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94 ALGERINE NOTES.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Jackal Jackals Are Very Numerous, No...
OXEN DISCOVERING MURDERERS . In 1847 an Arab shepherd drove Ms cattle one morning to their
usual pasture , ground , about two miles from , the village of Fondouk , towards the village of I / Arba . Some time after their arrival an
old ox showed signs of uneasiness . It bellowed , called its fellows to come , and together they ran towards some bushes , then towards
the shepherd , then returned again to the bushes , then again to the man . The latter thought that some extraordinary thing mast be
there ; he shouted for another shepherd , and , following the oxen , they found spots of bloodpieces of garmentsand in the bushes the
corpse So long of as a the young corpse Arab was with , lying his there skull the broken oxen , refused and his to throat feed . cut .
The next morning , when I went with the officers of justice to verifthis assassinationI ascertained that the oxen had not trodden
upon y the trace of blood , ; they ran near it , making a footpath parallel to the trace . They feel an instinctive aversion to blood .
They often discover corpses of men , as I have many times seen myself . In this instance the assassins remained undiscovered . In
another case , which I remember , oxen caused the arrest of an assassin . It was in 1852 . I had to examine an Arab to ascertain
if he was insane . Being shepherd to the chief of the tribe of Krachnahe let his cattle run across a corn-field . The landlord
lained , of this invasionwhich he attributed to liand the comp chief ordered fifty blows , of a stick to be administered neggence . , The
shepherd thought that the punishment was unjust , and resolved to have a true Arabian revenge on his master . He fed the cattle in
company with a son and a nephew of-the chief , boys sixteen and eighteen years of age . He proposed to them to try their strength ,
and to tie each other with cords . The trial was accepted . Having joked with the boys for some time he tied them with cords , all the
party being in apparent good humor , and laughing heartily . When he saw them unable to move and to defend themselves , he suddenly
drew his knife and cut their throats ; then fled to Kabylia . The oxen came back to the tribe . Some menseeing in these animals
, signs of trouble and terror , went to the spot and found the two murdered boys . Horsemen were sent in pursuit of the assassin ,
and he was arrested the same day . Such an assassination induced the belief that he was laboring under some involuntary murderous
propensity , and for this reason I was requested by the justice to " examine him . These are his answers to my interrogations : —
Q . Why didst thou kill the boys ? A . To revenge myself on their father and uncle . I had been
unjustly beaten . I could not prevent the oxen from running across the corn-field , for they were attacked by the bull-flies , and the chief
knows well that when this happens it "becomes impossible for the shepherd to command them . God alone can do so .
Q . If the chief has punished thee unjustly , thou oughtest to slay
94 Algerine Notes.
94 _ALGERINE NOTES .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1861, page 94, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101861/page/22/
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