400 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



regard it as unclean. Canon Tristram, however, assigns another 

 reason, and considers that the dog came to be regarded with 

 aversion and disgust from its scavenger-like habits, and the filthy 

 nature of its food in Oriental towns.* 



Every Oriental city and village abounds with troops of hungry 

 and half-savage dogs, which own allegiance rather to the place 

 than to persons, and which wander about the streets and fields 

 howling dismally at night, and devouring even the dead bodies of 

 men when they can reach them. 



" The common dog of Eastern towns," says Canon Tristram 

 {op. cit. p. 80), " is the same breed as that of the Shepherd-dog, 

 often in India called the Pariah-dog, and probably the nearest in 

 appearance to the wild original, not unlike the Jackal, with short 

 sharp-pointed ears, sharp snout, generally a tawny coat, and tail 



Fig. 5.— Ancient Egyptian Terrier. (Wilkinson, I.e.). 



scarcely bushy. It much resembles in form and size the Shep- 

 herd's dog or Colley of the North of England. ***** 

 No other breed of dog is known in Palestine, save such as are 

 introduced and kept by Europeans, excepting the Persian Grey- 

 hound, a very different animal from the town dog, and highly 

 prized by the desert Sheikhs, who use it for the chase of the 

 Gazelle. It is of the shape of our Greyhound, but larger and 

 stronger, with long silky hair on the ears and belly, and a long 

 pendent fringe of the same fine hair on the tail. Inferior in 

 speed, it far surpasses our Greyhound in endurance, and can 

 frequently run down the Gazelle." 



The only instance noticed in Scripture of the dog being 

 treated "as a companion" occurs in the Book of Tobit, where 



' Natural History of the Bible,' p. 79 (6th ed.). 



