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PICCADILLY

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THE

NATURALIST'S LIBRARY.

EDITED BY

SIR WILLIAM JARDINE, BART.

F.R.S.E., F.L.S., ETC. ETC.

VOL. XIX.

DOGS, VOL. II.
BY LIEUT.- COL. CHARLES HAMILTON SMITH,

K.H. AND K.W., F.R. AND L.S., PRESIDENT OF THE DEVON
AND CORNWALL NAT. HIST. SOC., ETC. ETC.

CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.

UBRARf
G

CONTENTS

THE SECOND VOLUME.

PAGE

MEMOIR OF DON FELIX D'^ZARA . . 17

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS . . . .77

• • ', . »-

* -. - »- V

SUB-GENUS CANIS . . . . ,77
The Feral Dogs.

Canes feri . . . . .118

Feral Dog of Natolia . . . .118

Feral Dog of Russia . . . .119
Feral Dog of St. Domingo.

Canis Haitensis. Plate I. . . .120
The Familiar Dogs.

Canis familiares . . • . .124

THE WOLF DOGS.
The Siberian Dog.

Canis Sibericus . . .' . .125

The Esquimaux Dog.

Canis Borealis. Plate II. ... 127

The Iceland Dog.

Canis Islandicus . . • • 130

CONTENTS.

The Hare-Indian Dog. PAGE

Canis lagopus . . . . .131
The Newfoundland Dog, original Breed.

Canis Terra Novce. Plate III. . . .132
The Nootka Dog.

Canis laniger nolis . » . 1 34
The Alco

Canis Alco. Plate IV . . . .135
The Shepherd's, or Sheep-dog.

Canis domesticus. Plate V. . „ 1 37

The Great Wolf-dog , . . .139

The Calabrian Dog . . . . .140
The Alpine, or Great St. Bernard Dog. Plate VI. . 141
The Pomeranian Dog.

Canis Pomeranus « . . .147

THE WATCH-DOGS.

Canes laniarii . . . . .148

The Turkman Watch-dog . . . .150
The Boar-hound of Germany.

Canis Suillus. Plate VII. . . .151
The Danish Dog.

Canis glaucus . . . . .152
The Matin Dog.

Canis laniarius . . . . .153
The Drover, or Cattle-dog of Cuba and Terra Firma 154

The Techichi of Mexico. Plate IV. . .156

The Black Wolf-dog of the Florida Indians . 1 56
Dog of the North American Indians. Plate VIII. . 1 59

THE GREYHOUNDS.

Canes venatici . . . . .160

The Brinjaree Dog . . . . .168

Bedouin Greyhound of Akaba. Plate IX. . 168

Greyhound of various Egyptian Monuments . .169
The Russian and Tahtar Breeds.

Gunis hirsutus » . * » 169

CONTENTS.

The Scottish Greyhound

PAGE

170

The Irish Greyhound.

Cants Hibernicus .....

173

The Grecian Greyhound.

Cants Grains • •

175

The Turkish Greyhound ....

175

The Egyptian Greyhound ....

176

The Italian Greyhound.

176

The British Greyhound.

Cants leporarius. Plate X.

177

The Lurcher.

Cants vertagus

178

The Egyptian Street-dog .

179

THE HOUNDS.

Canes sagaces ....

182

The Oriental Hound. Plate XI. •

183

The Blood-hound.

Cants sanguinarius. Plate XXXI. Fig. 2.

186

The Talbot ......

188

The Old Southern Hound ....

188

The Staff-hound. Plate XXXI. Fig. 1. .

189

The Fox-hound. Plate XII.

190

The Harrier-hound .....

191

The Beagle ......

191

The Dalmatian, or Coach-dog. Plate XIII.

193

The Parent of the Modem Coach-dog. Plate XIV.

194
194

The Pointer.

Cants avicularis . •

195

The Setter.

Cants Index. Plates XV. and XV.*

197

The Spaniel.

Cants extraritts .....

198

The Springer. Plate XVI. . . . .

199

CONTENTS.

PAGE

King Charles's Spaniel. Plate VI. . .200

The Cocker. Plate XV. . . . .200

The Blenheim, or Marlborough . . .200

The Maltese Dog . . . . . 200
The Water-dog.

Canis aquaticus. Plate XX. . . .201

The Little Barbet . . . . .202

The Griffin Dog . . . . .202
The Lion Dog ..... 202

THE CUR DOGS.

Canes domesticii . . . . .202
The Terrier.

Canis terrarius. Vignette, and in Plates XVII.,

XVIII. and XVIII.* . . . .205

The Saufinder, or Boarsearcher . . .207

The Lapland Cur . . . . .208
The Pariah Dog ..... 209

, xThePoeDog ... .210

The New Zealand Dog . » . .211

The Patagonian Dog . . . .213

The Tierra del Fuego Dog . . .214

THE MASTIFFS.

Canes urcani . . . . .216

The Mastiff of Tibet. Plate XIX. . . . 224

The English Mastiff . . . .224

The Cuba Mastiff . . , . .226
The Bull-dog.

Canis Anglicus. Plate XX. . . .227

The Bull- Terrier . . . .230

The Pug Dog . . . . .230

The Roquet ...... 231

The Little Danish Dog.

Canis variegatus . • . + .231

The Artois Mongrel . . . . .231

The Alicant Dog . . . . .231

CONTENTS.

SUB-GENUS III. VULPES. PAGE

THE FOXES . . . . 232

The Arctic Fox.

Vulpes lagopus ..... 236
The Sooty Fox.

Vulpes fuliginosus ..... 239
The Coal Fox.

Vulpes alopex. Plate XXI. . . . 240

The Brant Fox . . . . .241

The Nepal Fox.

Vulpes Hodgsonii . t . . .241

The Common Fox.

Vulpes vulgaris ....
The Norway Common Fox .
The Cross-Fox of Europe.

Vulpes crucigera . . t. . .244

The Roman Fox.

Vulpes melanogaster . . . 245

The Black Fox ..... 245
The Himalaya Fox.

Vulpes Himalaicus .... 246

The Indian Fox ..... 247
The Syrian Fox.

Vulpes tkaleb. Plate XXI.* . . .247

The Egyptian Fox.

Vulpes Niloticus. Plate XXL* . . .248

The Foxes of America .... 249

The Red Fox.

Vulpes fulvus ..... 250
The Cross- Fox of America.

Vulpes decussatus. Plate XXII. . .251

The Silver Fox.

Vulpes argentatus ... . . . 253

The Little Fox.

C.velong . . . . . 253

The Tri-coloured Fox.

Vulpes cinereo argenteus* Plate XXIII. . . 254

CONTENTS.

The Grey Fox. PA OB

Yulpes cinereus. Plate XXII.* . . 256

The Brant Fox . . . . .257

SUB-GENUS IV. AGRIODUS .... 258
Lalande's Zerda.

Agriodus auritus. Plate XXIII.* . . 260

SUBGENUS V. LYCAON . . . .261

Lycaon venaticus.

Hycena venatica. Plate XXIV. . . .266

Lycaon pictus.

Canis pictus . . . . . 268

GENUS II. HY^NA ..... 269
The Spotted Hyaena.

H. crocuta. Plate XXV. . . . .274

The Striped Hyaena.
The Hyama of Atbara . . . .276

Hycena vulgaris. Plate XXVI. . . . 276

The Hyaena of Persia and India . . .277

The Naked Hyaena of the Deserts of Nubia.

Hycena vulgaris. Plate XXVII. . . .278

The Brown Hyaena.

Hycena fusca. Plate XXVIII. . . . 278

The Strand Hyaena.

H.villosa. Plate XXIX. . . 279

GENUS III. PROTELES . . . .281

The Proteles Lalandii.

Viverra hyanoides. Plate XXX. . . 282

SYNOPSIS ...... 287

Portrait of AZARA ..... 2
Vignette Title-page .....

In all Thirty-eight Plates in this Volume,.

MEMOIR

DON FELIX D'AZARA.

THE circumstance of not the slightest sketch of the
illustrious subject of our present Memoir having
hitherto appeared in the English tongue, affords
sufficient inducement for our endeavouring to pre-
sent a short account of his life for the gratification
of our readers. Other considerations, however,
scarcely less powerful, also influence us. Though
the name of Azara must be familiar to many, the
circumstances of his chequered and honourable his-
tory are known but to few. He was a Spanish
soldier, who, from a variety of incidents, was long
detained in the deepest recesses of the South Ame-
rican provinces ; and whilst there, actively employed
in the public service of his country, he most merito-
riously improved his singular opportunities, and, self-
taught, earned that reputation as a Naturalist for
which he is so distinguished. Some account, there-
fore, of his eventful life, and his interesting writings,
can scarcely fail to ^ieet with a welcome reception.

18 MEMOIR OF

DON FELIX D'AZARA was born at Barbunales,
near Balbastro, in the province of Aragon, in Spain,
on the 18th of May, in the year 1746. His parents,
Alexander d'Azara and Marie de Perera, spent a
rural life, on their own property, far removed from
the more agitating scenes of the world, contented
and happy in their retirement. They had two sons,
whose early education they superintended, ere they
sent them to the neighbouring seminaries ; whence
they were speedily called to engage in public life,
where, in their several departments, they both ac-
quired very considerable honour and distinction.

Don Felix first studied in the university of Hu-
esca, and was then sent to the military academy of
Barcelona. During the course of his education, he
scarcely revisited his paternal roof. A few days
previous to his birth, his brother, Don Joseph Nico-
las, who was then fifteen years of age, had been
sent to the university of Salamanca. Thus the
brothers never met till the year 1765, when Don
Nicolas having obtained, through the influence of
the minister, Ricardos, the situation of Agent of the
king to the court of Rome in certain ecclesiastical
matters, passed through Barcelona, and first saw,
and scarcely more than saw, his brother. They
were then again separated for the long period of
thirty-five years.

A year before this interview, at the age of eighteen,
Don Felix had commenced his military career, and
had been appointed cadet (that is, a gentleman
volunteer, acting as a common soldier, to learn the

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 19

art of war) in the Galician regiment of infantry,
on the 1st September, 1764. On the 3d November,
1 767, he was gazetted ensign in the engineer corps ;
and on the 28th September, 1775, he was promoted
to the rank of lieutenant.

It was when holding this rank, that he bore a
part in the Spanish attack upon Algiers. Among
the first of those who disembarked, he was struck by
a large ball of copper, and was left as dead upon the
spot. The attentions, however, ol a friend, and the
boldness of a sailor, who extracted the ball with his
knife, revived him ; but he afterwards experienced
no common degree of suffering, and ere long the third
part of one of his ribs was extracted. Five years
elapsed before the wound was healed, and five years
later it again broke out in America, when an addi-
tional portion of the rib was discharged. On the 5th
of February, 1 776, he attained the rank of captain.

The following year, the courts of Spain and
Portugal, which were always at war concerning
the limits of their respective possessions in South
America, having fixed the basis of a treaty, which
was speedily afterwards ratified, commissioners were
appointed by both parties, to determine on the
spot the limits of the two countries, conformably
to the conditions of the treaty. " Being at St. Se-
bastian," says Don Felix, " in 1781, with the rank
of lieutenant-colonel of engineers, I received, du-
ring the night, an order from the General, to set
off immediately for Lisbon, there to present myself
to our ambassador. I set bff at daybreak, with-

20 MEMOIR OP

out my books or baggage, and arrived safely at
my destination. The ambassador informed me I
was now to be despatched to South America, with
Joseph Verela and two other officers, engaged in
the same commission, and concerning the particulars
of which the viceroy of Buenos Ayres would inform
us. To this last city we were to proceed without
delay, and we embarked immediately in a Portu-
guese vessel, being at war with England, and arrived
safely at Rio Janeiro. I took out with me a de-
spatch which was to be opened under the line, and
which informed me that the king had conferred on
me the rank of captain in the navy, it being judged
right that all the commissioners should be marine
officers/' • From Rio Janeiro they again speedily
embarked for Monte Video, where they met with
the viceroy, and received their particular instructions.
In conjunction with the Portuguese commissioners,
they were to fix, in terms of the preliminary treaty
of peace of 1777? the line of demarcation of the
respective parties, from the sea, not far from the
mouth of La Plata, to beyond the junction of the
Quapore and Mamore, where they together form
the Madera, a tributary of the mighty Amazon, — a
stretch from about the thirty-fifth to the eleventh
degree of south latitude. This immense line of
frontier was divided into five parts; Verela was
appointed to the two southern, whilst the next two
were assigned to Azara.

" After this," says Azara, " the viceroy sent me
alone to the great river San Pedro, a distance not

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 21

much short of five hundred miles, to the capital of
the province of the same name, that I might con-
cert, with the Portuguese general, the best method
of commencing and conducting our labours. After
having performed this service, on the very night
of my return to the Plata, I was ordered to set
off as soon as possible to Assumption, the capital of
Paraguay, to make the necessary preparations for
the Portuguese commissioners. The Spanish engi-
neers soon completed the task assigned to them ;
but as the Portuguese, by the strict execution of
the treaty, would have been obliged to abandon
the districts which they occupied, they sought every
occasion to delay as long as possible the termination
of their labours, and to elude the terms of their en-
gagement/' In all this, instead of being checked,
they were decidedly assisted by the carelessness and
culpable connivance of the Spanish governors. All
this placed Don Felix in a very distressing position,
in which, however, he was determined not passively
to succumb, and if he could not employ himself
usefully in one way, he resolved to do so in another.
" Becoming now," says he, " acquainted with their
artifices, and perceiving that instead of promoting
the settlement of the limits, their object was to pro^
long the operation indefinitely, by all kinds of
delays, by appeals to Europe, and by the most
groundless and ridiculous pretexts, I bethought me
how I might best improve the long delays which
were in this way occasioned; and conceiving that
the viceroys would neither grant me their permission

22 MEMOIR OF

nor their help, in the fear that I should abuse their
condescendence, I resolved to follow out my own
scheme, and to take the whole responsibility upon
myself; personally meeting also all the attendant
expenses, and travelling without their leave, while
at the same time I did not for a moment lose sight
of the grand object with which I was intrusted.

The scheme to which Azara here alludes, and
which he determined if possible to execute, was
nothing else than a complete delineation and de-
scription of the vast Spanish dominions in the cen-
tral parts of South America, comprehending a region
of about fifteen hundred miles in length and about
nine hundred in breadth. True, he had now attained
the meridian of his days, and nearly twenty years
had been spent in the varied duties of a soldier's
life; he had acquired a more than usual share of
rank and distinction, and on this he might have
satisfactorily reposed, contented with the consci-
entious discharge of that honourable commission
with which he was intrusted. But views so limited
were wholly alien to his tastes and disposition.
Placed in a continent so much unknown to science,
and where his curiosity was every day provoked
by some new wonder, he could not remain at rest,
nor allow the occasion to escape without attempt-
ing to improve it. Deeply conscious of his want
of preliminary qualifications, he yet determined
to do what he could; and his history affords a
fine example of what a person of ordinary educa-
tion and intelligence may achieve, by dint of steadi-

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 23

ness and perseverance. His plan, which was laid
upon a broad basis, seems to have been devised
with great wisdom, as it was executed with much
success. The special duty on which he was en-
gaged, naturally qualified him for geographical in-
vestigations', and his first object, in addition to his
labour on the boundaries, was to ascertain with all
possible accuracy the geographical relations of those
vast regions which he had occasion to traverse, and
which were nearly unknown. With this laborious
undertaking, he associated others scarcely less ex-
tensive. The physical and moral condition of the
inhabitants, including the native Indians, the de-
scendants of the Spanish conquerors, and the mixed
breeds, in their varied social and political relations,
was scarcely a less interesting inquiry. To these he
added historical investigations of the public records
of the countries, and a critical examination, on the
spot, of the popular accounts. And, finally, he de-
termined to survey the whole range of animated
nature, including the quadrupeds, birds, reptiles,
fishes, and insects of the continent, which alone has
obtained for him a distinguished name as a Zoolo-
gist ; while he did not forget the kindred branches
of meteorology, geology, and botany. These were
wide fields, over which the best educated modern
naturalists could scarcely venture to expatiate, but
which Azara, unprepared as he was, determined to
cultivate as best he could. In these various pur-
suits, he has been classed with the Baron de Hum-
boldt; and the comparison is the more creditable.

24 MEMOIR OF

when we consider his different circumstances and
education. " Amidst the memorable events,0 says
Walckenaer, " which distinguish the history of the
beginning of the nineteenth century, the peaceable
annals of science will not forget the sudden revolu-
tion which has been effected in our knowledge of
South America, and the names of Humboldt and
Azara will be placed at the head of this interesting
recital." For twenty years he was engaged in these
varied and noble pursuits, and to the results of his
labours we must now bespeak attention. Though
we may be able to produce but little concerning
Azara's personal history, yet if it be true that the
handiwork of the painter and sculptor may be ap-
pealed to as their memorials, surely with not less
justice we may direct attention to the patient in-
quiries and matured thoughts of the busy student of
Nature's works, and maintain that in them " he has
weaved for himself the wreath of his glory."

We may here at once enumerate the works pub-
lished by Azara, which are more remarkable for
their importance than their number. The first were
two works, in his native tongue, on the natural
history of the Spanish provinces in South Ame-
rica, the former, in two volumes, on the Mammalia ;
and the latter, in three, devoted to Ornithology.
Several years afterwards, he published his other
work, somewhat more miscellaneous perhaps, but
still more important, under the title of Voyages dans
I'Amerique Meridional^ in which are included his
investigations on the climate of those regions, and

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 25

the other interesting topics before enumerated. This
work, which was published in French, was accom-
panied by a valuable atlas, of twenty-five plates,
containing the maps illustrative of his geographical
labours, and the plans of towns, rivers, and har-
bours, the result of his statistical inquiries ; as also
a considerable number of admirable plates of those
animals and birds which were least known. This
work was superintended by his brother Nicolas, at
that time ambassador from the court of Madrid to
that of France, and by the well known naturalist
"Walckenaer, who seems to have performed his part
of the task with great fidelity and care. To these
volumes he subjoined the Natural History of the
Province of Cochabamba, on the eastern slopes of
the Andes, drawn up by the German naturalist
Tadeo Haenk; and which contained much new
and important matter.

We must now trace our author's footsteps in
those various investigations and labours, the results
of which are contained in his writings ; and though
the outline we can give of these productions must
be slight, and our exposition too much like bringing
a brick whereby to display the character of the edi-
fice, yet it will at once appear that Azara was no
common man, and that having been placed in ex-
tremely favourable circumstances, he improved them
far beyond what could have been supposed possible.

On the important mission w^hich was the occasion
of his long residence in these regions, we wrill not
dwell longer than to say, that notwithstanding all

26 MEMOIR OF

the vexatious obstacles and delays which were from
time to time thrown in his way, yet in the long run
he so completely succeeded in establishing his cha-
racter as a faithful and efficient public officer, that
on his return to his native land, he was honoured
with new and still more marked proofs of the high
estimation in which he was held by the supreme
government of his country.

Azara's zeal in improving the geography of the
provinces must not be passed over in so cursory a
manner. From the extreme jealousy of both the
Spanish and Portuguese governments, this impor-
tant department was in an exceedingly imperfect
state; and such investigations as had been made,
were concealed with as much care as if the safety of
the state depended upon such concealment. Thus the
great map of South America, which was prepared
in Madrid in the year 1775, remained long unpub-
lished, and was scarcely ever allowed to be seen ;
and certain maps which the celebrated d'Anville
prepared at Paris, were wrested from his hands
before they were finished. Hence the best maps
of the time abounded with errors, and were very
far indeed from offering any thing like an exact
representation of these countries.

Perfectly acquainted with these circumstances,
Azara writes, " The principal object of my long
and repeated journies was to prepare an exact map
of the provinces. This lay in my department, and
I possessed the necessary instruments. Accordingly,
I never travelled without two excellent reflecting

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 27

telescopes of Halley, and an artificial horizon. Wher-
ever I was, even in the camp, I took the latitude
every day at noon, and every night, by means of
the sun and stars. My compass was furnished with
sights, and I often verified the variation by compar-
ing the azimuth with the results of my calculations
and solar observations. To render my chart more
exact, and to adjust the meridians to that of Paris ;
I made many observations of the immersion and
emersion of Jupiter's satellites, of solar eclipses,
and of the occultation of the stars by the moon, at
Monte Video, Buenos Ayres, Corrientes, and As-
sumption, and it was according to these results that
I fixed my degrees of longitude."

The extent of these surveys was prodigious. In
regard to the geographical investigations, on which
we are now more especially dwelling, they ex-
tended, as already mentioned, to about fifteen hun-
dred miles by nine hundred; and in respect to
some other of his inquiries, they reached over a
much wider range. In his chapter on climate, he
remarks, " These limits include a very irregular
surface, whose geographic limit alone extends seven
hundred and twenty leagues, with a mean breadth
of two hundred, an extent nearly equal to the whole
of Europe. I have not myself traversed the whole
of this last space, but the information I have pro-
cured may be depended on/' We are not, however,
to contemplate him as working single-handed. His
rank and appointments enabled him to avail himself
of the services of many associates and officers of in-

28 MEMOIR OF

ferior rank, and these he turned to the best advan-
tage. It is interesting to observe how anxious he
invariably was to assign to all and every one of these,
by name, their full share in the final result.

The method in which Azara carried on these de-
tails was as follows. He supplied himself with
considerable quantities of brandy, glass beads, rib-
bons, knives, and other trifles, to conciliate the
good-will of the Savages, as they are called. His
personal baggage consisted of a few clothes, a little
coffee and salt, and, for his followers, a little to-
bacco and Paraguay plant. His suite had nothing
more than what they carried upon their persons.
They were, however, accompanied by a great num-
ber of horses, as they required to be well mounted :
they had also a number of large dogs. The party
rose an hour before sunrise, and breakfasted. They
then collected their horses, which had often wan-
dered to a distance ; and releasing the one they had
employed for the last twenty -four hours, every man
selected a new one. They then set off on their route
two hours after sunrise. As there were no traces of
roads in these wild countries, the guide, who was
most to be trusted, and who was kept solitary,
that his attention might not be distracted, led the
way by about three hundred paces. He was fol-
lowed by the relay horses, and the body of the
party brought up the rear. In this fashion they
continued, without stopping, till two hours before
sunset. "When among hostile tribes, the order of
march was somewhat altered. The party then

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 29

advanced only during the night, scouts were sent
forward to reconnoitre the route ; two patroles went
in advance on each side of the party, all of whom
maintained their own places, and had their arms
ready. Notwithstanding these precautions, M. Azara
was often attacked, and frequently lost several of
his men.

In halting, the neighbourhood of a stream was
generally preferred. Two parties were then imme-
diately despatched; the one to procure wood for
fuel ; the other, wild cows, for provender, or tame,
if more at hand. Failing these, frequently the arma-
dillo was found in quantity sufficient to supply their
wants ; and when this could not be procured, they
resorted to their stock of rolled strips of beef, dried
in the sun, according to the fashion of the country.

Previous to bivouacking, it was always necessary
to take precautions against the numerous serpents
which abounded. This was done by causing the
horses, crowded within the space, to tread down
every thing under their feet. From this operation
the reptiles attempted to escape, and many were
destroyed ; whilst frequently some of the horses
were bitten, and fell victims to the poison. The
only couch of the travellers was the earth, covered
with an ox-hide. During the night, every one kept
his horse as near him as possible, that he might
escape from the attack of wild beasts, or other ene-
mies, whose approach was always announced by
their watchful dogs. When, as often happened,
they halted for a longer stay in these wilds, the

30 MEMOIR OF

whole party erected small booths, such as are com-
mon in the country, and which will be subsequently
described.

But we must not dwell longer on this branch
our author's labours. The result may be seen, at a
glance, in the atlas, where we find five great maps,
in which are delineated the provinces of Buenos
Ayres, Paraguay, Chiquitos, Matogroso, and Cu-
yaba, together with minute plans of the cities of
Assumption and Buenos Ayres, of the harbour of
Monte Video and other ports, and of many of the
settlements throughout the different parts of the
continent.

The several chapters on the climate and winds,
on the soil, the rivers and harbours, and the mine-
rals, as being somewhat foreign to our work, may be
passed with slight notice. The climate, in such an
extent of country, is of course various. Upon the
whole it is damp, by which is meant that much
rain falls ; and yet it is very healthy. " No coun-
try/' Azara writes, " can be more healthy; even
the neighbourhood of marshes and inundated dis-
tricts, which are common, in no degree injures the
general health." Azara himself, during his whole
residence, was not a day sick. Thunder storms are
very frequent, — " Ten times, I should say, more
frequent than in Spain. Many were killed in Para-
guay by lightning, during my stay ; and during a
single storm, within the limits of the town of
Buenos- Ayres, thirty-seven thunderbolts fell, and
nineteen persons were destroyed."

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 31

Under the head of minerals, an account is given
of what would now universally be regarded as a
meteoric stone, but the true character of which, at
the time, was quite unknown. In bulk, it was cal-
culated to contain about 470 cubic feet. The first of
these stones which attracted particular attention, as
elsewhere noticed in the Naturalist's Library, was
discovered nearly at the antipodes, and was brought
into notoriety by the eminent Pallas. The mass
before us shortly after attracted attention. Some
notice was taken of it in the 78th volume of the
Philosophical Transactions, and its constitution was
examined by Proust in the Journal de Physique for
1799. Azara's account of the immense rivers which
drain these countries is peculiarly ample and inte-
resting. The waterfalls bear their full share. We
shall allude only to his notice of the one on the
Parana, which afterwards, changing its name, be-
comes La Plata. Near the fall the river is very
deep, and is 12,600 feet across. Suddenly the
breadth is reduced to the space of 180 feet, and
in these circumstances the whole mass precipitates
itself with irresistible fury. It falls 52 feet, in a
plane inclined at an angle of 50 degrees with the
horizon. Azara compares this fall with the others
he describes in South America, and with that of
Niagara. All the others, he says, are inferior, as
to the quantity of water to Niagara, and to this of
the Parana. But none of them can be compared
with this last, if we consider that it does not pre-
cipitate itself, like the Niagara, in a simple and

32 .. MEMOIR OF

nearly uniform cascade, in its extent of 2226 feet,
but in the form of a single and enormous prism,
full and solid, reaching 180 feet in all its dimen-
sions.

There are no parts of Azara's works more valu-
able in themselves, and none, we believe, will be
more generally esteemed, than those which bear on
the history of man. We allude not only to his
historical researches and criticisms, properly so
called, descriptive of the conduct of the early Spa-
nish settlers and rulers, and of the unfortunate
natives, though these must ever be highly appre-
ciated ; nor do we refer to his statistical statements,
and to his accounts of the famous settlements of the
aborigines, made at one time by the Jesuits, and
at another by the civil government, and which will
continue, as they have done, to command a very
general attention ; but we apply our remark chiefly •
to his laborious investigations concerning the natu-
ral history of man, especially of the native races, —
with their physical and moral character, their cir-
cumstances, habits, powers, manners, &c. Few
were ever placed in fairer fields for investigation,
and few ever cultivated them with more assiduity
and success. Some of the tribes of central America
appear to have sunk nearly as far down the scale of
human wretchedness and ignorance as is possible,
and of these, as well as the less degraded, we have
here the laborious observations of a most acute
observer. These several inquiries occupy nearly
the whole of the second volume of his French work :

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 33

in advancing to which, we regret it is necessary to
stop for an instant, and allude to an attack upon its
character which, as we conceive, has been most
unjustly made.

