EUEOPEAI? DOMESTIC ANIMALS KELLER. 489 



dynasty, whose head corresponds wonderfully with that of the Sar- 

 dinian cattle. Western Asia never did possess a sufficiently great 

 abundance of cattle to part with a considerable quantity of it. It is 

 also a remarkable fact that short-horned cattle appear relatively late 

 and scantUy in the cultui'al strata. It is possible that this cattle 

 may have reached western Asia by way of Egypt and Syria, for the 

 culture of the Nile Valley is much older than that of western Asia. 



Of undoubted African origin is the peat sheep, that small goat-like 

 race of sheep which was first demonstrated in the Lake Dwellings of 

 Switzerland, and which has maintained itself, almost as a pure strain, 

 to the tm'ning of the centmy, in small remnants, in the lesser isolated 

 valley's of the Biindneroberland. The characters of the skull and the 

 long tail point to a half sheep. Old Egyptian pictures teach us that 

 the African maned sheep was domesticated at an early period in the 

 Nile Valley; and I surmise that the peat sheep has made its way from 

 Egypt over Greece to Europe. I base my conclusions on this point 

 upon a few sheep pictures from the Mycenic period. Lately I found 

 not only peat sheep remains of the neolithic })eriod in Crete, but 

 also, to my great surprise, many herds of small, pm'e strain, peat 

 sheep in the hills of Crete, which have been able to maintain them- 

 selves there in full vigor to the present time. Of African source is 

 also the domestic ass, whose derivation from the African wild ass 

 was completely demonstrated by Darwin. This animal entered 

 Europe at a very early date, but became an agricultural element only 

 in the lands along the Mediterranean. Its domestication dates far 

 back in Africa. It was pressed into service long before the horse, 

 and was probably first domesticated by the old Ilamites. 



That the house cat is of African origin goes without challenge; 

 likewise that it was extracted from the Nubian cat. It is missing 

 in our Lake Dwelling period, and has made only slow progress in 

 historic times in Europe, 



Africa, and especially Egypt, has also furnislied us some of our 

 dogs. The Paria dogs of Turkey and southern Bulgaria, which I 

 had a chance to observe recently in Constantinople, are related to the 

 Paria dogs of Egypt. 



The gre>'hounds are undoubtedly of African origin and are derived 

 from the Abyssinian wolf (Canis simensis). In the time of the older 

 dynasties the greater part still possessed erect ears, and they wore 

 greatly j)rized in the land of the Pharaohs. This old race, which one 

 finds so often represented on antique mural paintings, became extinct 

 in the Nile Valley at an unknown period. Their progeny has, 

 tlirough further domestication and breeding, become strongly 

 changed, but not entirely lost. I recently found living on the east 

 Spanish islands of Mallorka and Ibiza a strong colony of the erect- 

 eared greyhound of old Egypt. In 1909 I was able to demonstrate 



