^82 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



the term dog which they bestow on the nations of 

 Europe: very different in this, as well as in every 

 other respect, from the ancient Egyptians, who 

 rendered a particular worship, and the highest ho- 

 nours, among other animals, to the most sagacious 

 of all, to that one whose excellent qualities make 

 him most worthy of human attentions *. 



From one of those inconceivable contradictions, 

 prevalent particularly among Mussulmans, there 

 are few cities in the world which contain so many 

 dogs as those of Egypt, or, at least, there is no one 

 which has the appearance of containing more, be- 

 cause they are there constantly assembled in the 

 streets, their only habitation. There they have no 

 other supplies of food but what they can pick up at 

 the doors of houses, or scramble for by raking into 

 filth and garbage. The females drop their young 

 at the corner of some retired and unfrequented 

 street ; for a disciple of Mahomet would not per- 

 mit them to approach his habitation. Continually 

 exposed to the cruel treatment of the populace; 

 massacred sometimes, without mercy, by an armed 

 mob; subjected to all the inclemency of the ele- 

 ments; hardly finding the means of supporting a 

 wretched existence ; meagre, irritated to madness, 

 frequently eaten up of a mange which degenerates 



* The worship of the dog was universally diffused over Egypt. 



sometimes 



