ORIENTAL GREYHOUNDS. 



477 



are endowed with sagacity and great powers 

 of endurance. So fully qualified for their 

 work, no wonder they are preserved with so 

 much care, and the Arabs may well say of 

 them as of their treasured horses, " Are not 

 these the inheritance of our fathers, and 

 shall not we to our sons bequeath them ? " 



The natives give great attention to the 

 rearing of their Slughi. They bring them 

 up for a year on sheep's milk, which is said 

 to make them strong, and especially swift. 

 When they are old enough they are fed with 

 the hawks. 



When quite young they are taught to 

 bring back to their master bones and desert 

 rats which have been thrown for them to 

 retrieve. The children assist at their early 

 education. At about six months old the 

 puppies are taken out to hunt rats and jerboa, 

 and are subsequently taught to course hares, 

 and finally gazelle. They are occasionally 

 trained only by accom- 

 panying a well-trained 

 dog. At two years old 

 they should be fully 

 qualified for sport. 

 They are kept in lean 

 condition to make tliem 

 keen. 



The scattered tribe 

 of the Soleyb, the great 

 hunters of the desert, 

 in parts of Syria and 

 Mesopotamia, are 

 especially famed as 

 breeders of the Slughi. 

 A Soleyb will occasion- 

 ally do a little dog deal- 

 ing, and will go far 

 across the desert to 

 complete a bargain. As 

 a rule, however, the 

 Slughi is presented as a gift by one chief to 

 another, or as a mark of esteem to travellers, 

 the owners refusing money for them, so 

 tenacious are they of their valuable dogs. 

 The Slughi used to be imported from Koweit, 

 with horses, by sea to India ; but this 

 commerce has ceased with the decline of 

 the horse trade. 



The history of the Slughi must be drawn 



from many sources. A few scattered refer- 

 ences from some of these will give an outline 

 of its story. 



A glance at the Egyptian fragment of 

 Heirokompolis shows the Slughi as far 

 back as the pre-dynastic period, 6,000 B.C. 

 They are represented in the Fifth Dynasty 

 as the sporting companions of kings, 3,800 

 B.C. ; in the Twelfth Dynasty in life-like 

 scenes of sport ; in the Eighteenth Dynasty 

 mural paintings portray, as spoils of war, pairs 

 of beautiful golden and also white Gazelle 

 Hounds with feathered tails. Mummied 

 Slughi are also found (see p. 5). A new 

 one has lately been discovered in the 

 Tombs of the Kings. 



Again through Egypt which affords records 

 of pre-Israelitish Palestine, a glimpse is 

 given of these dogs in the desert beyond 

 Jordan. May not these early allusions tend 

 to the acceptance of the use of the word 



SLUGHIS ON THE EGYPTIAN DESERT. 



" Greyhound," m the verse in Proverbs 

 (ch. XXX. 31), to denote one of the four 

 things that are " comely in going " ? 



In specimens of art in Assyria, notably 

 on a bronze bowl from the palace of Nim- 

 roud, preserved in the British Museum, 

 Greyhounds coursing hares are beautifully 

 designed. During their expeditions to 

 " Arabia," the Greeks noticed the " swift 



