Page 29 - The Sloughi Review - Issue 7
P. 29
T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 2 9
The English travelers who brought the We owe Florence Amherst the still valid
Saluki to the west descriptions of the different types. In
Cassell' s New Book of the Dog, 1907, she
To understand how it came to this writes of the "North African Gazelle Hounds.
"Tohuwabohu" (confusion), we call a The Property of Herr Michel La Fontijn" and
selection of witnesses from the early 20th shows a photo of sighthounds of the breed
century. Sloughi!
One mentions first The Honorable Florence Amherst describes the different
Florence Amherst who traveled to Egypt to types, but also, that it was difficult to set
the Nile with her father at the end of the and to determine their origin:
19th century. Lord Tyssen-Amherst of
Hackney loved ancient art and books. He "I. The Slughi, Tazi, or Gazelle Hound . - The
had an entire library of historically original home is difficult to determine. ... but
significant works. At these valuable they seem to have been of foreign importation
sources, the daughters of Lord Amherst - both from Asia and from Africa.
learned how to work systematically and to In Persia the Slughi is known as the "Sag-i
present correctly what was observed [2]. Tazi" (Arabian Hound), ... which literally
means "Arabian" (a term also applied there to
Florence Amherst actually saw and Arab horses). ... According to tradition at the
experienced the sighthounds in Egypt, present day (1907) on the Persian Gulf it is
which she called "Salukis" and "Slughis" in said that these dogs came originally from
her later descriptions, as well as "Gazelle Syria with the horse. Arabic writers say that
Hounds" and even used still different other
names. You can feel with her the striving the Slughi was only known to the Pharaohs..."
for a consistent form, which, however,
consists of very different pieces, in other Florence Amherst also refers to the Greek
words Saluki types. As mentioned above, Empire in Syria, but this leads too much into
she describes them with the respective speculations that we want to avoid.
regions of origin "Shami" (Syria), "Yamani" As we have read above, she assigns the
(Yemen), "Omani" (Oman) and "Nejdi" original Saluki type to Syria; logically, she
(Central Arabia). bred the type "Saluki Shami" in her
"Amherstia" kennel.
