Part 40

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. 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.