible rapidity.
The entire population swarms forth—horse and foot, armed with whatever
first comes to hand, guns, sticks, swords, spears, or pistols, and
followed by their dogs and greyhounds. Surrounding on every side the
spot whither the beast has retired, generally difficult ground, covered
with thick high brushwood, they attack it fearlessly and usually end by
killing it. It rarely happens that it escapes while it is light.

But when, instead of this sudden outbreak of an entire population
against an unexpected enemy, a genuine hunt is projected, certain
preparations are made before starting. It is true, the panther will run
away if it has the chance, but it is always possible that it may show
fight; and although, in the long run, it is sure to be mastered without
a single casualty on the side of the hunters, it is as well to guard
against the wounds it may inflict, however insignificant in themselves.
It usually flies at the head. Against the lacerations of its teeth and
claws a sufficient defence is the thick woollen cap, the _shashia_, the
numerous folds of the haïk, the hood of the burnous, and the long,
coarse camel's rope. But the enemy may with a single bound spring on to
a horse's croup, and with one blow on the head with its paw knock over,
stun, and even kill the rider. On this account they not unfrequently don
a helmet—a helmet of modest pretentions, which at other times serves as
a kettle.

The panther is also killed, like the lion, from an ambush. A hole is dug
in the earth and covered over with branches, through which an opening is
made for the rifle of the concealed hunter, who fires at the distance of
about fifteen paces, as the animal approaches to devour the carcase of a
sheep or goat placed there for that purpose. But lest the brute, if only
wounded, should spring upon the _melebda_, as the hunter's hiding place
is called, the latter is always provided with two or three guns, and
perhaps with pistols likewise. At other times a gun is fastened to a
tree, and at the muzzle of the barrel is fixed a bait, to which a string
is tied, that passes round the tree and is attached to the trigger—so
that if the bait be pulled at all forcibly the gun is sure to go off.
And if the panther is not shot dead, it is certain to be wounded, and
the hunters set off in pursuit, guided by the tracks of blood it leaves
on its path. There is yet another mode of killing the panther, which is
by surprising it while sleeping. Should it happen to be awake, it is
merely a disappointment, not a danger, for it runs away at sight of a
man.

But whatever be the nature of the sport in which the Arabs indulge, the
least timorous are liable to superstitious fears. As it is not always
possible to relinquish an enterprise when they have once entered upon
it, they endeavour by all means to avoid chances of sinister omen. On
the other hand they become emboldened, and take courage if, on setting
out, they are greeted by one of those encounters which are reputed
fortunate—with a jackal in the morning for instance, or with a wild boar
in the evening.

                   Let thy morning be with a jackal,
                   And thy evening with a wild boar.

A hare or a fox is of ill omen; as is, also, a single crow, or a white
mare. A still worse and more detestable omen is the sight of an old
woman. But it is a good chance for whoever sees two crows or a mare of
any colour; and, above all, success, glory, and plunder, await the
_goum_ that, when starting on an expedition, is met by a beautiful young
and noble maiden, who will uncover her bosom and show one of her
breasts. It is the custom; and if the damsel were to refuse this
blessing to the warriors of her tribe, they would dismount to compel
her, were she the daughter of the chief and though he were himself at
the head of the _goum_—all the better, indeed, if her birth were so
exalted, for the nobler the damsel, the happier the augury. In the west,
young girls loosen their girdle. If, in the morning, you hear
affectionate and courteous words, you will have a pleasant day; but it
will be the reverse if on first awaking you are greeted with an
imprecation or an insult. Do not go out to hunt on a Tuesday, a
Thursday, or a Friday.

We now come to the sport that is really worthy to sharpen the
intelligence and inflame the souls of warriors. The Arab hunter acts
upon the aggressive with the lion. In this daring enterprise there is
all the more merit, because in Africa the lion is a formidable monster,
regarding whom there exist many mysterious and terrible legends, with
which an awe-struck superstition surrounds his dread Majesty. With that
keenness of insight which characterises them, the Arabs have made a
series of observations on the subject of the lion that are worthy of
being collected and preserved.