Mr. Southey, in his " History of Brazil," when
making the freest use of our author's work on the
very different provinces of Paraguay and Buenos
Ayres, not unfrequently introduces such statements
as the following . — " What Azara says on the sub-
ject is to be received with great suspicion." — " Azara
repeats a silly charge against the Jesuits, which he
wishes to make the reader believe, though he evi-
dently does not, and certainly could not believe
himself; but it came in aid of one of his theories,
and therefore he would not lose it." — " Azara says
so and so," — " but this I have no doubt is false." —
(Vol. ii. 336, 343, 351.) Language such as this
(reflecting far more on the individual who uses it
than on him to whom it is applied), unsupported by
the slightest proof, so far as we have observed, in
any part of Mr. Southey's massy tomes, merits, in our
opinion, severe censure. We shall meet these grave
charges, for the present, by merely quoting a few
sentences from Azara's works (written of course with-
out any particular reference to the Poet Laureate),
which very much bear the stamp of sincerity and
truth. In writing to his French editor, he says, " I de-
rive a particular satisfaction from labouring at this
work, animated not by the aim and ambition which
frequently stimulates authors, viz. the desire of im-
mortalizing themselves, but simply by the pleasure

34 MEMOIR OF

I derive from the thoughts of being useful/' Again,
" I have already forgotten all my sufferings in the
forests ; and I shall be abundantly recompensed, if
these sufferings can be rendered subservient to the
information of the public." And once more. u I
have invariably endeavoured to avoid every thing
approaching to romance, that is, to be occupied
more with words than things. I have been careful
to exaggerate alike neither the largeness, nor the
smallness, nor the scarcity of objects ; and always
to employ the most suitable expression, according
to the real character, such as I myself have seen,
and such as I verily believe it to be." ( Voy. i. xlix.
Iv. 27.) Many instances, we may add, of this
integrity and simplicity of purpose occur through-
out every part of our author's works. It is an easy
matter for a hasty and popular writer to throw out
disparaging insinuations ; which, from their loose-
ness and generality, it is somewhat difficult to rebut.
This is not the place to undertake a formal de-
fence of our author ; but other occasions, and other
champions, will probably not be wanting ; and we
conclude by remarking, that in no instance have we
noticed that our author belies his explicit profes-
sions of fairness and sincerity ; and we therefore trust
that none will be misled by these hasty charges, but
will judge for themselves, from the original docu-
ments, and will repudiate insinuations which filch
from Azara his fair fame, in a manner which is not
more injurious than unjust.

We consider that Azara has conducted the whole

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 35

of his investigations into these matters with great
judgment. He thus introduces them to the notice
of his readers. "Though man, and especially savage
man, is an incomprehensible being,' who writes not,
speaks but little, and expresses himself in an un-
known tongue, destitute of many words and ex-
pressions, and though he occupies himself mainly
with those trifling matters which his urgent wants
require, yet as he occupies the principal and most
interesting place in the description of a country, I
shall here supply some of the observations I have
made upon a number of Indian nations,* whether
free or savage, and who are not, and never have
been, under subjection to the Spanish or any other
yoke. I shall not, however, dilate too much, lest
I prove tedious, or resemble those, who after having
seen half a dozen Indians upon the coast, supply a
far more particular description than it would be
possible for themselves to do. Besides I like not
conjectures, but facts ; and I am not master of the
talents and acquirements of many."

Many of our readers will here be reminded of
Principal Kobertson's very elaborate discussion on
this very subject, in his History of America, in
which he applies his remarks to both continents,
and even other portions of the globe. Our author's

* We see here a name still prevalent, derived from a very
erroneous opinion. As in the time of Columbus the American
continents were considered as a part of India, the inhabitants
were naturally designated Indians, and the aborigines have
scarcely yet received another name.

36 MEMOIR OF

observations are in this respect a contrast, as he
strictly confines himself to what he had himself seen ;
and it is to be observed, that many of his remarks
but ill quadrate with the ingenious speculations of
the distinguished historian.

Azara uses the word nation not in its usual ac-
ceptation, but in that sense to which, as is well
known, it has often been applied to the native in-
habitants of America.* " Before giving," says he, " a
particular description of each nation, I must notice
that I shall designate nation every association of
Indians which regards itself as forming a single and
distinct people, and which has the same principles,
forms, manners, and tongue. I shall attach little
importance to the mere numbers which form it,
because national character does not consist in this
circumstance. When I say that the language of
one nation differs from that of another, it is to be
understood that the difference is at least as great as
between the English or German and the Spanish,
so that there is not a single word which precisely
resembles the other. They are universally very
poor, and have no alliances the one with the other."

Our author supplies a distinct description of be-
tween thirty and forty of these nations; among
whom, although there are some features in common,
yet there are also very remarkable differences. TVe
shall supply a somewhat ample specimen of the
manner in which he executes this part of his task,

* See Robertson's America, vol. ii. p. 129.

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 37

and shall begin with an epitomized account of the
Charruas.

" The Charruas constitute an Indian nation, with
a distinct language, different from all the others, and
so guttural that our language cannot give the sound
of its syllables. At the time of the conquest it was
migratory, inhabiting the north bank of the La
Plata, from Maldonado to the river Uraguay, and
extending thirty leagues northwards. * * * These
Charruas killed J. Diaz de Solis, the discoverer of
La Plata. His death led to a bloody war, which con-
tinues to the present day, and which has occasioned
an immense loss of life. The Spaniards very soon
endeavoured to confine these people within their own
territory ; and with this view erected buildings and
a fort in the colony of Sacrament, then a town on
the river San Juan, and another on the St. Salvador
but the Charruas destroyed these, and would never
allow any one to settle in their territories, till Monte
Video was founded in 1724. Since that time the
savages have been insensibly forced northwards,
but not without many bloody encounters. Those
which remain continue to wage war with fire and
sword, with the greatest obstinacy. They will not
listen to any terms of peace, and moreover attack
not only the neighbouring tribes, but also the Portu-
guese. When I travelled in this country, these
Indians often attacked my party though a hundred
strong, and killed many.

" Their mean height is greater than that of the
Spaniards, and is more uniform. They are agile,

38 MEMOIR OP

erect, and well-proportioned ; and never too short
nor too thin, nor ill made. They carry their heads
erect; their forehead and whole physiognomy are
open, indicative of their pride and ferocity. They
never cut their hair, nor does it become grey, ex-
cept partially, and when they have reached the age
of eighty years. The men tie it in a knot ; the
women wear it long and without any kind of dress-
ing. These latter have no kind of ornaments or
finery. The males are distinguished by what they
consider ornamental, viz. the Barbote. A few days
after birth, the mother, pinching up the lower lip,
horizontally pierces the two folds, from one side to
the other, a little above the root of the teeth, and
introduces a small piece of wood five inches long,
and somewhat thicker than most of our pencils. It
is never removed during life. This characteristic of
the male sex is not confined to this nation, but is
almost universal among the others.* I cannot con-
ceive what kind of dwellings these people had when,
previous to the conquest, they could procure the
hides neither of oxen nor horses. Now they are
very simple. From the nearest tree they cut down
three or four green boughs ; these they bend, insert-
ing the two ends into the ground : over three or four
arches, not far from each other, they extend an ox
hide, and the family mansion is provided. They
have neither chairs, benches, nor tables, and scarcely
any furniture.

* Southey, in his haste, puts it into the upper lip. VoL iiL
p. 387.

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 39

" The men- have neither hat nor cap, and go en-
tirely naked, except when the weather is cold, when
they throw a fragment of skin, or a piece of coarse
woollen stuff, called a poncho, over them. This
poncho is of very coarse material, between four and
five feet broad, and about seven long, with a slit in
the middle for the head to pass. It forms the whole
dress of the women, who never wash it, nor their
persons, nor their dwellings. They have neither
wool nor cotton ; and neither spin nor weave.

u They have no kind of husbandry ; and their sole
food is the flesh of the wild cow, which is simply
roasted, and eaten without salt. When any of
them is hungry he helps himself to a slice of meat,
stirs the fire, squats down before it, and eats to his
heart's content, without regarding any body, or
speaking a word. They have no games, songs,
dances, or instruments of music. They adore no
divinity, and have no religion. It is impossible to
discover among them a single word or action which
manifests respect or good breeding. Nor have they
any laws, or obligatory customs, or rewards, or
punishments, or any chief who commands them.
Formerly they had Caciques, but they possessed no
authority, as is now the case with some of the other
nations. All are on an equality, and no one serves
another. The heads of the families assemble in the
evening to agree who are to be the sentinels, and
which posts are to be watched ; and they are so sly
and suspicious that this precaution is never omitted.
If any one thinks of some project of attack or

40 MEMOIR of

defence, he communicates it to the others, who
cute it, if they approve. But no one is forced to
take part in it, and no penalty is exacted from those
who absent themselves. They have studs, and abun-
dance of horses : many of them have bridles, with
iron bits. The men ride on the bare backs ; the
women use a very simple hair cloth. Their only
weapons are a lance, eleven feet long, with a sharp
iron point, and very short bows. When we consi-
der that the Charruas have given so much trouble to
the Spaniards, and have spilt more of their blood
than the armies of the Jncas or of Montezuma, it
will be concluded that they are a very numerous
nation. This, however, is far from being the case,
and at present they have not more than 400 warriors.
For their subjugation we have often employed more
than a thousand veterans, either in one body, or in
distinct parties, and much carnage has been the
consequence; but there they still are, unsubdued
and dreaded.

" They never remain in a state of celibacy ; and
their marriages are effected with the greatest sang
froid. The suitor requests his bride at the hands
of her parents ; and she never refuses, however old
or ugly he may be. Upon a man marrying, he
forms a distinct family, and works for their sup-
port ; for previously he lived at the expense of his
parents, in complete idleness, without going to
war, or assisting at their public meetings. Poly-
gamy is freely practised; they teach nothing to,
and keep nothing from their children, who, on

BOX FELIX D'A£ARA. , 41

their part, have no kind of respect for their parents ;
herein maintaining their universal principle, of
every one doing as he pleases, without being hin-
dered by any consideration or authority.

" The heads of families, and they alone, to the
exclusion of the women and children, very often
get drunk with brandy, or chicka, which is pre-
pared from honey. The duration of their lives
appears longer than ours. They are not, however,
without their doctors, whose only remedy is sucking
over the stomach of the patient with great force,
thereby extracting the malady.

u When an Indian dies he is buried with his
arms, his clothes and furniture. Frequently his
best horse is slaughtered upon his tomb. The
nearest relatives weep much, and their grief is
poignant. If he be a father, husband, or adult
brother, the daughters, and any sisters who are
married, together with the wife, cut off one of the
joints of a finger ; this they do for every death,
beginning with the little finger. They also wound
their arms, breasts, and sides, with the knife or
spear of the deceased. They then pass two months
in their booths in retirement, and do little else
than weep, taking little nourishment. I have not
seen one grown up woman among them with her
fingers uninjured, or without many wounds on her
body. The husband, again, does not mourn for
his wife ; nor a father for his younger children.
But should these be grown up, then they conceal
themselves, quite naked, for two whole days in

42 MEMOIR OF

their tent, and will eat nothing but the eggs or
flesh of the partridge. During the evening of the
second day, they get a neighbour to perform the
following operation : The flesh of the arm is pinched
up between the fingers, and skewers made of cane,
eight inches long, and nearly half an inch in diame-
ter, are forced through and through. The first is
introduced just above the elbow, and the others, at
the distance of an inch, as far as the top of the
shoulder. In this miserable plight the mourning
savage sallies forth, and goes naked and alone to
some neighbouring wood or height, without any
dread of the jaguar or other wild beast. Provided
with a small spade, he excavates with his hands a
deep hole, in which he inters himself as far as the
chest, and thus spends the night^ From this he
comes forth in the morning, and betakes himself
to one of the booths already described, prepared for
one under these circumstances. Here he removes
the skewers, and reposes undisturbed for two days,
without either eating or drinking. Next day the
children carry water to him, and some food, and
leaving it within reach, retire without saying a
word. This is repeated for ten or twelve days,
when at length the mourner mixes with society.
No one is obliged to perform these barbarous cere-
monies, and nevertheless they are seldom omitted ;
if any one does not perform them to the letter, he
is considered as imbecile, and this is his only punish-
ment.

" The Pampas, on the opposite bank of La Plata,

DON FELIX D'AZAKA. 43

are scarcely less warlike than the Guarruas. On
their own plains they wear no clothes ; but in
coming into Buenos Ayres they put on the poncho.
Besides their lances, the Pampas make wonderful
use of their balls. These are of two kinds. The
first is composed of three round stones, ahout the
size of the fist, covered with strong leather, and
attached to a common centre by strong leathern
cords, three feet long.* They take the smallest of
the three in their hands, and after whirling the
others violently round their head, throw the whole
to a distance of about 100 feet, when they so maim
and entwine themselves around the limbs of any
Kving creature, that it is impossible to escape from
them. The other kind is a single ball, of the same
size, except when made of iron or copper, when it
is smaller. It too is covered with leather, and has
a leathern thong attached, by which they twirl it
round, and, at the hand-gallop, can project it with
frightful force to the distance of 500 feet. When
first attacked, it was with this weapon they killed
the brother of the founder of Buenos Ayres, nine
of the first captains, who were on horseback, and a
great number of Spanish soldiers. By attaching
combustibles, they often set fire to the settlements
of their invaders, and even to their ships.

" The Guaranies, in their dispositions, present a
complete contrast to most of the other nations,
whose approach fills them with terror. They never

* With his wonted inaccuracy, Mr Southey makes them
a three or four yards long." (Vol. ii. 369.)

44 MEMOIR OP

engage in war, and never appear in military array
except to demand peace. It is said that the whole
of this people swim naturally : though we must add,
for the benefit of our younger readers, not more
than others might do, and many individuals have
done. This, sometimes most important feat, is best
accomplished by keeping the body nearly erect in
the water, throwing the head back, and keeping
tjie mouth and nose only above the surface, and
then treading along with the feet, and pawing with
the hands under water as a dog does/' But hear
Azara. — " I should not omit what my companion in
travel, a curate, once told me. c I took,' said he,
4 this Guarany youth when only four years of age,
and have had him ever since : he is now fourteen.
He has never seen a river, nor any sheet of water
where he could swim ; for there is no such in my
parish, from which he has never moved, and I have
never lost sight of him for a single day. I shall
notwithstanding tell him to swim across the river
(which was as broad and deep as the Seine at Paris),
and you will find that he will do it at once.' It
was no sooner said than done ; and I witnessed the
boy do it, without either hesitation or difficulty."

Of the Guasarapoes, Azara informs us that men
and women go quite naked. They cut their hair so
close, that they appear as if shaven. They have
neither religion, laws, obligatory customs, nor chiefs.
They have no domestic animals, nor agriculture, nor
do they huVit. They live on wild rice and fish ; and
are full of energy, pride, and courage. The Guanas

DON FELIX 1/AZARA. 45

are one of the most numerous of these nations.
Some say they amount to 20,000; but according
to my calculation there are only 8,300 of them.
They receive travellers, whoever they are, with
much hospitality ; lodging them, feeding them, and
helping them on their journey. They have horses,
cows, and sheep ; and live by agriculture. The
Mlayas are usually about five feet eight inches in
stature. Their forms and proportions appear to me
most perfect, and far superior to those of Europeans,
or any other people I have seen. They regard
themselves as the noblest people upon the face of
the earth, the most generous, the most faithful and
valiant ; and they consider the Europeans in all
respects inferior."

It would be easy to multiply these extracts on
the several nations to an almost indefinite extent ;
but we must have done. Our author has a chapter
of general reflections upon their condition. Their
physical powers he holds in high admiration. " I
admire," he says, " their superior stature, the size
and elegance of their forms and proportions, which
are not equalled in any part of the world." Nor is
he singular in this opinion. Sir Francis Head has
more recently said. — " During my gallop in South
America, I had little time or opportunity to see
many of the Indians ; yet from what I did hear
and see, I sincerely believe they are as fine a set of
men as ever existed, under the circumstances in
which they are placed." * As it regards their mental
* Rough Notes, &c,

46 MEMOIR OF

morals, and still more the all momentous
subject of religion, they approximate the opposite
extreme. In fact, it has been made a subject of
discussion whether they had any religion or not;
nay more, whether they were capable of receiving
religious impressions. This is no new controversy.
The first Spaniards who passed over to America
entertained the idea, that the natives were not of
the same race with themselves, and were destitute
of the necessary capacity to comprehend or practice
religion. One of the principal partisans of this
opinion was Ortiz, Bishop of Saint Martha, who
wrote a memoir on the subject to the Supreme
Council at Madrid, concluding, from his long expe-
rience, that they were stupid beings, and as inca-
pable of instruction as the brute beasts. B. Las
Casas headed the opposite party, and became their
apologist. He too it was who obtained a Bull from
Pope Paul III. declaring that the Indians were truly
men, and capable of partaking of the Sacraments of
the Roman Church.* Azara, however, speaks not
of what they might be, but of what they were — .
" Ecclesiastics," says he, " tell us they possess a reli-
gion ; " and in accordance with this statement every
one must have met with such reflections as the follow-
ing : — " With respect to the other great doctrine of
religion, the immortality of the soul, the sentiments of
the Americans were more united : the human mind,
even when least improved, shrinks from the thoughts
of annihilation, and looks forward with hope and
* See Voyage, vol. ii. IS*7

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 47

exultation to a state of future existence. "We can
trace the opinion from one extremity of America
to another." * We will not enter into the contro-
versy farther than to remark, that even allowing
they had a religion, it was not better to them than
none. They might believe there was a Supreme
Being, but it was the sun which was the object of
the religious adoration of the roost advanced amongst
them. We admit, too, they believe in a future
state of existence ; but what of it ? " They ima-
gine they will be transferred to a future state, where
they anticipate they will be constantly drunk, and
always hunting : And as the Indians gallop over
their plains at night, they point with their long
spears to constellations in the heavens which they
say are the figures of their ancestors, who, resting
in the firmament, are mounted upon horses swifter
than the wind, and are hunting ostriches." t " Our
soldiers and missionaries," adds Azara, " have never
thought of giving a correct account of these people,
but only of vaunting their own prowess, and exag-
gerating their own doings. They have made them
cannibals, but most unwarrantably; for there are
none of them who now eat human flesh, or who
remember that their forefathers ever did so, although
they are now as free as upon the first arrival of
the Spaniards. They also assert that they employ
poisoned arrows, which is another positive false-
hood." J

* Robertson, Vol. ii. 201.

t Sir Francis Head, ubi supra. £ Vol. it 2, 3.

48 MEMOIR OF

" Their ignorance of their origin and past history
is extreme, as may he illustrated hy the opinion of
the PayaguaS) a powerful nation which has given
its name to the river Paraguay. Our first father,
was the fish we call Pacu ; yours, was the one you
call Dorado ; that of the Guarantee, a toad. Hence
the lighter and more beautiful colour of your skin ;
for we surpass you in all other respects, and hence
the despicable character of the Guaranies.

" The condition of the women is, in every respect,
most degraded, and female virtue is unknown.
They marry at the age of nine, ten, and eleven
years. Infanticide likewise is carried to the most
deplorable extreme. A Mlayas mother will not
attempt to rear more than a son and daughter, and
these the last of her progeny. Some nations have,
by this dreadful practice, been exterminated. The
Guaicurus was wont to be one of the most famous
of the nations : it was one of the most numerous,
proudest, strongest, and most warlike. They lived
by the chase. Of this nation there now exists but
one man ! the best made man in the world, stand-
ing six feet and a half high. He has three wives.
The extermination of this superb nation has arisen
not merely from their constant wars with the Spa-
niards, but from the execrable practice above
referred to. How melancholy that the finest na-
tions in the world are thus destroying them-
selves." *

Azara likewise studied, with an observant eye,
* Vol. ii. 146-7.

DON FELIX

the two great remaining classes, viz. the whites, or
pure descendants of the Spaniards, and the mixed
breeds. These last are again subdivided into two, —
the Metis, or mixed breed of the Spaniard and In-
dian, and the Mulatto, the cross between the Spa-
niard and Negro. " The Metis," says he, " appear
to be somewhat superior to the European Spaniard
in their height, in the elegance of their form, and
even in the fineness of their skin. I also think
that these Metis have more ingenuity, sagacity, in-
telligence, and vigor than the 'Creoles ; that is to
say, the children of Spanish parents born in the
country. The Mulatto, too, I find has an advan-
tage, both in physical and moral powers, over the
mixed progeny of the natives and the Negroes :
they are more active, agile, strong, and lively, than
their parents. Their habitual vices are a love of
play, drunkenness, and pilfering; but some are
truly honest." Our author maintains that the Spa-
niards have treated these races, and their slaves
likewise, with the greatest lenity and kindness;
forming, in this respect, a perfect contrast to the
Portuguese. The free Mulattoes are, by law, ranked
last in the scale, though not in general estimation,
which places the Indians below all, and regards
the free Mulattoes and the Negroes as equal.

We shall not attempt to follow our author in his
review of the native Spaniards, and shall confine
our remarks to a very few sentences concerning the
shepherds of the country, who claim descent from
Europeans. " These shepherds are occupied in

50 . MEMOIR OF

guarding about twelve million of cattle, about three
million of horses, and a considerable number of
sheep. Here I do not include about two million of
•wild oxen, and the wild horses which are innu-
merable. The domestic troops belong to private
individuals; and an average pasturage (estancia)
extends to four or five square leagues. Every
troop has a master- shepherd, called the Captain,
and an under one for every thousand head of cattle.
The former is usually married, the others are not ;
except such as are rJegroes, or people of colour, or
those Indians who have been connected with the
missionary settlements. I believe that no woman
in this society preserves her chastity after she is
eight years old ; and those reputed Spanish are not
better than the others. The father and the whole
family sleep in the same chamber. As these herds-
men are twelve, thirty, and even a hundred miles
from chapel, they seldom or never go to mass.
They themselves often baptize their children ; and
I have been asked, when galloping over the plains,
to perform the ceremony. When they do go to
mass, they attend on horseback, the door being kept
open for their convenience. In their houses, they
have usually no other furniture than a pitcher for
water, a horn for drinking, a wooden spit for roast-
ing their meat, and a little copper-kettle for boiling
the water with which they infuse their Paraguay
herb. They usually sit upon their heels, with their
limbs bent under them, or upon the skull of a horse
or ox. They use no kind of vegetable food, saying

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 51

it is hay, and taunting the European, because he eats
like a horse. The master shepherds have an ample
supply of garments ; but the herdsmen have neither
jacket, waistcoat, trowsers, or ought else than a
piece of cloth tied round their loins. Many of them
have no shirt; but most can muster a hat, with
drawers, a poncho, and half-boots. The women
go barefooted ; and, to say the least of it, are far
from clean. Their dress usually is a chemise, at-
• tached round the waist with a band, but without
sleeves ; often they have no change. A child is
scarcely eight days old when it is taken on horse-
back, and galloped over the plains : this exercise is
often repeated, till the infant is mounted alone
upon the old and quiet horses. Thus they are
reared in independence and ignorance. They know
nothing of measures, calculation, or rules, and dis-
like the society of those who do. They disregard
shame, decency, and the ceremonies of civilized
life. Education they have none, and don't know
what it is to obey. They attach little value to life,
and death is indifferent. I have seen a man go to
be hanged with the greatest sang froid. They are
exceedingly hospitable ; and if a stranger come their
way, they lodge and feed him, often without ask-
ing who he is, or whither he is going, and he may
remain with them for months. They play high,
and with the greatest keenness, often losing every
thing, to their shirt, if they have one. When they
think of getting married, the bridegroom borrows
linen for the ceremony, and on leaving the chapel,

52 MEMOIR OP

returns it to the lender. Their bed is a hide
stretched on the ground; and often they have
neither house nor furniture. When spirits are sold
in any house, it is called a Pulperias ; and these
are the great rendezvous for dissipation and play.
The whole company is usually invited to drink ; a
large vessel is filled with brandy, and passed round
the circle. This ceremony is repeated as long as
they have a farthing, and no one is excused. They
have the greatest disinclination to any employment
which they cannot pursue on horseback, and at the
gallop. In fact they can scarcely walk, and never
do so without repugnance. "When they assemble at
the pulperias, or elsewhere, it is on horseback,
though they may converse for hours. When they
fish, it is always on horseback, even when they
throw the net, in the middle of the water. When
they draw water from the well, they attach the cord
to the horse, and don't dismount. Should they want
mortar, and not more than would go into a hat,
they bruise it with the horse's feet, without dis-
mounting ; in short, they do every thing on horse-
back, and hence are the first of horsemen. Their
feats with the lasso are well known."

From these slight sketches it will be seen, that
whether in relation to the pure Spaniards, the
mixed breeds, or the native Indians, these investi*
gations of Azara are of the most important charac-
ter, and will be highly prized by every one inte-
rested in the natural history of our race. Man is
here found in one of the rudest states in which he

DON FELIX D' AZARA. 53

ever has been observed, or, perhaps, can exist. The
degradation of the descendants of the Spaniards, is
not less remarkable than the wretched condition of
the native Indians. Upon the whole, a rich mine
is presented, whose working will well repay the
curious inquirer* We must entirely pass over the
remaining portions of this work which treat of the
history of the conquest, the early settlement of
the country, its government, both civil and eccle-
siastical, together with descriptions of the principal
towns in the several provinces.

We now proceed to consider the services which
Azara rendered to Zoology.

His labours in this department were communi-
cated to the public in a great work, which he
modestly styles " Notes on the Natural History
of Paraguay and La Plata," and which was pub-
lished, in Spanish, at Madrid; — the two first
volumes, on quadrupeds, in the year 1802, and
the remaining three, on birds, at a later date.*

* It should here be noted, that the first edition of Azara's
work on quadrupeds, the one which has been most generally
quoted, was, contrary to his wishes, and while still very in-
complete, published by M. L. E. Moureau St. Mery, in a
French translation. This happened in the following manner :
Whilst the work was unfinished, Azara sent it to his brother,
Don Nicolas, for the purpose of being submitted to the criti-
cism of some eminent naturalist, that after this, and receiving
his own additions and corrections, it might see the light. The
French naturalist, delighted with the work, and ignorant of
Azara's intentions, immediately published it. For the errors

54 MEMOIR OF

The latter portion, — that on birds, — was speedily
translated into French, by the celebrated Sonnini
of Monacour, who added valuable notes, and it
appeared as a second part of the French work
already described. The former treatise, that on
quadrupeds, as mentioned in the note below, has
become exceedingly scarce ; but we are happy to
state that the desideratum thus occasioned is in the
course of being supplied, by a translation into
English, with notes, the first part of which has
lately appeared.*

The dedication of this work to his brother, affords
Azara an opportunity of speaking feelingly on some
of the circumstances of his history. " MY DEAR

of the work, accordingly, Azara holds that he is not responsi-
ble. (Voyage, t. 1, p. 244.) The edition of St. Mery has
long been out of print, and the Spanish work is hardly less
scarce. " It is impossible to procure a copy out of Spain ;
and even in that country it is not often met with." (See Mr.
Hunter's preface, p. 10, where the titles of both works are
given in full, and are dated 180'2.) There must, however, be
some mistake as it regards the second production. Azara, in
his French work, concerning which he was corresponding
in 1806, and which was published in 1809, decidedly states
that it was then in manuscript (T. i. p. 383.) And Walcke-
naer adds — it has since been published in Spanish. (Ib. 384.)
* The Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay and
the River La Plata, translated from the Spanish of Don Felix
d'Azara, with a Memoir of the Author, a Sketch of the Coun-
try, and numerous Notes, by W. Perceval Hunter, Esq.
F. G. S., Z. S., Memb. Geo. Soc. of France. In 2 vols. Vol. i
Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh, 1838. The memoir,
we may add, has not yet appeared.

