CUSTOMS RESPECTING DOGS. 129 



most miserable under which they can possibly exist ; lean to the bone, and covered 

 with mange, yet, in that burning- climate, they never go mad : a circumstance 

 worth noting by those, who speculate on the causes of rabies in the dog, supposed 

 in this Country, to arise from the heat of the Dog Days, and from want of proper 

 nourishment. 



Egyptian Dogs are represented as a race of large Hounds, inclining 1 to the Grey- 

 hound form, and very finely shaped and handsome, when kept in good condition. 

 But in general, as is the case of all starved animals, their muscles sink, their joints 

 give way, and they lose the original elegance and symmetry of their form, and 

 doubtless great part of the impression of those natural qualities for which they are 

 most valuable. Nevertheless these instinctive qualities are rather decayed, or 

 obscured by weakness and disease, than absolutely destroyed. A sensibility to 

 duty, and obedience to their unreflecting and unfeeling tyrant, man, still subsists in 

 this miserable race of animals, and they are constantly observed going and coming 

 in the most frequented streets, at the same time avoiding to touch the clothes of 

 the passengers, with an attention truly curious and wonderful; far more so indeed, 

 than that of the apprehensive Mussulman, who to avoid contact with them, puts 

 aside his robe. These neglected dogs, yet, impelled by their natural instinct, 

 watch over the safety of their executioners. They are the terror of thieves upon 

 the wharfs, and in the craft on the river ; and in the interior of the towns, they 

 guard the property of the inhabitants as if entrusted to their vigilance. An 

 admirable instinct, a natural inclination to make themselves useful to man, induce 

 them voluntarily to assume a superintendance which nobody confides to them, 

 nobody points out to them, yet it would be impossible to approach the charge sur- 

 rounded by these volunteer guardians. The conduct of these dogs is additionally 

 singular, on the consideration that, their species, the Greyhound, is not supposed to 

 be endowed generally with the keeper property, which however perhaps all dogs 

 possess in a certain degree. 



Amongst the wonders related of these Egyptian dogs, it is not the least thai;, 

 they never quit the quarter of town or country, in which they first drew breath. 

 They form distinct tribes, and never exceed their proper limits! Should an 

 individual stray into another quarter, the stranger would be instantly attacked by 

 the whole tribe into which he had intruded, and would scarcely escape destruc- 

 tion. The Bedouin Arabs, who in all respects, are far less superstitious than the 

 Turks, and renowned for their kindness to animals, keep large Greyhounds, which 

 watch round their tents ; of these dogs they take the greatest care, and so great is 

 the affection of these benevolent masters, that the life of a man would be in great 

 jeopardy, who should kill a Bedouin's dog. 



The capricious Turks, on the other hand, with the most unjust, and decided 

 aversion to dogs, a species of animals the acknowledged symbol of an unalterable 

 attachment and fidelity inimitable by man, entertain a strong and kind of religious 



