Then follows a _catalogue raisonné_ of his famous Zoo, in which were collected the elephants, lions, mountain-goats, stags, dromedaries, which he captured himself or obtained (antedating Hagenbeck) “through merchants whom he had sent out,” and other numerous “wild beasts and fowl of the Heaven that fly, the work of his hands, their names together with (the number of) the beasts which my (_________) did not record ... have I recorded.” In addition to these, of which “he caused their herds to bring forth young,” we find— 29. “A great _pagûtu_, a crocodile, a hippopotamus (?), and beasts of the Great Sea, 30. the king of Musrê sent unto him and caused the people of his land to behold.” We cannot determine what one of the subjects of this gift, “a great _pagûtu_,“ exactly was. _Tum-su-hu_ may possibly be the equivalent of the Egyptian _emsah_, Arabic _timsâh_, _i.e._ a crocodile. If so, Musrê must indicate Egypt.[946] The Annals of Aṣur-Nasirpal form our second document of knowledge. The walls of his palace, lined with sculptures in relief, represent his exploits in the field of battle and in the chase. Details are most carefully and elaborately carved; the designs mark the acme of Assyrian art. In Column III. he records[947] “SOME MEN I TOOK ALIVE AND IMPALED THEM ON STAKES OVER AGAINST THEIR CITIES.[948] AT THAT TIME I MARCHED INTO THE DISTRICT OF LEBANON, AND UNTO THE GREAT SEA. IN THE GREAT SEA I WASHED MY WEAPONS AND I MADE OFFERING UNTO THE GODS. THE TRIBUTE OF THE KINGS OF THE SEA FROM THE LANDS OF THE MEN OF TYRE AND SIDON AND ARVAD, WHICH LIETH IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA, SILVER AND GOLD AND A GREAT PAGÛTU AND A SMALL PAGÛTU AND IVORY AND A DOLPHIN, A CREATURE OF THE SEA, I RECEIVED AS TRIBUTE FROM THEM, AND THEY EMBRACED MY FEET.” This “washing,” or as it has otherwise been rendered “dipping,” of a weapon in the sea is not to be taken, as it sometimes is, in a sense suggesting fishing by a harpoon or spear, or as typical of victory, but rather as a symbolical act of homage and propitiation to the unknown deities of the deep. A later Assyrian king, Asurbanipal, no doubt from the value which the test of use in his many hunting expeditions afforded, regarded the dog from a point of view very different from that apparently taken by some of his subjects. To judge by an old Assyrian prayer, “From the dog, the snake, and the scorpion, and whatever is baneful may Merodach preserve us,” the general feeling was that of fear. But five clay models preserve for us representations of some of the king’s favourite hounds, with their names inscribed upon them. The appropriateness of their names betrays their master’s familiarity with canine traits, as we detect from _Chaser of the Wicked, Conqueror of the Foe, Biter of his Enemy, Mighty in his help, He crossed the road and did his bidding_![949]