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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 offices, 
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 J ackal 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 referring 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, getting loose, it made an onslaught on the Quartermaster’s Turkeys, 
and destroyed the whole of them. Some ill-natured person afterwards poisoned 
it. — E d. 