In the daytime the lion rarely seeks to attack man. Very commonly,
indeed, if a traveller happens to pass near him, he turns aside his head
and affects not to see him. At the same time, if any one, walking close
to the bush in which he is couched, be rash enough to cry aloud _ra
hena_—"he is there!"—the lion will at once spring upon his denouncer and
the disturber of his repose. As night comes on, his humour completely
changes. When the sun has set, it is perilous to venture into a wild,
woody, and broken country. It is there the lion lies in ambush—it is
there he is met on the path-ways, which he intercepts by barring all
further advance with his body. The Arabs thus describe some of the
nocturnal scenes which are continually happening. If a solitary
individual, a courier, traveller, or letter-carrier, chancing to meet a
lion, possess a courage of the highest temper, he will walk straight
towards the animal, brandishing his sword or gun, but carefully
abstaining from using the one or the other. He simply cries out: "Oh,
the robber! the highway-man! the son of a mother who never said No! Dost
thou think to frighten me? Thou canst not know, then, that I am
so-and-so, the son of so-and-so? Get up, and let me proceed on my
journey." The lion waits till the man has come close up to him, and then
goes off to lie down again a thousand paces farther on. The traveller
has to endure a long series of terrific trials. Each time that he quits
the path, the lion disappears, but only for an instant. Directly
afterwards he again presents himself, and all his movements are
accompanied by horrible noises. He breaks off innumerable branches with
his tail. He roars, howls, growls, and emits gusts of poisonous breath.
He plays with the subject of his fantastic and manifold attacks, and
keeps him constantly suspended between fear and hope, like a cat playing
with a mouse. If a man involved in such a difficulty does not allow his
courage to fail him, if—to use an Arab phrase—he succeeds in firmly
holding his soul, the lion will finally leave him, and seek his fortune
elsewhere. But if, on the contrary, the latter perceives that he has to
deal with a man whose countenance betrays his fear, whose voice
trembles, and who dares not articulate a word, he repeats over and over
again, in order to terrify him still more, the manœuvre above described.
He will approach him, push him out of the way with his shoulder, cross
his path every other minute, and amuse himself with him in various ways,
until at last he devours his victim already half dead with terror.

There is really nothing incredible in the facts thus stated by the
Arabs. The ascendancy of courage over animals is indisputable. The
professional robbers who roam abroad at night, armed to the teeth,
instead of shunning the lion, cry out to him if they meet with him: "I
am not what thou seekest. I am a robber like thyself; pass on, or, if it
please thee, let us rob in company." It is said that the lion sometimes
follows them, and attempts an assault on the _douar_ towards which they
are bending their steps. It is even affirmed that this good
understanding between the robbers and the lions frequently displays
itself in a striking manner. Robbers have been seen, when taking their
meals, to treat the lions as other people treat their dogs, and throw to
them at a certain distance the feet and entrails of the animals they
themselves are eating.

Women likewise have been known successfully to have recourse to
intrepidity in opposing a lion. They have run after him when engaged in
carrying off a ewe, and have forced him to let go his prey by giving him
a shower of blows with a cudgel, crying aloud all the time: "Ah, robber!
son of a robber!" The Arabs say that the lion is seized with shame, and
makes off as quickly as possible. This trait shows that in the eyes of
the Arabs the lion is a peculiar sort of creature midway between men and
beasts, which, by reason of its strength, appears to them to be endowed
with a special order of intelligence. The following legend, intended to
explain how it is that the lion allows a sheep to escape him more easily
than any other prey, is a confirmation of this belief. Enumerating one
day the various feats his strength enabled him to accomplish, the lion
remarked: "_An sha Allah_—if it be the will of Allah—I can carry off a
horse without distressing myself. _An sha Allah_, I can carry off a
heifer, without being prevented from running by its weight." But when he
came to the ewe, he deemed it so much beneath him that he omitted the
pious formula, "if it be the will of Allah;" and, to punish him, Allah
condemned him to be never able to do more than drag it along.

There are several modes of hunting the lion. When one makes his
appearance in the midst of a tribe, his presence is indicated by a
multitude of signs of all kinds. The earth shakes, as it were, with
roarings. Then a series of losses and accidents take place. A heifer, or
a colt is carried off, or a man is missing. The alarm spreads through
all the tents. The women tremble for their property and for their
children. Lamentations arise on all sides, and the hunters decree the
death of their troublesome neighbour. It is published in the
market-places that on such a day and at such an hour, all who are
capable of joining in the chace, whether on horseback or on foot, must
assemble in arms at an appointed spot. Prior to this, the thicket has
been discovered to which the lion retires during the day. Everything
being ready, the hunters set out, the men on foot leading the way. When
they have arrived within fifty paces of the bush in which they expect to
find the enemy, they halt and await him. Closing up, they form three
deep, the second rank ready to fill up the gaps in the first if succour
be necessary, while the third, firm and compact, and composed of capital
marksmen, forms an invincible reserve. Then commences a strange
spectacle. The front rank begin to insult the lion, and even send a few
balls into his hiding place to make him come out: "Look at him who
boasts of being the bravest of all, and yet dares not show himself
before men! It is not he—it is not the lion—it is a cowardly thief, and
may Allah curse him!" The animal sometimes comes while they are abusing
him in this manner, and, looking round serenely on all sides, yawns and
stretches himself, and appears perfectly insensible to what is passing
around him.

