afraid of daylight. For the most part it dwells in caves which it finds
in ravines and among rocks. It seldom goes abroad but at night, and
searches for carrion and dead bodies, and commits such ravages in
graveyards, that the Arabs, by way of prevention, bury their dead at a
great depth. In some districts they even construct two chambers for a
single corpse, which is then interred in the lower one. As a rule, it
does not attack the flocks; but sometimes at night, prowling round an
encampment, it carries off a dog. The Arabs take little notice of it,
though they amuse themselves by hunting it on horseback, and let it be
pulled down by their greyhounds, but never pay it the compliment of
firing at it. After they have carefully reconnoitred the cave in which
it makes its lair, it is no uncommon thing to find Arabs who despise the
beast sufficiently to penetrate boldly into its den, after having
carefully closed the entrance with their burnouses, so as not to allow
any light to enter. Having got thus far, they go up to it, talking with
great energy, seize hold of it, gag it, without the slightest resistance
on its part—so terrified is it—and then drive it out with heavy blows
with a stick. The skin of such a cowardly brute is little esteemed. In
many tents they would not permit it to enter, for it can bring nothing
but misfortune. The common people eat the flesh, which is not at all
good, but they carefully abstain from touching the head or
brains—contact with which, they believe, would make them go mad.
Let us leave this ignoble animal, and pass on to one much more to be
feared, and the chace of which presents some striking scenes, though its
reputation is far from being in the eyes of the Arabs what it is in the
imagination of Europeans—I allude to the panther.
The panther is found over the whole surface of Algeria, though it
inhabits only wooded coverts, and broken, difficult ground. There are
several species. Some never quit the neighbourhood of their lair, and
are called _dolly_, that is, keeping to the house. Others, again, which
are called _berani_, or strangers, frequently wander away from the place
where they usually dwell, and prowl about the surrounding districts to a
considerable distance.
The _dolly_ panther is larger, stronger, and more dangerous than the
other species. Its coat is speckled with spots more elegantly disposed,
of a very dark shade, and close to one another. The colours are black,
white, and yellow. On the jowl, limbs, and back-bone, there are no
spots, but stripes. Those on the jowl are arranged diagonally. The upper
points start from the lower eyelids, the nostrils, and the corners of
the mouth, and descend towards the neck, gradually melting away into
yellow, and finally lost in the white.
Panthers lap like dogs. They generally roam in couples. In districts
that are well peopled, they are never seen in the daytime. In
uninhabited regions, although they do go abroad in the day, they hunt
only at night. They have not more than two or three cubs. The Arabs are
far from regarding the panther with the esteem they accord to the lion.
The lion, say they, if attacked, harassed, wounded, and surrounded by
enemies, feels his courage heighten in the midst of the uproar and in
the thick of the danger. He fearlessly encounters his assailants and
fights to the death, while the panther only accepts the combat when it
finds no way to retreat. In a word, the lion, as soon as the combat has
fairly commenced, never retires, while the panther escapes whenever an
opportunity presents itself. Another difference is this—the lion will
devour a man, the panther never. The latter generally strikes at his
head, lacerates him with its claws, and inflicts terrible bites, and
then, preferring the flesh of other animals to that of a son of Adam, it
leaves him there and goes in search of other prey. In a country where it
is able to supply itself with the flesh of wild boar, sheep, cattle, and
game of all kinds, and where it can satiate itself with the carcases of
animals, it kills man, not because it is hungry, but in self-defence, as
the only way of shaking off an enemy. In the case of the lion, man is
often the game in quest of which he stalks abroad; while in that of the
panther he is an adversary to be avoided, and never to be provoked. You
may pass boldly and confidently close to the thick brushwood that
conceals it, and, if you do not begin the attack, it will remain
crouched as close as a partridge, even holding in its breath. But if you
fire and miss, it will spring upon, bite, and lacerate you, and then,
still distrustful of itself, will take itself off.
The Arabs have remarked, from the numbers of persons who have come in
collision with panthers, and been wounded without being killed, that it
uses only its teeth; its bite being like that of the dog, and injuring
only the flesh. The lion, on the other hand, by his violent shaking,
breaks the bones of the victim he holds in his powerful jaws. When the
panther has inflicted its bite, it does not trouble itself as to its
being fatal or otherwise, but makes off with fear and caution. The lion
grows more and more furious, and returns to the attack again and again.
