In the Sahara, as in all Arab countries, the dog is looked upon as a servant in disgrace, troublesome, and cast off, no matter how useful he may be in guarding the _douar_, or in looking after the flocks. The greyhound alone enjoys the esteem, the consideration, the tender attention of his master. The rich as well as the poor regard him as a companion of their chivalrous pastimes; while for the latter he is also the purveyor that supplies them with food. They do not grudge him, therefore, the most assiduous care. The couplings are as scrupulously superintended as those of their horses. A Saharene will go twenty or thirty leagues to couple a handsome greyhound bitch with a dog of established reputation; for one that is really famous will run down a gazelle. "When he perceives a gazelle cropping a blade of grass, he overtakes her before she has time to swallow what she already holds in her mouth." This is an hyperbolical expression, no doubt, but still it is based on a certain degree of truth. When the _slouguïa_, or bitch, has pupped, the litter is never lost sight of for an instant. The women will sometimes give their own milk to them. Visitors arrive in troops, the more numerous and eager according to the reputation of the mother. They surround the owner, offering him dates, kouskoussou, etc. There is no sort of flattery they will not lavish upon him in the hope of obtaining a pup: "I am thy friend. Prithee, give me what I ask of thee. I will attend thee in thy hunts," etc. To all these solicitations, the owner usually replies that he will not decide upon what pups he means to keep for himself until after seven days. This reservation has its motive in a very singular observation, or fancy, of the Arabs: in every litter, one of the pups gets upon the back of the others. Is it a sign of greater vigour? or is it mere chance? To ascertain this point they remove it from its habitual position, and if it returns to it for seven consecutive days, the owner builds upon it such extravagant expectations, that he would not accept a negress in exchange. A prejudice causes them to attach the greatest value to the first, third, and fifth pups, in fact, to all the odd numbers.