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19 found to be faithful protectors of the property and even persons of the very men by whom they are thus despitefully treated; although, Sonini remarks, it is extremely curious to see the pains taken by a Mussulman, and a dog, when they happen to meet, to avoid coming in contact with each other. Notwithstanding this state of persecution, dogs are remarkably numerous in the town of Egypt. The species is a large one, about the size and make of our greyhound. As a proof of the Mahommedan prejudice against the useful animal, it is sufficient to state, that they regard the terms Christian and dog as synonimous— both, of course, in the most opprobrious sense. As a singular contrast to the foregoing, we may now notice the veneration in which cats have ever been held by the Egyptians, who, in ancient times, even worshipped them. And historians tell us, that Berbastis and Atribes, two towns in Egypt, the former a votary of cats and the latter of mice, contracted, on that account, so strong an antipathy to each other, that the inhabitants were never known to intermarry, although only a few miles asunder. In some parts of India, too, we are told, they have a similar reverence for Grimalkin, as the only crimes punished capitally there are the murder of a man and a cat.

Two men digging a grave in a church-yard, at Macon, upon the river Seine, found a skull,