THE OSTRICH. 231 



be taken, either alive or by a shot from the hunter's 

 gun." 



The Arabs of the Great Desert adopt a quite 

 different plan. General Daumas has given us on 

 this point, in the " Chevaux du Sahara/' details full 

 of interest, which he obtained from a professional 

 hunter. We cannot do better than reproduce them, 

 always abridging considerably. 



There are in the desert two methods of hunting 

 the ostrich : on horseback, and by watching. 



" The real hunt is that on horseback. It is an 

 excursion which lasts for seven or eight days. The 

 most favourable period is that of great heat. A 

 dozen hunters join together ; each of them is accom- 

 panied by a servant, mounted on a camel, which 

 carries water, barley for the horses, wheat flour, 

 dates, a saucepan, and divers utensils. The horse 

 has undergone for seven or eight days a special 

 training. The rider has no other weapon than a club 

 of wild olive or rosemary, from four to five feet long, 

 and very heavy at one end. 



" They start in the morning, and after one or two 

 days' march, when they have arrived near the place 

 where the ostriches have been signalled, and they 

 begin to find traces of them, they stop and encamp. 

 The next day two intelligent servants, entirely naked 

 (with the exception of a handkerchief, used as drawers), 



