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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



have been introduced into Crete, through 

 trade rehitions with that island, as earl}- as 

 3000 B.C., and possibly at a still earlier 

 period was brought thither from Egypt an 

 entirely different kind of hound, having erect 

 ears, the origin of which is pretty certainly 

 traceable to the Abyssinian wolf {Caiiis 

 simeiisis). This " wolf", or fox, persists even 

 at the present day in a feral state in the 

 Ethiopian region, and appears to have been 

 domesticated at an extremely remote period 

 among the primitive inhabitants of northemi 

 Africa. 



The supposed descendant of the erect-eared 

 Ethiopian hound has maintained a continu- 

 ous existence in Crete, from a date which maj^ 

 be roughly assigned to the fourth millennium 

 before Christ down to the present day; and, 

 what is not less remarkable, the identical 

 strain appears to have been carried by trade 

 routes, possibly by way of Carthage, into the 

 Balearic Islands, and still exists there, com- 

 paratively unmodified. Thus, the modern 

 varieties known respectively as the Cretan 

 and Ibaza hounds, belong to an extremely 

 ancient hneage, which may be traced in un- 

 broken continuity back to a prehistoric do- 

 mestication of a North African feral species. 



The Cretan hound is abundant in the island 

 today, and manifests all the characteristics 

 which we should expect to find in a primitive 

 greyhound. Historical evidence shows that, 

 at about the beginning of the Christian era, 

 this breed of canine was held in high esteem 

 and became fairly widespread in the countries 

 bordering upon the ^Egean Sea. It figures 

 frequently in ancient Cretan coins, dating 

 from at least as far back as 500 B.C., and is 

 readily distinguishable by its erect ears, 

 slender flanks, and long light limbs, among 

 pictorial representations of animals in the 

 minor arts. The most ancient of these 

 drawings, now preserved in the Museum of 

 Candia, belongs to early Minoan times, or to 

 a period corresponding to the first Egyptian 

 dynasties. It shows a hound in recumbent 

 posture, and is painted upon the cover of a 

 vessel made of black steatite. Probably 

 from this race is derived the modern Russian 

 borzoi, commonly called in this country the 

 Russian wolfhound, and also the famous 

 long-limbed, Sicilian coursing hound of an- 

 tiquity. Likenesses of these animals, stamped 

 on Sicihan coins, attest the fondness with 

 which they were regarded by the ancient 

 Greek inhabitants of Trinacria. We have 



besides a little touch in passing from Horace 

 (Epist., I, 2), and an account also of the chase 

 by Oppian (Cyn. I, 480). 



Writes the bard of the Sabine farm: 



.... " Venaticus, ex quo 

 Tempore cervinam pellem latravit in aula, 

 Militat in silvis catulus." 



In which lines "venaticus catulus" indi- 

 cates a young coursing hound, and "cervinam 

 pellem" a stuffed deerskin. 



Besides the hound and the heavy, mastiff- 

 hke race of hunting dog, which latter gave 

 rise probably to the so-called Canis ?nolossus 

 and the modern St. Bernard, three other 

 breeds were commonly raised in Europe and 

 Asia during the period of Greek and Roman 

 supremacy. One of these was the pariah,, 

 or street dog, already briefly referred to. 

 Another is the shepherd, and a third is the 

 spitz dog, this last being almost certainly 

 derived from the jackal. These five are the 

 prevailing pure strains, although side by side 

 with them there flourished, as is well-known, a 

 large number of hybrid or impure stocks. 



The pariah and shepherd dog, as regards 

 their history and characteristic traits, are 

 too familiar to require further mention, be- 

 yond recalling that they were probably first 

 domesticated in ancient India. That the 

 origin of the spitz is to be sought in the 

 domesticated jackal admits of scarcely any 

 doubt. The fox is excluded as a possible 

 ancestor, on account of the differently formed 

 pupil of the eye, differences in the dentition, 

 and a very distinct odor, which sharply 

 separates the vulpine species from the dog or 

 wolf. As noted by Keller, "when our do- 

 mestic spitz with lowered brush and half- 

 turned head warily holds aloof from strangers 

 of human kind," he manifests the hereditary 

 instinct of the jackal; and even his whine and 

 yelp are not dissimilar. Hilzheimer regards 

 it as certain that several varieties of the North 

 African jackal (subgenus Thos of Oken) were 

 domesticated l)y the ancient Egyptians; and 

 Bekmann, in his Geschichte der Rassen des 

 Hundes, is of the opinion that no less than 

 ten varieties of canines are depicted in the 

 monuments. 



Among the favorite varieties of spitz dog in 

 antiquity were the Maltese and Etruscan 

 strains, and innumerable paintings of these 

 appear in Greek ceramic art from the fifth 

 century B.C. onward. As a household pet 

 and lap dog, the spitz was highly prized, and 



