The Horses of the Sahara and the Manners of the Desert

by E.‏ Daumas

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.