It is not enough that the enemy be disabled—he must feel the whole
weight of a lion's wrath. The lion bounds into a _douar_, and plunders
boldly, at his leisure. He seizes his share without any concealment; he
has no fear; he is exercising his right, the right of the strongest. The
panther covers its advance, glides, creeps, crawls along like a thief,
accompanied by shame and fear. The panther's spring, when enraged, is
like a flash of lightning; but after that tremendous effort, its pace is
less swift than that of an ordinary horse. If a panther be surrounded,
tracked down, and hard pressed—maddened by terror rather than by rage—it
will spring on the tree in which the hunters are stationed, and close
with them. But at another time, if only one or two men are lying in
ambush, and it be not shut in on all sides and a path is left for
escape, it forgets its power and runs away. Everywhere and at all times,
the lion is a dangerous enemy, to encounter whom is a terrible
undertaking; whereas no one need dread the panther unless he has first
attacked it. The cry of the latter animal resembles the clear, shrill,
impotent neigh of the mule, and is in no way calculated to inspire
terror like the roar of the lion, which is as the growling of thunder.
But it is quick and agile, and its movements baffle the eye. If the
natural disposition of the panther leads it to spare, or at least to
avoid, man, and to choose for its prey animals wild or tame, such as
sheep, cows, gazelles, and antelopes, that cannot defend themselves, it
is equally instructed by instinct to modify its mode of attack upon
animals whose habits or courage render them difficult or dangerous to
assail—against such, it has usually recourse to surprise. It will not
attack a horse in the centre of a _douar_. Its habitual circumspection
and cowardice will restrain it from seeking to seize upon a prey that
might be rescued in time, or promptly avenged. Even when out grazing, a
horse by itself might escape by galloping off; but if it has not been
seen, or suspected, if with a single bound it can fall upon the horse,
he is lost.
Nor is the wild boar an easy victim. If it be full grown, and have had
warning, and there be room enough, it will defend itself successfully.
At times, indeed, it comes off absolutely victorious—the Arabs having
found panthers in desert places, ripped up by a boar's tusks. A frequent
struggle, perhaps the only one which the panther openly engages in, is
with the porcupine; but the latter, though it grows to a considerable
size in Africa, is more formidable in appearance than in reality. It has
indeed, the property of bristling up its long, hard, sharp-pointed
quills, which it can even throw to some distance; but these arms cannot
save it. The slightest wound completely paralyses the muscular
contractions by means of which it places itself in a state of defence:
besides, it cannot do anything without something to fall back upon, such
as a tree or a stone.
However timorous and apt to run away the panther may be under ordinary
circumstances, it becomes really dangerous if its cubs have been carried
off in its absence—or under its very eyes by force, which only happens
when the hunters are in considerable numbers. At such times it will
sometimes perish in the attempt to save them—at least, the _dolly_, or
larger species will do so; but the _berrani_, or small panther, makes
off, uttering the while lamentable cries. The cubs, thus torn from their
mother, are given to chiefs residing in towns, to Sultans, Pashas, and
Beys; but they are never kept in a tribe, for when still quite young
they are dangerous even in their play, and no sort of attention will
ever tame them or guarantee the master of the tent, or his wives and
children, from a momentary outburst of fury on the part of the
perfidious and capricious brute. We may mention, however, that in
certain _zaouïas_ lions are tamed by marabouts and led up and down the
tribes. Thus summoning curiosity to the aid of charity, they augment the
amount of the alms which they beg for their congregation. The most
celebrated _zaouïa_ in which tame lions are kept is that of
Sidi-Mohammed-ben-Aouda, a tribe of the Flittas in the province of Oran.
With this special exception the Arabs—and it is a characteristic trait
worthy of note—never rear any but inoffensive animals. There is not a
tent without a gazelle, an antelope, a jackal, an ostrich, or a falcon;
but in no _douar_ is a savage beast ever to be seen, such as a hyæna, a
panther, or a lion. Some tribes take pleasure in rearing a young wild
boar, under the idea that it amuses the horses, which like its smell.
The little pig is faithful and always in motion. When the tribe is
changing ground, it trots about, grunting joyously in the midst of the
other animals, and accompanies the sheep and the calves to the pasture.
