The Arab Greyhonud

To keep a greyhound and a hawk vas formerly the exclusive privilege )f the Arab chief, but in the present lay it is extended to all - and, in fact, ivhile the sloughi is kept by the rich drab for sport, the poorer one relies jpon him for his maintenance and ;hat of his f amily, and the markets of Ugiers are in great measure supplied with game by their means. ïhe a;reatest caie is taken to keep the breed pure, and the animáis are immensely prized, so much so, indeed, that puppies lef t motherless are at once handed over to the women, who will tiurse them as if they were babies, and allow them to share'with the babies in all their privileges. The full-grown dog is treated as a most esteemed member of the family, in fact, as well as the head of it, by whose side he sleeps, sharing not only his couch, but the best of everything his master possesses, and when the creature dies the whole household is plunged in amiction. The attachrnent of the sloughi for his master is so great that he will pine away when separated from him, and die of grief, should the separation be too prolonged. "VVhen he returns, the animal displays the most extravagant joy, and will even spring upon his saddle to be caressed. It is principally in hunting the gazelle that the sloughi displays its great speed, and of course it undergoes a special training for the purpose. At three or four mónths olfl the puppy is madt to hunt ruto, at ilve or six it may be entered to liiues, and ft dog of twelve months is slipped at young gazelles, the matured animal alone being permitted to hunt a full-grown one ; and this he does by scent, hke a lymer, using a great deal of cunning in order to get near enougli for a rush bef ore he puts out his full speed and secures his quarry. The Arabs, we are told, while woiiderfully struck by the way the "pagans' " dogs work, set no valué on their qualiflcations. "It is all very well," they say, "but give us a good sloughi, and then we want no gun and no powder and shot to secure our game." The greyhounds belonging to rich men wear handsome and often very valuable collars, but every sloughi has some ornament, be it only a necklace of cowrie shells, fastened together with twine. This esteein for valuable dogs among the Arabs is of very old date, since other authors teil us that among the ancient inhabitants of Yemen, the men who should kill a dog belonging to one of his tribe was obliged to give his owner a heap of wheat large euough to cover the animal entirely from the head to the tip of the tail. As the European dog loses his scenting powera in the great heat of Algeria, the sloughi is likely to reinain master of the situation, but gazelles are only now to be found in the desert, although a good deal of c oursing takes place in the country, whereever consulates or large garrisons are