THIS WEEK'S BOOKS
Dog and Man, by A. Sloan and A. Farquhar (Hutchinson) is a most entertaining book ; and it is free from sentimentality and almost free from incredible " true stories." The authors must have read a prodigious amount to be able to quote so widely and always so interestingly. We start the history of the friendship of dog and man (apart from a conjectural survey from the Garden of Eden through prehistoric days) with
Abakaru, a house-dog in the palace of Cheops, the Pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid somewhere about 3700 B.c.
Abakaru's portrait survives ; he was a lively, intelligent- looking dog, prick-eared and curly-tailed, and he wore a collar made of a cord wrapped four times round his neck. There are
dogs' portraits from almost every part of the world. We are told of the Chinese Emperor Ling Ti, who was so fond Of a.
little dog he kept in the garden that he gave himthe official hat of the Chow-Hsien grade, the highest literary rank of the time.
The late Empress Dowager of China kept to the highest - Chinese standards of care for her dogs. Here is one of her- rules for the diet of every Imperial dog :-
" Sharks' fins and curlews' livers and breasts of quail, on these may it be fed, and for drink give it the tea that is brewed from the spring buds of the shrub that grows in the province of Hankow, or the milk of antelopes that pasture in the Imperial parks. Thus shall it preserve its integrity and self-respect."
It seems a surprise to learn that dogs were the same in be-
haviour in Roman times as in our own. In Arrian there is a description of a dog called Horme
" I have myself bred a hound whose eyes are the greyest of grey. A swift, hard-working, Courageous, sound-footed dog, and she proves a match at any time for four hares. She is, moreover, most gentle and kindly-affectioned, and never before had I a dog with such a regard for myself. When I am at home she remains closely by my side, accompanies me on going, abroad, follows me to the Gymna- siuin, and while I am exercising myself sits down near me. If she has not seen me for a short time she jumps up repeatedly, by way of salutation, and barks with joy as a greeting to me. At meals she pats me with one foot and then the other, to remind me that she is to have her share of the food."
So the two authors continue through history, giving us always the liveliest and pleasantest illustrations.
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