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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The Lion Dog
is a diminutive likeness of the noble animal whose name it bears. Its head, neck, shoulders, and fore-legs down to the very feet, are covered with long, wavy, silky hairs. On the other parts of the dog it is so short as scarcely to be grasped, except that on the tail there is a small bush of hair. The origin of this breed is not known; it is, perhaps, an intermediate one between the Maltese and the Turkish dog.