One or two balls now hit him, upon which, magnificent in his audacity,
he stalks forth and stands in front of the bush which sheltered him. Not
a word is spoken. The lion roars, rolls his glaring eyes, draws back,
crouches down, again rises up, and by the movements of his tail and body
snaps off all the branches that surround him. The front rank discharge
their pieces, whereupon the monster bounds forward, and generally falls
dead beneath the fire of the second rank, who step forward and fill up
the intervals left in the first. This is the critical moment, for the
lion resigns the contest only when a ball has struck him in the head, or
in the heart. It is no rare thing to see him continue the fight with ten
or a dozen balls through his body. In other words, he is seldom
overpowered until he has killed or wounded some of his foot assailants.
The horsemen who accompany the expedition have nothing to do, so long as
their foe does not quit the broken ground. Their part commences when, as
occasionally happens, the men on foot have succeeded in driving out the
lion upon a plateau, or into the plain. The combat then assumes a new
aspect, full of interest and originality. Each horseman, according to
his hardihood and agility, spurs on his horse at full speed, fires at
the lion as at an ordinary mark, at a short distance, and, wheeling his
horse round the moment he has fired, gallops off to reload his piece
before making a second assault. The lion, attacked on all sides and
wounded at every moment, faces about in every direction, rushes forward,
flees, returns, and falls, but only after a glorious struggle. His
defeat, indeed, must inevitably terminate in his death, for against
horsemen mounted on Arab horses success is impossible. He makes but
three terrific bounds, after which his pace is by no means swift, and an
ordinary horse will distance him without trouble. To form a just idea of
such a combat, it is absolutely necessary to have witnessed one. Every
horseman hurls an imprecation; there is a wild confusion of sounds, the
burnouses fly out, the powder thunders, the hunters crowd together or
scatter widely apart. The lion roars, the balls whistle, and the whole
forms a scene of movement and animation. But notwithstanding all this
tumult, accidents are very unusual. The hunters have little to fear,
unless a fall from their horse throws them under the paw of their enemy,
or—which is more frequent misadventure—they are hit by a friendly but
ill-directed ball.

Such is the most picturesque, the most warlike aspect that lion-hunting
assumes. Other measures, however, are sometimes adopted, both more sure
and more speedily efficacious. The Arabs have observed that on the
morrow after he has carried off and devoured sheep or oxen, the lion,
suffering from a weak digestion, remains in his lair, fatigued,
oppressed with sleep, and incapable of moving. When a place that is
usually disquieted with roaring is undisturbed for a whole night, it may
be inferred that the formidable inhabitant who dwells therein is plunged
in this state of lethargy. Upon this, a man of devoted courage,
following the tracks that lead to the covert in which the monster is
concealed, will go up to him, take a steady aim, and shoot him dead upon
the spot with a ball between the two eyes. Kaddour-ben-Mohammed, of the
Oulad-Messelem, a section of the Ounougha, is reputed to have killed
several lions in this manner.

Recourse is likewise had to various forms of ambush. The Arabs sometimes
excavate a hole in the path the lion usually takes, and cover it with
thin woodwork, which the animal breaks by its weight and is caught in
the trap. At other times they dig close to a dead body a hole covered by
thick boards, between which a small opening is left to allow the barrel
of a gun to pass through. In this hole, or _melebda_, the hunter squats
down, and when the lion approaches the body, he takes a careful aim and
fires. Not unfrequently the lion, if he has not been struck down, throws
himself on the _melebda_, shatters the barrier, and devours the hunter
behind his demolished rampart. On other occasions, again, a single man
will undertake an adventurous and heroic enterprise, recalling the feats
of chivalry. Si-Mohammed-Esnoussi, a man of approved veracity, who
inhabited the Djebel-Guerzoul, near Tiaret, thus describes his own mode
of going to work:

"I used to mount a good horse and proceed to the forest on a bright
moonlight night. In those days I was a capital shot, and my ball never
fell to the ground. Then I began to cry aloud several times, _Ould el
ataïah!_—'Daughter of a mother who yields herself up!'—The lion would
come forth, and direct his steps towards the spot whence issued the cry;
and at that moment I fired at him. Occasionally the same thicket would
contain several lions, who would issue forth all together. If one of
these brutes approached me from behind, I would turn my head and fire at
him over the back of my saddle, and then go off at full gallop in the
fear that I might have missed him. If I was attacked in front, I wheeled
my horse round and repeated the manœuvre."

The people of that district affirm that the number of lions killed by
Mohammed-ben-Esnoussi amounted to nearly a hundred. This intrepid hunter
was still alive in the year 1253 [A. D. 1836]. When I saw him, he had
lost his eyesight. May he participate in the mercy of Allah!

A yet more dangerous sport than hunting the lion himself, is hunting a
lion's cubs. There are individuals, however, adventurous enough to
undertake even this hazardous enterprise. Every day, about three or four
in the afternoon, the lion and lioness quit their lair to make a distant
reconnaissance, with the object, no doubt, of procuring food for their
litter. They may be seen upon the summit of an eminence, examining the
_douars_, and taking note of the smoke that issues from them, and of the
position of the flocks. After uttering some horrible roars, an
invaluable warning to the surrounding population, they again disappear.
It is during this absence that the hunters cautiously make their way to
the cubs and carry them off, taking care to gag them closely, for their
cries would not fail to bring back the old ones, who would never forgive
the outrage. After an exploit of this nature the entire neighbourhood is
obliged to be doubly vigilant. For seven or eight days the lions rush
about in all directions, roaring fearfully. The lion under such
circumstances is a truly terrible monster. At such a time the eye must
not encounter the eye.

