Dogs

were the friends and comrades of men, guarding the home and flock. They were often said to have human souls, or souls equally precious in the sight of the gods. A dog must gaze on the corpse of every Mazdean on its way to the “Towers of Silence”; and it guards the heavenly bridge. The “four eyed dog” of Parsi funeral rites (a kind of terrier with marks over the eyes), should be of the yellowish color of the primitive wild dog. He leads the proce ion to the Dakhma (or funeral tower), within 30 paces of which none but the corpse-bearers may go. Here he is brought by the priest to the naked corpse, to which his attention is directed, and the priest feeds him with bread carried in a snow-white napkin. This is called the Sag-did or “ doggaze” rite; and the mourners are thus a ured that no evil spirit can a ail the dead, protected by the dog, during the three days preceding judgment of the soul. The dog leads to the “Bridge of the Gatherer,” but on the way lies the demon Nasus (“decay”), only to be frightened by a yellow dog with four eyes. Thus dogs with the two eye-spots must be secured for the funerals. The Baktrians, Sogdians, and Parthians, used to throw the dead to their dogs. The Abbé Hue found the Tibetans even cutting up the corpses for the dogs. In 1888 Prejvalsky writes: “ Mongols here fling their dead to dogs, who may be seen waiting about for their repast.” Yet these Mongols profe to be Buddhists. At some of the Lama-serf is, a savage breed of dogs is actually kept for the same purpose, for this is deemed “an honourable form of burial,” which only the rich can afford. [Semitic races seem never to have honoured dogs, but Gula, the gode of earth, is shown on Ka ite boundary stones with her dog beside her.—Ep.]