LIFE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 275 



cross with the wolf or the hyena is quite apparent. 

 One dog, which we picked up at Bela in Beluchistan, 

 was marked exactly like a hyena ; it had no bark, 

 only a howl, carried its head like a wild beast, and 

 was very intractable and treacherous. Several ex- 

 periments with dogs purchased from Afghans were 

 not very encouraging, for they refused to accommo- 

 date themselves to anything like civilised life. Only 

 one could we attach to our own person, and there 

 he stopped, resolutely refusing to acknowledge such 

 things as friends and acquaintances, and holding ob- 

 stinately by the theory that his master's hand was 

 against every man. "When loose, he lay in wait for 

 all visitors, and cunningly attacked them behind just 

 as they were entering the bungalow ; when chained, 

 he barked and howled until he broke loose, or worried 

 himself into temporary suffocation. To the nowker 

 log, or domestics, he was an object of the utmost 

 dread and veneration. In vain they attempted to 

 propitiate his favour by giving him choice morsels ; 

 he took the meat, but growled at them all the time to 

 show his incorruptibility. When they entered our 

 sitting-room, he would steal behind, and playfully 

 give their calves a gentle squeeze, just to remind them 

 what they Avere about. Nothing could reconcile him 

 to the mehtur, or sweeper, who, under protection, 

 washed him occasionally ; that unhappy individual 

 applied for an advance of wages, and finally left our 

 service, on the ground of his life being in danger. 