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 55

NICOLAS, — We had scarcely seen the light when we
were separated; nor have we, during the whole
course of our lives, met, or had any communica-
tion with each other, save in Barcelona, for the
short space of two days, and that by accident. No
less separated have been our paths through life.
You have lived in the great world, and by the
important offices you have held, and by your ta-
lents, deeds, and virtues, have become famous in
Spain, and out of it; whilst I, without obtaining
ostensible employment, and without any opportu-
nity of making myself known to you or others,
have spent the best twenty years of my life in one
of the remotest corners of the earth, forgotten even
by my friends, without books, or rational inter-
course, continually travelling through deserts and
immense and frightful woods, holding communica-
tion only with the birds and the wild beasts. Of
these I have written a history, which I now send
and dedicate to you, that you may become ac-
quainted with me, or, at all events, with the
nature of my labours * * *. That you may
be happy is the prayer of your brother FELIX.
Madrid, 1802."

The author's preface supplies valuable informa-
tion as to the disposition in which the work was
prepared. " Between the twenty-fourth and thirty-
sixth degrees of south latitude, and the fifty-seventh
and sixtieth of west longitude, I did not omit to
describe the quadrupeds I could procure by dili-
gence or money. I commenced this task after

56 MEMOIR OF

mature deliberation, without allowing myself to
be imposed upon by what others might have writ-
ten, and with a view of employing myself in some
useful occupation. T spent in these pursuits, the
whole of my leisure time from the year 1782 till
1801, making it my first object to tell the truth,
without the least exaggeration; making myself
acquainted with the characters, and then noting
them down, with the animals under my eye. I
have been scrupulously careful in stating the forms
and colours, from having observed that they are
very constant. As to the habits, they are far the
most difficult to ascertain; for the people of this
country, who are careless in every thing, almost
always relate fables and inferences instead of truth.
In this part of my work, I have given as certain
only what I have myself observed ; and of the infi-
nity of stories I have heard, I have noted down
only the few which appeared certain."

Our previous pages have detailed at sufficient
length, the annoying circumstances which led Azara,
in what he considered his state of banishment, to
betake himself to these investigations. They were
commenced solely for amusement, and without any
thoughts of his becoming an author. At first he
only preserved the skins, and transmitted them to
Europe. But finding this unproductive of benefit,
he began to write out minute descriptions of each
as he encountered them. His mode of description
was original, but it soon became excellent ; and the
number of specimens rapidly accumulating on his

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 57

hand, he was forced to group them into a kind of
system. It was under these circumstances that a
happy accident put him in possession of the Spanish
translation of Buffon, the most celebrated work of
the age on the subject, and the first and only one
our self-taught naturalist had ever seen. The avi-
dity with which he perused its pages may readily be
conceived ; and finding in it many deficiencies and
inaccuracies, especially in connexion with those re-
gions with which he was most familiar, he recast his
work afresh, making at the same time such remarks
as the examination of Buffon suggested. Thus his
treatise very naturally acquired somewhat of a criti-
cal tone ; a circumstance which has given occasion
to censure. His own answer, however, appears
abundantly satisfactory. " My strictures are made
not so much on the Count de Buffon, as on those
travellers and naturalists from whom he copied the
errors I attack. Even were they his own, they
would not detract from his merit ; nor ought it to
excite astonishment, that a man who wrote with
infinite elegance on so many and such extended sub-
jects, and who had not the same opportunities which
I have had to examine some, should not succeed
in all. If it should be found that I have been at all
wanting in the respect due to so illustrious a per-
sonage, I beg it may be attributed to the love I bear
to truth, to my unwillingness that it should be at all
departed from, and to my having written under
the influences of melancholy, when it appeared I
was destined never to escape from those wild re-

58 MEMOIR OF

gions." * And his friend Walckenaer, speaking from
personal knowledge, says, " No man is more gentle
and modest, or freer from every thing like scientific
rancour, more ready to doubt, and to retract when
he finds he has been wrong."

So soon as this work appeared, it was hailed as a
very valuable acquisition to the records of Natural
History. In proof of this, we need only mention
that the individual who was appointed to report con-
cerning it to the first class of the French Institute,
did so in the following terms : — " M. Azara has
been the first to point out the conformation and ha-
bits of many animals of which previously we pos-
sessed only very imperfect descriptions and incorrect
drawings, and of which we really knew little more
than the names. He has also added many species to
our catalogue, which were previously unknown to
naturalists, which it was of consequence we should
be acquainted with, and concerning which we could
least have hoped for information."

We can supply only a short specimen of the kind
of information to be obtained from this celebrated
treatise, in a few meagre extracts from Mr. Hunter's
translation, of which we are happy to avail our-
selves.t

The work contains a minute account of seventy-

* Preface. Hunter, u. a.

•f One volume only of this translation (it will extend to two)
has hitherto been published. Mr. Hunter has given the prece-
dence to the non-indigenous animals introduced by the Spa-
nish conquerors.

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 59

seven species of native mammiferse, and seven spe-
cies of reptiles, with numerous details respecting tlje
European animals which were introduced by the
Spaniards. As to the plan pursued, there is a me-
moir devoted to each kind of animal, which is sub-
divided into three parts. First, an account is given
of its habits, comprehending its habitat, food, num-
ber of its young, dispositions, its habits in confine-
ment, its enemies, and the domestic uses, if any,
to which it is applied; 2d, There is a detailed
description, from specimens recently killed, of its
external characters ; and, lastly, a critical examina-
tion of the accounts given by Buffon and other
writers. This last part forms by far the largest por-
tion of the whole ; and though frequently too prolix,
supplies much information.*

The non-indigenow animals introduced to notice
are the Horse, Ass, Mule, Cow, Sheep, Goat, and
Dog. " The wild horses congregate every where in
such immense herds, that it is no exaggeration to
say they sometimes amount to 12,000 individuals.
They are most troublesome and prejudicial; for,
besides consuming vast quantities of pasture, they
gallop up to the domesticated horses wherever they
see them, call and caress them with their low affec-
tionate neighings, thus throwing them into confu-
sion, and easily induce them to incorporate with
their troops, among which they remain ever after-
wards. Thus it often happens, that travellers find
themselves unable to continue their journey ; their
* Hunter, p. xv.

60 MEMOIR OF

relays of fresh horses, which are always driven be-
fore them, being enticed away, and carried off by
the wild herds. The Indians of the Pampas eat
them as food. The Spaniards kill the most corpu-
lent, to make fires of their bones and fat, in the
districts where there is a scarcity of wood. Buffon,
after stating they are gregarious, adds, ' That each
troop, by common consent, submits itself to a chief,
who guides, commands, and directs their move-
ments ; making them form in line of battle, by files,
companies, battalions, and brigades/ The fact, how-
ever, is, that each horse appropriates to himself as
many mares as he can, and takes care of them,
keeping them always united, and fighting with any
of his brethren who dispute his possession of them
Each herd of wild horses, therefore, is composed of
a multitude of small troops, a little separated, yet
almost united, which draw near together in action,
tHat troop advancing first which happens to be
nearest to the point of attack. The price of the
common domestic horses in the plains of Buenos
Ayres is about a hundred pence (two pesos) ; the
mares are sold at fourpence-halfpenny each (two
rials). I have heard for a fact, that a short time
ago there was a horse at Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz,
which had two horns like a bull, four inches long,
sharp, erect, and growing close to the ears; and
that another from Chili was brought to Yedela, a
native of Buenos Ayres, with strong horns, three
inches high. This horse, they tell me, was re-
markably gentle, but, when offended, attacked like

DON FELIX D AZARA. 61

a bull. Yedela sent this animal to some of his
relatives in Mendoza, who intended to propagate
the breed : I am not aware of the result.

" The Cow supplies here almost all the necessaries
of life. Few of the inhabitants eat bread, or any
other kind of food except roast-beef. Of the horns
they make glasses, spoons, and combs ; and a bung
being placed at the larger end, and a hole opened
at the tip, they serve as jars. Of the leather, all
their ropes and cords, and a great part of their do-
mestic utensils are made, such as canisters, chests,
&c. Of the raw hide they manufacture a kind of
square boat, with which they cross their great rivers.
They sleep on these hides, and make doors and
windows, and very often their dwellings. The fat
supplies the place of oil ; of the tallow they make
candles and soap, and the bones are used instead of
other fuel. Their skulls are the only seats and
benches. Of the milk, in Paraguay, a great many
stewed dishes are made, as are butter and cheese.
From 800,000 to 1,000,000 hides are annually ex-
ported. When a supply of these is required, a troop
of men on horseback sets forth, and arranging them-
selves in two long files which meet at an angle, they
hem in the cattle. The individual who comes last
in the angle, is called the Cortador, and hamstrings
the cattle with a long cutting instrument, shaped at
the end like a half moon. "When thus engaged,
they do not cease galloping ; and when a sufficient
number of cattle are obtained, they retrace their
steps, and the Cortador kills the animals with his

62 MEMOIR OF

chuzo, a sharp spear, and the others alight and strip
them, sometimes of the suet, and always of the
hide, at which operation they are very expert.

" Among the Dogs, the ovejeros, or sheep-dogs, are
particularly deserving of notice ; because in this
country, where there are no shepherds, they act in
their place, and take charge of the flocks. Early in
the morning, they drive them from the fold, conduct
them to the plain, accompany them the whole day,
keeping them united ; and when numerous they sur-
round the flock, defending them from birds of prey,
from wild dogs, and other beasts, even from man,
and every kind of injury. At sunset they conduct
the sheep back again to the fold, when they lay
themselves down upon the ground and sleep, and
pass the night in their watchful care over them. If
any of the young lambs lag behind, they carefully
take them up in their mouths, and carry them for a
time, returning again and again, if need be, until
none remain."

Of the indigenous animals of South America, the
older naturalists were wont to assert, that they were
"an inferior dwarfish race." Azara combats this
opinion. Among other instances, he showrs that his
Jaguar* may dispute the palm with the noblest, in
the attributes of bold ferocity and power. " One
day," he remarks, " when shooting on the plain, I
was told that one of these animals had just killed a
horse. I went instantly to the spot, and found he
had already commenced his repast. I did not see
* Fills onca, Lin.

DON FELIX D AZARA. 63

the jaguar, and therefore made my people draw the
horse to within a stone-throw of a tree, purposing to
return and wait for him. I had scarcely gone,
however, half a mile, when they came and informed
me, that the jaguar having swam across a broad
and deep river, had taken up the carcass in his
mouth, and dragging it along, without apparent
effort, for seventy paces, re-entered the river, and
carried it off to the woods on the other side. It is
universally asserted in the country, that the jaguar
draws along, with the greatest facility, not only one
dead horse, or bullock, but two, when they happen
to be tied together. They also state, that if it has
once tasted human flesh, it ever afterwards prefers
it to all other food. Certain it is, that since I have
been in Paraguay, the few jaguars remaining have
devoured six men, carrying them off from the middle
of their companions, whilst warming themselves by
the fire. They prey upon asses, horses, and oxen,
killing them in an extraordinary way. They pounce
upon the neck of their victim, and placing one paw
on the occiput and the other on the muzzle, crush
the skull in a moment. This animal is usually
hunted with immense packs of dogs, amounting to
a hundred. Sometimes it retires to the thick
jungle, and there obstinately remains. On such
occasions, some one is bold enough to follow ; when
wrapping a sheep-skin round his left arm, he enters
the jungle with his chuzo, and bending his body,
presents its point to the animal's breast. The
jaguar often rushes upon it ; but, be this as it may,

64 MEMOIR OF

the man follows it as close as possible and dispatches
it. Those, however, who hazard these bold adven-
tures, generally perish sooner or later in one of
them/'*

Though in our enumeration of Azara's zoological
works we have given the first place to that on
quadrupeds, yet in magnitude and importance it is
inferior to the one on birds. This very decidedly is
the author's own estimate. " The work on birds,"
says he, " est deux fois plus considerable que mon
histoire des quadrupeds." t And again, " Je crois
que cit ouvrage est superieur a celui des quadru-
peds." J In it he gives an original description of
no fewer than 448 species of birds, no less than 200
of which were quite new. His descriptions are
characterized by Mr. Swainson as " not only correct,
but masterly :" § whilst at the same time he greatly
laments, that from not being referred to the modern
genera, or accompanied with plates, their value is
much diminished. No one, however, was more
aware of this deficiency than Azara himself, who
did every thing in his power to lessen the evil.
" From the commencement of my labours," says he,
" I was quite aware that my notes would be com-
paratively of little value, unless they were accom-

* In the French work already referred to, there is an inte-
resting abridgement of this treatise on quadrupeds., extending
to 140 pages, and enriched with notes by the Baron Cuvier,

•f* Voyage, vol. i. p. 384.

If Ib. p. liv.

§ Discourse on the Study of Natural History, p. 81.

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 65

panied with exact drawings; but in the district
where I wrote, and for 400 leagues round, there
was no one near me who was acquainted with the
art, and I was therefore compelled to limit my
wishes within the bounds of my own unaided exer-
tions/' * This want certainly occasions the student
much more trouble in identifying the species ;
though this, we believe, has very much been done
to his hand by Sonnini. In the preface, Azara
tells us, that the rapacious birds are to those which
are not so, in the proportion of one to nine ; while
in Europe, according to Buffon, they are as one to
fifteen. He adds, " the French naturalist informs
us that in America the birds are not melodious, and
this, he ascribes, to the influence of climate. But
were we to select the best chorus of songsters we
could procure in the old world, and compare it with
another chosen in the new, the victory would pro-
bably be disputed. From the contest, the nightin-
gale, however, must be excluded, for no American
bird can compete with her."

As exhibiting a specimen of Azara's style in this
department, we select his account of the flying-
toads, Crapands velons, or enyoulevens. " These
birds are allied to the swallows, by their flat head,
their neck, and their short feet, as well as by their
feeble bill, the nature of their food, their manner of
procuring it, and other characters. They differ
from them chiefly in being larger, nocturnal, soli-
tary, or, at least, less sociable, in resting on the
* Hunter, p. xxiv.

66 MEMOIR OF

ground, in that they have whiskers, denticulated
ears, &c. Their mouth is deformed on account of
its great size, being as large and even larger than
the head; their beak is small and curved, the
tongue straight and peculiar ; the whiskers are long
and hard, the nostrils pipe-shaped; the eye very
large, and across it you see the colour of the open
mouth ; the neck is short, and as if swollen, owing
to the quantity of feathers which surround it ; the
legs are short, the feet roundish, strong, and clothed
with feathers anteriorly ; the three front claws are
united near their origin by a membrane, the remain-
ing one is at the side ; an indented margin, saw-
like, runs along the internal side of the middle claw.
They have little flesh in comparison with their bulk ,
the stretch from the tip of one wing to that of ano-
ther, and the tail, are long; finally, the wing is
rather straight, and of a long square shape.

" Much light dazzles them ; and during the day
they do not take wing, unless approached very
near, when they fly a short space, low and hori-
zontally, and fall down suddenly, rolling up their
wings like a ball ; it is then difficult to discover
them, because their plumage resembles the ground,
wrhere they rest, close to it, without standing, and
as if they were glued to it. It is only during twi-
light and full moon they seek their food, flying low
and with great ease, frequently changing their
direction to catch insects. Some species rest only
on the ground, others on trees, and some in both
ways, One species climbs trees vertically, like the

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 67

Carpenters, whilst others, on the contrary, rest only
on the tarsus. Some frequent fields, others woods,
and some both. These last appear in Paraguay in
the middle of winter; the others, only in spring;
and some are constantly resident, and during the
extreme cold conceal themselves in the thick woods.
It is said they make no nest, but lay their eggs on
the bare ground, whilst I am certain that some
bring forth their young on trees. They all so much
resemble each other, that after having seen one, you
can never be deceived as to the family to which they
belong ; and for the same reason, it is very difficult
to distinguish the different species. Nor is it easy
to discover the habits of nocturnal birds. The size,
on many occasions, is a great resource, but then
they must be very accurately measured ; the colour
of the plumage being of a very common kind, very
perplexed and confused, it can scarcely be expressed
in words. In short, the examination of these birds
is a work of great difficulty, and so very trouble-
some, that I have sometimes thrown them alto-
gether aside, to avoid the embarrassment of com-
paring and describing them."

With one other extract, from his account of the
Small Martin, we fear we must dismiss his very
important ornithological labours. — " I have often
observed this bird in the woods of Paraguay; it
there always flies above the highest trees ; and, if
in the plains, it sometimes approaches within thirty
or forty feet of the ground, it instantly remounts to
its accustomed elevation, so that I have never been

08 MEMOIR OP

"dble to shoot one. It does not migrate, and is very
wild : it does not light either on trees or the ground.
It skims along the air like a swallow, and some-
times, in passing, catches the spiders on the trees.
It is not very unlike the Martin of Spain. It is
sometimes called the Bat-swalloic, from the resem-
blance, both in colour and uncertain flight ; at the
same time it is more rapid than all the rest. On
the wing, it executes every kind of movement,
sometimes merely fluttering, then outspreading its
wings, now mounting high, and then darting off in
a straight line, or obliquely. It threads the branches
of trees with the greatest address, and is so espe-
cially destined for flight, that it sometimes does not
repose for an instant during the whole day."

From his zealous and able assistant, Noseda, he
obtained the following particulars. " I have often
pursued these birds, and never got a shot at one,
not only on account of the rapidity of their flight,
but also on account of their great shyness, which
prevents them ever coming within gunshot. At
the same time, they are very common. Tired of so
much useless fatigue, I ordered an Indian to exa-
mine if these Martins never perched upon the trees
during the hottest part of the day, and also to dis-
cover the places where they spent the night. This
Indian passed a whole week in the woods, and re-
marked that these birds never rested during the
day, and that they often soared out of sight. At
the same time, he discovered a tree of extraordinary
dimensions and very bushy, whence he perceived

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 69

that many Martins sallied forth at break of day.
He examined the aperture, and having noticed that
a current of air issued from it, he concluded there
must be a second opening, which he discovered near
the ground. I so placed myself that I could see
these birds enter their domicile. They arrived at
sunset, in small troops (I counted sixty-two), but
so rapidly they could scarcely be distinguished. I
heard their wings striking against the margin
of the entrance, which was so small that they
could not enter with extended wing, although the
interior was large enough for two to fly abreast.
During the night, I closed both openings, and heard
the birds flying in the interior. Next morning the
tree was cut down, and forty Martins were taken ;
the rest escaped. I examined the interior, and
found it was fit only for creepers. I put some of
them into a cage, and allowed the others to fly
about the house. I perceived that they could not
stand, and that their crooked nails, very strong and
sharp, afforded them every facility for climbing." —
The minute noting of the characters then follows.
This must suffice for his great work on Ornitho-
logy.

And now we should have been happy to have
dwelt in the same way on our author s other labours
in Natural History, respecting Reptiles, Fishes, and
Insects ; and also on his Botanical pursuits, relating
both to wild and cultivated plants. These are seve-
rally contained in distinct chapters of the French
work, and abundantly exhibit both his energy and

70 MEMOIR OF

ingenuity. Azara is not to be regarded as an adept
in Ichthyology or Entomology, which sciences, when
he left Europe, were in a very different state from
what they now are. Probably he had never re-
ceived a single lesson regarding them, nor had in
his possession the most elementary treatise relating
to them. Nothing daunted, however, and quite
aware of his deficiencies, he determined to allow
nothing to escape his scrutiny ; and his memoirs on
these subjects, more especially the one on the insects
of the provinces, extending to seventy pages, and
including observations on bees and their products,
and wasps and their habits, on the immense colo-
nies of ants, on the different kinds of flies, the pests
of these countries, on beetles and locusts, and their
overwhelming migrations, &c. &c,, cannot easily
be surpassed either in interest or usefulness. Pre-
cisely similar remarks apply to his observations on
the Vegetable world. He was a horticulturist and
florist rather than a botanist, and very entertain-
ingly discourses of whatever was most useful in
these departments ; of trees, shrubs, and grains, in
their wildest luxuriance ; of the Paraguay tree, so
often already mentioned in these pages, which is in
these regions what tea is in China, the object of
assiduous cultivation and extensive trade ; of many
medicinal plants ; of those which yield caoutchouc ;
of cotton, sugar-cane, vines, and tobacco ; of coffee
and cacao, indigo, and silk ; of maize and mandioc,
or cassava, whence tapioca is prepared ; of oils and
fruits and culinary vegetables. On these it was our

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 71

intention somewhat to have dilated, but our limits
prevent, and we must deny ourselves the gratifica-
tion, and our readers, we venture to say, the
pleasure.

But curtailed as these details necessarily must be,
they are, we believe, amply sufficient to convey an
accurate estimate of the patient devotedness with
which Azara laboured during so many years, in a
way most honourable to himself, for the advance-
ment of science, and for the instruction and benefit
of mankind. We have mentioned, in a former page,
the vexatious circumstances which detained him
from the more stirring prosecution of his profession
in the civilized world, and chained him to America
among the wild beasts of the forest ; and to which,
however annoying to himself, we owe so much im-
portant information, and he, perhaps, his highest
celebrity. The delays concerning the settlement of
the limits, were not, however, his only ground of
vexation. On the other hand, we are from them
prepared to expect that those officials who could
pursue such a course, in one important affair, were
ready for equal malversations in others. We have
already stated that one of the subjects which en-
gaged Azara's attention was a review of the history
of the provinces, and the several popular accounts
which had been published. He was in circum-
stances favourable for research, and undertook to
examine all the books and manuscripts which were
to be found in the country. On ascertaining his pur-
pose, the governor of Paraguay put a padlock upon

72 MEMOIR OF

the archives under his keeping, and thus for a time
arrested his investigations. Another viceroy ere
long succeeded, who was not only ignorant, but
also hypocritical and jealous. The civic rulers of
Assumption having requested Azara to favour them
with an epitome of his researches upon the country,,
he readily complied. To mark their gratitude, they
conferred on him the title of " The most distin-
guished citizen of Assumption." Upon this the
governor was so irritated, that he caused Azara's
history, description, and map to be secretly con-
veyed from the city, along with the register in
which he was enrolled as a citizen. In spite of all
precautions, this disgraceful act became known, and
this greatly increased the governor's jealousy and
rage. He now wrote to the Spanish government,
that Azara had prepared these documents and maps
only that he might supply them to their enemies,
the Portuguese. In the year 1790, six great boxes,
filled with valuables, were sent to the governor, by
the Portuguese authorities who were tampering with
him, and endeavouring to bring him over to their
views. Of this occurrence the high functionary was
not slow to avail himself, by representing that the
boxes were intended really for Azara. He sent this
information to the viceroy of Buenos Ayres, who
immediately seized all Azara's papers and charts,
which were never afterwards returned to him.

These few statements abundantly prove that the
viceroys and governors, far from being anxious to
advance Azara's interest, or to promote his wishes,

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 73

especially as it regarded his return to Europe, on
the contrary, did every thing they could to hinder
it. All this injustice of his superiors, however,
diminished not our officer's zeal in the execution
of their orders. He was appointed to survey the
southern limits of the states, in which government
was intending to fix new settlements; and this
duty was the more trying, as the region was quite
a desert, peopled only by the wild Pampas. At a
subsequent period, he received the military command
of the frontier next Brazil, with an order to dislodge
the Portuguese from the posts which they had there
planted. To him also was entrusted the task of
examining the harbours of the La Plata, and of
regulating a plan of defence against the anticipated
attack of the English. He likewise presented to
the local government memoirs upon a variety of im-
portant subjects, among which we shall particularize
only one on the melioration of the administration,
and another upon liberating the civilized Indians
from their bondage*, by altering the absurd govern-
ment which had been imposed upon them by the
Jesuits.

Whilst engaged in such honourable employments,
for we cannot allude to many others, and with
which he never ceased to associate his scientific
pursuits, the neglect of the Spanish government at
length came to an end, and some attention was
manifested to an officer who was at once so devoted
and so worthy of reward. In the year 1801,
M. Azara obtained the permission he had so long

74 MEMOIR OF

solicited, to return to his native country.* On his
arrival in Spain, as already mentioned, he soon
began the publication of those works he might un-
dertake without the permission of his superiors, and
of which we have given some account. Speedily
after this he went to Paris, that he might once
more have the felicity of meeting his brother, who
was then the Spanish ambassador at the court of
France. He here divided his time between the
enjoyment of his brother's society, and the cultiva-
tion of Natural History. The king of Spain had
conferred upon him, in the month of October 1802,
the rank of Brigadier-General; but his brother
Nicolas, charmed with his personal intercourse,
and, on account of his greater age, entertaining for
him all a father's interest, induced him to resign his
new commission, that he might always be near
himself. But, alas ! this tardy enjoyment was
short-lived. On the 26th of January 1803, Don
Nicolas died ; and Don Felix closed the eyes of a
brother he had ever loved, but had scarcely seen.

The subsequent events of Azara's life are very
imperfectly known. The king of Spain shortly
recalled him, appointing him a member of the
Junta de fortiftcationes y defensa de Amlos Indias,
a board of controul, in which was chiefly centred

* It thus appears that Azara never held the " office of Go-
vernor of Paraguay," a distinction which has been conferred
upon him by the learned author of the Preliminary Discourse
on the Study of Natural History. (See Lardner's Cyclopaedia,
vol. lix. p. 81.)

DON FELIX D'AZARA. 75

the home government of the Spanish transatlantic
possessions. From Spain he continued to correspond
with his friend Walckenaer, concerning the publi-
cation of his " Voyages/' In the year 1805 he
writes that the government had fixed him in Ma-
drid, and that though he had requested a short
leave, it could not be granted. The ambition of a
hero and tyrant now altered the political relations
of France and Spain, and exchanged the friendly
and peaceful intercourse of Naturalists and others,
for a deluge of misery, rapine, and blood. The last
notice we find in the correspondence, in January
1806, is in these striking words : " A good citizen
is his country's, and I am now useful to mine."
When his works were published in France, a copy
could not be transmitted to Madrid ; and no further
information, we believe, has been procured of his
declining years, or of his death.*

Abused mortals, did you know

Where joy, heart's ease, and comfort grow,

You'd scorn proud towers,

And seek them in these bowers ;

* A curious mistake is made in the last edition of the En-
cyclopaedia Britannica, which, by the bye, contains the only
attempt of a notice of Azara's life we have seen, in any of the
popular Biographies or Encyclopaedias. He is here confounded
with his brother, Don Joseph Nicolas ; and a jumble is made
of the history of the two into one narrative, and under one
name, viz. Don Joseph Felix Nicolas de Azara. Hence Nicolas
is made a soldier and naturalist, and Felix an ambassador*
virtuoso, and scholar. We need scarcely add, that Don Felix
did not die in the year 1803 or 1804.

76 MEMOIR OF

Where winds, perhaps, our woods may sometimes shake,
But blustering care can tempest never make,

Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us,

Saving of fountains that glide by us.