The flesh of the lion, though sometimes eaten, is not good, but his skin
is a valued gift, and presented only to Sultans and illustrious chiefs,
and occasionally, to marabouts and _zaouïas_. The Arabs fancy that it is
good to sleep upon one, as it drives away the demons, conjures up good
fortune, and averts certain diseases. Lion's claws, mounted in silver,
are used as ornaments by women; while the skin of his forehead is a
talisman worn by some persons on their head to preserve the energy and
audacity of their brain. In short, lion-hunting is held in high repute
among the Arabs. Every combat with that animal may take the device:
_Kill or Die!_ He who kills him, eats him—says the proverb—and he who
kills him not is eaten by him. In this spirit they bestow on any one who
has killed a lion, this laconic and virile eulogy: _Hadak houa_—"that
one is he!" A popular belief illustrates the grandeur of the part played
by the lion in the life and imagination of the Arabs. When a lion roars,
they pretend that they can readily distinguish the following words:
_Ahna ou ben-el mera_—"I and the son of woman." Now, as he twice repeats
_ben-el mera_, and only once says _ahna_, they conclude that he
recognizes no superior save the son of woman.

                             THE CAMEL.[89]

It was said by the Prophet: "The good things of this world, to the day
of the last judgment, are attached to the forelocks of your horses;

"Sheep are a blessing;

"And the Almighty has created nothing, as an animal, preferable to the
camel."

The camel is the ship of the desert. Allah hath said: "You may load your
merchandize in barks and on camels." As in the desert there is very
little water, and there are long distances to be traversed, the Almighty
has endowed them with the faculty of easily enduring thirst. In winter
they never drink. The Prophet more than once gave the following advice:
"Never utter coarse remarks on the subject of the camel or of the wind:
the former is a boon to men, the latter an emanation from the soul of
Allah." Camels are the most extraordinary animals in the world, and yet
there are none more docile, owing to their being so much with men.
So great, indeed, is their docility, that they have been known to
follow a rat, that, in the act of gnawing, pulled a rope smeared with
butter, by which they were fastened. Such is the will of Allah. These
apophthegms suffice to show that the camel is, of all created animals,
the most useful in respect of the wants of the Arabs.

The Arabs of the Sahara can tell the age of a camel by its teeth. They
say it is long-lived, though they cannot give any very precise
information on the subject. They put the case, however, in this manner.
If a camel be born on the same day with a child, it has reached old age
by the time the latter has distinguished himself in combats, which
implies the age of eighteen to twenty-five years. Camels require much
care and experience in managing them. Whenever it is possible, the male
camels are led to a different pasture from the females. After the 15th
of April, they are not sent out to feed until the afternoon, because it
has been remarked that the grass is covered with a sort of dew that lays
the foundation of fatal diseases. Care is also taken to prevent the
camels from eating within the _douar_ what remains in the morning of the
small quantity of grass given to the horses overnight. These precautions
are necessary during the six weeks or two months in which the dew is
observed. Throughout the whole winter, the end of autumn, and the
beginning of spring, the camels may be permitted, with advantage, to
browse on shrubs with a salt flavour; but in the beginning of April, and
at the end of May, they must not be allowed to do so for more than five
or six days.

The shearing of the camels takes place in the latter part of April. They
are made to lie down, and are operated upon by the shepherds and female
slaves, a woman standing behind them to gather the fleece which she
thrusts into bags. It is a somewhat slow operation. _El oubeur_, or
camel's fleece, is used in making canvas for tents, camel-ropes, sacks
called _gherara_, and _djellale_, or horse-cloths. It is mixed almost
invariably with common wool.

The ordinary burden of a camel is two _tellis_ of wheat, or about 250
kilogrammes. If not over-driven, it can go from dawn to sunset, at least
if it be allowed, as it journeys along, to elongate its neck and pluck
the herbage that grows on either side of its path. In this manner it
will cover from ten to twelve leagues in the twenty-four hours, and
every fifth day it must be permitted to rest. In the desert, camels are
let out to hire, not by the day, but by the journey, going and
returning, according to the distance. For instance, from El-Biod, among
the Oulad-Sidi-Shikh, to the Beni-Mzab, or about fifty leagues, costs
from two to three _douros_, and from the same point to Timimoun six or
seven _douros_.