It is called "the father of good fortune," and strangely enough, it is a
lucky omen to meet a wild boar on issuing from one's tent. Prior to
Mohammed the Arabs used to eat swine's flesh, but the Prophet forbade it
to them, as well as the blood of animals and the flesh of every creature
that has not been bled.
The panther, as I have already remarked, seldom goes abroad during the
day; but if, by chance, shepherds or travellers happen to alight upon
one near an inhabited neighbourhood, they utter in shrill tones _ha
houa!_ "there it is!" These cries are repeated with incredible rapidity.
The entire population swarms forth—horse and foot, armed with whatever
first comes to hand, guns, sticks, swords, spears, or pistols, and
followed by their dogs and greyhounds. Surrounding on every side the
spot whither the beast has retired, generally difficult ground, covered
with thick high brushwood, they attack it fearlessly and usually end by
killing it. It rarely happens that it escapes while it is light.
But when, instead of this sudden outbreak of an entire population
against an unexpected enemy, a genuine hunt is projected, certain
preparations are made before starting. It is true, the panther will run
away if it has the chance, but it is always possible that it may show
fight; and although, in the long run, it is sure to be mastered without
a single casualty on the side of the hunters, it is as well to guard
against the wounds it may inflict, however insignificant in themselves.
It usually flies at the head. Against the lacerations of its teeth and
claws a sufficient defence is the thick woollen cap, the _shashia_, the
numerous folds of the haïk, the hood of the burnous, and the long,
coarse camel's rope. But the enemy may with a single bound spring on to
a horse's croup, and with one blow on the head with its paw knock over,
stun, and even kill the rider. On this account they not unfrequently don
a helmet—a helmet of modest pretentions, which at other times serves as
a kettle.
The panther is also killed, like the lion, from an ambush. A hole is dug
in the earth and covered over with branches, through which an opening is
made for the rifle of the concealed hunter, who fires at the distance of
about fifteen paces, as the animal approaches to devour the carcase of a
sheep or goat placed there for that purpose. But lest the brute, if only
wounded, should spring upon the _melebda_, as the hunter's hiding place
is called, the latter is always provided with two or three guns, and
perhaps with pistols likewise. At other times a gun is fastened to a
tree, and at the muzzle of the barrel is fixed a bait, to which a string
is tied, that passes round the tree and is attached to the trigger—so
that if the bait be pulled at all forcibly the gun is sure to go off.
And if the panther is not shot dead, it is certain to be wounded, and
the hunters set off in pursuit, guided by the tracks of blood it leaves
on its path. There is yet another mode of killing the panther, which is
by surprising it while sleeping. Should it happen to be awake, it is
merely a disappointment, not a danger, for it runs away at sight of a
man.
But whatever be the nature of the sport in which the Arabs indulge, the
least timorous are liable to superstitious fears. As it is not always
possible to relinquish an enterprise when they have once entered upon
it, they endeavour by all means to avoid chances of sinister omen. On
the other hand they become emboldened, and take courage if, on setting
out, they are greeted by one of those encounters which are reputed
fortunate—with a jackal in the morning for instance, or with a wild boar
in the evening.
Let thy morning be with a jackal,
And thy evening with a wild boar.
A hare or a fox is of ill omen; as is, also, a single crow, or a white
mare. A still worse and more detestable omen is the sight of an old
woman. But it is a good chance for whoever sees two crows or a mare of
any colour; and, above all, success, glory, and plunder, await the
_goum_ that, when starting on an expedition, is met by a beautiful young
and noble maiden, who will uncover her bosom and show one of her
breasts. It is the custom; and if the damsel were to refuse this
blessing to the warriors of her tribe, they would dismount to compel
her, were she the daughter of the chief and though he were himself at
the head of the _goum_—all the better, indeed, if her birth were so
exalted, for the nobler the damsel, the happier the augury. In the west,
young girls loosen their girdle. If, in the morning, you hear
affectionate and courteous words, you will have a pleasant day; but it
will be the reverse if on first awaking you are greeted with an
imprecation or an insult. Do not go out to hunt on a Tuesday, a
Thursday, or a Friday.