Here's no fantastic masque dt dance,
But of our kids that frisk and prance ;

Nor wars are seen,

Unless upon the green

Two harmless lambs are butting one another,
Which done, both bleating run each to his mother j

And wounds are never found,

Save what the ploughshare gives the ground.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

SUB-GENUS CANIS,

OB
THE DOGS, PROPERLY SO CALLED.*

IN the preceding volume we have endeavoured to
point out the reasons for considering domestic dogs
to be descended, not solely from a species of wolves
or of jackals, but from genuine wild dogs of more

* The most ancient names of the dog are never confounded
with the wolf. Cu, Ci, *tw?, Can, Cuen, Khan, Kene, Kao,
Quaho, Quio, Qui-loh, Cagot, Coyot, Kot, Cat, belongs to
them all : in the Celtic dialects, in the Greek, Latin, Basque,
even in the Hottentot and ancient Mexican ; and the last
form, Sanscrit, Indee, Chinese, and ancient European names.
Dog, Dokke, Dhole, Tulki, Tokla, Toquae, spreads similarly
over the whole of Asia, Africa, and Europe : so again in the
Greek, fae-a ; Oriental, Tzebi ; Tartar, Tay ; Belgic, Tey, a
dog, a bitch ; Techi, hi Mexican ; and in the Oriental, Ur ;
and in the South Sea Islands, Uri, a dog, one that rises sud-
denly. A thorough philological inquiry would most assuredly
show, that in no language, and at no period, did man po-
sitively confound the wolf, the jackal, or the fox, with a real
dog.

78 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

than one homogeneous species. /Separate descrip-
tions have already shown this result, and enabled
us to deny that dog-like wild canines are unques-
tionably alienated domestic dogs. That there are
races of feral dogs will be shown in the sequel;
but the existence of these animals, and the appear-
ances they exhibit, are in themselves reasons for
not admitting the general inference, where the indi-
cations which should guide us are found wanting.
With regard to the probability of the intermixture
of the wolf with the dog, the facts are known and
admitted; and it may be also assumed, that if a
genuine species of the last mentioned should not be
parent of any race of dogs, still the crossing often
repeated, which, in the earlier states of society,
when men and dogs lived more with the wilder
species of the creation, must have been much more
frequent, and consequently a very considerable pro-
portion of the blood of the wolf may be infused in
some races, at least of the domestic species; and
that proportion, together with other circumstances
of climate, food, and education, must have contri-
buted to modify their characters and powers.* The
same views are applicable to the jackals, and thi
smaller races of dogs of middle and southern Asia,
and again to the Dusicyon group of dogs of South
America.

* See Dr. Richardson's Fauna Boreali- Americana. In hi«
letter to us, he states the American wolves to intermix freely
with the dogs. The Prince of Wied is of the same opinion.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 7§

It is only upon this principle that we can account
for the different number of mammae which domestic
dogs are provided with ; for physiologists, we ap-
prehend, are not justified in assuming the difference
in organs of such importance to arise from domesti-
city, food, or climate : no other domestic animal is
thus found altered by these circumstances; and
even in the sow, should they be found to differ, it
is evident that more than one original species is in-
termixed. Now, of domestic dogs, Mr. Dauben-
ton examined twenty-one individuals of both sexes,
and found eight who had five on each side, making
ten ; eight with four on each side, making eight ;
two with five on one side and four on the other,
making nine; and three with four on one, and
three on the other, giving seven. We have seen
already, that the maximum of mammae in the
canines is ten, and the minimum six ; that in all
the wild species the number is always in pairs, and
that they never vary in a species. To wrhat other
cause, then, can we ascribe the anomaly in domes-
tic dogs so justly as to an intermixture of species ?
Nations, at first, reclaiming the best disposed canines
of their own woods, and after a gradual demorali-
zation by servitude, in animals by nature prurient,
succeeding in making cross breeds with the do-
mestic species of other tribes, derived from other
regions. This opinion is strengthened by the fact,
that the attractions to form a cross breed with
wilder animals, have always originated with the
domestic races. We may regret the celebrated

80 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

physiologist did not give the names of the breeds
of dogs, along with the number of mammae ; for it
is likely that the most anomalous would have
shown also the greatest degree of degradation in
the crossings. Some inferences might likewise be
drawn from a multiplied series of observations on
the colour of the eyes ; for in the wild, and semi-
wild dogs, they are constantly uniform. Even the
quality and colours of the hair is not without some
importance ; for although both albinism and mela-
nism are -existing effects in the wild state, among
many species of mammifera3, they scarcely affect a
second generation. Notwithstanding that domesti-
city, even in the very first offspring, is liable to
show a commencement of change of colour, it does
not, in the main, take away the original tinctures
from the greater number so produced ; and when
the disturbing cause is removed, and the animals
are allowed to resume their aboriginal state, the
primitive livery returns. We may conclude, also,
that the feral races of long standing are of similar
colours with the types from which they are sup-
posed to have sprung, both in Asia and America,
and that they clearly point to species of aboriginal
dogs, not to be grouped with either wolves or foxes.
The colour of the palate in several races of dogs
being black, while in others it is whitish, may de-
serve consideration, for we observed the black to
prevail in the wild and semi-domesticated species
of South America ; and it has since been found to
be the case with the breeds of Patagonia and Tierra

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 81

del Fuego,* it is likely that the latter have often a
fifth toe on the hind feet, as well as the former,
who are mostly provided with it. In these respects,
the races of South America assimilate with the old
terriers of Europe, as they do also in several other
particulars.

Having already adverted to the skulls of canines
in general, we shall defer further notice until we
describe the structure of the primitive races.

There is no typical colour of the hair assignable
to dogs ; though, perhaps, a kind of fulvous buff is
the most frequent, in all the regions of moderate
and fervid temperatures. And it may be observed,
that the author of the British Field Sports has justly
remarked, that all the great and ancient races of
dogs are originally divided into a rough and smooth
variety, which appear to be independent of climate ;
for both are found to continue under opposite cir-
cumstances.

No domestic dog is provided with a tail that
reaches to the ground, or forms a real brush, like
that of foxes ; the organ is not so flexible as in the
last mentioned, but rigid, and mostly drawn up
into a curve, with the point towards the back. In
joy, it wags from side to side ; in fear, it is with-
drawn between the legs. The ears of dogs are
originally upright and pointed, in aU the -races
having long hair and a sharp muzzle; in those
where the head is similarly terminated, but the
bair is short, they are half erect; in the blunt-
* Communicated in a letter by Captain Fitzroy, R. N.

82 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

headed, they hang down. The eyes of all are
more horizontal than in the wild species ; they are
seated somewhat nearer together, are comparatively
larger, of light brown, black, and sometimes of
light blue colours. Dogs stand more perpendicu-
larly upon the toes than wolves; the croup is
equal, or even higher, than the shoulders. But it
is in their intellectual powers that they are chiefly
and eminently distinguished from their congeners,
powers rooted in . their original constitution, unat-
tainable by those that have remained wild, and only
in part developed by education and circumstances ;
modified, or even deteriorated, by crosses with the
irreclaimable species.

Of all carnivorous quadrupeds, they possess the
greatest variety of modulations in their voice : they
bark, bay, howl, yelp, whine, cry, growl, and snarl,
according to the emotions they feel. When en-
couraging each other in hunting, expressing the
language of authority; in watchfulness, at distant
noises, or displeasure at particular sounds ; in pain
or suffering, they have an expressive moan ; a gut-
tural tremulous squeal, under impatience ; a snarl,
in anger ; and a kind of shriek, when their passions
are excited to ferocity. Who is there so little ob-
servant as not to know, almost by the sound of the
first note, the peculiar bark of the drover and shep-
herd's dog, half intonated, as the expression of
delegated authority, and understood by the flock or
the drove, the more earnest repetition when the
first signal is disregarded, followed by the low and

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 83

blur? sound, conveying a menace, and at length
the sharp snarl, when he finds it necessary to enforce
obedience, by running to the spot, and execute his
orders with well counterfeited anger; or, if disap-
pointed, the half howling bay of lamentation at the
failure ? All these emotions are expressed in a
language which marks the singular endowments
bestowed by the Creator's fiat, for purposes that
cannot well be mistaken, nor be studied, without
calling upon our sympathy and affection. Dogs,
likewise, express most significantly, by the voice,
their desire to be admitted within doors, and, still
more, in begging with perseverance ; or in resent-
ment, when treated with contempt. They are jea-
lous of the master's favour, quick in discovering
the respectable, insolent to the poor, selfish in gor-
mandizing, tyrannical among their meaner inferiors,
and fawning upon their superiors; injury they
resent, with the discretion and pertinacity of poli-
ticians.

Tilesius relates of his own dog, a fact? which he
witnessed : — -The animal had been worried by ano-
ther of greater strength; when returned to his
home, it was observed that he abstained from half
the proportion of his allotted food, and formed a
kind of store with his savings. After some days
he went out, brought several dogs of the vicinity
back, and feasted them upon his hoard. This sin-
gular proceeding attracted the author's attention,
who, watching the result, observed that they all
went out together ; and, following them, he found

84 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

they proceeded, by several streets, to the skirts of
the town, where the leader singled out a large dog,
which was immediately assailed by all his guests,
and very severely punished.

A similar case is reported to have happened some
years ago, in the precincts of London, where a
person on business from Devonport (then named
Dock) had taken his dog. This animal being mal-
treated by a watch- dog, returned, with his master,
home ; but he was missed a day or two after, as
well as a favourite companion of his, a very large
house-dog, and neither were seen for about ten
days. They had scarcely returned before a letter
arrived, informing the owner of the dog, that that
animal, in company with another, had been seen
at the place where he had been maltreated, and
that they had killed the dog who gave the first
offence.

The sagacity of some races is no less remarkable :
as, for instance, that of a dog who had delayed en-
tering the ferry-boat at Saltash, near Devonport,
and, swimming after it, found that the tide swept
him away ; instead of persevering, he swam back,
and, running along the shore to some distance up
the current, plunged in again, and reached the
landing place on the opposite side. Dr. J. Maccul-
loch relates, of his own knowledge, several singular
anecdotes of a Scottish shepherd- dog, who always
eluded the intentions of the household respecting
him, if aught was whispered in his presence that
did not coincide with his wishes.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 85

Their instinctive comprehension of the nature of
property, is evinced in the case of a lady at Bath
walking out, and finding her progress impeded by a
strange mastiff-dog, until, half alarmed, she dis-
covered the loss of her veil ; when, retracing her
steps, the dog went on before her, till the article
lost was discovered ; and then the animal hastened
after his own master. Again, when a lad, upon a
hard trotting horse, allowed the cakes he had bought
to be tossed out of his basket ; and he had scarcely
discovered his loss on dismounting, when the house-
dog, who had followed him, came home with the
greater part in his mouth : these he had no sooner
dropped, than, running back, he fetched the re-
mainder.

But their capacity of understanding certain wishes
of man, is still more curiously evinced in the Pariah
dogs, belonging to the Sepoy soldiers in India. As
these men are of many different creeds, sects, and
castes, scarcely any two can cook together, or use
the same vessels ; they are even jealous of a defiling
shadow passing across their food. But their duties
not permitting personal superintendence, many have
dogs so trained, as to keep off all strangers : these
animals will stand on their hind feet, and, springing
in the air, drive away an argeelah, or a stooping
vulture ; being ever careful that their own shadow
does not cross the vessels.

Their benevolent feelings, and prescience of im-
pending consequences, we have personally witnessed
in a water-dog, who, unbidden, plunged in the

86 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

current of a roaring sluice to save a small cur, mali-
ciously flung in. And, in another instance, of a
Pomeranian dog, we have often seen, belonging to
the master of a Dutch Bylander vessel : this crea-
ture sprang overboard, caught a child up and swam
on shore with it, before any person had discovered
the accident. The most remarkable of these is,
however, that of a Swiss Chamois hunter's dog,
who, being on the glaciers with an English gentle-
man and his master, observed the first approaching
one of those awful crevices in the ice to look down
into it, he began to slide towards the edge; his
guide, with a view to save him, caught his coat,
and both slid onward, till the dog seized his mas*
ter's clothes, and arrested them both from inevita-
ble death. The gentleman left the dog a pension
for life.

A more remarkable presentiment of danger affect -
ing themselves, appears in the notice Captain Fitz-
roy gives of the earthquake at Galcahuasco, on the
20th February, 1835, where it appeared that all
the dogs had left the town before the great shock
which ruined the buildings was felt ; and, it seems,
that the same instinct was manifested at Con-
cepcion.*

But, in constant fidelity, the dog offers the
highest models for our admiration and gratitude;
numberless are the cases where they have been
found on fields of battle, lying by, and watching
the bodies of their slain masters. In 1660, S.
* Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 87

Bochart relates a case, then still witnessed at Paris,
by all who chose, of a dog who had followed his
master's hier to the grave three years before, and
was - then remaining on the spot.* A similar case
occurred in the last half century, at Lisle, where
the admiration of the neighbourhood caused a hut
to be built for the dog, upon the grave of his master,
and food to be brought him. The faithful creature
resided on the spot for nine years, when he died.
Recently, the public authorities in France having
made strenuous endeavours to abate smuggling be-
tween the frontiers of Belgium and that kingdom,
discovered that they had only transferred the prac-
tice from men to dogs, who were trained to carry
lace, and other small articles, securely packed,
across fields and rivers, where a wrhole army of
custom-house, or other officers, were inadequate to
arrest them.

Dogs have propensities to act upon excitements
which would seem to be foreign to their nature,
though we know that musical sounds offend them,
yet to have so strong a predilection for harmony, as
is described to have been the case with a dog at
Paris, is very remarkable ; for this animal, who
was known, in the beginning of the Revolution, to
musicians, by the name of Parade, because he regu-
larly attended the military at the Thuileries, stood

* Hierosoicon. A later account attests his continuation in
the Church-yard of St. Innocent, to the end of his life. See
also the affecting anecdote given in Bell's British Quadrupeds,
page 223.

00 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

by, and marched with the band; and, at night,
went to the Opera, Comedie Italienne, or Theatre
Feydau; dined with any musician who expressed,
by a word or gesture, that his company was asked ;
yet always withdrew from attempts to be made the
property of any individual.* There is a still more
singular instance of the desire of excitement in the
dog, who, for several seasons, was known, in Lon-
don, to be always present and conspicuous whenever
there was a fire ; yet was not owned by any person
belonging to the fire-companies.

But the most amusing, is the case communicated
to the French Academy of Sciences by the cele-
brated Leibnitz, referring to a dog who had been
taught to modulate his voice, so as as to be able to
repeat intelligibly the words required to ask for
coffee, tea, and chocolate.

The numberless anecdotes that might be collected
on these subjects would fill volumes, and attest the
credibility of at least a great number. But to pro-
ceed.

Dogs are prone to dream ; and then they may be
observed to move their feet, make efforts to bark,
agitate themselves as if they were hunting, or be-
come excited till the hair rises on their flanks, and
the skin becomes clammy ; yet, when awake, they
scarcely ever sweat, but cool themselves by panting,
and hanging out the tongue. They discover, with
great readiness, in strange persons, the tokens of
fondness for their species, by what a classical friend
* Peltier. Paris pendant Tannee 1798.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 89

calls, a freemasonry between them. Yet activity of
perception, and lively instinct, is occasionally found
quite wanting. Thus, of two dogs who had fol-
lowed their masters, in a burning sun, along the
sands of the French coast, on the Mediterranean,
when they stopped to rest, one immediately dug
with his feet a hole, sufficient to shelter and cool
him, while the other stood whining in distress,
without even the intelligence to imitate his compa-
nion. Another instance of stupid indifference is
related to have been witnessed by Sir Robert Heron,
who was followed home from the assizes by a strange
dog. The animal stayed at his house, without the
least concern, until the Baronet returned to the
same county town, when he found the dog was the
property of a brother magistrate, and had followed
the first mentioned, to all appearance, only because
he, as well as the other, rode chestnut ponies.

In the account of the dogs of Patagonia, we shall
see the extraordinary value savages set upon pos-
sessing them ; and we may thence infer their im-
portance, in the earlier eras of the world, to those
tribes that first succeeded in domesticating them.
They were the surgeons of the savage, licking the
wounds he had received in his frequent encounters
with fellow men, or wild beasts ; and guarding his
weapons and his couch. The interest thus excited,
soon caused the figure of a dog to become typical of
abstract ideas. His image became the universal
designation of fidelity ; his coercive instinct, that of
the two hemispheres, for so the Egyptians typified

90 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

them on each side of the hawk in their processions ;
and explained the meaning to be, that these com-
pelled the sun (the hawk) to keep his course with-
in the zodiac. In the surgical capacity, they were
represented hy the embalming priests, who wore
masks of black dogs' heads before their faces. In
that of watching, the dog was Anubis,* Sothis, As-
trocyon, Ailurus or Sirius, the dog-star; the riser
whose appearance warned the public of the approach-
ing inundation of the Nile. In the character of
nurse, Theba (the bitch) was the ark, the preserv-
ing and renovating asylum of man. This doctrine
spread through all the systems of initiation, classi-
cal as well as barbarian, as far as the British Druids,
whose canine denomination is mentioned in a for-
mer page. The Egyptians also testified their fear
and abhorrence of the Scythic, or shepherd con-
querors, after their expulsion, by sacrificing to
Typhon (Taiphune), red-haired men, oxen, and
red dogs. The Greeks, who were more attracted
by the poetry, than by the abstract meanings of
their own or their neighbours' religious emblems,
after placing Cerberus to watch the gates of their
infernal regions, notice them mostly in hunting

* Anubis was also the personification of human science (from
Anub, gold ?) He was gilded in his character of Thot ; but
as Hermanubis or Mercury, conductor of the dead, he was
painted black, and hence his image was occasionally made
half yellow and half black. See Jablonski Anubis, and Creut-
zer Rel. de I'Antiquitd His statue was distinguished by an
amiculus thrown over the back.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 91

scenes, and in the fabulous or actual deaths of
heroes and real personages, by the agency of dogs :
though even here they are probably mere types, in-
cluding the fate of Actaeon, and of Eschylus, torn to
pieces by Esterices, not terriers, as Dr. Clark seems
to believe, nor house-dogs, but massacred by en-
vious courtiers, on account of the honours paid him
by King Attalus. The Romans, also, had their
legends and ceremonies, in which dogs bore a con-
spicuous part. The image of a dog was placed in
the vestibulum of their houses to guard the Penates.
In commemoration of their delivery from destruc-
tion, and in punishment of the apathy the Capito-
line watch -dogs were guilty of, on the night when
the Senonic Gauls would have escaladed this last
stronghold of the republic, and geese alone were
watchful, they had annually a ceremony, wherein
a dog was crucified upon an elder-tree (Sambucus
nigra\ between the temples of Sumanus and In-
ventus ; and all dogs seen about the streets were
then flogged, for the neglect of their progenitors.

In the fire-worship initiation of the Zenda Vesta,
he, the dog that repels darkness and his agents, is
pourtrayed with the eyes and eyebrows yellow, and
the ears white and yellow. The animal is still an
object of solicitude with all Parsees at Bombay.
Food is, by them, given to all dogs promiscuously ;
and so incumbered was the city by their numbers,
that the government, not without serious opposi-
tion, was lately compelled to abate the nuisance, by
causing great numbers to be enticed on board boats,

92 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

which, putting to sea, means were found to destroy
them.

The ancient Chaones, Lychaones, and, perhaps,
the Sacae,* seem to have taken their name from
dogs ; and probahly they hore these animals, or their
skins, for banners. The Menapii had a dog in their
shields ; and the Tertio Decimanni (according to the
provincial canon from Constantine to Theodosius),
had the same emblem, painted yellow upon a white
ground. In the Notitia Imperii, no less than ten
legions bore the effigies of dogs upon their shields.

Among the Ptoembarii of Ethiopia, a living dog
was kept and worshipped as an inspired king,t
whose voice and actions were interpreted by priests !
The root Can, Khan, in its acceptation of power, is
evidently mixed up with the idea of a dog. "We
find the Psalmist typifying, by the name of dogs,
hostile kings around him ; and the prophets making
use of the term head, or chief dog. The word
Keleb, only marks that it is a foreign image trans-
lated into the language of the Hebrews. /Many
nations in central Asia, and tribes that emigrated
from thence, employed the large ferocious dogs
they had with them for the purposes of war./ Some-
times forming their advancad, or first line, with

* Sacae, Saha, Sahia, of India ; Sak, ancient Persic, a dog ;
Gsach, Teutonic, power ; Chach, a king. The Median 2«r«x«,
a dog, is only a mutation of Sak.

T Pliny, Solinus, Plutarch, &c. Even in Britain, Cu, a
dog or a head, was thus dignified, as in Cunobelin : the head
king, the solar king, dog of the sun, the pendragon.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 93

ight troops, and these animals ; at others, each war-
rior having his own dog to assist him ; and, lastly,
placing the dogs to guard their women and waggon-
camps. We find this usage among the Hircanians,
Caspians, Colophoni, Castabanentes, the Gauls, the
tribes on the Meander, and the Garamantes of the
African Zaara.* The oldest Germanic tribes like-
wise used dogs ; and the Cymbers, when they were
defeated by Marius, left the glory of a long and ob-
stinate resistance to the Eoman legions in the hands
of their women, and the valour of their dogs, who
formed the defensive force of the waggon-rampart
that inclosed their camp. The practice of using
watch-dogs to guard fortresses and castles, continued
until the introduction of regular armies. The town
of St. Malo, in France, for several centuries, was
guarded by a few watchmen, and many dogs kept
at the public expense, who were unchained as soon
as the gates were locked. The Rhodian knights
trained theirs with particular care for this service ;
daring the invasion of Peru by the Spaniards, the
names of two dogs are recorded, who received regu-
lar soldiers rations.t

But it was for the purposes of watching the flocks
and hunting, that dogs were most universally trained
from the earliest ages, and that pains began to be
taken to improve their required qualities, by cross-

* See Pliny, Valerius Flaccus, and others.
t They were named Leoncillo and Vezerillo. Lopez, His-
tory of Peru.

94 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

ing the breeds of different countries. The Cyne-
getica of the younger Xenophon, Gratius Faliscus,
Aurelius Nemesianus, Oppian and ^Elian, contain
many particulars on the questions connected with
this subject. "We learn from them, that although
the Greeks had many denominations of races of
dogs, the distinct varieties in their possession were
not numerous ; and, that while their instinctive qua-
lities were as perfect as now, they had not yet
acquired that complete docility which incessant
training and education has since produced.

In a series of sixteen or seventeen breeds of
hunting-dogs then existing in Western Asia, Greece,
Italy, and to the north of Macedonia, there appears
to have been only two races ; one of greyhounds,
the other of a kind of dogs hunting by the scent.
Most of these were named after the nations where
they were bred ; but others, particularly in Greece,
were subdivided under appellations of their sup-
posed original owners, or from qualities for which
they were celebrated. Thus, the Iberian, Gallican,
and Carian, were Asiatic ; the Thracian, Sauroma-
tan, Thessalian, and Pseonian, were extra Grecian ;
the Ausonian, Arcadian, Laconian, Locrian, and
Cretan, were Greek. Among the last mentioned,
were the breeds called Castorian, Menelaides, and
Hermodian, named after the heroes who were sup-
posed to have reared them. The Cypceli, or dogs
without feet, bred in Achaia, were most likely
very fleet greyhounds. The Spartan, or Laconian,
asserted to be a cross breed derived from foxes, or

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 95

more likely from our Chrysean group, hunted by
the scent. The Chaonian, no doubt, had also a
mixed orierin, or were a domesticated race of Cha-

C '

ontes, or Chrysean wild dogs, allied to the Molos-
sian, which race was a broad-mouthed breed, and
therefore connected with the drover, or watch-dog,
but not with the bull-dog or mastiff; for that kind
was unknown, until the march of Alexander made
Greece acquainted with it. The Chaonian is most
likely still to be seen in the great watch-dogs of
Epirus, and even in the race of Asia Minor ; and,
as it is mentioned also among the Cretan, where
the Molossian were fabled to have been cast in brass
by Vulcan, and animated by Jupiter, we may con-
clude, that it was imported during the swarming of
the Cyclopian, and other nations, after they were
expelled Albanian Iberia and High Asia, and were
wandering, for some centuries, along the seas in
quest of plunder and new homes. Of this race
were also, no doubt, the Cretan Diaphonoi, who
fought by day and hunted by night. But the
Parippi seem to have been small, and carried on
horses, as was afterwards done, in the romantic era
of Western Europe, by knights and damsels with
their brachets.*

Caelius and others advert, however, to a race of
blue, or slate-coloured Molossi (Glauci Molossi\
not highly esteemed by the sportsmen of antiquity ;
which, nevertheless, we are inclined to consider as

* Others, however, imagine that the Parippi were dogs, in
fleetness, equal to a horse's speed.

96 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

the sources of the French Matin, so unphilosophi-
cally represented by Buffon as one of the great pro-
genitor breeds of dogs, though it is only an inferior
descendant of what is now called the great Danish
dog, or, more properly, the great house-dog of the
northern German nations. This race was anciently
of an iron-blue colour, and approached, in the form
of the mouth, the present Suliot dogs. The Mo-
lossi, unlike bull-dogs, who seldom, if ever, give
tengue, were prone to barking.

domus simul alta Molosses personuit canibus.

LUCRETIUS.

Yirgil styles the race Acer Molossus. Nimesianus
speaks of rural Molossi. The present breed of the
Morea still retains its ancient characters, and is not
of mastiff form. It was when the Greeks became
acquainted with the true mastiff that they, accord-
ing to their constant practice, referred to some race
of their own, a different kind of dogs, but which
the gods, having created every thing in Greece, ne-
cessarily proceeded from thence ; and the Romans,
servile copiers of Greek ideas, applied the same
name of Molossian to the British bull-dog, when
they became acquainted with it.*

The Arcadian dogs, Leonicii leontomiges, said to
be sprung from lions, show an approach to mastiffs,
only that they were not with drooping ears; for
Megasthenes, being, we believe, the most ancient

* Yet Gratius makes the distinction, when he admits the
inferiority of the Molossian to the British. Cynegeticon, 175.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 97

writer who notices that peculiarity, would scarcely
have mentioned it as such in Persia, if it had been
known among any breed of dogs in Greece.

The Alopecides of Sparta seem not to have been
valued, when, according to Xenophon, who com-
pares them with the Castorides, they were under-
sized, and, consequently, wanting in audacity and
perseverance; their principal use was in securing
small game. Yet, according to Nicander, the Cas-
torides were dun-coloured dogs, of a similar vulpine
origin as the Alopecides of Laconia and Amorgia.
Amyclea, where they were bred, being a town of
Laconia, and the birth-place of Castor and Pollux.
Festus calls them, " Sagaces canes ex vulpe et
cane." But as crossing breeds was constantly prac-
tised, the Spartan, on other occasions, are highly
praised ; and then, no doubt, were fit to grapple
with the larger animals of the chase. These, pro-
bably, were the Castorides of Xenophon.

Among the breeds of dogs known to the classical
writers of antiquity, by report more than by per-
sonal information, was that styled Elymaaan. It
seems to have belonged to the Elymaai, a tribe of
the deserts bordering on Bactria and Hircania, but
to have extended as far as Egypt ; for it is depicted
on the monuments of Thebes. Cirino, and the
commentator on Fracastors Alcon, show the pro-
bability, that from this name arose the modern
appellation of Lyemer, in French, Limier, applied
to the blood-hound, because it was formerly used
to track game, such as wild boar, £c., through the

98 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

forest, until the huntsman, who held it by a length-
ened lyemme, or leash, came upon the lair of the
animal.* It is, however, likely, that the Limmer
is meant, for the two races are confounded; and
the last mentioned was the most common.

