Page 85 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 8 5

CHAPTER 7 - HUNTING WITH SLOUGHIS AND AZAWAKHS IN THE
19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

On 5 July 1830, the French under General Bourmont took Algiers. In 1835, the future
Général Melchior Joseph Eugène Daumas (1803 - 1871) came to Algeria with the military,
learned Arabic and resided in Mascara, where he met the Emir Abd El-Kader. His book on

the horses of the Sahara was reviewed in the Revue bibliographique, Mars 1852 and
translated into several languages. The book was first published in Paris by F. Chamerot in
1851. In this book there are, among others, the chapters on the sighthound called
“Slougui”, hunting gazelles, falconry and a chapter with Emir Abd El-Kader’s opinion on
Daumas’ findings.

The term “Slougui” is the French spelling of the Arabic word “Saluki” for “sighthound”.
Whether it was always Arabs who carried these sighthounds with them, as Daumas also

writes, remains open to question. Even Daumas could not clarify this confusion between
actual Bedouins or Arabs and nomadic Berbers. Today, thank God, we have better means
at our disposal, such as genetics and advanced research.

In the chapter on the Slouguis, Daumas writes about “the beautiful bitch brought to a good

dog” and “this sighthound catches the gazelle in the run.”

19th century hunting party in Algeria, Sloughis, Algerians and Frenchmen.