Man's First Friend 



that doth, and it is a thing most certaine, 

 that the greatest part of the races of houndes 

 whiche are in Fraunce and other countries 

 adioyning, did come from the country of 

 Bretaigne, excepting the race of white 

 houndes, the whiche I think to be come from 

 Barbary." 



It is not my purpose here to inquire 

 whether Turberville is right or wrong in his 

 surmise, but we know that to this day in 

 France there are breeds of beautiful hounds 

 whose purity of lineage has been preserved 

 with great jealousy by successive genera- 

 tions. That the Egyptians knew the dog 

 about 3000 B.C. is evidenced by their monu- 

 ments of that period, and traces of him have 

 been found with the bones of Neolithic man. 

 The mastiff was in these islands before the 

 Romans discovered them ; some hold that 

 swift hunting dogs, such as the greyhound, 

 were indigenous to Britain, and Oppian 

 tells of hounds that hunted by scent being 

 fed by " the fierce nation of painted Britons, 



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