Page 133 - Arabian Studies (II)

Hunting Techniques and Practices in the Arabian Peninsula 125

prefer light colours for their salukis. Whites (abyad), light brown
(ash-‘al/ahmar) and coffee coloured (bunni) are favourites. The
darker colours arc less popular, though black and white spotted
hounds (arqat) arc acceptable. There is certainly a prejudice against
black, unless the hound has sufficiently outstanding qualities on the
hunting field. 5 9
To conclude this section, it should be made clear that the smooth
and feathered salukis (Plates 5-7) are identical except for the
feathering of the latter on the ears, tail, elbows, between the toes and
sometimes on the hind legs below the hock. The height of the saluki
can differ greatly from hound to hound, but 23-28 inches is a rough
guide.

The Care and Training of the Saluki
A great deal has already been written about every conceivable aspect
of the rearing, care and training of the saluki by European travellers
to the Middle East. Much in these accounts, however, must surely be
read with extreme caution and due allowance made for genuine
difficulties in communicating with Arab hunters and in finding
reliable informants, as also for the natural tendency in this type of
literature for exaggeration and romanticism.
For the Arabian Peninsula of today, we must deal with both the
hunting establishment, containing a large number of hawks and
hounds, and the small bedouin tribal or family unit whose members
possess few of both. The former has large kennel blocks, usually built
of thick mud brick, run very much on the lines of a kennel in Britain.
There is a complete intermingling of the sexes, though of course the
bitch in season (adj. rnij'il, used of hound alone; v. i, titlub; adj. tdlib)
is kennelled apart. If a mating (n. shabu, v. t. yishbi) should
be required, the appropriate sire will be carefully chosen from the
hunter’s own hounds or from elsewhere. The bitch will almost
invariably be past her hunting prime and retired for the purpose of
breeding. The same may be true of the dog, though a successful
hound might be used for stud out of the hunting season. When they
are not hunting, all adult hounds are generally released at will to take
exercise for the day. They return in the evening for their meal,
consisting usually of cooked meat of sheep, goat or camel, with rice
and dates. They drink sheep’s, cow’s or goat’s milk, whatever is
available.6 0
Puppies under one year old are restricted to the kennel area. As
the saluki is a slow maturing breed, there is no thought of taking the
puppy to begin his training before he is about twelve months old. 6 1