14 The Dog Book 



of the British Museum, exhibiting individual drawings upon which he bases 

 some deductions as to the breeds represented. 



The upper dog is a strong, hound-looking animal, with drop-ears; his 

 name is given as Behka, and he is a white gazelle-dog. The Arabs still 

 have light-coloured dogs for this purpose. 



Dr. Talcott Williams, of Philadelphia, who has travelled in the Orient 

 and northern Africa, writes: "The earliest reference to a hunting dog that 

 I know of in Arabia, is the large greyhound 'Selugi.' The 'g' is hard. 

 This is a large greyhound, light-coloured. I mean by that, almost as light 

 as the lighter parts of a dark pointer, but with the short-haired greyhound 

 coat distinctly. He stands high and is big enough to make short work of 

 a gazelle or to drag down a wild ass. The Arab tradition is that the name 

 of this dog is derived from " Seleucus Nicator," the founder of the Syrian 

 Monarchy of the Antiochaedae. He seems to have brought there the large 

 hunting dog of Macedonia." 



Another of the dogs is Pehtes, black, which Dr. Birch puts down as a 

 mastiff; another, according to his name, was a spotted dog or parti-coloured, 

 and the dog between the legs both Dr. Birch and Mr. Bartlett claim to be 

 of Dalmatian type. It is presumptuous, perhaps, to question the opinions 

 of gentlemen who have the original at their command, but Mr. Bartlett is 

 speaking with the sketches as his guide, and the one they say is a Dalmatian 

 is a square-muzzled, prick-eared dog, quite of the type seen in the Assyrian 

 relics as dogs of Asurbanipal, and shown later in the molossus at Athens. 

 The black mastiff has a decided resemblance to the hound on the terra- 

 cotta tablet, also an Assyrian "exhibit" on another page, which is possibly 

 the original of the Thibet mastiff of our day. Egypt was a far-advanced, 

 flourishing country at this time, and doubtless drew upon many distant 

 lands for novelties. That dogs were so received is shown by a coloured 

 painting from the tomb of Redmera at Thebes, representing the receipt 

 of tribute from different parts of Asia. Eight dogs form part of this con- 

 signment, and although there are four varieties, they are all very conven- 

 tional as to shape, drawn one beyond the other, with only the outline of 

 each dog showing in most cases. There is first one of hound type; then 

 the prick-eared, curled-tail greyhound type, and two self-coloured, dark 

 dogs, with blunter muzzles, while the far dog in the front line of five shows 

 a spotted leg. The Egyptians occasionally painted their dogs fancifully: 

 red and blue was one artist's combination, another used a yellow for the 



