| The Maltese Dog
The Maltese Dog
can be traced back to an early period. Strabo says that
"there is a town
in Sicily called Melita, whence are exported many beautiful dogs called
Canes Melitæi. They were the peculiar favourites of the women;
but now (A.D. 25) there is less account made of these animals, which are
not bigger than common ferrets or weasels, yet they are not small in
understanding nor unstable in their love."
They are also found in Malta
and in other islands of the Mediterranean, and they maintain the same
character of being devotedly affectionate to their owners, while, it is
added, — and they are not loved the less for that, — they are ill-tempered
to strangers.
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