We now come to the sport that is really worthy to sharpen the
intelligence and inflame the souls of warriors. The Arab hunter acts
upon the aggressive with the lion. In this daring enterprise there is
all the more merit, because in Africa the lion is a formidable monster,
regarding whom there exist many mysterious and terrible legends, with
which an awe-struck superstition surrounds his dread Majesty. With that
keenness of insight which characterises them, the Arabs have made a
series of observations on the subject of the lion that are worthy of
being collected and preserved.
In the daytime the lion rarely seeks to attack man. Very commonly,
indeed, if a traveller happens to pass near him, he turns aside his head
and affects not to see him. At the same time, if any one, walking close
to the bush in which he is couched, be rash enough to cry aloud _ra
hena_—"he is there!"—the lion will at once spring upon his denouncer and
the disturber of his repose. As night comes on, his humour completely
changes. When the sun has set, it is perilous to venture into a wild,
woody, and broken country. It is there the lion lies in ambush—it is
there he is met on the path-ways, which he intercepts by barring all
further advance with his body. The Arabs thus describe some of the
nocturnal scenes which are continually happening. If a solitary
individual, a courier, traveller, or letter-carrier, chancing to meet a
lion, possess a courage of the highest temper, he will walk straight
towards the animal, brandishing his sword or gun, but carefully
abstaining from using the one or the other. He simply cries out: "Oh,
the robber! the highway-man! the son of a mother who never said No! Dost
thou think to frighten me? Thou canst not know, then, that I am
so-and-so, the son of so-and-so? Get up, and let me proceed on my
journey." The lion waits till the man has come close up to him, and then
goes off to lie down again a thousand paces farther on. The traveller
has to endure a long series of terrific trials. Each time that he quits
the path, the lion disappears, but only for an instant. Directly
afterwards he again presents himself, and all his movements are
accompanied by horrible noises. He breaks off innumerable branches with
his tail. He roars, howls, growls, and emits gusts of poisonous breath.
He plays with the subject of his fantastic and manifold attacks, and
keeps him constantly suspended between fear and hope, like a cat playing
with a mouse. If a man involved in such a difficulty does not allow his
courage to fail him, if—to use an Arab phrase—he succeeds in firmly
holding his soul, the lion will finally leave him, and seek his fortune
elsewhere. But if, on the contrary, the latter perceives that he has to
deal with a man whose countenance betrays his fear, whose voice
trembles, and who dares not articulate a word, he repeats over and over
again, in order to terrify him still more, the manœuvre above described.
He will approach him, push him out of the way with his shoulder, cross
his path every other minute, and amuse himself with him in various ways,
until at last he devours his victim already half dead with terror.
There is really nothing incredible in the facts thus stated by the
Arabs. The ascendancy of courage over animals is indisputable. The
professional robbers who roam abroad at night, armed to the teeth,
instead of shunning the lion, cry out to him if they meet with him: "I
am not what thou seekest. I am a robber like thyself; pass on, or, if it
please thee, let us rob in company." It is said that the lion sometimes
follows them, and attempts an assault on the _douar_ towards which they
are bending their steps. It is even affirmed that this good
understanding between the robbers and the lions frequently displays
itself in a striking manner. Robbers have been seen, when taking their
meals, to treat the lions as other people treat their dogs, and throw to
them at a certain distance the feet and entrails of the animals they
themselves are eating.
Women likewise have been known successfully to have recourse to
intrepidity in opposing a lion. They have run after him when engaged in
carrying off a ewe, and have forced him to let go his prey by giving him
a shower of blows with a cudgel, crying aloud all the time: "Ah, robber!
son of a robber!" The Arabs say that the lion is seized with shame, and
makes off as quickly as possible. This trait shows that in the eyes of
the Arabs the lion is a peculiar sort of creature midway between men and
beasts, which, by reason of its strength, appears to them to be endowed
with a special order of intelligence. The following legend, intended to
explain how it is that the lion allows a sheep to escape him more easily
than any other prey, is a confirmation of this belief. Enumerating one
day the various feats his strength enabled him to accomplish, the lion
remarked: "_An sha Allah_—if it be the will of Allah—I can carry off a
horse without distressing myself. _An sha Allah_, I can carry off a
heifer, without being prevented from running by its weight." But when he
came to the ewe, he deemed it so much beneath him that he omitted the
pious formula, "if it be the will of Allah;" and, to punish him, Allah
condemned him to be never able to do more than drag it along.