Of the Indici, or Indian dogs, hy Aristotle re-
ported to he a hybrid race between the dog and
tiger, we may conjecture, as this intermixture is
physiologically inadmissible, that the Greek philo-
sopher trusted reports conveyed to him from the
east, and originating either in the love of the mar-
vellous, which oriental nations constantly betray, or
in the misapprehension of terms used in the descrip-
tion of the spotted, or brindled parent animal, by
the Greeks understood to be a tiger or a panther ;
when the words of the natives, which conveyed this
idea, may have confounded the hunting-leopard
with a brindled canine of the woods, such as the
Lyciscm tigris, we have already noticed ; or a spe-
cies of Lycaon (Canis pictus\ of central Asia, now
lost by absorption in the mastiff race ; or in a
broad-mouthed spotted, or brindled dog, nearly
allied to it, then called the Lybian Matagonian, and
formerly also about the temples of Ceylon ; t for

* It is also written Limer, when the blood-hound is in-
tended ; and Limmer anciently signified another kind, — the
mongrel between a hound and a greyhound ; this was let slip
to pursue the game at sight, and retrieve it by the nose when
lost ; but the blood-hound was not slipped, he led the hunts-
man in silence.

t Indi coitus tempore in Saltibus canes fseminas reliqunt ut

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 99

this was likewise pretended to be a crossed race
with a wild beast. Several other races of dogs are
mentioned by the Greek classical writers of anti-
quity ; but we know little more of them than their
names, and with what breeds it was recommended
to cross them. But the cattle, and shepherd-dogs,
equally valuable in hunting and in watching flocks,
are described as by far the largest and most useful.
In this race was intermixed the blood of the Chaon,
already noticed. " Chaonides a Chao luporum ge-
nere non nulli existement." — Cselius.* They were
of the same kind as the Epirotic Molossi, and most
likely the progenitors of the subsequent western
boar-hounds.

The Eomans, during their extended empire, added

cum his tigrides coeant : quarum ex primes conceptibus ob ni-
miam feritatem, inutilis partus judicant ; itidem secundos : sed
tertios educant. — Solinus^ Polyhistor, Pliny, Strabo.

Non canis sed tigris procreatus, et secundo ex hoc et cane
etiamntimtigris, qui vero deniceps et hoc et cane concipitur
canis est seminis, in deterius degeneratur neque hoc negaverit
Aristoteles. — JElian, lib. 8.

There may be truth in the mode cf breeding from an hybrid
race as above indicated, and that the infusion of strange blood
required softening down for two generations, without ex-
tinguishing the vigour the cross had produced ; for, of the
fourth generation of a cross with the wolf, the French king's
chief hunstnian reported to Buffon, that having tried one in a
boar chase, he was killed, by venturing, in the first encounter,
to grapple with his quarry directly in front.

* From this root we may also derive the Roman proper

100 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

several races of dggs to the Greek catalogue. They
notice the Celtic breed, which was regarded as
descended from wolves.*

The Spanish Iberian is equivocally praised by
Nemesianus. " Nee quorum proles de sanguine
manat origo." It is thence, however, we have ob-
tained dogs of a very fine scent ; and Oppian like-
wise mentions the IBEPEZ; but the question
remains, Whether Asiatic Iberia is not meant by
both ? It was from that vicinity that they obtained
their Phasiania, supposed to be used in fowling.
The Petronian, so called on account of their hard
feet, were a breed introduced from the Sicambri,
beyond the Rhine, and also believed to have been
adapted to the same purpose ; but the Althamanian,
from the vicinity of Pindus, in Macedonia, are
only praised for a circumventing sagacity, as men-
tioned by Gratius Faliscus. " Comparat his ver-
suta suas Athamania fraud es."

In Italy Proper, the Etruscan and Umbrian
breeds alone seem to have been valued ; the first,
according to Nemesianus, was a shaggy harrier, and
may have been introduced from Spain by the Iberian
colony which forced its way into Liguria. The se-
cond, a dog nearly allied to our later blood-hound,

names of Cato and Catullus, through the Sabine Catu, the
most ancient Italian name for a dog.

* " Hoc idem e lupis Galli, quorum greges suum cuisque
ductorum e canibus Lyciscam habuit." — Pliny. But Strabo
thinks they came from Britain. See Alcon. p. 17.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 101

since it was held by a limme, or thong, and, guided
by the nose, led the hunter on to the game

Sic cum feras vestigat, et longo sagax
Loro tenetur umber, ac presso vias
Scrutatur ore, dum procullente suem
Odore sentit ; paret & tacito locum
Rostro per errat, &c.

SENECA IN THYESTE.

In Persia, where the ruling dynasties were in
general descended from conquering tribes of central
Asia, and the princes possessed vast hunting packs,
as is attested by Xenophon, we find Megasthenes
first noticing true mastiffs with drooping ears ; these
were most likely known among the Greeks by the
name of Candarides and Seri.* The East had also,
as we have seen, powerful cattle-dogs and true
greyhounds. A race of this kind is likewise re-
presented in the hunting scenes depicted in the
catacombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs, attesting the
remote antiquity of the breed ; and we find them
again in the Persian sculptures at Takhti Boustan,
which belong to the Parthian era. But with regard
to lapdogs, none are noticed in Asia, nor does it
appear they attracted much attention among the

* The Seri were not the Chinese, but the inhabitants of
the present Afghanistan, where the mulberry is a principal
article of food, consequently, where the silk- worm was reared,
and certainly the country whence the silk trade of Europe ob-
tained the supply of that article. Candahar is the same
country, or a province of tt.

102 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Greeks; though, at a later period, the Roman
ladies were very partial to the Melitean^ or Maltese
breed.

Thus we find the early Greeks acquainted, at
first, with only two races of foreign origin, clearly
made out; the greyhound, and a shepherd, or
rather drover's dog, which answered also for hunting
and watching property. They had, besides, one or
two of indigenous derivation, which were inter-
mixed with those hunting by scent, and believed
to be of Yulpine extraction. At a later period the
true mastiffs became known, and the lapdog of
Malta was imported. In proof, that neither they
nor the Romans had any notion of such packs of
hounds as we , have at present, we have only to
refer to Ovid's description of the death of Action,
to be satisfied, that his hounds (no doubt the pic-
ture of a complete set in the age of Augustus) were,
nevertheless, a mixture of dogs, with very different
qualities and characters in scent, sight, velocity,
voice, size, colours, and nature of hair, &c. In-
deed, the mixture of matches of hounds, greyhounds,
bull-dogs, and watch-dogs, was still usual on the
continent, until the beginning of the last century,
whenever a great hunting expedition was under-
taken ; and, in Turkey, the grandees, even at the
present time, collect the watch-dogs, &c. of the
shepherd tribes of all nations within their reach,
and unite them with their own greyhounds, when
an important day's sport is expected.

The ancients were admirers of breeds of dogs of

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 103

certain colours. White or blue (slate colour) hunt-
ing-dogs were not esteemed ; they preferred such as
had the fur of a wolf, or were huff (grain colour)
foxy, brindled like the tiger, or spotted like the
panther. Xenophon approves of those with colours
separately marked; and Pollux objects to much
white, black, or red. Those which wfere tan-
coloured, and had a black muzzle, were named
Pholyes, and highly esteemed.* The dogs hunting
by scent are, however, always represented as having
a vulpine character; and, therefore, they cannot
have belonged to the race of our modern hounds.
Niphus is the first, who, we think, applies impro-
perly to them the name of Brackets, a British Celtic
appellation ; which, according to Mr. Whitaker, at
first designated a wild hound. t In the view of that
writer, there were originally in Britain five races of
dogs ; the great household-dog, the greyhound, the
bull-dog, the terrier, and the large slow-hound.
But, in his description, he evidently confounds
races ; for the great household-dog is, with him, a
mastiff, having no sagacity of nose, and distinct
from the bull-dog, to which he attributes powers of
scent. The greyhound is regarded by him as the
Vertagus, or British Ver. track; while Caius and
Pennant are more inclined to consider it a kind of
lurcher. His fourth race, is the terrier of Britain,
considered as distinct from the crooked -legged turn-

* Pholyes fulvi dicuntur canes ore nigricante. Cselius*
f History of Manchester, b. Lx. sect. vi. p. 66.

104 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

spit of the continent, noticed even by Greek writers.
This may be an indigenous species ; because Oppian,
under the name of Agasseus, clearly describes the
Scottish, or rough-haired breed. And his denomi-
nation seems to be derived from the Celtic Aghast,
or Agass, a word used to designate simply a dog ;
therefore, emphatically, the dog of the country.
Caius, however, employed the name Agasaeus for
the gazehound; which may be our present grey-
hound, hunting entirely by the eye. The fifth, is
the southern, also Lancashire, or Manchester hound ;
but that species is of the same original stock with
the beagle, which Pennant is inclined to consider
as the Agasseus; and we may believe, if it was
known in Britain at a remote period, bore the Celtic
name of Brach, probably derived from Brae, a spot ;
in the Teutonic dialects, Brack, hiatus^ interruptio,
macula.

It is, however, obvious, that all breeds of hounds
with round and long drooping ears are originally
descended from one race, if not from a distinct spe-
cies of dog allied to the Lycaon, and derived from
the East. In the researches made, with a view to
trace their origin, a great number of antique sculp-
tures, statues, bas reliefs, and intaglios, were con-
sulted, as well as the illuminated manuscripts in
public and private libraries, of a considerable part
of Europe ; several collections of ancient seals ; nu-
merous drawings of monumental effigies, and of
stained glass, and the result proved, that, with the
exception of one Egyptian instance, no sculpture of

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 105

the earlier Grecian era produced representations of
hounds with completely drooping ears ; those with
them half pendulous are missing in the most an-
cient; and this character increases, by degrees, in
the works of the Roman period. There is, in the
Vatican collection, only one statue of a genuine
mastiff; and representations of a kind of hound
with a small ear, partially turned downwards, occur
in a statue of Meleagar, and in other instances ;
but, we think, in none so early as the Periclean
age. Of those of Imperial Rome, one also repre-
sents the Tuscan dog ; the others are British, Spa-
nish, or a Gallic hound, not noticed by Pliny.*

Strabo first describes, we think, the British bull-
dog ; remarking the pendulous ears, frowning aspect,
and relaxed lips. And ^Elian, Diodorus, and Co-
lumella, mention dogs with procumbent and dejected
ears.t Notices of these characters, in writers of so
late a period, indicate an absence of the same cha-
racters in the indigenous races of classic ground,
and their novelty, at the time these authors wrere
writing. The sculptures of Takhti Boustan, in

* We may point out those in the bas reliefs of Nehalennia,
though we think they represent beagles, not correctly copied-
in the engraved representations of that divinity ; a lamp sur-
mounted by a true hound, very late Roman ; a Diana in Beyer ;
hound, also very late pagan Roman ; a monumental relief of
Martia Euthodia, a Romanized lady, with a dog, whose ears
are cropped ; the Actseon statue in the British Museum U
grouped with wolf-like dogs, but the ears are restorations.

f Dejectis ac procumbentibus auribus.

106 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Persia, attest, as far as they go, similarly a want of
the drooping ears in dogs ; and the Indian carvings,
paintings, and manuscripts, are equally destitute of
hounds and mastiffs, excepting in the decorations
of the Budha temples of Ceylon, where an incar-
nation of the god Mattalee, in the form of a fierce
dog, occurs ; and another, where Jutaka is attacked
by a hunter with his dog. In both representations
the animals resemble a Lycaon (Canis pictus, or an
Hyoena crocuta) ; in the distribution of colours and
spots only, the hunter's dog is smaller, with the
ears pointed ; and the incarnate god is larger, and
has them rounded, though erect. In the middle
ages, the northern invaders of the Roman empire
brought with them their own fierce races of rugged
and huge coursing and cattle dogs, whose descen-
dants may still be traced in Russia, Scotland, Ire-
land, Spain, and even America. From the time of
the Goths, hounds, before not common, seem to
disappear altogether for some ages. The bronze
animal of the time of Charlemagne, at Aix-la-Cha-
pelle, is not clearly a dog. The oldest, therefore, we
have found, is the embellishment of a seal, where
two dogs, with dropped ears, we take to be brachet-
hounds, are figured beneath a horseman blowing a
horn. It is the image of Errard of Orange, about
the year 1174 ; the family arms of that house being
originally a hunting-horn. The next is on the seal
of Alberic de Yere, 1214; and the third, a stained
glass of Ferdinand, King of Castile, 1230; after
which they become gradually more common.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Hence, we may perhaps conclude, greyhounds
with erect ears, being painted in the catacombs of
the kings of Thebes, in Egypt, above 3,000 years
ago, and sculptured in Greece, with them half de-
flected, not earlier than the era of Pericles, that
these animals, the oldest race trained for hunting,
were marked with this sign of domesticity about
his period, or near one thousand years after the
date of the first known pictures, or that the Egyp-
tian were distinct from those of Europe. Again,
hounds, and broad-mouthed dogs with pendulous
ears, not being known till the era of Alexander,
and continuing scarce to a comparatively late period,
that they belong to a distinct origin ; were reduced
to domesticity at a subsequent time ; or were re-
claimed in a region very remote from the then ex-
isting seat of civilization. Finally, that with them
also the pendulous mark of domestication was a
gradual result effected somewhat later.

Yet the single exception we have noticed is suffi-
cient to establish the fact, that dogs with pendulous
ears existed at a very remote period ; for the figure
is found in the scenes relating to the chase published
by Cailland, and taken (we believe) from the cata-
combs of the kings of Thebes. In this instance, it
is not a greyhound, but a lyemer, or dog led by a
leash, slender bodied, high on the legs, with a
truncated tail carried high, and even marked on
the flank like a modern hound of the rusty-grey
breed of the East. The hunter, holding a bow in
its case, leads the dog by a slip rope, as was done

108 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

formerly in Europe with the brachet. This figure
we are inclined to regard as representing the Ely-
mean dog, perhaps first introduced into Egypt by
the shepherd conquerors, or brought home by Sesos-
tris after his Asiatic expedition to the Oxus.

Although there is little doubt, that the Braque
of the French, and its diminutive Brachet of the
old English romances, and llachet of the Scots, is
also the Brae, or Breac, of the British Celts, it
may be questioned whether that race was the same
we now call the hound and beagle. Mr. Pennant
thinks the beagle is described by Oppian under the
name of Agasseus ; but we take

Crooked, slender, rugged, and full eyed,

to be, as well as what follows concerning the powers
of scent, more applicable, on the whole, to a native
terrier. The word being Celtic, and designating a
spotted species, as it would appear, of three colours.
There is a singular coincidence in the oldest Cinga-
lese tales, of the Ceylonese Buddhists, who narrate
a Mythus respecting their first arrival, wherein a
dog of three colours performs a conspicuous part ;
and, in the romance of Sir Tristrem and the Bele
Ysonde, where another three-coloured dog, evi-
dently typifying some druidical sect, is equally pro-
minent. For although these, and other romantic
episodes of the round table, appear at present in a
form which they acquired in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, they are all extracted from mythological

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 109

British poems of the Pagan period, and represent
more recondite doctrines than their present Armori-
can tenour pourtrays. Such is also the fact in the
tale relating to the Brachet with the leash, whereon
was inscribed the whole mystery of the chace ; which
having strayed, and passed into other hands, caused
a feud among King Arthur's knights.* These
poems establish the antiquity of spotted hunting-
dogs, or hounds, at a remote period in the East,
and, in the West, reproduce them already before its
historical era ; but disproves their British origin,
»nd leaves the question of the pendulous ears unde-
termined. Hounds, shaped like the present, can-
not be traced in the old Frankish and Anglo-Saxon
manuscripts, they are all coursing greyhounds ; and
this character is continued, with but few exceptions,
in the emblem of fidelity or gentility, usually couched
on monuments at the feet of the effigies of knights,
to the last period of recumbent figures.

We may therefore conclude, that the term Brac-
cus,t Braque, or Brachet, originally designated a
sporting dog in general ; for sometimes a lady carries
one upon her palfrey, at others, it follows a knight
or page, and is engaged even in quelling a boar.
The old St. Hubert hound.may well have answered
these purposes.

* See Mone, Geschichte des Heidenthums ; Wolfram von
Eschenbach, Titurel ; Geoffrey of Monmouth ; Thomas of
Britain, &c.

+ This term was first applied to the Greek Alopecides, by
Niphus, about 1550, and certainly without propriety.

110 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

But the type of a true hound being the Sleuch,
Slot, or Blood-hound, although it may have been
found in Umbria, and there is little doubt that it
existed in Gaul before the introduction of Christi-
anity, we owe to the East the great and improved
breeds which constitute the present race. The
blood-hound, so remarkable for his tracking sagacity,
was used in the ferocious wars between our Edwards
and the Scottish Bruces ; by Henry VIII. in France ;
and still more inhumanly by the Spaniards in Peru ;
and by Elizabeth, in the Irish wars, where the Earl
of Essex had no less than 800 of them in his army.*
Even so late as the Maroon rebellion in Jamaica,
and Bonaparte's attempt to recover St. Domingo,
blood-hounds were trained to hunt human beings
like wild beasts. A black race of hounds was
already established in the Ardennes in the sixth
century, having been brought thither, according
to legends, by St. Hubert, from the south of Gaul ;
we may surmise that it was derived from the East,
for Christian pilgrims of rank, on their return from
Palestine, before the crusades, brought from Con-
stantinople a white race, which they offered at the
shrine of St. Roch, because he was the patron under
whose invocation persons suffering in fear of hydro-
phobia were supposed to receive protection; but
the breed was no less called after St. Hubert, the
patron of hunting. The black and the white were
most likely soon regarded as types of the Pagan and
the Christian conditions of existence ; and although
* Camerarius, C. 104, centur. 12.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 1 1 1

the last mentioned were larger and more prized, it
seems that the breed never became numerous, and
botn continued to be denominated dogs of St. Hu-
bert to the time of the late revolution. Of the
Talbots of England we know not the origin ; but, it
is likely, that some individual pilgrim of the illus-
trious family bearing that name brought the breed
from Palestine.

About the middle of the thirteenth century, Saint
Louis brought back from the same region a third
breed of hounds, whose prevailing colour was a
rufous-grey (gris de llevre); they were high on
the legs, with handsome feet and large ears ; they
were bold, and even vehement ; superior in speed
to the Saint Hubert races, but with inferior sensi-
bility of nose.

A fourth race was formed by Louis XII. ; it was
denominated Clerk's -hounds (chlens greffiers), be-
cause they were derived from a cross between the
white Saint Hubert's with a Bracco bitch brought
from Italy, the property of one of the clerks of the
King's household.* The house and lodges in the
park of Saint Germains were built to foster this
breed, which united all the good qualities of the
other running dogs, without their defects. They
were usually white, with a tan spot on the body,
and appear to be the progenitors of our present
hounds.

On ref erring to the splendidly illuminated MS.
hunting codes of Philip the Good, Duke of Bur-
* SonninTs edition of Buffon, in his Addenda.

112 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

gundy (1425-1440), of Charles the Bold, his son.
a book hearing the title of Le roi Modus ; a third,
of the Emperor Maximilian, of Austria; and a
fourth, once the property of Charles V., all in the
library of the Dukes of Burgundy, at Brussels, we
find boar-hunts, where well executed dogs represent
stag-hounds with ample ears, but with nearly the
whole fur of a rusty-red colour, and only a few
are white, with two or three large spots of an ashy-
grey ; they greatly resemble a breed of Saint Ber-
nard Alpine dogs, still preserved. The Blood-
hounds, or Limers, are quite white.

Fox-hounds, or hounds trained to fox-hunting,
were first formed by the order of Louis XIII. ; who,
being fond of that sport,, and impatient of the mode
then in use, which consisted in sending turnspits
into the earths, desired, according to M. Robert
de Salnove, lieutenant of the chase, to have dogs
trained to run after unkennelled foxes.

With regard to the red-haired just mentioned,
the race was still kept up, to hunt wolves, so late as
the year 1779.

In the book of the Emperor Maximilian, a stag-
hunt exhibits dogs of the same rust colour ; others
are white, with the back, head, and ears black, or
black with some rufous. The Limers are rusty-
brown and yellowish-grey. The coursing-dogs are
pure white ; but in all the hunting scenes of the
above MSS. other dogs are intermixed with the
packs ; and the black Saint Hubert's can be dis-
tinguished, though no longer prominent, as they

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 113

were less esteemed. The mixture shows, that the
system of couples, or matches of different coloured
and bred dogs, was still in full force.

In 1556, a print was published at Cadiz of a dog
then recently brought from India. The form of
the animal shows an intermediate between a grey-
hound and a hound, having a light but strong
frame, a deep chest, and the head shorter than the
first named, but with small half dejected ears. It
came, most likely, from a breed belonging to the
Mahommedan Princes of the west coast, and may
be the origin of Buffon's name of " Brogue de Ben-
gale ;" although we would be inclined to regard it
as the parent of the cross which produced the Dal-
matian, or our present coach-dog, being white in
colour, and entirely covered with small black
spots.

It has been well said, that dogs have innate qua-
lities ; such as the keenness of scent, natural im-
pulse to chase, in the hound ; the ardour to seek,
and the desire of finding, in the spaniel and pointer ;
and the turn to watching and guarding, as in the
mastiff and sheep-dog. These are natural, not arti-
ficial qualities, only to be developed in given direc-
tions by education, and not transferable to other
races at will, nor in equal proportion. The great
advantage derived from these various powers in
different races of dogs, is well appreciated in our
state of civilization ; but still it is not nearly of such
importance here, as it is among those that journey
in the wild regions of the world. Mr. Burchell, in

H

114 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

his African Travels, illustrates this fact no less ele-
gantly than correctly. " Our pack of dogs," says
that enterprising naturalist, " consisted of about
five-and-twenty, of various sorts and sizes. This
variety, though not altogether intentional, as I was
obliged to take any that could be procured, was of
the greatest service on such an expedition, as I ob-
served that some gave notice of danger in one way,
and others in another. Some were more disposed
to watch against men, and others against wild
beasts. Some discovered an enemy by their quick-
ness of hearing, others by that of scent ; some for
speed in pursuing game ; some were useful only for
their vigilance and barking, and others for their
courage in holding ferocious animals at bay. So
large a pack was not, indeed, maintained, without
adding greatly to our care and trouble, in supplying
them with meat and water, for it was sometimes
difficult to procure for them enough of the latter ;
but their services were invaluable, often contri-
buting to our safety, and always to our ease, by
their constant vigilance, as we felt a confidence that
no danger could approach us at night, without be-
ing announced by their barking. No circumstances
could render the value and fidelity of these animals so
conspicuous and sensible, as a journey through re-
gions which, abounding in wild beasts of almost every
class, gave continual opportunities of witnessing
the strong contrast in their habits, between the fe-
rocious beasts of prey which fly at the approach of
man, and these kind, but too often injured, com-

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 115

panions of the human race. Many times, when we
have been travelling over plains where those have
fled the moment we appeared in sight, have I
turned my eyes towards my dogs to admire their
attachment, and have felt a grateful affection to-
wards them for preferring our society to the wild
liberty of other quadrupeds. Often, in the middle
of the night, when all my people have been fast
asleep around the fire, have I stood to contemplate
these faithful animals lying by their side, and have
learned to esteem them for their social inclination to
mankind. When wandering over pathless deserts,
oppressed with vexation and distress at the conduct
of my own men, I have turned to these as my only
friends, and felt how much inferior to them was
man, when actuated only by selfish views.

" The familiarity which subsists between this
animal and our own race, is so common to almost
every country on the globe, that any remark upon
it must seem superfluous ; but I cannot avoid be-
lieving, that it is the universality of the fact which
prevents the greater part of mankind from reflecting
duly on the subject. While almost every other
quadruped fears man as its most formidable enemy,
here is one which regards him as his companion,
and follows him as his friend. We must not mis-
take the nature of the case : it is not because we
train him to our use, and have made choice of him
in preference to other animals; but because this
particular species feels a natural desire to be useful
to man, and from spontaneous impulse attaches it-

116 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

self to him. Were it not so, we should see, in
various countries, an equal familiarity with various
other quadrupeds, according to the habits, the taste,
or the caprice of different nations. But, every
where, it is the dog only takes delight in associating
with us, in sharing our abode, and is even jealous
that our attention should be bestowed on him alone :
it is he who knows us personally, watches for us,
and warns us of danger. It is impossible for the
naturalist, when taking a survey of the whole ani-
mal creation, not to feel a conviction, that this
friendship between two creatures so different from
each other, must be the result of the laws of nature ;
nor can the humane and feeling mind avoid the
belief, that kindness to those animals from which
he derives continued and essential assistance, is
part of his moral duty."

Of the hybrids proceeding from wolves, jackals
and foxes, further details are likewise unnecessary ;
but, before mention is made of several feral races
of dogs now existing, it may be proper to allude to
a hybrid species pretended to be derived from a bear
and mastiff. Such an individual was lately exhi-
bited in London ; and a curious account of one is
found in the Histoires prodigeuses, par P. Bouais-
turau, Paris, 1582, quoted in the Penny Cyclo-
paedia, article Bear, to which we refer. But as no
true mastiff is sufficiently rugged to be tricked by
bearwards into the resemblance of even an hybrid,
and the engraving in the work shows also indica-
tions departing from that race, the difficulty may

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 117

perhaps be solved, by presuming, that the New-
foundland breed of dogs, being then probably only
first introduced, the pretended hybrid was either of
that race, or a cross with a mastiff, having had the
tail cut off, and the ears, if not then erect, set up,
by scarifying their internal surface. As these ani-
mals did not at first bark, their howling was well
calculated to deceive the unwary ; and their wild
and active manners are not even now entirely sub-
dued in their native country. There are, however,
in Russia, dogs that might pass for this kind of
hybrid, as will be noticed in the account of the
Siberian varieties.

118

THE FERAL DOGS.
Canes feri.

UNDER the above designation, we mean to notice
domestic dogs which have regained their liberty, and
subsisting entirely upon their own intelligence for
many generations, have resumed the greater part,
if not all the characteristics, which it may be sup-
posed they possessed before their former subjuga-
tion. Having already described species aborigine
wild, those fairly amenable to the present group are
reduced to but few varieties. The first we have to
mention is the

Feral Dog of Natolia. Ictinus of the ancients ?
This race is nearly equal to the local wolf in size,
and resembles the shepherd's dog of the country, but
has a tail more like a brush, the muzzle more
pointed, and the colours of the fur rufous-grey, not
unlike both the former, yet easily distinguishable.
Unlike the wolf, they hunt in open day, running
in packs of ten or twelve ; they do not molest man,
but, when attacked, they show an audacity which
wolves never manifest. In 1819, the son of a lady
of our acquaintance, in company with a brother
Midshipman of H. M. ship Spartan, went on shore
to the plain of Troy, attended by guides of the

THE FERAL DOGS. 119

country, and several seamen. A troop of these
dogs came down, and were recognised by the
country people, who warned the young officers not
to fire at them ; but midshipmen are not so easily
baulked, one fired and missed his object, when
the whole pack immediately came bounding down
towards them, and the party found it necessary to
run for the shore, whither the feral dogs, being
satisfied with their victory, pursued them no fur-
ther.

