DOGS : ANCIENT AND MODERN. 



399 



of Gre,yhound employed for coursing the Gazelle. But although 

 only these two kinds have been found upon the monuments, there 

 is reason to believe that some other breeds were known to the 

 Assyrians. 



The Rev. W. Houghton, who has paid considerable attention 

 to the subject, and has published a very learned and most 

 interesting paper on " the Mammalia of the Assyrian Sculp- 

 tures,"* commenting upon the bilingual tablets which have been 

 discovered, whereon the Assyrian names of animals and plants 

 are represented side by side with their Accadian equivalents, 

 states that he has found on one of these names which signify 

 "the chained-up mouth-opening dog" (that is, a watch-dog), and 



Fig. 4. — Assyrian Mastiff. B. C. 660. (Houghton, I. c). 



the " protecting dog," probably a sheep-dog. In addition to 

 these he has also deciphered words implying " the water-dog," 

 and " the dog of the earth," perhaps some kind of Terrier, or 

 at all events an animal dwelling, as many wild dogs do, in a 

 burrow. To the Assyrians, then, as to the Egyptians, several 

 different breeds appear to have been known. 



The earliest record of the dog in Sacred History is in con- 

 nection with the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, and it has 

 been suggested that the religious homage paid to it by their 

 oppressors may probably explain why the Jews were taught to 



* Trans. Soc. Bibl. ArcliEeol., vol. v. (1877). 