The flesh of the camel is eaten as food. The animal, however, is seldom
killed unless it has a broken leg, or is sick. The flesh is sometimes
salted, and, after being dried in the sun, is kept as a provision on a
journey. The love and veneration felt by the Arabs of the Sahara for
their camels are quite intelligible. "How should we not love them?" they
exclaim. "Alive, they transport ourselves, our wives, our children, our
baggage and provisions, from the land of oppression to that of liberty.
The weight they can carry is enormous, and the distance they traverse
very considerable. In other words, they further the relations of
commerce and render aid in war. Thanks to them, we are able, whenever we
please, to shift our encampment, whether in search of new pasturages, or
to escape from an enemy. Moreover, we drink their milk, which is also
useful in the preparations of food, and neutralises the injurious
qualities of the date. Dead, their flesh is everywhere eaten with
relish, and their hump is sought after as a savoury dish. Their skin
serves as shoe-leather. If soaked, and then sewed to the saddle-tree, it
imparts, without the aid of a single nail or peg, a solidity that
nothing can affect. Then, their sobriety and endurance of heat and
thirst permit them to be kept alike by rich and poor. They are truly a
boon from Allah, who hath said:—

                         Horses for a dispute,
                         Oxen for poverty.
                         Camels for the desert.

                                 SHEEP.

No cattle are reared in the Sahara, owing to the scarcity of water, the
scantiness of the herbage, the stony nature of the ground, and the
frequent removals from one place to another. But, if the desert be
unfavourable for the rearing of cattle, it is, assuredly, the veritable
country of the sheep. This animal finds there the salt shrubs eaten by
the camel, as well as many fragrant and nutritious plants known by the
generic name of _el aâsheub_. Water it obtains from the ponds supplied
by the rains, or from the basins formed by the side of wells, and kept
up with great care. The wells themselves are, for the most part,
surrounded with masonry, and sheltered from the drifting sands. Sheep,
besides, are patient of thirst. In spring, they are given to drink once
in five or six days; in summer, every other day; in autumn, every third
day; and in winter every fourth day. During the great heats of summer,
they are not allowed to touch the pools of water lying on the surface of
the ground,—experience having shown that at that period of the year
stagnant water, rendered tepid by the sun's rays, is very unwholesome.
If a drought happens to have prevailed during the first two months of
spring, and if rain falls plentifully in the third, the herbage grows
luxuriantly, and is called _khelfa_, or compensation. As if to make
amends for their long abstinence, the sheep eat it greedily, but it is
apt to give them a sickness named _el ghoche_, or treason. This disease
does not manifest itself until after the summer heats. The head and
lower jaw become much swollen, the animal coughs continually, and death
usually supervenes. According to the Arabs, a rainy autumn, by causing
fresh grass to spring up early, greatly tends to mitigate the pernicious
effects of the _ghoche_.

Sheep are very prolific. They generally lamb twice in the year—in the
early part of spring and autumn. The large tribes possess from two to
three hundred thousand sheep, which are divided into flocks of four
hundred, called _ghelem_ or _aâssa_ [a stick]. Wealthy individuals have
from fifteen to twenty _ghelem_, and the poorest a half, or even a
quarter _ghelem_.

In the Sahara there is a species of sheep that yields a magnificent
wool, very soft but not very long. This is the wool employed in the
manufacture of articles of luxury. These animals are nearly red in the
head, and the ewes give a great deal of milk.

It is said of the finest ewes of this breed:

                       They see like an owl,
                       And walk like a tortoise.

Their wool descends to their hoofs and so completely covers their head
that, literally, nothing but their eyes is visible. In the Sahara and in
the _kuesours_, a _zedja_, or fleece, is worth only one _boudjou_, but
the price is greatly enhanced by the time it reaches the Tell, and
especially the sea-coast. Some sheep have no horns, and are called
_fertass_ [bald]. Others, again, have four, and are known as _el
kuerbourb_; while others have horns that are bent back, and are named
_el kheroubi_.

The Arabs take no care whatever of their sheep. They have no sheds in
which to shelter them from the severity of the weather, nor supplies of
forage to save them from starvation. Consequently, in bad seasons they
frequently lose one-half of their flocks, and if blamed for this
carelessness, or offered advice, they answer quite simply: "To what
purpose is all that? They are the property of Allah [_Kher Eurby_]. He
does with them as it pleases Him. Our ewes give us two lambs every year.
Next year our losses will be repaired."

The following sentiments are ascribed to sheep:—

"I love the close hand, that is, to belong to a miser who would neither
sell us, nor slaughter us for the entertainment of his guests.

"I love distant market-places; for when they are near to my master, for
one reason or another we are sold, or slaughtered.

"And every day a new house; that is, fresh and more abundant pasturage."

Sheep are the fortune of the child of the desert. He says of them:
"Their wool serves to make our tents, our carpets, our garments, our
horse-cloths, our sacks, our nose-bags, our camel's-packs, our ropes,
our cushions. And what remains in excess of our own necessities we sell
in the _kuesours_ or in the Tell, when we go there, after harvest, to
buy grain. Their flesh we eat, or give it to be eaten by the guests of
Allah. Dried in the sun, it will keep, and be of use to us in our
journeys. Their milk is very serviceable to our families, whether as
drink or food. We make of it _leben_ or _sheneen_ [sour milk], and what
is over we give to our horses. We also get butter from it, which enters
into the preparation of our food, or which we exchange in the _kuesours_
for dates. Of their skin we make cushions, and buckets to draw water
from the well. With it we ornament the _aâtatouches_[90] of our women,
or we dress it for shoe-leather. We have no need to plough, or sow, or
reap, or thresh out the corn, or to fatigue ourselves like vile slaves,
or like the wretched inhabitants of the Tell. No; we are independent, we
pray, we trade, we hunt, we travel, and if we have occasion to procure
that which others can only obtain by sweat and toil, we sell our sheep,
and forthwith provide ourselves with arms, horses, women, jewels,
clothes, or whatever else affords us gratification, or embellishes our
existence. The owner of sheep has no need to labour, nor is he ever in
want of anything. So Allah has willed it!"