Feral Dog of Russia. — This race may be of the
same stock as the first mentioned. They are very
wolf-like in appearance and colours, but smaller,
and far less audacious than the Turkish. How they
maintain themselves in the open country we have
not learnt; but, subsisting like the street-dogs of
Turkish cities, they make burrows in the ramparts,
on the glacis, and other banks of earth on the skirts
of towns, and even at St. Petersburgh, are prowl-
ing about in the night for carrion, and, in winter,
inclined to molest the defenceless. We were told
by a friend, long resident in the Imperial capital,
that one evening he, and another British merchant,
were obliged to go out to the rescue of a boy, sent
with a message across the ice of the Neva, who was
observed by the gentlemen to be beset by these
animals. More recently, the government ordered
the police to extirpate them about the city; but
with what success is not known. It is possible that
the dog-wolves of the Canopian Gulph, on the
Palus Maeotis, which molested the fishermen, before

120 THE FERAL DOGS.

noticed, were of the same race; and, therefore,
that they are really of a wild species, which has,
of its own accord, approximated mankind. Hence,
also, may be derived the true street-dogs of all the
cities of Western Asia.

Among the feral dogs of the New "World, men-
tion has already been made of the Aguara of the
Woods. But there is a race whose origin is not
doubtful, and which, although it is said to exist
also in South America, we denominate the

FERAL DOG OF ST. DOMINGO.

Canis Haitensis, H. SMITH.

PLATE I.

THE specimen from which the figure and the fol-
lowing description were taken, was brought to
Spanish-Town, Jamaica, by a French officer taken
prisoner when General le Clerc's army endeavoured
to escape from the victorious progress of the negroes.
The owner described it to be a wild hound, of the
race formerly used by the Spaniards for their con-
quests in the western hemisphere^ when they were
trained like blood- hounds; and a breed of them
having been lost in the woods of Haiti, had there

FERAL DOG OF ST. DOMINGO. 121

resumed its original wild state, continuing for se-
veral ages to live independent, and occasionally
committing great depredations upon the stock of the
graziers. The individual was obtained from the
vicinity of Sam ana Bay, among others purchased
from the Spanish colonists, for the odious purpose
of hunting the French negro people, which at that
time refused to return to slavery, after, by a na-
tional decree of France, their liberty had been by
law established. The dog was of such an aspect,
as at first sight to strike the attention. In stature,
he was at least equal to the largest Scottish or Rus-
sian greyhound, or about twenty-eight inches high
at the shoulder, with the head shaped like the wire-
haired terrier ; large light brown eyes ; small ears,
pointed, and only slightly bent down at the tips ;
the neck long and full ; the chest very deep ; the
croup slightly arched; the limbs muscular, but
light, and the tail not reaching to the tarsus, scan-
tily furnished with long dark hair ; the muzzle was
black, as well as the eyelids, lips, and the whole
hide ; but his colour was an uniform pale blue-ash,
the hair being short, scanty, coarse, and apparently
without a woolly fur beneath. On the lips, inside
of the ears, and above the eyes, there was some
whitish-grey ; and the back of the ears was dark
slate colour. The look and motions of this animal
at once told consciousness of superiority. As he
passed down the streets all the house curs slunk
away; when within our lodging, the family dog
had disappeared, although he had neither growled

122 FERAL DOG OF ST. DOMINGO.

nor barked. His master said he was inoffensive,
but requested he might not be touched. The hair,
from the ridge of the nose, feathered to the right
and left over the eyes, forming two ciliated arches,
and the brows appeared very prominent. We were
assured, that he followed a human track, or any
scent he was laid on, with silence and great rapi-
dity ; but, unlike the common blood-hound, when
he came upon his quarry, it was impossible to pre-
vent his attacking and seizing his victim. Accord-
ing to the owner, who, it seemed, was the person
the government had employed to purchase these
dogs, the Spanish graziers were equally anxious to
destroy all the old dogs of the breed they could find
in the country, and to secure all the young for do-
mestication ; because, when bred up on the farms,
they were excellent guardians of the live stock, de-
fending them equally against their own breed, and
human thieves ; and, as they attacked with little
warning, strangers could not easily conciliate them
by any manoeuvres.

We think this to be the race of St. Domingo
greyhounds indistinctly mentioned by Buffon. We
saw another specimen, evidently of the same race,
but belonging to the northern states of South Ame-
rica, brought by a Spanish cattle-dealer to the port
of Kingston ; the animal was of inferior stature,
though still a large dog. The head appeared
broader at the muzzle, the back flatter, and the
hair was longer, coarser, more shaggy, and of a
dark blackish ash, without any spot. A third,

FERAL DOG OF ST. DOMINGO. 123

likewise blackish ash, came from Cuba ; but nei-
ther of the last had the greyhound lurcher aspect,
but seemed to have a cross of the Spanish common
cattle-dog.* Portraits of these kind of dogs occur
in some of the Spanish old masters ; and, consider-
ing the evident resemblance they bear to the old
northern Danish dog, it may be conjectured that
the race was originally brought to Spain by the
Suevi and Alans, and afterwards carried to the
New World for the purposes of war.

There is also in Mexico a small feral dog ; but
the accounts hitherto received are so obscure, that
we shall defer to notice it until we describe the
Alco. But, on the Pampas of South America, there
are numerous troops of Perros zimarrones, or feral
dogs, having the undetermined form of the mixture
of all the breeds that have been imported from
Europe, and thus assuming the shape of cur-dogs,
or of a primitive species. They have the ears erect,
or the tips but slightly bent forward. They are
bold, sagacious; not hostile to man, but destruc-
tive to the calves and foals of the wild herds. When
taken very young, they may be tamed ; but, when
old, they are totally irreclaimable. They hunt
singly, or in troops ; burrow in the open country ;
and, when redomesticated, they are distinguished
for their superior courage and acuter senses.

* These races of dogs were more anciently known in Europe
by the name of Buccaneer dogs (Chiens des Flibustiers), be-
cause several were brought home by them. We have lately
seen one brought from the Falkland Islands,

J24

THE FAMILIAR DOGS.

Canes familiares.

WE now come to the true domesticated races ; and,
beginning with those placed nearest the Arctic Circle
in both hemispheres, we find a group of large dogs,
all assuming a wolfish aspect, having a tapering
Dose, pointed ears, long hair, and, almost without
exception, a black and white livery.

In the group of Arctic dogs of both continents,
there is an uniformity of structure and appearance,
showing but a small intermixture of the blood of
other races in some of those in the west, who have
the anterior part of the head very sharp. They are,
in general, dogs of large size and height, only par-
tially reclaimed, and, consequently, exceedingly
fierce. The body is short and deep; the limbs
strong and elevated; the feet rather broad, often
webbed, and, in some instances, furred; the hair
thick, close, and undulating. They swim with
great facility; burrow in the snow; and, during
the period when they are turned out to seek their
own sustenance, hunt in packs, or singly, and fish
with considerable dexterity. Their courage and
perseverance is equal to that of a bull-dog, never

THE FAMILIAR DOGS. 125

giving up a contest while life lasts; hence they
often destroy each other in combat. In their native
regions they are not liable to canine madness ; al-
though, in Sweden and Norway, wolves are occa-
sionally attacked with that dreadful scourge in the
middle of winter.

THE WOLF-DOGS.

THE SIBERIAN DOG.

Canis Sibericus.

Kosha of the Natives.

THIS variety of the Arctic group differs in stature
very considerably. One exhibited some years ago,
by a M. Chabert, at Bath, was above three feet
in height. The ears resembled those of a bear ; the
head, that of a wolf; and the tail was like a fox's
brush ; in fur and colour it looked like a greyish
wolf. There may have been a cross of the great
Russian watch-dog in this individual ; for the dogs
of Kamtschatka are smaller, though similarly formed.
Their colour is mixed black and white, the tips of
the ears slightly drooping ; and their attachment to
home, only a kind of periodical instinct which
brings them to their masters' doors, after they have
roamed wild for many weeks to provide for them-

126 THE SIBERIAN DOG.

selves, and the time is come again when they are
to resume their labours at the sleigh. From this
period, they are only fed with a very small propor-
tion of the offals of putrid fish ; being treated with
absolute unkindness, they return the masters' beha-
viour by a cunning and a rooted ill will. When
about to be yoked to a sleigh they send forth a
most dismal howling ; but when once yoked in file,
they become silent, and move off at a rapid pace,
not without occasional attempts to upset the
driver.

The two dogs figured by Buffon differ from the
Kamtschatka race, by having the hair much longer,
and particularly by that upon the forehead over-
hanging the eyes ; the tail being curled close over
the back ; and the colour on that part of the body
a dull ashy-brown. The second is figured much
lower on the legs, nearly entirely white ; and the
face still more marked with a profusion of hair.
These two were evidently inland varieties, probably
not further north or east than Tobolsk.

THE ESQUIMAUX DOG.

<7awts Borealis.

PLATE II.

THIS is the race of the Arctic Circle in America,
most extensively spread, and clearly of the same
origin as that of North-eastern Asia. These dogs
are powerful in their structure, equalling the mastiff
in size, covered with long, rather curling hair, and
with a bushy tail, very much curled over the back ;
the ears are short and pointed, and the face clothed
with short hairs, as well as the lower part of the
extremities. They are remarkably intelligent, pa-
tient, and enduring; dragging sleighs with great
rapidity, hunting with courage and skill, and carry-
ing burdens without repining. Their temper is
good, although in aspect they greatly resemble a
wolf. Several have been brought to England by
the members of the late Arctic expedition. Many
are black and white ; others of a dingy white ; and
those on the coast of Labrador are often brown and
white.

The drawing for our plate of this dog was taken
from a specimen kept in the Prince's Street Gardens,
in Edinburgh. It had more the character of a wolf

128 THE ESQUIMAUX DOG.

than of a dog. The following account has been
kindly communicated to us by Mr. Cleghorn, nur-
seryman and seed-merchant, in whose possession
the dog was when the drawing was made : —

The Esquimaux dog was possessed of very great
sagacity in some respects, more than any dog I
have ever seen. I may mention one instance. In
coming along a country road, a hare started, and, in
place of running after the hare in the usual way,
the dog pushed himself through the hedge, crossed
the field, and, when past the hare, through the
hedge again, as if to meet her direct. It is needless
to remark, that the hare doubled through the
hedge ; but had it been in an open country, there
would have been a noble chase. One particular
characteristic of the dog was, that he forms a parti-
cular attachment to his master ; and however kind
others may be, they never can gain his affection,
even from coaxing with food, or otherwise ; and,
whenever set at liberty, rushes to the spot where
the individual of his attachment was. I may give
one or two instances, among many. One morning
he was let loose by some of the men on the ground,
he instantly bounded from them to my house, and
the kitchen-door being open, found his way through
it, when, to the great amazement of all, he leaped
into the bed where I was sleeping, and fawned in
the most affectionate manner upon me. Another
instance was, when the dog was with me going up
the steep bank of the Prince's Street Garden, I
slipped my foot and came down, when he imme-

THE ESQUIMAUX DOG. 129

diately seized me by the coat, as if to render assist-
ance in raising me. Notwithstanding this parti-
cular affection to some, he was in the habit of
biting others, without giving the least warning or
indication of anger. He never barked, but at times
had a sort of w^hine. He was remarkably cunning,
and much resembled the fox; for he was in the
practice of strewing his meat round him, to induce
fowls or rats to come within his reach, while he lay
watching, as if asleep, when he instantly pounced
upon them, and always with success. He was swift,
and had a noble appearance when running, and
carried his fine bushy tail inclining downwards,
with the body nearly one-third more extended in
appearance than while standing, as shown in the
illustration.

I returned him to his owner some years ago, but
do not know whether he be still alive.

130

THE ICELAND DOG.
Canis Islandicus.

Fiaar-hund.

THE Norwegian emigrants to Iceland seem to have
carried a race of dogs to its shores, which at pre-
sent is not found in the parent country. The head is
rounder, and the snout more pointed, than the pre-
ceding. In stature, it is not larger than that of
Kamtschatka, and in fur like the Esquimaux ; the
ears are upright, and the lips flaccid ; the colours
white and black, or white and hrown. This race is
somewhat allied to the following, and therefore may
have heen obtained from the Skrelings or Esqui-
maux, by the adventurers who first visited Green-
land.

131

THE HARE-INDIAN DOG.

Canis lagopus, RICHARDSON.

THIS kind is clearly of American origin, and be-
longs exclusively to the race of man of the western
continent. At the first glance, we recognise in the
aspect an affinity with the Dusicyon group, before
described ; and, in particular, with those Canidce,
which may hereafter form a more distinct section,
under the name of Cynalopecides. A specimen of
this race was found by Dr. Richardson on the Mac-
kenzie River ; and he describes it as small in size,
with a slender make ; having a large foot ; a nar-
row, elongated, and pointed muzzle ; ears broad at
the base, sharp at the tip, and perfectly erect ; the
legs rather long and slender; and the tail, thick
and bushy, is slightly curved upwards ; the body is
covered with long straight hair, in colour white, with
clouds of blackish ash and brown intermixed ; the
ears outside brown, white within ; the feet are
clothed with fur, and spreading the toes to some
breadth. These animals run upon the snow when
heavier game sink in. A pair is now in the Zoolo-
gical Gardens, where they are gentle and confident.
In their native land they never bark.

132

THE NEWFOUNDLAND DOG, ORIGINAL BREED.
Canis Terra Nova, H. SMITH.

PLATE 1IL

THE breed of these handsome and powerful dogs,
now common in Great Britain, is partially crossed
with others, and therefore differs somewhat from
the original indigenous race of America; and is
also, in several respects, unlike the Esquimaux
race, being longer in the back, more loosely made,
with rather a fuller muzzle, partially drooping ears,
and a long, not curly fur The hound seems to
have crossed in the breed ; for, even in Newfound-
land, there are individuals of such enormous bulk,
that not even the Irish greyhound, though higher
at the shoulder, is to be compared with it, in length
and weight of body. We know of one that, when
desired to show himself, would immediately stand
up, and place his fore-feet against the lintel of any
room-door. But these very large dogs are, in ge-
neral, of a white colour, spotted with black. In
our north-eastern colonies of America, those that
were considered to be of the original stock were
smaller than the large breed now in England ; the

TI1E NEWFOUNDLAND DOG. 133

body was more slender, the forehead more arched,
the muzzle not so blunt, their aspect wilder, less
confident; and they were nearly all of a totally
black colour, excepting a bright rust-coloured spot
above each eye, some fulvous towards the nose,
throat, and upon the joints ; there was also a little
white about the feet, and in the end of the tail.
Their eyes were rather small, and of a light brown.
This race is nothing inferior to the best sheep-dogs
in natural powers of intellect ; endless anecdotes of
sagacity are related of them in their natural regions,
as well as in Europe. The true breed of this race
is almost semi-palmated ; and, consequently, they
swim, dive, and endure the water, better and longer
than any other dog in existence. We possessed,
for a short time, one that had been picked up
swimming in the Bay of Biscay, and was observed
by a man at the mast head, the ship whence he
must have come being out of sight; a boat was
lowered, and the animal, when taken in, did not
give signs of extreme fatigue. We lost him in a
short time ; being, no doubt, again enticed on board
of some vessel. No dog is better qualified to serve
in harness, or fitter to watch and guard property on
shore, or vessels in the coasting trade, rivers, or
canals. As a water-dog, he can be taught to exe-
cute almost any command ; and his kind disposi-
tion makes training easy, when used in the field.

A few years ago, the number about St. John's, in
Newfoundland, was estimated at 2,000, or more ;
they were left to shift for themselves during the

134 THE NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.

whole fishing season, and probably still are thus
suffered to remain starving, diseased, and even dan-
gerous to the rest of the population. After that
period, they labour in drawing wood, fish, and mer-
chandise; and one dog is estimated to be able to
maintain his master during winter. True hydro-
phobia does not attack them there ; but a kind of
plague, originating in the neglect and misery they
suffer, occasionally destroys great numbers.

THE NOOTKA DOG.
Canis laniger nobis, H. SMITH.

mention this breed of dogs, because it seems
to indicate the direction whence the Esquimaux
and '-the Newfoundland races are derived, and
thereby show that they are of Asiatic origin. The
Nootka is large, with pointed upright ears, docile,
but chiefly valuable on account of the immense
load of fur it bears on the back, of white, and brown,
and black colours, but having the woolly proportion
so great and fine, that it may well be called a fleece ;
for, when shorn off, it is sufficiently interwoven to
lift the whole produce of one animal by grasping a
single handful. The natives spin and work it along

THE GREAT WOLF-DOG. 139

and still more rugged in coat. It is to be wished
that the last mentioned were trained with more at-
tention to humanity; for, taking their manners
from the very unfeeling class of men who own
them, we sometimes witness acts of cruel depravity
perpetrated upon droves and flocks, that merit the
bitterest reprehension.

The Great Wolf-dog is not common in central
Europe ; and appears at present almost confined to
Spain, where, no doubt, it was introduced by the
Goths. It is a large race, little inferior to the mas-
tiff, with a pointed nose, erect ears, a long silky
coat, and a very bushy, or rather feathery tail,
curled over the back. In colour it is mostly white,
with great clouds of fulvous, or brown. The ac-
count given by Olaus Magnus shows, that in his
time this variety abounded in the north of Sweden
and Norway.

The Molossian and Spartan dogs are described *
to vary in colour through different shades, from
dark brown to bright dun, their long fur being very
soft, thick, and glossy. In size they are equal to
an English mastiff. They have a long nose ; deli-
cate ears, finely pointed ; magnificent tail ; legs of
a moderate length; with a body nicely rounded,
and compact. There seems reason to think, that
these four-footed tenants of Greece have preserved
their pedigree unimpaired ; as they possess all that
strength, swiftness, sagacity, and fidelity, which
are ascribed to them by the ancient authors. Hence,
* Hughes's Travels in Greece, Vol. i. p. 484.

140 THE CALABRIAN DOG.

it would seem, that the Spartan and Molossian
were of the same breed, or, at least, held in equal
estimation. We are, however, told by Ulisius,
that the Spartan were totally degenerated in his
time, while the Molossian remained in their pristine
vigour.*

The Calabrian dog is a beautiful and sagacious
animal, representing the Newfoundland dog in
Europe. It is of smaller size, with long, rather
curly hair ; ears bent down, but not floccose ; a
fine bushy and curled tail, and often entirely of a
white colour. Fine specimens of this race are, or
were, in the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park.
They are well described and figured in that delight-
ful work, called the Gardens and Menagerie of the
Zoological Society ; but we do not think it is strictly
the Canis Pomeranus^ but nearly allied to

* Paulatim vero exinde mistis non illis modo inter se, sed
velocibus quoque cum illis maxime extra patriam suam adeo
degeneravit proles eorum, ut nihil fere praeter nomen ab origine
sua serva verint. Fracastor's translator adds: — Se Molossi
pero fino a nostri ultimi tempi hau conservado 1'antico valore e
robustessa. — I/ALCONE, 15.

THE ALPINE, OR GREAT ST. BERNARD DOG.
PLATE VI.

So advantageously known for the great services ren-
dered to mankind, by its activity, intelligence, and
strength, in administering to the safety of travellers
through the snowy passes of the mountains leading
to Italy. This race is still more nearly allied to the
Newfoundland dog, in form, stature, hair, and co-
lours ; hut the head and ears are like that of a
water-spaniel. "We have made drawings of several,
and they are all white, with hlack or fulvous spots ;
the breed is not numerous. There is another race,
trained to the same service, with close short hair,
and more or less marked with grey, liver-colour,
and black clouds, betraying an intermixture with
the race of French Matin, or great Danish dogs.
Both are trained in the winter time to carry a basket
with some food and wine ; and, thus equipped, they
sally forth from the Hospice of St. Bernard, and
other passes, in search of travellers who may have
lost their way, or fallen beneath the snows of the
preceding night. They are followed by the Monks
devoted to that service of humanity, and every winter
several lives are saved by their united means.

142

THE ALPINE DOG.

The animal, of which we have given a figure,
seems rather to belong to the second race mentioned
by Colonel Smith, having a closer and shorter hair.
We are indebted to the kindness of Sir Thomas
Dick Lauder for permission to make our drawing
from a fine animal in his possession ; and we add
the account which was transmitted for our use.

To W. H. Lizars, Esq.

The Grange House, 26th June, 1839.
DEAR SIB, — My St. Bernard dog, Bass, whom
you have honoured so far as to have his portrait
taken by Mr. Stewart, was brought home by Sir
Hew Dalrymple of North Berwick, Baronet, direct
from the Great St. Bernard, and Sir Hew presented
him to me in December, 1837, when he was a
puppy of about four or five months ; so that he may
now be reckoned about a year and nine months old.
He can hardly, therefore, be said to have reached
his full size. His bark, as you may have heard,
is tremendous ; so loud, indeed, that I have often
distinguished it when in the Meadow Walk, nearly
a mile off. To it I was indebted for the recovery
of the dog when stolen by some carters, not long
after I got him. He had been some time missing,
when, to my great joy, one of the letter-carriers
brought him back; and the man's account was,
that in going along a certain street he heard his
bark from the inside of a yard, and knew it imme-
diately. He knocked at the gate, and immediately

THE ALPINE DOG. 143

said to the owner of the premises, " You have got
Sir Thomas Lander's big dog." The man denied it.
" But I know you have," continued the letter-car-
rier. " I can swear that I heard the bark of Sir
Thomas's big dog ; for there is no other dog in or
about all Edinburgh that has such a bark." The
man then admitted that he had a large dog, which
he had bought for a trifle from a couple of coal-
carters ; and at last, with great reluctance, he gave
up the dog to the letter-carrier, who brought him
home here. But though Bass's bark is so terrific, he
is the best natured and most playful dog I ever saw ;
so much so, indeed, that the small King Charles's
spaniel lapdog, Raith, whom Mr. Stewart has also
introduced into the same picture, used to tyrannize
over him for many months after he came here from
abroad. I have seen the little creature run furi-
ously at the great animal when gnawing a bone, who
instantly turned himself submissively over on his
back, with all his legs in the air, whilst Raith,
seizing the bone, would make the most absurd and
unavailing attempts to bestride the enormous head
of his subdued companion, with the most ludicrous
affectation of the terrible growling that might be-
speak the loftiest description of dog indignation.
Bass has for some time ceased to tolerate this
tyranny, having, upon one occasion, given the little
fellow an admonitory shake ; but he is at all times
in perfect good humour with him, though Raith,
from jealousy, is always glad to avail himself of an
opportunity of flying at him. When a dog attacks

144 THE ALPINE DOG.

Bass in the street or road, he runs away rather than
quarrel ; but when compelled to fight, by any per-
severance in the attacking party, he turns upon him,
throws his enemy down in a moment, and then,
without biting him, he lays his whole immense
bulk down upon him till he nearly smothers him.
But this extreme softness arises from his youth ; for
if he were once fairly engaged, I have no doubt
that he would be most formidable either to quadru-
ped or biped who should venture to attack him. To
give you an idea of his strength, I may tell you an
anecdote which happened a good many months ago.
He took a particular fancy for one of the postmen
who deliver letters here, though he was not the
man whom I have already had occasion to mention.
It was the duty of the postman I now allude to, be-
sides delivering letters, to carry a letter-bag from
one receiving-house to another, and this bag he
used to give to Bass to carry. Bass always followed
that man through all the villas in this neighbour-
hood where he had deliveries to make ; and he in-
variably parted with him opposite to the gate of the
Convent of St. Margaret's, and returned home.
"When our gate was shut here, to prevent his fol-
lowing the postman, the dog always leaped a high
wall to get after him. One day, when the postman
was ill, or detained by some accidental circumstance,
he sent a man in his place. Bass went up to the
man, curiously scanning his face, whilst the man
rather retired from the dog, by no means liking his
appearance, and very anxious to decline all acquaint-

THE ALPINE DOG. 145

ance with him. But as the man left the place,
Bass followed him, showing strong symptoms that
he was determined to have the post-bag. The man
did all he could to keep possession of it. But, at
length, Bass, seeing that he had no chance of
getting possession of the bag by civil entreaty,
raised himself on his hind legs, and putting a great
fore-paw on each of the man's shoulders, he laid
him flat on his back in the road, and quietly pick-
ing up the bag, he proceeded peaceably on his
wonted way. The man, much dismayed, arose and
followed the dog, making, every now and then, an
ineffectual attempt to coax him to give up the bag.
At the first house he came to, he told his fears, and
the dilemma he was in ; but the people comforted
him, by telling him that the dog always carried the
bag. Bass walked with the man to all the houses
at which he delivered letters, and along the road
till he came to the gate of St. Margaret's, where he
dropped the bag, and, making his bow to the man,
he returned home. I presume I have now given
you enough of Bass. His companion, Raith, is
remarkable for having, in his eagerness to bark jat
some noise at ihe outer-door, jumped over a window
twenty-three feet and an half high, on the hard
gravel. He was stunned for a time, but he broke
no bones ; and, after about an hour's repose on his
usual pillow in the large dining-room chair, he
showed that he was as well as ever.

I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully,
THO. DICK LAUDER.

146 THE ALPINE DOG.

To W. H. Lizars, Esq.

The Grange House, 25th Feb. 1840.
MY DEAR SIR,— -I have nothing to add to the
account which I sent you of Bass, in my letter of
June last, except that he is now in great strength
and beauty, follows the carriage regularly, is very
much attached to the horses, continues to be ex-
tremely good-natured and playful, and very affec-
tionate,— and, above all things, never forgets a
person who may have had occasion to do him a
kindness.

Believe me always

Yours truly,

THO. DICK LAUDER.

It may be added, that this race of dogs is the
present breed. The Monks of St. Bernard having
neglected to keep up a large stock of the old race,
it was nearly destroyed by a malady some time
before 1820, when, from necessity, the present
breed was introduced ; at least such was the infor-
mation we obtained from the Vaudois peasantry in
the above year.

THE POMERANIAN DOG.

Canis Pomeranus.
Kees of the Dutch.

THIS race is well known in England. It differs
from the former by being smaller, the nose is more
pointed, the ears erect, and the bushy tail is curled
over the back. These dogs are white, white and
brown, or buff, and their fur is usually long and
soft; the Dutch inland navigators commonly use
them to protect property on board vessels; and
others are found as watch-dogs in German farms.

There is found in Southern China a large species
of long-haired dogs, usually with a fine glossy black
fur, a pointed nose, pendulous ears, and large paws.
They are somewhat like the Newfoundland race,
but intractable and sullen. It is most likely a race
introduced from the north by the Tartars.

There is likewise, in India, a dwindled offspring
of this race now mixed with the Pariahs, but still
retaining the long-haired white livery of its ancient
parentage. It is most likely the residue of the
quondam companions of one of the several northern
invading tribes who conquered, established dominion,
and were absorbed by the Hindoo race. But there
is still some mark ef ancient docility and usefulness ;
for although they are like the Mexican Alco, and
not much larger than lapdogs, they are employed to
carry flambeaux at night, or on such occasions aa
render their services requisite.

148

THE WATCH-DOGS.

The Canes laniarii.

