The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-11-07
CONSTANTINOPLE
And Its Multitude of Hairless
NANCY, Friendless Dogs.
Characteristics OF the Ours which
Haunt the Levant-Les. Dog
and More Meas-CoIo-
niles OF Dogs.
ICs nstantinople Letter

lItnstantinopie Letter.
The first thing that strikes the tourist unon
landing in Constantinople is the multitude of
dogs. The first thing that the tourist strikes
upon landing here is also the multitude Of
dogs. The same general breed of dogs, hair
less, NANCY and friendess, prevails over the
Levant You will find them in Suez, Cairo,
Alexander, Jaffa, Jeru alem, Beyrout, Da-
mascus, Smyrna-in fact in every town
where the Turkish flag flies. But in Con-
stantinople these dogs flourish in all their
etfiorescence. They are countless; they line
the sidewalks; they pave the streets; they
fairly freckle the landscape Nobody touches
them except the stranger. They subsist on
their own vermin and cannot he made to get
out Of tho way.
The chief characteristic Of the CONSTANT
nople dog is indecision.
The American dog is always full Of bust
ness; in fact, he always has more ON hand
than he can well attend do The CONSTANT
nope dog sleeps min e-tenths of the time, day
and night lying cur!ei upon the pavement
like caterpillar that has been knocked down
while he was atteIa 2ting to climb pole.
lie never gets square meal and he would
hardly have the strength to cat it il
it were before him. Three or four
times a day he rises laboriously from
the spot where he has been sleeping, looks
around over his left shoulder with per-
picked, aimless expression, and then drops
his head and surveys the ground for q mo-
ment in silent sadness. What shall he do.
Shall he change his position little or con-
tinue to slumber for a few more hoursi
Again he raises his head and looks about him.
Perhaps some of his sleeping confreres may
rise and he will take his cue from him. But
no one does, and at length, in despair Of OBJ
tanning clue as to the proper thing to do,
he sinks back upon the pavement, his strength
completely expended by the exercise of
standing up so long.
As he does so b is tail falls across the street
car track; but he is oblivious Of any such in
cident.
A moment later the train comes along, and
there are two pieces of doggy then. have
seen this occur more than once With her.
culean effort the alleged dog rises to his feet
again, summoning all his reserve Of vocal
energy, yells twice. Some dogs have the
strength to yell three times Then he turns
painfully around and surveys first the eio-
qnent tail and then the bleeding place where
it came from, Again indecision il his lead
ing trait. Watch him long enough and You
will see him crawl nearer to the tail Pres
emily he goSbles 1t up, and has the first sub
soahtlai meal tnat no mas known Tor CEN
fury. A moment later he is fast asleep again.
These dogs live in regular colonies in front
Of the meat markets Not that they expect
to get anything to eat there, but they can
sleep better where the sound of the meat ak
and saw are to be heard. I have seen as
high as fifteen dogs huddled together, asleep
on the pavement in front of these narrow
markets.. You cannot kill the poor ours
The accidents which are commonly reckoned
fatal scarcely create a ripple Of interest on
the part Of the animal, have learned to
recognize many Of the brutes by the phases
of mutilation they display. One drags
his two hind legs on the ground as if his
back was broken. Another has three logs
and one car Mangled paws and tails are
common. The Indifference to bodily violence
is sometimes amusing l do not think my
instincts are brutal, but one of the funniest
things have seen in many day was child
beating dog on the streets this morning.
Every time the whip descended there was an
anticipatory cringe on the part of the poor
brute, who had not the enterprise to get out
of the way. His occasional yeps and THO
pensive, reproachful glances which he sent
back at the youngster were grotesquely
amusing. You could not have kept from
laughing II you had seen the same thing.