THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



was used as a watch-dog ; and several 

 varieties are referred to in the cuneiform 

 inscriptions preserved in the British Museum. 

 The Egyptian monuments of about 3000 

 B.C. present many forms of the domestic 

 dog, and there can be no doubt that among 

 the ancient Egyptians it was as completely 

 a companion of man, as much a favourite 

 in tlie house, and a help in the chase, as 

 it is among ourselves at present. In the 



EGYPTIAN HOUNDS. CIRCA 3000 B.C. 



city of Cynopolis it was reverenced next to 

 the sacred Jackal,* and on the death of a dog 

 the members of the household to which 

 he had belonged carefully shaved their 

 whole bodies, and religiously abstained from 

 using the food, of whatever kind, which 

 happened to be in the house at the time. 

 Among tlie distinct breeds kei)t in Egypt 

 there was a massive wolf-dog, a large, 

 heavily-built hound with drooping ears and 

 a pointed head, at least two varieties of 

 Greyhound used for hunting the gazelle, 

 and a small breed of terrier or Turnspit, 

 with short, crooked legs. This last appears 

 to have been regarded as an especial house- 

 hold pet, for it was admitted into the 

 living rooms and taken as a companion 

 for walks out of doors. It was furnished 

 with a collar of leaves, or of leather, or 

 precious metal wrought into the form of 

 leaves, and when it died it was embalmed. 

 Every town throughout Egypt had its 

 place of interment for canine mummies. 



*Petrie's "Religions of Ancient Egypt," and 

 Weidermann's " Religions of the Egyptians." 



It is in connection with the sojourn of 

 the Israelites in Egypt that the first men- 

 tion of the dog in the Bible occurs, and 

 one is led to the inference that the detesta- 

 tion with which the Hebrews regarded the 

 dog may have been due to its being an 

 object of adoration to the Egyptians. This 

 reason alone can hardly have had much 

 weight, however, in view of the fact that 

 the Hebrews themselves kept oxen — animals 

 which were regularly worshipped by the 

 Egyptians ; but possibly there were other 

 more cogent reasons why the dog was not 

 appreciated in Palestine. It may be that 

 the Israelites had the misfor- 

 tune only to know this friend 

 of man in tlie character 

 of a pariah and a scavenger 

 that fed on offal and the 

 bodies of people who died in 

 the streets (i Kings xiv. ii). 

 Certain it is that in both the 

 Old and New Testaments the 

 dog is commonly spoken of 

 with scorn and contempt as 

 an " unclean beast." " Is thy 

 servant a dog, that he should do this thing ? " 

 was a phrase in which the ancient Jew ex- 

 pressed his abhorrence of dirty work. Dogs 

 seem to have been bought and sold, but the 

 price paid for a dog was not acceptable as an 

 offering to God (Deut. xxiii. i8). Even the 

 familiar reference to the Sheepdog in the Book 

 of Job — " But now they that are younger 

 than I have me in derision, whose fathers 

 I would have disdained to set with the 

 dogs of my flock " — is not without a 

 suggestion of contempt, and it is significant 

 that the onlv' biblical allusion to the dog 

 as a recognised companion of man occurs 

 in the apocryphal Book of Tobit (v. i6). 



The pagan Greeks and Romans had a 

 kindlier feeling for dumb animals than had 

 the Jews. Their hounds, like their horses, 

 were selected with discrimination, bred 

 with care, and held in high esteem, re- 

 ceiving pet names ; and the literatures of 

 Greece and Rome contain many tributes 

 to the courage, obedience, sagacity, and 

 affectionate fidelity of the dog. The 

 Phoenicians, too, were unquestionably lovers 