There are several modes of hunting the lion. When one makes his
appearance in the midst of a tribe, his presence is indicated by a
multitude of signs of all kinds. The earth shakes, as it were, with
roarings. Then a series of losses and accidents take place. A heifer, or
a colt is carried off, or a man is missing. The alarm spreads through
all the tents. The women tremble for their property and for their
children. Lamentations arise on all sides, and the hunters decree the
death of their troublesome neighbour. It is published in the
market-places that on such a day and at such an hour, all who are
capable of joining in the chace, whether on horseback or on foot, must
assemble in arms at an appointed spot. Prior to this, the thicket has
been discovered to which the lion retires during the day. Everything
being ready, the hunters set out, the men on foot leading the way. When
they have arrived within fifty paces of the bush in which they expect to
find the enemy, they halt and await him. Closing up, they form three
deep, the second rank ready to fill up the gaps in the first if succour
be necessary, while the third, firm and compact, and composed of capital
marksmen, forms an invincible reserve. Then commences a strange
spectacle. The front rank begin to insult the lion, and even send a few
balls into his hiding place to make him come out: "Look at him who
boasts of being the bravest of all, and yet dares not show himself
before men! It is not he—it is not the lion—it is a cowardly thief, and
may Allah curse him!" The animal sometimes comes while they are abusing
him in this manner, and, looking round serenely on all sides, yawns and
stretches himself, and appears perfectly insensible to what is passing
around him.
One or two balls now hit him, upon which, magnificent in his audacity,
he stalks forth and stands in front of the bush which sheltered him. Not
a word is spoken. The lion roars, rolls his glaring eyes, draws back,
crouches down, again rises up, and by the movements of his tail and body
snaps off all the branches that surround him. The front rank discharge
their pieces, whereupon the monster bounds forward, and generally falls
dead beneath the fire of the second rank, who step forward and fill up
the intervals left in the first. This is the critical moment, for the
lion resigns the contest only when a ball has struck him in the head, or
in the heart. It is no rare thing to see him continue the fight with ten
or a dozen balls through his body. In other words, he is seldom
overpowered until he has killed or wounded some of his foot assailants.
The horsemen who accompany the expedition have nothing to do, so long as
their foe does not quit the broken ground. Their part commences when, as
occasionally happens, the men on foot have succeeded in driving out the
lion upon a plateau, or into the plain. The combat then assumes a new
aspect, full of interest and originality. Each horseman, according to
his hardihood and agility, spurs on his horse at full speed, fires at
the lion as at an ordinary mark, at a short distance, and, wheeling his
horse round the moment he has fired, gallops off to reload his piece
before making a second assault. The lion, attacked on all sides and
wounded at every moment, faces about in every direction, rushes forward,
flees, returns, and falls, but only after a glorious struggle. His
defeat, indeed, must inevitably terminate in his death, for against
horsemen mounted on Arab horses success is impossible. He makes but
three terrific bounds, after which his pace is by no means swift, and an
ordinary horse will distance him without trouble. To form a just idea of
such a combat, it is absolutely necessary to have witnessed one. Every
horseman hurls an imprecation; there is a wild confusion of sounds, the
burnouses fly out, the powder thunders, the hunters crowd together or
scatter widely apart. The lion roars, the balls whistle, and the whole
forms a scene of movement and animation. But notwithstanding all this
tumult, accidents are very unusual. The hunters have little to fear,
unless a fall from their horse throws them under the paw of their enemy,
or—which is more frequent misadventure—they are hit by a friendly but
ill-directed ball.
Such is the most picturesque, the most warlike aspect that lion-hunting
assumes. Other measures, however, are sometimes adopted, both more sure
and more speedily efficacious. The Arabs have observed that on the
morrow after he has carried off and devoured sheep or oxen, the lion,
suffering from a weak digestion, remains in his lair, fatigued,
oppressed with sleep, and incapable of moving. When a place that is
usually disquieted with roaring is undisturbed for a whole night, it may
be inferred that the formidable inhabitant who dwells therein is plunged
in this state of lethargy. Upon this, a man of devoted courage,
following the tracks that lead to the covert in which the monster is
concealed, will go up to him, take a steady aim, and shoot him dead upon
the spot with a ball between the two eyes. Kaddour-ben-Mohammed, of the
Oulad-Messelem, a section of the Ounougha, is reputed to have killed
several lions in this manner.