Page 86 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 8 6

Herd of gazelles in the savannah © Wirestock, Freepik

In the chapter on hunting gazelles Daumas writes:
“Hunting gazelles is not, like hunting ostriches, an enterprise both profitable and arduous, it
is a mere exercise, a pleasure. A gazelle is worth only 1-1 ½ francs, and for the sake of such a
trifling catch the Arab will not so prepare, train and exert his horse and expose himself to

losing it, which often happens in ostrich hunting.

Moreover, in this hunt neither man nor horse has the main task, for them it is, so to speak,
only a walk, but the sighthound, this second companion of the noble of the desert, of whom I

shall also speak.”

Daumas lists three species of gazelle, the Sine, the el Ademi and the el Remi, which the
sighthound hunts. These gazelles always move in smaller groups, but also in herds of up
to 200 to 300 animals. The gazelles are often hunted with the shotgun if the hunter has a
donkey as a mount or if he also goes hunting on foot. The pleasure of the wealthy,

however, is on horseback.

Daumas notes: “... The true hunter is a vigorous, indefatigable pedestrian; his experience,
which never deceives him, makes him always discover the place where the herd will stop, ...”