                          LIFE IN THE DESERT.

In studying life in the desert, I have been greatly struck by its
analogy to that of the Middle Ages, and by the resemblance which exists
between the horseman of the Sahara and the knight of our legends,
romances, and chronicles. This analogy will appear yet more real, this
resemblance yet more striking, on a close observation of the accessory
characteristics which I now propose to sketch with a rapid hand.

By the Arab of the Sahara, I do not mean a dweller in the _kuesours_.
The latter is rallied by the wandering tribes as much as the inhabitants
of the Tell, and receives at their hands all sorts of derisive epithets.
Grown fat through his habits of indoor and commercial life, he is called
"the father of the belly," the grocer, the pepper-dealer. This rearer of
fowls—the Arab of the tent possesses no fowls—this shopkeeper resembles
the simple citizen of all countries and of all times. He is, at bottom,
the villain, the churl of the Middle Ages. He is the Moorish citizen of
Algiers—he has the same placid, apathetic, crafty physiognomy.

It is of the master of the tent that I propose to speak: of him who is
never more than fifteen to twenty days without changing his abode; of
the genuine Nomad, of him who never enters "the tiresome Tell" but once
a year, and then only to purchase grain. My horseman, my hunter, my
warrior is the man with a hardy iron-nerved constitution, a complexion
embrowned by the sun, limbs well proportioned, in stature rather tall
than short, but making light of the advantage of height, "of that lion's
skin on a cow's back," unless adroitness, activity, health, vigour and,
above all, courage be combined with it. But if he values courage, he
also pities rather than despises, and never insults those who "want
liver." It is not their fault, he good-humouredly remarks, but the will
of Allah. His abstinence cannot be exceeded, but, accommodating himself
to circumstances, he never neglects an opportunity of making a good and
hearty meal. His ordinary diet is simple and without much variety; but,
for all that, when the necessity arises, he understands how to entertain
his guests in a becoming manner. When the _ouadâa_, or peculiar festival
of a tribe, or _douar_, comes round, at which his friends will be
present, he would not offer them the slight implied by his absence, and
though it may be at a distance of thirty or forty leagues, he will not
fail to go there and fill himself with food. Besides, they know well
that he is quite ready to return their hospitality, and that they have
not to do with one of those stingy town traders who never offer more
than a space of four square feet to sit down in, a pipe of tobacco, and
a cup of coffee either without any sugar at all, or sugared only after
many preliminary phrases, carefully enunciated in recommendation of
coffee without sugar.

Among the Arabs, everything concurs to give power to the development of
the natural man. Nervous, hardy, sober, though occasionally displaying a
vigorous appetite, their eyesight is keen and piercing. They boast that
they can distinguish a man from a woman when two to three leagues
distant, and a flock of camels from a flock of sheep at double that
distance. Nor is this mere bragging. The extent and clearness of their
vision arise, as in the case of our sailors, from the incessant habit of
looking far ahead over an immense and objectless space. And, accustomed
as they are to scenes and objects always the same and which encircle
them within narrow limits, it would be strange if they did not recognize
them under almost any circumstances. Nevertheless, diseases of the eye
are very common. The refraction of the sun's rays, the dust and
perspiration cause numerous misadventures, such as ophthalmia and
leucoma, and blind and one-eyed men are numerous in many parts of the
desert—for instance, among the Beni-Mzab, at El Ghrassoul, Ouargla, and
Gourara.

The dweller in the desert, in infancy and youth, has beautiful white,
even teeth; but the use of dates as his habitual and almost exclusive
diet spoils them as he advances in years. When a tooth is entirely
decayed, he is compelled to have recourse to the armourer or farrier,
who is privileged to torture his patient, to break his jaw with his
pincers, and tear away the gums together with the tooth that was
troubling him.

