BRITISH DOGS 



such-like animals of that time. The hounds held in the leash by 

 the huntsman, with the dead body of the antelope carried on the 

 shoulders, plainly tell their tale. Nor were the ancient Egyptian 

 ladies without their dogs, and thus early we are led to believe that 

 lapdogs and lapdogs, too, with a resemblance to the Dachshund- 

 were popular (Fig. 6). True, the ears are upright, as doubtless were 



FIG. 6. DACHSHUND-LIKE PET DOG OF THE EGYPTIANS. 



those of the original dogs, and one can even at this very remote 

 period of history see how an intelligent fancier might very well 

 have modified by selection those traces of the wild ancestors, and 

 evolved from the material at command a not very bad representa- 

 tion of a twentieth-century Dachshund. 



Passing from the Egyptian to the Assyrian monuments, we find 

 still further interesting sculptures of the dog of the period, but 

 especially between 1273 B.C. and 747 B.C. These introduce us to 

 a type of dog of far more formidable proportions than any met with 



FIG. 7. ASSYRIAN HUNTING DOG. 



previously (Figs. 7 and 8). These are of Great Dane-like appearance, 

 and were employed for hunting large wild animals, from the lion 

 and the bull down to the very abundant wild ass, the last-named 

 being a favourite quarry. 



Kings had their canine favourites in those days, as they had 

 many centuries later in the times of good Queen Bess and of the 

 " Merry Monarch." The dog shown in Fig. 8 is one of these royal 

 favourites, and the cuneiform characters extending from the top of 

 the shoulder to the hindquarters represent the name of the animal. 



