SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS 



sheep when the wolf rushes upon it in the lofty forest. . . . 

 If a man shall smite a shepherd's dog so that it becomes unfit 

 for work, if he shall cut off its ear or its paw, and thereupon 

 a thief or wolf break in and carry away sheep from the fold, 

 without the dog giving any warning, the man shall pay for the 

 lost sheep, and he shall pay for the wound of the dog as for 

 wilful wounding. If a man shall smite a house-dog so that 

 it becomes unfit for work . . . and thereupon a thief or a wolf 

 break in ... the man shall pay for the lost goods, and he 

 shall pay for the wound of the dog." * 



In connexion with the death of the Grand Lama, Das 

 states that at Tashi-Lumpo there were found " large packs of 

 hounds and mastiffs which the Grand Lama had kept for 

 sporting purposes, though the sacerdotal function precluded 

 him from shooting animals." 



In the course of his remarks on the funeral ceremonies 

 of the Tibetans, Das comments on the participation of 

 dogs with vultures in the gruesome rites as to disposal of 

 the dead, practised throughout Lamaist Mongolia to this 

 day. 



Sir Thomas Holdich mentions the " savage corpse-eating 

 dogs which infest the purlieus of Lhasa, and says that " a 

 solitary wayfarer on foot runs no little risk from the number of 

 savage dogs which prowl around the city wall feeding on offal 

 and human corpses." f Manning's description of Lhasa is 



* " Sacred Books of the East," vol. iv, p. 154. 



f " Tibet the Mysterious," by Sir Thomas Holdich, p. 258. " The giving of the 

 dead to dogs and vultures was a Persian practice, and was perhaps a custom of great 

 antiquity among the Aryans generally." " The Rise of Man," by C. R. Conder. 



" According to Strabo the manners of the Bactrians differed in little from those of 

 the Scythians in their vicinity. The old men, Onesicritus asserted, were abandoned 

 whilst yet living, to the dogs, which were thence called ' buriers of the dead.' ... In 

 the present ritual of the Parsis the dog plays a very prominent part. Amongst other 

 various particulars relating to the animal, it is enjoined that dogs of different colours 

 should be made to see a dead body on its way to be exposed, either thrice or six or 

 nine times, that they may drive away the evil spirit, the Daruj Nesosh, who comes 



87 