The genuine chief, the real great lord, rarely leaves the saddle, and
very seldom goes on foot, though he wears both boots and shoes. The
common Arab, however, is an indefatigable walker, and in the course of a
day will get over an incredible distance. His ordinary pace is what the
French call the _pas gymnastique_ [which is quicker than the English
"double"], and what he himself calls a dog-trot. On flat ground, he
generally takes off his shoes, if he happens to have any, partly that he
may walk faster and more comfortably, and partly that he may not wear
them out. Consequently, his foot is like that of antique statues, broad
and flat, and with the toes wide apart. He is never troubled with corns,
and more than once Christians, who have insinuated themselves into
caravans, have been detected by this infallible sign and expelled. The
sole of the foot acquires such hardness, that neither sand nor stones
affect it, and a thorn sometimes penetrates to the depth of several
lines without being felt. In the desert, properly so called, however,
the sand during the great heat of summer is so burning hot that it is
impossible to walk upon it with naked feet. Even the horses are obliged
to be shod, or their feet would become painful and diseased. The dread
of being bitten by the _lefâ_, a viper whose venom is fatal, also
compels the Arabs themselves to wear buskins rising above the ankle.

The most common disease of the foot is the _cheggag_, or chaps, which
are healed by having grease rubbed in, and by being afterwards
cauterised with a hot iron. Sometimes these chaps are so long and deep
that they are obliged to be sewed up. The thread used for the purpose is
made of camel's sinews dried in the sun, and split into parts as fine as
silk; spun camel's hair is, likewise, employed. All the inhabitants of
the desert make use of this thread to mend their saddles, and bridles,
and wooden platters. Every one carries about with him a housewife, a
knife, and a needle.

Not a few turn their powers of pedestrianism to a good account, and make
it their profession. Hence come the runners and messengers, who gird
themselves tightly with a belt. These who are called _rekass_ undertake
affairs of great urgency. They will do in four days what the ordinary
runners take ten to accomplish. They scarcely ever stop, but if they
find it necessary to rest they count sixty inhalations of the breath and
start again immediately. A _rekass_ who receives four francs for going
sixty leagues thinks himself well paid. This modest reward, however, is
the more highly appreciated because it is paid in actual money. Specie
is rare, and is the smallest portion of an Arab's fortune. The
restricted circulation, and the facility of providing for the principal
necessities of life without buying or selling, by simply having
occasional recourse to barter are far from lowering the value of coined
money.

In the desert a special messenger travels night and day, and sleeps only
two hours in the twenty-four. When he lies down he fastens to his foot a
piece of cord of a certain length, to which he sets fire; and, just as
it is nearly burned out, the heat awakens him. In 1846, an Arab, named
El-Thouamy, a native of Leghrouât, was sent by the Kalifa
Sid-Hamed-ben-Salem to Berryân, a town situated in the country of the
Beni-Mzab. Starting at five in the morning from Kuesyr-el-Heyrân, he
reached his destination about seven in the evening of the same day. In
fourteen hours he had covered 168 kilomètres, travelling at the rate of
twelve kilomètres an hour. This same Thouamy set out one day from
Negoussa to go to Berryân, a distance of 180 kilomètres, charged with an
important message, and accomplished the journey in sixteen hours. During
both of these courses this man eat only a few dates and drank about two
_litres_ of water.

In 1850, El-Ghiry, of the tribe of the Mokhalif, was hunting the
ostrich, and, while wholly absorbed in chasing a _delim_, his horse
broke down just as his last drop of water was exhausted. All trace of
his companions was lost. For thrice twenty-four hours he wandered about
at random, in the desert, without food or water. During the day he slept
under a _bethoum_, and walked all night. His family had given him up
entirely, when at length they saw him approaching. At first they could
hardly recognize him, so utterly exhausted was he, so blackened by the
sun, and reduced to such a skeleton. He afterwards related that he
believed he owed his life to his dreams, in which he beheld his mother
tending him, and giving him something to eat and drink. These visions,
he said, had comforted and sustained him in his sore distress.

Let us now pass on from these examples of vigour and abstinence, which
might be multiplied to infinity, and give a tolerably correct estimate
of the goods and chattels of a Saharene nomad. This inventory will
afford a far better idea of life in the desert than can be obtained from
a long description. I take a man of influential family, and assume that
his household is constituted after the following fashion. Himself, four
wives, four sons, the wives of two of his sons, each of whom has a
child, four negroes, four negresses, two white men servants, two white
women servants: in all, twenty-five souls. He may also, of course, have
daughters, but they are sure to be married, and are no further trouble
to him. Such a household as this will possess:

 A spacious tent in thoroughly good condition, to make
 which will require sixteen pieces of woollen cloth,
 forty cubits long by two in width, each worth from 7
 to 8 _douros_, making a total of about                   112 _douros_.

