370 DR. VAN DYCK ON SYRIAN STREET-DOGS. [Apr. 18, 
which may not be found ; and in form, size, and proportions of trunk 
and limbs, 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 that 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. 2nd. 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 rather 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 bein the 
most thickly stocked quarter, where butcher’s shops are many and 
very near together and street-dogs proportionately numerous. 
