OEDEE OP CAENIVOEA. 397 



throw in their way. After the start of the caravan they rush 

 upon the deserted halting-place, greedily fighting for all the 

 refuse. 



Lastly, like the Hyenas, they disinter the dead. To protect 

 graves from their outrages, the inhabitants are obliged to cover 

 them with large stones and prickly bushes. 



Nor do the Jackals limit themselves to these means of existence, 

 but kill as food a quantity of small Mammals, and unite to hunt 

 the Antelope, Gazelle, &c. When numerous enough, they are not 

 afraid to attack Oxen and Horses. With regard to Man, they 

 fear him, if one may judge by their timid movements when 

 suddenly thrown in his presence. The stories of Women and 

 Children having been devoured by Jackals are, therefore, pure 

 fabrications. 



Another fable is that which assigns the Jackal the duties of 

 being the Lion's purveyor. The ancients said that the Jackal 

 always went before the Lion to discover and give it notice of prey, 

 and that the King of Beasts recognised these good oifiees, 

 and consigned to it, in return, the remains of the meal. This 

 story, taken by Aristotle from an Indian apologue, was borrowed 

 from the ancient writer by the naturalists of the eighteenth 

 century, during which time it enjoyed a certain amount of favour, 

 although it absolutely rested on nothing. 



The Jackal can be perfectly tamed.* Taken young, it is both 

 docile and playful, and knows well its master, also those about 

 it, and readily attaches itself to strangers. But it is timid and 

 capricious, and often passes from one extreme of temper to the 

 other without any apparent cause. In this way it has much 

 of the Dog's character, which it resembles physically, and is 

 said to breed with. This is the reason why it has been maintained, 

 and with good grounds, that the Jackal is the origin and stock of 

 all the breeds of the Domestic Dog now existing. 



Naturalists have not always been of this opinion. Fr. 

 Cuvier opposed the theory by ]'ef erring to the disagreeable 

 odour emitted by the Jackal ; and adds that there is nothing to 



* I possessed a Jackal at Gibraltar that was quite as tame as a Dog ; to keep it 

 out of mischief it was permitted to go about coupled to an old and very wise Poodle. 

 However "-ettino- loose, it made an onslaught on the Quartermasters iurkeys, 

 and destroyed the whole of them. Some ill-natured person afterwards poisoned 

 it.— Ed.. 



