THE ORIGIN OF THE DOG 3 



the bodies of many pet dogs. THese were evidently 

 much treasured, one having ivory bracelets round its 

 legs, while others had collars of twisted leather. The 

 Assyrian rooms at the British Museum contain beau- 

 tiful representations of hunting" scenes taken from 

 the palace of an Assyrian monarch who reigned from 

 668 to 626 B.C. The hounds there depicted are very 

 powerful -looking, not by any means far removed 

 from our modern Mastiff, but the inference is that 

 they were speedier, as we see them hunting the wild 

 horse. The Persians dearly loved a dog, those used 

 for sporting purposes being known as educated. The 

 references to hounds in Homer are, of course, familiar 

 to most we 11 -read people. The ancient Britons 

 possessed a small hound which it was claimed was the 

 forerunner of the Beagle, and we also know that 

 Mastiffs were imported into Rome from Great Britain. 

 Turbervile, whose classic " Booke of Hunting," 

 published in 1576, deserves to be in the hands of 

 every cynologist, had an ingenious theory, founded 

 on researches in France, that after the destruction 

 of Troy yneas landed in Italy, where he founded a 

 family. His grandson, Brutus, one day killing by 

 accident his father while hunting, made a voyage 

 into Greece to deliver certain Trojans there detained 

 in captivity. With these he set sail, taking with 

 him a great number of Hounds and Greyhounds. 

 Passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, he ended 

 his journey in a part of France afterwards called 

 Bretaigne, after Brutus himself. The subsequent 

 history of these hounds is considerably involved, but 

 we know that there were some white, others fallow, 

 some dun, and others black. The latter, the black 

 St. Huberts, came from the Abbey in the Ardennes, 