 Two Arab beds, or rather carpets of shaggy wool,
 thirty cubits in length by five broad; dyed with
 madder, 20 _douros_ each; if dyed with kermes, 25
 _douros_                                                            50

 A carpet, twelve cubits long by four wide, hung up as
 a curtain to separate the men's apartment from that of
 the women. It is dyed with kermes and costs                         16

 Six cushions, to contain wearing apparel and used as
 pillows: the price of each is 2 _douros_                            12

 Six cushions of tanned antelope's skin, also used to
 contain dresses and spun wool, and to lean against in
 the tent                                                             6

 Six pieces of woollen stuff, made into a sort of
 palanquin carried on camels' backs, and in which the
 women travel                                                        12

 Five red _haïks_ to cover the palanquins                            50

 Twenty woollen sacks for the carriage of corn                       40

 Six _hamal_, or loads of wheat                                      48

 Twelve loads of barley                                              60

 Ten woollen sacks in which are kept jewels, wearing
 apparel, cotton-stuffs, gunpowder, _filali_,[91]
 money, etc., at 2 _douros_ each                                     20

 Fifteen goat-skin bags to hold water                                25

 Twelve sheep- or goat-skin bags to contain butter,
 valued each at 4 _douros_                                           48

 Four sheep- or goat-skin bags to hold honey, which is
 an expensive article, as it comes from the Tell; at 8
 _douros_ each                                                       32

 Eight _hamal_ of dates. These _hamal_ are sacks lined
 with wool                                                           64

 Six _tarahh_, each _tarahh_ comprising six skins of
 morocco leather; in all, thirty six skins, at one
 _douro_ a piece                                                     36

 Gunpowder                                                           30

 Lead                                                                 5

 Flints                                                     4 _douros_.

 Ten _mektaa_, or pieces of cotton-stuffs                            20

 Two _meradjen_, or vases of copper lined with tin,
 with handles, to drink out of                                        2

 Two _tassa_, or vases, also for drinking purposes                    2

 Two _guessaa_, or large wooden bowls for making or
 eating kouskoussou                                                   4

 Six _bakia_, or drinking vessels of wood                             2

 A copper pot for cooking the food                                    2

 Three _metreud_, or wooden platters for strangers to
 eat from                                                             3

 Two _fass_, or mattocks, for preparing the site of the
 tent, fixing it, etc., and for clearing wood                         2

 A _kadouma_, or small hatchet for shaping wood                       1

 Ten _meudjesa_, a kind of sickle for sheep-shearing                  1

 Two _rekiza_, or uprights of the tent                                2

 A _âeushut-el-zemel_, or tent with carpets, cushions,
 etc., for travelling, or for receiving strangers                    30

 Total                                                    741 _douros_.

The wearing apparel of five men will consist of:

 Eleven white burnouses, three for the father, and two
 for each of his sons: a burnous costs 4 _douros_          44 _douros_.

 Five _haïks_, at 4 _douros_ each                                    20

 Five _habaya_, or woollen shirts                                    10

 Five _mahazema_, or belts of morocco leather
 embroidered in silk                                                 10

 Five pair of _belghra_, or morocco shoes                             2

 Five _shashia_, or morocco _fessy_                                   2

 Five _kate_, or complete suits, for grand occasions,
 consisting of an _oughrlila_ or outer garment, a
 _cedria_ or waistcoat, a _seroual_ or pair of
 trousers; a _haïk_ of silk, a silken cord replacing
 the camel's rope; and a cloth burnous: each suit at 60
 _douros_ will make                                                 300

 Total                                                    388 _douros_.

The wearing apparel of six women will consist of:

 Six women's _haïks_, dyed with kermes                     60 _douros_.

 Six pair of morocco leather boots, embroidered                       6

 Six woollen girdles                                                 12

 Six white _haïks_ worn over the head                                 6

 Six _benica_, or silken hoods                              6 _douros_.

 Six _aâsaba_, or thread cord by which the women fasten
 the _haouly_, or white _haïk_, over their heads                      2

 Six pair of _kholkhale_, or silver anklets, 20
 _douros_ the pair                                                  120

 Six pair of _souar_, or bracelets, 7 _douros_ the pair              42

 Twelve _bezima_, or silver buckles, used by women to
 fasten the _haïk_, 6 _douros_ the pair                              36

 Six _bezimat el gueursi_, or throat buckles, used to
 fasten the _haouly_ under the chin after it has
 encircled the head                                                  12

 Twelve _ounaiss_, or silver ear-rings set in coral.
 Every woman wears two pair                                          24

 Six _mekhranga_, or necklaces of coral and pieces of
 money                                                               48

 Six necklaces of cloves interspersed with coral                      5

 Six _zenzela_, or silver chains with a small circular
 plate in the middle, called "the scorpion:" the chain
 stretches from ear to ear                                           18

 Six _kuerrabar_, or silver boxes which the women hang
 from their necks, and in which they put musk and
 benjamin                                                            18

 Eighteen _khatem_, or silver rings                                   6

 Six _melyaca_, or bracelets of djamous horn                          6

 Women in the desert do not wear any ornaments of gold;
 the whole of their jewelry is in silver.

 Total                                                    815 _douros_.

The arms for seven men are:

 Five guns for the masters, procured from Algiers, and
 mounted in silver                                        100 _douros_.

 Two guns for the servants                                           20

 Five sabres, two of them mounted in silver                          40

 Five pistols, two of them mounted in silver                         35

 Four pistols for the negroes                                         1

 Four sabres for the negroes                                         12

 Total                                                    219 _douros_.

Harness and horsemen's equipment consist of:

 One saddle for the master                                100 _douros_.