ISLAM

142 ISLAM VERSU.S CHRISTIANITY
any accidents and though I might often have
been taken, I never was. I would not like to trust
Christian brigands in the same fashion?
"Gentleness and humanity are among the most
marked characteristics of the Turk. In no
European country are animals treated so kindly
as they are in Turkey. A Turk never ill uses
his horse or his domestic pets, and the wonderful
tameness of these creatures in Turkey
testifies to this good trait."*
"In Constantinople the pariah dogs
*
lie about the
streets in their tens of thousands ; they live partly
or garbage and partly on the scraps of food
which even the poor Turks put out for them.
These dogs, though fighting among themselves,
display nothing but friendship for and confidence
in man. They never move for one as they
sprawl across the narrow pavements, for they
know that no Turk would have the heart to
f kick them out of the way. A few years ago an
American offered a very large sum for the
right to clear Constantinople of its pariah dogs,
his object being to sell their skins to the
glove-makers. The populace raised a howl of
indignation when they heard of this, and had
not the scheme been abandoned serious riots
would have occured. There is no need for a
society on the prevention of cruelty to animals
in a Turkish town' 9
Awakening of Turkey '(London), pp. 8-9