THE DOG. 3 



i he dogs." The dogs licked the innocent, Mood of Naboth, and afterwards thai of Ah;ilp, lii.; io\;i| 



murderer, and ate the llesh of .le/.ebel, his |iartner in guilt. Thus Homer speaks of those 



" Whose limb*, unburied on the naked shore, 

 Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore ;" 



anil tells u.s that many of the Trojans were also their prev. 

 Myron says of one ; 



" He saw the lean dogs beneath the wall 

 Hold o'er the dead their carnival : 

 Gorging and growling o'er carcase nmf limb, 

 They w<;re too buxy to bark at him." 



The dogs of Constantinople at the present time belong to everybody and to nobody ; the streets 

 are their homes. Though a worrying nuisance to walkers, their general utility is obvious ; for, as the 

 Turks throw the leavings of their kitchens out of clooi-s, the streets would very soon be impassable, 

 but for the scavenger-like propensities of the dogs and the storks, assisted occasionally by the vultures. 

 ' No one," says Gadsby, " admits them into their houses, but everybody feeds them. Some of the 

 tradesmen give them credit for so much meat a day at the butchers' shops, which dog and butcher 

 alike understand and value. I have seen nearly a dozen standing opposite a butcher's shop, waitin:; 

 to lie fed." As they subsist entirely on charity and what they pick up, instinct teaches them the 

 necessity of a division of labour ; and, therefore, as a company of beggars has separate walks for its 

 members, so these dogs divide the city and its suburbs into districts, " Were one found," says Mr. 

 Blade, " in a strange quarter, he would infallibly be torn in pieces by the resident dogs ; and so well 

 are they aware of this, that no argument, not even a bone of roast meat, will induce a dog to follow 

 a person beyond his district. We caressed, for experiment, one of these animals, whose post, with 

 many others, was near the Mevlevi Khan. We daily fed him, till he became fat and sleek, and earned 

 his tail high, and was no longer to be recognised for his former self. With his physical, his moral 

 qualities improved. He lost his currishness, and, when his patrons approached, expressed gratitude by 

 licking their hands ; yet he would never follow them beyond an imaginary limit either way, when lie 

 would stop, wag his tail, look wistfully after them till they were out of sight, and then return to his 

 post. Once only I saw'him overstep his limit. He was very hungry, and we were alluring him with 

 tempting food ; but he had not exceeded twenty yards, when he recollected himself, and ran hastily 

 I iack. I cannot say if any order of precedency is observed in gaining the best stations, as near a 

 butcher's shop or a khan." 



In former times dogs were treated here with special honour. " The Great Turk's clogs, and the 

 manner of keeping them," says the merchant Sanderson, " are worth the sight ; for they have their 

 several attendants, as if they were great heroes, and have their clothing of cloth of gold, velvet, 

 searlet, and other colours of cloth ; their sundry couches, and the places where they are kept most 

 cleanly. My Lord Zouch, when he was there, as Master Burton said, did like exceedingly well of this 

 place and attendance of the dogs. When the Great Turk went out of the city toward the wars, it was 

 with wonderful great solemnity and notable order, too long to describe particularly ; but I remember 

 a great number of dogs led afore him, well manned, and in their best apparel cloth of gold, velvet, 

 scarlet, and purple cloth." 



Prom early times to this, dogs have been familiar and interesting objects to the people of many 

 lands. They stand more perpendicularly upon the toes than wolves. Their ears are origiu.-.lly upright 

 and pointed, in all the races which have long hair and a sharp muzzle ; in those in which the head is 

 similarly terminated, but the hair is short, the ears are half erect; in the blunt-headed, they hang 

 down. The eyes of all are more horizontal than in the wild species ; they are seated somewhat 

 nearer together, are comparatively larger, of light brown, black, and sometimes of light blue colours. 



On the face of the dog are certain small tubercles or warts, giving forth a few slid' hairs : one on 

 each side, beyond the angle of the mouth : a smaller one, often scarcely discernible, nearer to the ear ; 

 and one on the under jaw, beyond the chin. There is a small patch on the under surface of the tail, 

 about its centre, where the hair often appears deficient. It is most conspicuous in smooth-haired dogs. 

 il is turned upwards, and generally inclined slightly to the left, sometimes considerably ; and, as 

 the ri,'ht shoulder is rather more advanced than the opposite, there is a somewhat oblique mode of 



