3/0 DR. VAN DYCK ON SYRIAN STREET-DOGS. [Apt. 18, 



which may not be found ; and in form, size, and proportions of trunk 

 and hmbs, shape of head, form and size of ears, length and closeness 

 of hair, length, bushiness, and carriage of tail there is nearly as 

 much diversity. 



Twenty years ago but few persons in this city owned dogs of any 

 foreign breed whatsoever ; but pointers, poodles, terriers, a few 

 greyhounds and setters, and occasionally Newfoundlands, retrievers, 

 and" mastiffs have since been imported, and to some extent bred here. 

 By far the majority of foreign dogs to be found in Beyrout at any 

 time are smaller and decidedly weaker than the original natives ; 

 very few indeed can range the streets unaccompanied by their 

 masters, without running a considerable risk of more or less serious 

 injury from the street-dogs. Despite their marked muscular inferi- 

 ority, however, the foreign dogs have succeeded in mongrelizing the 

 whole race of street-dogs so thoroughly tliat it is now no easy 

 matter to find one of these which does not bear unmistakable 

 evidence of a foreign strain. 



To account for this, I can confidently cite the following facts from 

 my own personal observation and experience : — 1st. Native bitches 

 very often manifest a decided preference for certain foreign dogs ; 

 and I have repeatedly seen such a bitch reject, one after another, a 

 train of kindred suitors, to accept without hesitation a thorough-bred 

 pointer. My brother once owned a French pointer named Jack, 

 quite small, but beautifully proportioned, and of a uniform golden 

 fawn colour. This dog was so great a favourite with the opposite 

 sex of the native breed, that he led an exceedingly "gay" life. 

 Pointer bitches, on the contrary, not unfrequently refused him for 

 the sake of a street-dog. '2rid, Pointers and other well-bred bitches 

 are frequently so decided and persistent in their preference for street- 

 dogs (usually for some particular individual, unseen it may be, but 

 communicated with by the voice), that they will go barren whole 

 seasons rather than accept mates chosen for them by their masters. 

 In such cases, a moment's carelessness or inattention is sufficient 

 to ensure a litter of mongrel pups, which, if not destroyed in puppy- 

 hood, are very apt eventually to find their way into the street, 

 there to multiply the chance of infection for the whole race. 3rd. 

 Mongrel strains are most strongly pronounced in the suburbs, where 

 street-dogs are ratlier less numerous than in the heart of the city, 

 and where sly and runaway matches are favoured by hedgerows, 

 shrubbery, &c. &c. In the city itself, on the contrary, where the 

 chances are ten to one that claims will be settled by the law of 

 battle, the foreign taint is not so evident ; indeed a casual observer 

 might easily overlook it in many instances ; and if any pure-blooded 

 representatives of the old stock are still in existence, it must be in the 

 most thickly stocked quarter, where butcher's shops are many and 

 very near together and street-dogs proportionately numerous. 