WE might now proceed with the greyhound race,
so nearly allied to the wolf-dogs, but that, geo-
graphically, there lies between them another of the
same great family, distinguished by short hair, and

THE WATCH-DOGS. 149

a nose somewhat more widened ; still, upon com-
paring the skulls, their close resemblance to that of
the wolf is undeniable. The race we have now be-
fore us occupying a zone of the northern hemisphere^
more temperate than the former, and extending from
the east of Asia to the west of Europe, with a few
straggling even to Africa and Mexico. We are
inclined to consider them as originally descended
from our Lysiscan group, and the same whence the
very different names of Chao, Caow, KW, Coo,
and, finally, our word Cur are derived. The typi-
cal colour of this tribe of dogs is rufous, and their
aberrant, the mixture of it with black and white,
or the fusion of them into bluish-grey. Great Bri-
tain having, from the remotest period, other valua-
ble races of dogs, seems never to have fostered the
large breeds, unless the ancient slow-hound, parent
of the Manchester and southern dogs, were of this
group, before, by crossing with real hounds, it as-
sumed their characters. It is in this tribe that some
of the largest and fiercest dogs of antiquity should
be sought; and that where the southern nations
have found their Matin, or Mastino, which the
English have improperly transferred to our original
great bull-dog, by altering it into mastiff, and the
Germans name Bauerhund, or farm-dog.

Although, doubtless, some intermixture of the
mastiff race may be believed to have occurred in the
breeds known by the ancients in the north and east
of Greece, it is probable that the Epirotic, Molos-
eian, Chaonian, Hircanian, Albanian, and Iberian

150 TURKMEN WATCH-DOG.

dogs, were at least partially of the present group.
Such were also those of the Cymbers, and, in gene-
ral, of the colonizing nations during their movement
towards the west. Hence, we find, that in several
European languages, this tribe is confounded with
the mastiff called Alan and Alano, because that
people may have reared a remarkable breed of
them. The dogs of this group are possessed of
less sagacity than the former ; they are much less
docile, have considerable courage, are watchful and
noisy, and therefore are chiefly intrusted with the
care of cattle, the property of the farms and of the
humbler classes, and thence are so greatly crossed
by all kinds of races, that they are the chief parents
of the mongrel dogs of the west. Beginning with
those that appear to approximate most closely to
the original type, we find the

Turkmen Watch-dog. This is a large, rugged,
and fierce race, equalling the wolf in stature, shaped
like the Irish greyhound, and with equally power-
ful jaws ; the ears are erect, the tail rather hairy,
their colour a deep yellowish-red, and so like a Nato-
tan wolf, that a friend being present, in Asia Minor,
at a wolf hunt, allowed one to pass out of a brake,
because he mistook him for one of the Turkmen
dogs, and his Greek guide called out Lyke ! when
it was too late to fire. There are among them a few
.vhite and black, evidently crossed-dogs from ano-
ther origin. This race extends wherever the Turk-
men, or Toorkee people reside, from central high
Asia to the Bosphorus, and is everywhere employed

THE SULIOT DOG. 5

to guard their tents and cattle. We believe it is
also in similar use among the Kurds ; and, in a
former article, it appeared, that in the mountains
north of the Mekran, and west of the Indus, dogs
of this description were likewise the guardians of
the peasantry.

THE BOAR-HOUND OF GERMANY,

Cants Suillus, G MEL LIN.

PLATE VII.

THE Suliot Dog is one of the largest breeds known,
and is most likely the true Molossian of antiquity. It
is fuller in the mouth, fierce, coarse in aspect, and rug-
ged in fur. We never saw any that had not the ears
cropped, and the tail rough, with straggling hair :
they were tan coloured, with dark brown or blackish
surfaces on the back, shoulders, and about the ears.
In the last war between Austria and the Turks,
the Moslem soldiers employed many to guard their
outposts; and, in the course of the campaigns, a
great many were captured by the Imperial forces,
and secured by the officers as private property, or
adopted by the corps as regimental pets. One of
these was presented to the King of Naples, and was
reputed to be the largest dog in the world, being
little less than four feet high at the shoulder. We
saw one at Brussels, marching at the head of the
regiment of Clerfayt, and another belonging to that

152 THE DANISH DOG.

of Bender, both little inferior to Shetland ponies.
Their ears were cropped, but the head more nearly
resembled that of a large Banish dog than a mastiff;
the hair was rugged whitish beneath, but buff, ru-
fous, and black, from the eyes to the tail, much
resembling the wolf in colour and hardness.

The watch-dogs of Hungary, eastern and southern
Germany, partake of the above characters, but are
of smaller size ; the ears small, turned downwards,
and villous. They were formerly used in boar-
hunting, and are figured by Redinger under the
name of Sau-ruden. Canis sullus of Gmellin.

THE DANISH DOG.

Canis glaucus, NOB.

IN western Russia, Denmark, and northern Ger-
many, this variety of the great cur race is found ;
it differs from the foregoing in being smoother, the
forehead round, the ears short, partially drooping,
and the colour, in general, a light slaty-blue, with
some white about the mouth, breast, and limbs.
It is a tall and very handsome dog, but, for want of
attention, is very often partially disfigured by cross-
ings of more degraded races ; yet, when we refer to

THE MATIN DOG. 153

the feral dog of St. Domingo, so yearly allied to the
Dane in form, stature, and colour, and reflect, that
originally it was imported by Spaniards from Europe,
we may be justified in assuming, that the same race
existed in Spain, and was first carried thither by the
conquering Goths, or Suevi. In Sweden, the Danish
dog was formerly used in couples to support a smaller
breed of hounds, called Elk-finders, in the chace of
that powerful animal, to retard it until the horse-
men came up, or to drive it in the direction where
the rifle-shots were posted. There is a good figure
of this variety in Buffon's quarto edition.

THE MATIN DOG.
Cants laniarius, LINN.

THIS race of the family was most likely imported in
France by the Cymbers, or later, by the Franks.
It is a large species, equalling the former in stature,
but the forehead is flatter, the nose more prolonged
and pointed, the hair rugged, and the colour
usually white, with one or more large clouds of
brown; the ears, also, are more triangular, and
the tips bent down ; showing, upon the whole, a
certain intermixture of the older Gallic dog. It is
fierce, but not remarkable for daring. From the

154 THE CATTLE-DOG OF CUBA.

Matin, Buffon, w^ith more nationality than sound
reasoning, would derive a great many subordinate
breeds of dogs in his fanciful genealogy of the canine
family.

The Drover, or Cattle-dog of Cuba and Terra
Firma, in America^ we have seen in great num-
bers, and they perform a service which those of
their tribe in Europe are scarcely fit for. We have
often witnessed, when vessels with live stock arrive
in our West India colonies, and the oxen are hoisted
out by a sling passed round the base of their horns,
the great assistance they afford to bring them to
land. For, when the ox first suspended by the
head is lowered, and allowed to fall into the water,
men generally swim and guide it by the horns ; but,
at other times, this service is performed by one or
two dogs, who, catching the bewildered animal by
the ears, one on each side, force it to swim in the
direction of the landing place, and instantly release
their hold when they feel it touches the ground ; for
then the beast naturally walks up to the shore.
These dogs have the form of the Dane, and the
colours of a wolf, with a long truncated tail, and
generally a black spot over each eye, covering their
small half pendulous ears ; their eyes are small, very
bright, and the hair is rugged. There are some
equal to mastiffs in bulk and bone ; but it is likely
that they are a cross with the Cuba breed of that
race. We regard this breed as the continuous do-
mesticated animal, of which the feral of St. Domingo

THE CATTLE-DOG OF CUBA. 155

is the wild representative, and both as imported from
Spain.

The old British slow-hound, and the primitive
lurcher, we suspect once belonged to the present
group, being gradually commuted into their subse-
quent forms by repeated crossings with true hounds
and greyhounds; the first into the Manchester and
southern hound, and the second, so remarkable for
sagacity and attachment, deriving these qualities
from the cur stock, whose head, hair, and uncouth
form, it still preserves ; but we do not now any
more employ it under the old English appellation of
Teaser, which appears to be the legitimate modern
term for Oppian's Agasseus. Although the Celtic
Agas denotes simply a dog, it may be observed, that
the modern French verb agacer (to tease, to pro-
voke), is neither of Latin or Frankish origin, and
therefore, most likely, is derived from an original
Gallic root. The meaning of the verb is perfectly
applicable to this ancient lurcher, and to the large
terriers still used in the German hunting packs, for
the purpose of rousing or provoking the wrild boar
from his lair, and make him break cover. Redinger
figured this ancient dog under the name of Sau-
finder (sow-searcher) ; and our diminutive modern
terrier, particularly the Scottish rough-haired breed,
is therefore the race we look upon as the most an-
cient dog of Britain, though the opinion which
would make it indigenous is very questionable.
These lurcher-terriers, or agassei, were originally
all, more or less, buff, or sandy coloured, with

156 THE CARRIER-DOG OF THE INDIANS.

rugged and coarse hair, pointed ears, hairy tail,
short-legged, but of very high courage, grappling
with any animal, bull, bear, wolf, or badger, and
displaying extraordinary dexterity in the destruction
of vermin ; qualities which they still retain in the
utmost perfection.

THE TECHICHI OF MEXICO, OR THE CARRIER-
DOG OF THE INDIANS.

PLATE IV.

WE have seen only one individual of this race, by
the Indians called Techichi. It was a long-backed
heavy looking animal, with a terrier's mouth, tail,
and colours ; but the hair was scantier and smoother,
and the ears were cropped. It is likely that the
specimen seen by us at Rio de San Juan was of the
same race as the Techichi described by Fernandez.

To this race belongs the Carrier Indian Dog ob-
served by Dr. Richardson, and described by him, in
a letter we had the pleasure of receiving, as having
a long body, with legs comparatively short, but not
bent, and short (not woolly) hair.

The Black Wolf-dog of the Florida Indians,
by Mr. Bartram, described as in nothing different

BLACK WOLF-DOG OF FLORIDA. 157

from the local wolves, excepting that he could bark,
belongs clearly to this group ; and the anecdote of
one which was, by his wild master, trained to guard
a troop of horses without any human superin-
tendance, is a proof that it is highly intelligent and
docile. *

In a letter from his Serene Highness Prince Maxi-
milian of Wied, which we had the honour to receive,
the two great races of dogs in North America, seen
by him, are thus adverted to : — " One proceeding
from the European, the other national, and entirely
like wolves, excepting that the tail is more curved,
and partially, also distinguishable by the colour ; for,
while some are absolutely grey like wolves, others
are white, black, and black and white spotted ; but
they howl, which proves that they are a bastard
race between the dog of Europe and the wolf."

These remarks of his highness show, that he did
not fall in with the Caygotte ; for, if that species
had been seen by him, we think he would have
immediately detected the more probable parent of
the North American race of indigenous dogs. Nor
is there any reason for rejecting the prairie dog
(Lyciscus latrans) as one of those who have contri-
buted to furnish breeds of original American dogs.

Dr. Richardson informs us, that " All the Ame-
rican domestic dogs howl like wolves ; but I believe
they may learn to bark, if placed with European
dogs." And, in another place, " The Indian do-
mestic dogs closely resemble wolves; so much so,
* See Bartram's Travels.

158 BLACK WOLF-DOG OF FLORIDA.

that it is difficult to distinguish them when seen at
a short distance. They breed freely with a wild
she- wolf; but when not in heat, both male and
female wolves devour the dogs, as they would any
other kind of prey."

Since the foregoing article was written, we have
been enabled to examine a remarkably fine specimen
of the Black "Wolf-dog of North America, sent home
a present from Canada to the Earl of Durham. The
individual was most likely not quite full grown, but
stood rather higher at the shoulder than a New-
foundland-dog, and was shorter in the body; in
aspect exceedingly like a wolf, but that the eyes
were comparatively nearer the muzzle, the nose
rather sharp ; the forehead broad, somewhat arched ;
the ears erect, pointed, open ; the tail full, like that
of a wolf, hanging down, not curled, but not much
lower than the heel, no white hairs at the tip, the
whole animal being glossy black, excepting a small
spot on the breast and tips of the fore-toes, white ;
the length of the hair like that of a Newfoundland
dog, but somewhat finer. The dog was not vicious,
and extremely active. We did not hear him, but
understood the voice was more like howling than
barking. It is evidently intermediate between the
original Newfoundland clog and the wolf.

DOG OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
PLATE VIII.

have before alluded to this dog in the remarks
upon Lyciscus cagottis, because the race is consi-
dered by them to be indigenous, and, in appear-
ance, it certainly assimilates with the Caygotte.
The specimen, of which we give a figure, was said
to be of unmixed blood ; and this is in some mea-
sure confirmed by his former owner's character, the
celebrated Tecumseh, who was inwardly hostile to
the white man. His dog was smaller than the
Caygotte, and about equal in size to a spaniel ; but
what struck us as remarkable in his head, was the
front view, which formed an equilateral triangle,
measured from the nose to the tips of both ears, and
thence from tip to tip. The animal was not sullen,
and seldom uttered a howl; but his aspect was
savage, and the colours of his fur were those of a
common wolf.

We come now to the third group of the family of
real dogs ; it is one so early intermixed with the
former, that the transition from one to the other
cannot be fixed with precision. It is that of

160

THE GREYHOUNDS,*

Canes venatid, GRAYII.

A RACE, of which there exist representations above
three thousand years old ; one that, with little in-
termixture, forms the aggregate of the semi-wild
unowned street-dogs of Egypt and South-western

* The name Grains has been supposed to derive from the high
degree of estimation the race was held in. " Quod praecipui
gradus sit inter canes," says Caius. Others believed it signi-
fied a Greek hound. Mr. Whitaker, with more probability,
draws the name from the British Grech, or Greg, a dog.

THE GREYHOUNDS. 161

Asia, bears a stamp of originality we cannot justly
assume to be the offspring of crosses, or of a migra-
tion to a climate which produced its present very
distinct form of body, and still greater singularity of
head;* for, in the greyhound, the plane of the
nose is greatly prolonged, and, with little elevation,
passes up the forehead nearly to the occiput ; the
whole head is narrow and sharp ; the ears light, and
semi-pendulous ; the neck long ; the lumbar parts
of the back very considerably arched ; the abdomen
drawn up, and the chest deep ; the limbs are slen-
der, and greatly lengthened; the buttocks much
elevated : the whole structure evincing the greatest
elegance, and giving to the animal more swiftness
than to any other carnivorous beast. Destined by
nature to be a hunter on open plains, the eyes are
prominent and clear ; but the olfactory powers not
being wanted, where so much velocity is granted,
they give way for the purpose of allowing greater
and prolonged freedom to the respiratory organs ;
and English greyhounds have been known to run
eight miles in twelve minutes of time, in pursuit of
a hare that then dropped dead, and not including a
variety of turns and doublings, which necessarily
checked the velocity and increased the exertion !

But the greyhounds of antiquity, excepting among
the Egyptians and Asiatics, were probably not of

* According to Buffon, the greyhound forms a race derived
from the French Matin, which we have pretty well shown did
not exist in Gaul at the time of the Romans, unless it was
brought in by the Teutonic Cymbers.

162 THE GREYHOUNDS.

such pure breeds as the modern. When Greece and
the West was still much overgrown with woods, or
the country was mountainous, pure dogs could not
depend upon their keeping the game in view, nor
could the hunters follow the sport. The heasts of
the chase were powerfully armed. And all these
considerations, no doubt, caused those numerous
recommendations among the writers of Cynegetica
to form crosses with other breeds, in order to pro-
duce mixed qualities, better adapted to the existing
circumstances of the times and localities.

Looking for the original residence of this race,
and finding that in Egypt it existed in its present
form at the dawn of history, not only as a coursing
dog, but also that it formed already, and probably
had long before, constituted a relinquished semi-
feral race, living unowned, and totally upon its own
industry, it might be assumed, that Egypt is the
country whence this dog was first carried to other
regions. But, when we regard its structure and
qualifications, we cannot deny that it is formed for
speed ; and this character, and the use of the sight,
instead of the organs of smell, necessitate that it
was intended for open plains. Other inherent qua-
lities in greyhounds, which the pretended wonder-
working causes of food and climate have not removed,
or scarcely impaired, are the natural sociability of
the animal with man, without equal disposition to
individual attachment, a somewhat distrustful tem-
per, which, under certain circumstances, is likely to
turn into ferocity, not exempting its owner from

THE GREYHOUNDS. 163

personal danger; and, of all domestic dogs, we
may add, it is the least liable to real hydropho-
bia. All these circumstances taken together, seem
to fix the origin of the greyhound somewhere to
the westward of the great Asiatic mountain chains
where the easternmost Bactrian and Persian plains
commence, and where the steppes of the Scythic na-
tions spread towards the north. When we look to
the present proofs of this conclusion, and assume, that
where the largest and most energetic breeds of the
race exist, there we may look for their original
habitation ; we then find, to the east of the Indus,
the very large greyhounds of the Deccan, to the
west of it, the powerful Persian breed, and, to the
north of the Caspian, the great rough greyhound of
Tahtary and Russia ; and thence, we may infer, that
they were carried by the migrating colonies west-
ward, across the Hellespont, and, by earlier Celtic
and later Teutonic tribes, along the levels of
northern Germany as far as Britain. The primaeval
movement of the first inhabitants of the Lower Nile
may be conjectured similarly to have brought this
race along with them ; and all may have done so,
when it was already in part domesticated. But,
from the inherent qualities we have before noticed,
it is not impossible that an aboriginal independent
species, with the above form and instinct, followed
the moving nations in troops from- a voluntary im-
pulse, hung around their camps, as it did during
the march of Israel towards Palestine, and was
only rarely and partially domesticated among tbo
southern nations^ whose religious tenets in general

164 THE GREYHOUNDS.

still repel all contact with dogs; while, in the
northern regions, where no such restraints existed,
the people were naturally hunters, and the climate
and habits would not suffer the presence of com-
munities of this race, the whole was absorbed into
domestication, and, with a part of it, crossed with
their watch-dogs, formed into particular breeds and
races, among which the Glaud Molossi (we take to
be our present ashy Danish dog) were then, as now,
the most easily distinguished.*

Slaty and blue ash-coloured greyhounds form a
fine breed of the Persian long-haired race; and
these colours were common in the Egyptian smooth-
haired, as is attested by the earliest paintings, and
in the Mosaics of Italica. They prevail in the
purest breeds of the West, where the effects of
Albinism, or the opposite, black, have not been
studiously kept up. The last mentioned colour is,
however, in general, only an excess of the slaty ;
and it must have existed in Egypt in abundance,
since so many small effigies of blackish greyhounds
have been found in the catacombs. Yet we are in-
clined to believe these are aberrant tints, and that
the typical was tan-buff or sandy, for this was
the colour of the solar dog of Egypt, of the best
race in ancient Greece, of the English, and of the
^reat Irish greyhound, as well as the prevailing
livery of the Indian, German, and other dogs of
later ages, where it is usually mixed with more or
less of white.

Greyhounds appear to have changed the nature
* See the feral dog of St. Domingo, Plate 1.

THE GREYHOUNDS. 165

of their hair, according to the climates they origi-
nally inhabited, or two anciently distinct races
'exist; one with long, the other with a close and
smooth fur. The Russian and Tahtar have long and
shaggy hair ; it is rough in Syria, Germany, and
Hungary ; silky in the Deccan, Persia, Natolia, and
Greece; and smooth in southern India, Arabia, Egypt,
the Greek islands, and southern and western Europe.
In Roumelia, the Turks have a breed with smooth
hair, but with long-haired ears like those of a spaniel.
In the West, however, the smooth coat is the result
of importation ; for the native races were rugged,
until the French kings, down to Louis XV., began
to introduce the more graceful breeds from Constan-
tinople, Crete, and even from Alexandria.

The old greyhound of the "West, like that of the
East Indies, appears not to have been of pure breed,
but crossed with some other species endowed with
scent ; and, consequently, we find that it did not
depend at all times upon the powers of vision. The
old Irish grey was similarly constituted ; and we
are thence inclined to believe the gaze -hound* was
in reality the present smooth race, distinguished at
first from the more common by the faculty of hunt-
ing by the sight alone, and that the name of grey-
hound was gradually transferred to it when the old
breed began to be neglected, and sunk into the un-
fashionable lurcher. Yet it was this ancient race,
tall, strong, fierce, and rugged, that obtained almost
the exclusive patronage of the northern conquerors
of Europe, and for ages nearly excluded the hunting-
* Not the Agasseus, which was very different.

166 THE GREYHOUNDS.

hound from all consideration. Even the Gauls,
according to Arrian, coursed with greyhounds, upon
nearly the same principles as the moderns ; and the
Saxons and Franks used them to tear down deer,
and, in company with their mastiffs and great cur-
dogs, to grapple with the wild bull, the wolf, and the
boar. The right to possess hawk and greyhound
were proofs of gentility; and there were even reli-
gious ceremonies and church services, wherein cer-
tain beneficed clergy claimed and practised the
privilege of appearing with hawk on fist and hound
in leash. Hence arose, also, the custom of placing
the effigy of this dog at the feet of monumental
figures of knights in armour; and, in the feudal
hall, a space behind the left-hand of the chief was
often assigned for his dogs to sit, and wait for a
portion of food from his hand. In the barbarous
laws of the times, a man was of less value than a
greyhound, and the killing one, or robbing a hawk's
nest, even after the signing of -Magna Charta, was
a felony, punishable with equal severity as murder.
The presentation of these dogs was often the symbol
of a renewed grant of feudal territory or rights, or
the payment for royal dues.*

In the noble hunting pictures of Rubens and
Snyders, we see them often painted with characters
of spirit and life only surpassed by the pencil of
Landseer, whose dogs actually seem to think. Cours-

* In the reign of King Richard II. there were still lands
held of the Crown, among others, by the family of Engaine,
upon the condition of keeping a certain number of wolf-dogs,
to hunt that animal,

THE GREYHOUNDS. 167

ing with these ancient dogs was still kept up by
Queen Elizabeth, who witnessed, anno 1591, from
her stand at Cowdray, in Sussex, the seat of Lord
Montacute, no less than sixteen deer, all having
fair law (that is, the start in advance to a certain
distance), torn down and mangled by fierce hounds,
for her amusement ! But after the religious and
civil wars of the succeeding reigns, the breed of
smooth hounds became the more fashionable ; and,
with the improvements in fire-arms, and the exten-
sion of cultivation, hunting-hounds and gun-dogs
gradually acquired their present share of favour.

We have already remarked, that the rough grey-
hounds in particular are less personally attached to
their masters than other races : ancient chroniclers
relate several instances of their abandoning one to
follow another, and being liable to take sudden of-
fence. They have been known to attack those who
meant to halloo them on after game; this hap-
pened, not many years ago, to the Rajah of Bahar,
whose dogs turned from a jackal upon him, and he
escaped from them only by dashing with his horse
into the water.* They are also liable, if left to their
own discretion, to destroy sheep, and show other
marks of little docility.

Beginning with the rough-haired breeds, we find
in the East

* See Dr. Daniel Johnson's Sketches of Field Sports. See
also in Froissart, the greyhound that quitted King Richard II.
to join and fawn upon Henry of Lancaster ; a political false-
hood not even original, but intended to persuade the public that
heaven, and not his ambition, made him claim the crown.

1 68 THE GREYHOUNDS.

The Brinjaree dog, used in the Deccan, is supe-
rior in stature and strength to the Persian. This
breed, we believe, is the best in India, where their
general colour is yellowish or tan ; but our sports-
men report the Indian dogs to want velocity.

The Persian breed, with the plane of the nose
almost arched, and the lumbar part of the back less
curved than our dogs, has the hair silky, the tail
very long and hairy. Those we have seen were
pale slate-coloured, or white ; and in speed, game,
and size, at least equal to our best breeds.

BEDOUIN GREYHOUND OF AKABA.

PLATE IX.

The Arabian, or Bedouin greyhound, is a large
and very fierce species, not perfectly pure, but
greatly valued, and used bv the wandering tribes

SCOTTISH GREYHOUND. 171

titors for the Glasgow Gold Cup. Perhaps, after
all, it will turn out that these seeming detractions
are but a cunning device of the friends of Gilbert-

o

field, intended to impress the public with the idea,
that the achievement of a reputation greater than
that of any other dog in the United Kingdom is but
the smaller part of his victory, and that the greater
part is the accomplishment of an absolute change in
language, so that henceforth the word lurcher is to
designate superiority, instead of, as heretofore, infe-
riority of blood ; and the word third rate to apply
to the ascending scale in degrees of comparison, or,
in other words, to denote the superlative degree of
excellence. But be this as it may, we are happy
in being enabled to be the first to publish the pedi-
gree of Gilbertfield, supplied us at our request by
his owner. We give only three generations, both
because these carry us to the common ancestors of
his sire and dam, and because the ancestors of
Blticher and Tickler never ran in public. Gilbert-
field (brindled and rough) was pupped in June,
1831, and is, — 1st, by Giraffe (brindled and smooth)
out of Venus (yellow and rough) ; 2d, Giraffe was
by Capilly (brindled and smooth, brother to Oscar)
out of Puzzle (brown and smooth, sister to Mr.
Crum's well-known Charles James Fox) — Yenus,
by Mr. Hamilton of Greenbank's Alfred, (white
and red and smooth, sire of Captain, May, Serpent,
Pomni, Lady Mary, &c.) out of Marion (brindled
and rough, sister to Capilly, Oscar, Orlando Fu-
rioso, and Burr) ; 3d, Capilly and Marion were by

172 SCOTTISH GREYHOUND.

Blucher (black and smooth), out of Sir William
Maxwell of Calderwood's Tickler (white and rough).
This pedigree runs counter to many of the pet theories
of breeding, which would seem to be the mere " idols
of the kennel," as Lord Bacon would have styled
them, rather than the conclusions of reason or the
result of experiments. Bred from first cousins, and
sprung from three successive crosses betwixt the
smooth and the rough, Gilbertfield himself rough,
is a great public winner, notwithstanding it is said
that breeding-in destroys spirit, and that every cross
after the first, betwixt the smooth and rough, more
and more banishes the good qualities of the grey-
hound. Opinion, or rather caprice, even among
those friendly to one cross with the rough, is diverse
as to which parent should be rough. It so happens
in this pedigree that the dams were the rough. But
this cannot be held to establish much, when it is
remembered that Gilbertfield's own progeny out of
a smooth bitch (Black-Eyed Susan) have distin-
guished themselves more than any other puppies of
this season, part of which are thoroughly smooth,
and part thoroughly rough. The running of him
and his lurcher race equally confute two opposite
sayings ; the one, that rough dogs are not fast, but
last long — the other, that they can get out of the
slips, but want bottom. 1st, Lord Eglinton's Major
is the only dog he meets which makes Gilbertfield
look not singularly fast up to his hare. 2d, The
race with Dusty Miller, on the last day of the Gold
Cup running, put an end to all scepticism as to

IRISH GREYHOUND. 173

Gilbertfield's bottom. The performances of his an-
cestors, Oscar, Capilly, and Charles James Fox, in
the Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire Club, and of
Orlando Furioso, Burr, and Giraffe in East Lo-
thian— his own success', during four seasons, in
every club to which he belongs, viz. the Ardrossan,
Biggar, Clydesdale, Dirleton, and the Lanarkshire
and Renfrewshire (being rough he is excluded from
running at Winchburgh), and his triumph at Eagle-
sham — and the commenced career of his offspring,
viz. The Ocean, Goth, Vandal, Capilly, Harp,
Guitar, and Lilly (one litter), supply the best of
all evidence that Gilbertfield not only inherits, but
can transmit winning blood — the great aim, it is to
be presumed, of every sagacious breeder of grey-
hounds."

THE IRISH GREYHOUND.
C. Hibernicus.

