DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



slaughtered that they might accompany their master's spirit 

 in its journey. " All Americans believe in the soul's journey 

 to another world and some speak of the bridge leading to 

 heaven, and others of the Milky Way as the path of souls. 

 The custom of removing the corpse by a special door, found 

 among the Algonquins, is ancient in China and Thibet, and 

 was once well known in Europe also. The dog slain at the 

 tomb becomes the guide of the soul, as in Persia." * 



The inclusion of dogs in burial ceremony can be traced 

 back to the Copper period, when man was still using stone 

 implements and had in Europe only two kinds of domestic 

 dog (C. palustris and C. intermedius). A young girl of the 

 period has been found to be protected by four dogs' heads 

 placed symmetrically with the fangs outwards and at the 

 corners, below a circle of stones with animal bones. The soil 

 was covered with a heap of small stones nearly six feet deep. 

 Elliott remarks that this, no doubt, superstitious ceremony may 

 have had something to do with the ever-present danger of 

 wolves. The people who lived in this village belonged to 

 the Cromagnon and Furfooz types. f 



A similar custom exists among certain African tribes at the 

 present time, a dog being slaughtered at the burial of a 

 chief.J It is believed that in Africa this dog-sacrifice has 

 taken the place of the sacrifice of slaves or of enemies captured 

 in war. The well-defined leading-harness appears to indicate 

 that in China the idea was rather to provide a guide for the 

 spirit through the darkness of the future existence. Similar 

 harness may be seen on dogs leading the blind in China at 

 the present day. 



Clay figures of the human servitors of the deceased are 



* " The Rise of Man," by C. R. Conder, 1908. 



f " Prehistoric Man and his Story," by G. F. Scott Elliott, 1915. 



I " Ban of the Bori," by Tremayne. 



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