HAWKING.
The sporting equipments of a noble of the Sahara are complete when he has athair el horr, or a bird of race; for there men of distinction are still addicted to falconry. Thethair el horris 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 athair el horrhas 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.
A bird of race, when she is caught, never frets.
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, thehabara—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 wherealfagrows in abundance. Hawking is also pursued in the higher table-lands, on the borders of the Sahara.
REMARKS BY THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER.
REMARKS BY THE EMIR ABD-EL-KADER.
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 theberana, theterakel, thenebala, and thebahara. Theberanaand theterakelare the most esteemed; especially theterakel, 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 isblack 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. Theberanais less strong and somewhat smaller than theterakel. 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. Thebaharais almost entirely black, with the exception of a few whitish spots on the breast. "It is a negro, and not worth much." In thenebala, 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; theshashin, theaogab, themeguernes, and thebaz. Thebazis 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 ridesabout 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 offilali.[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 dogsand 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 thedouar, 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 laterthey 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—exclaimingBi es-sem Allah! Allah akbar!Theterakel, 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 summerto 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 ofalfain 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 exclaimingHa hou!"there it is!" While her master is pronouncing the sacramentalBi 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. Hercurée, or reward, is not given to her until after their return to thedouar.
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 thehabara[88]is also hunted with thethair el horr, and in this wise. The hunters ride on until they meet withhabaras, 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 ahabara, 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 thehabaraattempts 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. Theyfall 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, theseroun, thehamma, and theagad. Some falcons will not hunt thehabara. 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 calledhamma, which they pursue with fury.
Thebiaz—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 thedjouad, 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 hundredboudjous, 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."