Page 26 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW Special Edition 5

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 2 6

“Arrad, son of Djenah and Richa, all of the same brindle coat, and originating from
the great nomadic Doui-Menia tribe, from the Algerian-Moroccan South (Hamada du
Tafilalet) was the last of the batch of Sloughis that I had formed to hunt the gazelle, the
jackal, the fox and the hare, in the southern steppes (Hunting on horseback of course). We

also find very good and very beautiful Sloughis in all the nomadic tribes of the Algerian-
Moroccan South, in general Oulad Sidi-Cheikh, Oulad djerir, Beni-Guil, Oulad Nacer etc.
The Sloughi is only happy in the South in complete freedom, like his master the nomad. I

really like this animal and being a nomad myself, I was always followed by very beautiful
specimens of this breed of sighthound. It gave me great satisfaction in the South and gave
me great hunting days; but of this great special “chasse à courre”* that can only be practiced
in the South.”**

The Arab holds the Sloughi in high esteem. He is an aristocrat prerogative of aristocrats.
For the Arab who despises the dog in general, the vulgar "Kelb", the Sloughi is a noble,
superior animal, in the same way and on the same rank as the horse. If you show a Sloughi

to an Arab of good birth and having a hunting crew, telling him “What a beautiful dog" he
will invariably respond and in a convinced tone: “Aada mach Kelb; aada Sloughi”. ***
Admirable distinction.

All the power of tradition of which the Arab is capable, applied since time immemorial to
the breeding of the Sloughi and his severe selection, has made it possible to preserve
intact this breed so attractive and so characteristic to the point of making it today the

most legitimate and most immutable incarnation of the Graioides family.

To have an idea of the rigor of the principles of indigenous breeding, it is not enough to
consider that the owner of a choice dam will not hesitate to travel, on horseback or on
mehari, hundreds of kilometers in the middle of the desert to ally her with a stud famous

for his beauty and his hunting value; but it is still appropriate to know and meditate on
the harsh example given by the wise Caїd ben-Diff in the region of Bou Saada a few years
ago.

*Chasse à courre: Hunting with horses and hounds.

** These sentences, as well as those from the same source which will be cited
subsequently, are extracted from a letter written to me on August 20, 1933 by Captain
Coget, then government commissioner and controller of the Cherifian jurisdictions of the
territory of Ouezzan (Northern Morocco)
*** “It is not a dog; it is a Sloughi.”