latter described in the tablets as "the chained-up, mouth-opening
dog"; that is to say, it was used as a watch-dog; and several
varieties are referred to in the cuneiform inscriptions preserved
in the British Museum. The Egyptian monuments of about 3000 B.C.
present many forms of the domestic dog, and there can be no doubt
that among the ancient Egyptians it was as completely a companion
of man, as much a favourite in the house, and a help in the chase,
as it is among ourselves at present. In the city of Cynopolis it was
reverenced next to the sacred jackal, and on the death of a dog the
members of the household to which he had belonged carefully shaved
their whole bodies, and religiously abstained from using the food,
of whatever kind, which happened to be in the house at the time.
Among the distinct breeds kept in Egypt there was a massive wolf-dog,
a large, heavily-built hound with drooping ears and a pointed head,
at least two varieties of Greyhound used for hunting the gazelle,
and a small breed of terrier or Turnspit, with short, crooked legs.
This last appears to have been regarded as an especial household pet,
for it was admitted into the living rooms and taken as a companion
for walks out of doors. It was furnished with a collar of leaves,
or of leather, or precious metal wrought into the form of leaves,
and when it died it was embalmed. Every town throughout Egypt had
its place of interment for canine mummies.

The dog was not greatly appreciated in Palestine, and in both the
Old and New Testaments it is commonly spoken of with scorn and
contempt as an "unclean beast." Even the familiar reference to the
Sheepdog in the Book of Job--"_But now they that are younger than
I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set
with the dogs of my flock_"--is not without a suggestion of contempt,
and it is significant that the only biblical allusion to the dog as