THIS antique race was originally, we may pre-
sume, the same as the Scottish; and, according
to some opinions, was not found in Ireland in its
greatest development until the Danes began to infest
its coasts. It may, however, be observed, that no
such race is recorded to have existed anciently in

174 IRISH GREYHOUND.

Scandinavia or Denmark, and that its earliest co-
lour was buff or pale ochry, in that respect also
approximating the breeds of the East ; and, finally,
that the mystical bitch in Druidical lore appears to
refer to this species both in Britain and Ireland:
though, we must admit, that in Mythical compo-
sition, a generical name would be easily transferred
to a particular species of later date, if it were more
noble and grand in its appearance. It may be that
the ancient race, similar to the Scottish, was crossed
with the great Danish dog by the Northman, and,
under favourable circumstances, increased to the
great stature since so much admired.

Of the specimens we have seen, and the figures
published, no two appear now exactly alike in struc-
ture or colour, so that mastiff, stag-hound, and
blood^hound may likewise have been crossed with
the ancient species ; and from this circumstance, no
doubt, arises the difference in qualities ascribed to
them. Still this dog is the largest in Western
Europe; and the extirpation of wolves in Ireland
may, in part at least, be justly due to its exertions.
The bitch kept by Buffon killed the male wolf she
was bred up with, which proves that one was more
than a match for that fierce animal. Lord Alta-
mont is said to have kept the last dogs of this race,
and it was one of his that Mr. Lambert described in
the Linna?an Transactions. But we have heard
that Lord O'Neil likewise had some; and, still
later, that Mr. Hamilton Rowan used often to ap-
pear in Dublin with a couple of these majestic dogs.

175

THE GRECIAN GREYHOUND.
Ca«*s Grains of Authors,

WHO have taken it to be typical of the group,
is still extant nearly in the exact form described
by Oppian and older classic writers. It is some-
what remarkable that modern travellers should
have confounded this dog with the Molossian ; for
the one belongs to the Persian race, being covered
with a rather short but silky fur, and having a long
slender tail well feathered, with long and soft hair,
capable of making the kind of shade which was so
much admired by the ancients ; whilst the other is
already noticed as of the Laniarian group. Those
we have seen were slate-coloured and white, but
had not the peculiar blue eyes noticed by the an-
cients. They are still used in deer-hunting.

Among the smooth-haired, we shall take the next
in gradation from the villous. It is the

Turkish Greyhound, with a very pointed nose
and long hairy ears, but smooth coat, ashy-grey,
white, or brindled in colour. It is among this and
the last mentioned breed that the stop greyhound is
found so trained, that when a whole pack of them
are in pursuit of a doubling hare, a stick thrown

176 EGYPTIAN OfcEYHOUND.

before them instantly produces a general halt ; and
one only is then singled out to pursue the game.

The Egyptian Greyhound may be the same as
the Bedouin, but is smoother, and now rarely
met with in that country, but more usually to the
westward, in the Barbary states ; it is m form like
the Italian, but equals the European in size, has a
delicate skin, very small ears, somewhat more up-
right than usual, and in colour white-black, or
spotted of both colours.

THE ITALIAN GREYHOUND,

Canis Italicus, GM.,

Is a well known variety of inferior size, and so de-
licate as to bear our climate with difficulty. Although
it is a breed of great beauty, little use can be made
of its speed, and the ladies almost solely patronize
this animal ; it is said that our finest breeds have
been improved by a cross from it.

THE BRITISH GREYHOUND.

Canis leporarius.

PLATE X.

THE dogs of the best breeds now common in the
west of Europe are all of the same race ; but, in
point of sporting qualities and beauty, none are
equal to the British. The smooth-haired greyhound
was first imported from France, and subsequently
improved by well selected individuals from the
Greek Islands, from Italy and Barbary, and even
from India, but, above all, by the unremitting
attention of wealthy and intelligent sportsmen. We
shall not dwell further upon a breed so well known,
and at present unrivalled in an open country for
speed, beauty, and spirit, united with docility.

With the greyhounds, we place also two races
that are more or less of mixed breeds. The
first is

173

THE LURCHER.
Canis vertagus*

THIS dog in its most ancient form was a greyhound,
with powers of scent, and perhaps the true grey-
hound of the long-haired variety, .and to that race
we refer the ancient name of Vertagus ; for to what
other can Martial's lines be ascribed,

Non sibi, sed domino venatur Vertagus acer
Illaesum leporem qui tibi, dente refert. MARTIAL.

Surely no Turnspit can be intended by this portrait,
but a fleet dog well trained, and sagacious, though
neglected. In proportion as the more elegant race
of the smooth-haired breeds became the fashion, the
use of its varied powers was misapplied to the
destruction of game in unlawful practices, so that
he became proscribed, and we now possess only an
occasional mongrel reared for the purposes of poach-
ing* in the night, and executing his felon master's
instructions with a silence, skill, and effect worthy

* Vertagus, or Vertragus, the Celto- British Ver-trache, and
German Brach, the eager, or swift dog. See Whitaker's His-
tory of Manchester.

EGYPTIAN STREET-DOG. 179

of admiration, and of a more admissible service.
The dogs of this class are now a gaunt and ill-look-
ing race, bearing the external appearance of the
greyhound disfigured by the intermixture of cur,
sheep-dog, or other blood, but still usually with the
livery of his origin, being mostly of a yellow and
white colour. The Lurcher now makes occasionally
great havoc among sheep and deer, and 'acquires
the wild scent of game. Sometimes these dogs be-
come feral, when their owners happen to be captured
and imprisoned. They have been regularly hunted
with hounds, but seldom destroyed, because when
the chase came up with them, the pack seemed to
be surprised at only finding that it was a dog it
had followed. At other times, however, when a
lurcher had snapped up, or attacked the game the
pack was hunting, the dogs on coming up have torn
him to pieces as if he had been a wild beast.

The Egyptian Street-dog, probably the Keleb of
antiquity, properly so called. It may be assumed,
that the Pariahs of Egyptian towns are among the
most ancient breeds ; and though now degraded in
many respects by mange, famine, and intermixture
perhaps with the jackal, there are still numbers
retaining marks of antique purity of blood, evidently
referrable to the Akaba greyhound of the present
time. They are not all even at this moment totally
deprived of hair, many being sandy or buff-coloured ;
and they possess, in a singular degree, a self-taught
system of avoiding contact with the Moslem, and of
order and watching, that deserves attention; for in

180 EGYPTIAN STREET-DOG.

all the towns, where they occupy in numbers the
ruins of decayed buildings and gardens, certain
districts or streets^ appear by common consent to
oelong exclusively to one portion, while others >are
similarly allotted to others; and none dare trans-
gress the limits they possess, even when tempted
by the most alluring baits. Each in its own dis-
trict is likewise a general guardian of the property
of all its inhabitants; and where, from religious
motives or feelings of humanity, kind-hearted Mos-
lems are in the habit of giving out a daily portion
of food, or setting water for them, those of the dis-
trict alone come to partake of it, and then quietly
withdraw.

In the breeds we now call the Naked Turkish, or
Egyptian Dog, there are two races nearly equally
destitute of hair ; the first, evidently of the grey-
hound stock, is well known, having usually a dull
purplish and unctuous skin, being in general defi-
cient in the incisor and canine teeth, and often
with several of the molars wanting; the other, of
smaller stature, a more globular cranium, and very
large erect triangular ears, with a fringe of hair
upon the edges, and only six mammaB, seems de-
rived from a species of Megalotis. This race is more
compact than the other; it has a few straggling
hairs about the body, and a ridge of the same often
runs down the occiput to beyond the shoulders.
The absence of hair may be in part caused by chro-
nical mange, but it certainly is also a result of ex-
posure to an intense sun in a very dry atmosphere ;

EGYPTIAN STREET-DOG. 181

for we find in a similar state the small Hyaena of the
Desert, which retains only a broad and bristly band
of hair from the head to the tail. The Lychaon
pictus, in old age, becomes likewise naked; and
even the lion of Arabia is deficient in mane. The
same effect is produced upon a race of Pariahs of
India, known by the name of Poly gar dog ; and the
naked dog of Mexico, of the indigenous Gosque
race, not carried to the West by the Spaniards, is
similarly destitute of hair, no doubt from the same
causes.* This last race is almost without voice, or
utters only a feeble howling. It is but partially
intermixed with the hairy dogs, is nearly useless,
and, nevertheless, much caressed by the Indian na-
tives. It may be this was the God-dog of the
Xauxa and Huanca Indians ; for, even in America,
the dog was a type of divinity ! We have often
seen puppies suckled by human beings.

The next group we have to take into consider-
ation, is that which contains

* See Brown's Jamaica, under the name of Indian Dog, the
preceding article Alco, and Rengger Saeugethiere von Para-
guay.

182

THE HOUNDS.

WE have, in the description of domestic dogs,
adverted to the original residence of this group in
the East, and to its introduction among us at a period
subsequent to the arrival of the more wolf-like
varieties. When we shall know more of the Lycis-
cus tigris, before noticed, and of the Wah, or
BuansU) we may perhaps find that one, or the
mixture of both species, are the progenitors of the
Hound races, and that it is thence they derive
the general tendency to be marked with three
colours which we have seen were noticed in Ceylon

ORIENTAL HOUND. 183

and Britain at a very early period. Farther east,
there were of late years hounds not derived from
the European breed; such, for example, as the
dogs of the Koordah Rajah, of larger dimensions
than ours, and with so fine a nose, that they could
trace deer several hours after they had passed,
which, in a hot country, evinces an acuteness of
scent not to he expected from the European.

THE ORIENTAL HOUND.
PLATE XI.

WE figure a hound from a drawing made in Persia,
one of several belonging to a Coordish Chief, dif-
fering from the English fox-hound chiefly in the
greater height of the legs and shorter body. The
colours refer it to the breed of St. Louis, from
Palestine.

In the present group, although the anatomical
forms remain in general the same, there is perceived
in the crania a superior development of the cerebral
inclosure, a rounder forehead, and higher central
ridge to secure the temporal muscles, enlarged in-
terorbital space to admit the organs of smell, and a
greater breadth of the jaws. In the several species
there is found a broader nose, more full and promi-
nent eyes, large pendulous ears, a raised and trun-

184 ORIENTAL HOUND.

cated tail, and often a spurious toe on the hind
feet ; in general, a structure combining considerable
elegance with strength and speed. In this tribe
there are, as in the former, likewise two races dis-
tinguished by a long and by a short fur ; the former,
in general, being used as gun and water-dogs ; the
latter, less domesticated, as hunting dogs.

The Greeks may be considered as the first insti-
tutors of artificial breeds, and the contrivers of most
of the ancient subordinate combinations which have
since so greatly influenced the high bred races of
the West. Twenty-four centuries of efforts have
not, however, effected more than evolving from
races most nearly allied, generations more specifi-
cally adapted to given intentions. All the funda-
mental qualities of dogs resided, ab origme^ in the
species, and by far the greater part of educational
susceptibilities were then already fully established.
Although hounds were known in the East, and' in
Egypt, we have no proof that they (the Greeks)
were acquainted with dogs of the present group an-
terior to the conquests of Alexander, nor that they
became common before Greece was under the domi-
•v>n of the Romans. The Hellenic sportsmen, and
naturalists of this late period, are the writers who
then first began to give an intelligible account of
them. Demetrius Constantinopolitanus, in his book
on the care of dogs, writing after Oppian, shows,
that the hounds in his time " were not yet entirely
with drooping ears, but, as before observed, they
were of a brindled and spotted origin, for he calls

ORIENTAL HOUND. 185

them " .Leopard-dogs like wolves, with long soft
ears, so that they hang down ; but if the ears are
erect and large, they are not to be rejected." *

It is now probably impossible to fix upon the
oldest form of the hound, but if we commence
by the Elymcan, and take the figure of a leash-
hound in the Egyptian pictures for a type, and the
blood-hound, which is of most ancient estimation
in the West, the dog who, in sagacity, power, and
olfactory acuteness, stood for ages preeminent over
the whole, we find them sufficiently similar to each
other, while the more delicate perceptions of several
gun-dogs, although we think them superior, are a
result of comparatively later care and training.

We may here remark upon the packs of the
Continent, such as they were before the French
Revolution, that, the breeds of England only be-
came fashionable, and introduced there after the
Duke of Orleans had visited this country. In
France, reddish dogs were still generally used to
hunt the wolf to the year 1779, and those of Prince
Charles of Lorraine, kept at Laaken, mostly of a
rust colour, with black backs; but his establish-
ment was on the ancient footing, consisting, in part,
of matches or pairs of similarly coloured dogs and
breeds, but each pair somewhat differing in race :
thus there were mastiffs, rough greyhounds, matin-
dogs, and large terriers; several, or all of these,

* Demet. Const. irt^i r ruv xwuv svip&uas. Most cited
by Don Caspar Bazzio.

186 THE BLOOD-HOUND.

were taken out to hunt the stag, the boar and the
wolf, and on some occasions, it was equally diffi-
cult and dangerous to keep them from attacking
each other.*

THE BLOOD-HOUND.
Cants sanguinarius.

PLATE XXXI. Fig. 2.

WE have already remarked upon the general history
of this race, and therefore proceed to the description
of its form and colours. This breed is rare in Eng-
land, but still there are a few kept, rather for the

* Mr. Pennant has noticed some of the hunting establish-
ments and laws of the Welsh Princes. The Byzantine Empe-
rors, the Turkish Sultans, and the German Emperors, all had
a regularly organised body of that kind. The English Sove-
reigns were most likely nothing short of the state kept by the
Kings of France, but it is probable that the Dukes of Bur-
gundy, of the house of Valois, exceeded both. Of the number
of dogs they kept, we may judge by the officers in their house-
hold placed on the establishment of the chase ; it consisted,
in the time of Philip the Good, of one Grand veneur, or great
huntsman, with twenty-four attendant huntsmen, a clerk, and
twenty-four valets: one hundred and twenty liverymen, six
pages of the hounds, six pages of the greyhounds, twelve under
pages of the hounds, six superintendants of the servants of

TUE BLOOD-HOUND. 187

sake of admiration than use, though anciently, and
even now on the Continent, it is employed to follow
the scent or the track of a wounded heast of the
chase, or to lead the huntsmen to the lair hefore
the toils are set. In Germany there were two
breeds, one smaller and lighter (Schweisshund),
serving in the first mentioned capacity; and the
other (Leithund) the true hlood-hound. Both are
figured by Redinger.

Mr. Bell, in his interesting account of British
quadrupeds, describes the breed in possession of Mr.
T. Bell, of Oxford Street, as standing twenty-eight
inches high at the shoulder ; the muzzle broad and
full ; the upper lip large and pendulous ; the vertex
of the head protuberant; the expression stern,
thoughtful, and noble ; the breast broad ; the limbs
strong and muscular ; and the original colour a deep
tan,, with large black clouds. The Cuba breed, and
the dog once the property of the Duke of York,
we noticed, had tan spots over the eyes, the back
was ashy-brown, and lower parts whitish. In

the kennels, six valets of limers, six of greyhounds, twelve of
running hounds, six of spaniels, six of small dogs, six of
English dogs (mastiffs), six of Artois dogs (matins), twelve
bakers of dogs' bread : a great wolf-hunter (grand houvetierj,
four wolf-hunters, a grand falconer, twenty-four falconers, one
master of the toils, or net-setter for birding, one master of the
hunting science, one hundred and twenty livery-men hawkers
to carry hawks, their collars, bells, masks, &c. twelve valets
fishermen, six trimmers of feathers of birds of prey ; in all 430 !
All these bore arms, and cried the ducal war-cry under his
immediate banner.

188 THE TALBOT HOUND.

France, the Norman limers were considered the
best ; they were usually grey-brown, but there were
some quite black, with a tan-coloured spot over the
eyes, and white breasts. This species is silent while
following the scent, and thence easily distinguished
from other hounds.

The Talbot was a race of hounds with a large
head, very broad nose, long pendulous ears, a rough
coat of hair on the belly, and entirely of a pure
white colour. In ancient illuminations it is repre-
sented as not very large, though, from all accounts,
it attained considerable stature, and seemingly was
kept more for show than for use. There is little
doubt but that the white St. Hubert breed of hounds
was of the same, or of a nearly allied race. As a
sporting-dog it is not much noticed, probably be-
cause in that capacity it was viewed as a blood-
hound. We believe the Talbot was a cognizance of
the ancient house of Shrewsbury; and a head
of one forms the crest of several princely families
of Germany.

The Old Southern Hound. The Manchester-
hound is considered by Mr. Whitaker as an old
indigenous breed; but it is probably only a race
introduced during the feudal ages, and formed out
of the great watch-dog by the blood-hound or the
Talbot. It is a large noble-looking dog, greatly
resembling the more recent stag-hound, steady and
persevering, but slow in pursuit, thence neglected,
and now nearly extinct, being replaced by the fol-
lowing more active breeds, all of which, neverthe-

THE STAG-HOUND. 189

less, have much of the same aspect, and are nearly
all marked with three similarly distributed colours.
The old Southern-hound was, or we should rather
say is, remarkable for a very fine deep-toned voice,
and in this respect is quite distinct from the blood-
hound.

THE STAG-HOUND,
PLATE XXXI., Fig. 1,

WAS a large and stately animal, equal, or little less
than the blood-hound, and originally, like that race,
slow, sure, cautious, and steady. Markham, who
wrote in the time of James i. describes the stag-
hound of his time with evident knowledge of the
Venerie de J agues du Fouiltoux : these dogs were
then rufous spotted, or glaucous, and hunted in
close packs under excellent command. The modem
hound is perhaps still handsomer, though somewhat
smaller, and the breed having been crossed with
the fox-hound, is now much faster. They have a
large rather short head, with a wide nose, loose,
hanging, broad, and long ears, muscular hams,
round small feet, and a rush tail carried high.*

* Ancient representations of Stag-hounds often have very
small drooping ears, much like the figure of the Lymmer in the
antique paintings of Egypt.

190 THE FOX-HOUND.

They are invariably white, with some black and
fulvous about the ears, and on the sides or back,
distributed in two or three large spots. As the chase
is very fatiguing to man and horse, destructive to
cultivation, and of very questionable humanity, it
has greatly declined since the death of King
George III. who was personally fond of this kind
of hunting. We doubt if the packs we formerly
knew are still extant; they were the Royal, the
Derby, the Engle field chase, the New Forest and
the Darlington.

THE FOX-HOUND,
PLATE Xll.,

Is somewhat lower at the shoulders, more slenderly
built, and more crossed with the greyhound; the
colour also is white, but commonly marked with
larger clouds of black and tan, one on each side
the head, covering the ears, the same on each flank,
and one at the root of the tail. Their speed and
perseverance is remarkable, having been known to
run hard ten hours before they came up with and
killed the fox, and the sportsmen were either
thrown out, or changed horses three times. Stag
and fox-hunting, when pushed to a speed and

THE HARRIER-HOUND. 191

duration so as to cause the death or ruin of the
finest horses, are justly reprohated hy most writers
on field sports, and are now completely out of
fashion, though at one time, when George IV. was
Prince of Wales, and hunted with a pack of silent
hounds, the chase was invariably severe, even to
those who rode the best bred horses.

The Harrier-hound. So called from being usually
applied to hare- hunting, is still smaller than the last
mentioned, not exceeding eighteen inches at the
shoulder. It is a more recent, and entirely an ar-
tificial breed, wre think between the hound and
beagle, similarly marked as the fox-hound, but
often the dark colours occupying still more surface.
This race is by many sportsmen confounded, and
the names used synonymously with

TheBeagle. — From the observations recorded in the
general article on domestic dogs, it will be anticipated
that we regard the beagle to be the sameastheBrachet
of the middle ages, and think it the only species of
the long-eared dogs known in the west during the
Roman Empire, and noticed by Oppian under the '
name of Agasseus. Both Pennant and Whitaker
quote the text, which, nevertheless, is more appli-
cable to the ancient teaser-terrier than the beagle ;
but as there were rough-haired Brachets in the olden
time, and severe hunting is still liable to produce
crooked-legged Turnspit offspring, it is possible that
this last was meant. The Breac they could not
however then be ; because, as already observed, that
name implied spot, or spotted, a distinction which

192 THE BEAGLE.

the beagle-hound retains. A proportion, or what
was termed a cry of these dogs, was anciently added
to a hunting pack, often on account of their musical
voice. They were most common in the north of
England, and hence known by the name of northern
hounds. There exists on the Continent a coarse-
haired buff-coloured hound of a mixed breed,
figured by Buffon under the name of chien courant
metis, apparently formed out of the French Braque
and the crisp-haired water-dog ; it is now uncom-
mon, probably neglected because of its want of
beauty, though formerly much esteemed in otter-
hunting, and in the chase where the country was
swampy and intersected by rivers.

Both the rough and smooth races, even three
centuries past, were already greatly diversified by
different crossings. In Queen Elizabeth's reign,
the fanciers bred a race so small, that a complete
cry of them could be carried out to the field in a
pair of paniers. That Princess had little singing
beagles which could be placed in a man's glove ! At
present they are about twelve or fourteen inches at
the shoulders, stout and compact in make, with long
ears, and either marked with a bright streak or spot
of white about the neck, on a dark brown coat, or
white, with spots like the harrier, of black and
rufous. They are slow, but persevering, and are
sufficiently sure of killing their game.

THE DALMATIAN, OR COACH-DOG.
PLATE XIII.

FROM the general structure of the animal, we are of
opinion it should be placed with the hounds ; but
though a very handsome variety, inferior to none of
the above in elegance of form and beautiful mark-
ings, it is, with some dissent however, said to be
without powers of nose or much sagacity, and there-
fore invariably entrusted to the stables, where it
familiarises with horses. Having, in the general
description of dogs, noticed the print of a specimen
brought from India, with a white fur marked with
small black spots, small half dejected ears, and a
greyhound-like form, we have there expressed the
suspicion that our present coach-dog may be derived
from that individual, or from his breed, and we
have accordingly given a representation of it.

]Q4

THE PARENT OF THE MODERN COACH-DOG.
PLATE XIV.

DALMATIAN dogs they are not, although a Turkish
grandee might well have possessed specimens of the
dog in that country. We figure it accordingly.

The Turnspit, so called from being formerly
used to run in a kind of wheel to turn a kitchen
spit. There are rough and smooth dogs of this
kind, hoth evidently derived by malformation from
hounds or terriers. BufTon figured them under
the names of Basset a jambes droites, and Basset a
jambes torses; some having the legs straight, and
others crooked, while the body is often as heavy as
a fox-hound's. That breed derived from terriers is
much more active and bold than the other, and
having the legs straighter, is capable of more fatigue.
The turnspit form is however found among the Pa-
riah dogs of India : the Techichi, we have already
noticed, is likewise of a lengthened structure : and
in Paraguay, dogs of the European races, with
large heads, bodies, and tails, but very short, dis-
torted, and nodose limbs, are very common; some
have been measured three feet in length from nose
to tail, whose extremities were only .four inches

THE POINTER. 195

long : finally, the Poe dog of the South Sea Islands
is equally ill-shaped.

The Burgos is a spaniel turnspit, having a long
back, short legs, and a fine long hairy coat. This
race is chiefly used in the south of Europe.

THE POINTER,
Canis avicularis,

IN general aspect, character, and colours, belongs
to the race of hounds, more nearly than any other
of the shooting or gun dogs, and therefore we place
him immediately after them. From the word.
Spanish being commonly prefixed to the name, there
is reason to believe the race came originally from
the Peninsula, and this circumstance agrees with
what we have said of the oldest race of the St.
Hubert hounds; but as the primitive breed must
still be presumed to come from the East, we might
perhaps infer that Western Europe, including Bri-
tain, owes their introduction to the Phoenician
traders who brought them to Spain and to this
country at so remote a period, that we regard them
here as indigenous.* In their present qualities of

* There is, in the Egyptian figures published by Caillaud, a
dog represented at point ; but the sculpture is injured, and
leaves some doubt of the intention.

196 THE POINTER.

standing fixed and pointing to game, we see the
result of a long course of severe training ; and it is
a curious fact, that by a succession of generations
having been constantly educated to this purpose, it
has become almost innate, and young dogs of the
true breed point with scarcely any instruction : this
habit is so firm in some, that the late Mr. Gilpin is
reported to 'have painted a brace of pointers while in
the act, and that they stood an hour and a quarter
without moving !* But although the quality is admir-
able, it is nevertheless true that training will accom-
plish the same habit in common fox-hounds, and even
in other animals, as is attested in the case of the
Hampshire pig, which was celebrated for this faculty.
It is said that pointer dogs were not known in
England before the revolution of 1688 ; but it may
be answered, that as soon as shooting supplanted
hawking and coursing, there could be no serious
obstacle in forming dogs to that sport. The pointer
is quite smooth, commonly marked like the fox-
hound, or with more spreading dark colours ; there
are some of the best breed entirely black. In
habit it is rather lazy, does not encounter close
cover nor take the water so readily as the spaniel,
but is still a favourite for his powerful nostrils and

* These were Pluto and Juno, the property of Col. Thorn-
ton. Dash, another pointer belonging to the same sportsman,
was sold for £ 160 worth of Burgundy and Champagne, one
hogshead of claret, an elegant gun, and a pointer, with the pro-
viso, that if an accident should disable the dog, he was to be
returned to the Colonel at the price pf £ 50 ! — See Sportman's
Repository,

THE SETTER. 197

handsome appearance. The thorough bred dogs of
this race in Spain have the septum of the nose ver-
tically divided by a deep groove, and the wings of
the nostrils exceedingly dilated and irritable.

THE SETTER,

Cants Index,
PLATES XV. AND XV.*

Is another variety of sporting dogs distinguished for
long silky hair, and usually considered as a larger
breed of spaniel; therefore likewise originating or
brought from the peninsula of Spain. The head of
this race shows a remarkable development of the
brain, and in character we find a corresponding in-
telligence, affection, and docility, unequalled by any
other kind of dog; and though somewhat timid,
bearing fatigue better than the pointer. The least
adulterated breeds are still found in Ireland, where
high prices are paid for the best individuals. In
figure they participate of the pointer and the spaniel.
Their more ancient colours were deep chestnut and
white, or quite red ; in England they are white, or
white with black or brown marks, and in both coun-
tries larger than the spaniel. Dudley, duke of
Northumberland, in 1535, first trained setters to the
net. In Mr. Bell's admirable description of British
dogs,* there are some interesting anecdotes of this
faithful race, to which we refer.

* Bell's British Quadrupeds.

198

THE SPANIEL,
Canis extrarius ?

COMMONLY called Water Spaniel,, is of a race that
was known to the Romans, for we find it clearly
figured on some of the later monuments, and seems

THE Si-ANIEL. 199

to be identical with the Cams Tuscus praised by
Nemesianus. No dog possesses greater affection for
his master or more expression of countenance than
the spaniel : it is ever petitioning for acknowledg-
ments of regard, and boundless in its joy at the
slightest manifestation of kindness. The animal is
in form a small setter, with silky hair, and fine long
villous ears. They are black, brown, pied, liver-
coloured and white, and black and white. There
are likewise several varieties of the spaniel; one,
the water-spaniel, differs chiefly from the land spe-
cies in his readiness to hunt and swim in the water,
and the hair being somewhat harder to the touch.
This breed is the principal instrument used in decoy
ponds, to drive ducks into the net.

While revising the letter-press of this article
(4th April, 1840), there was a dog allied to the
spaniel race lying on the grave of his mistress.,
already the third day, in the church-yard of Charles
Church, Plymouth, refusing all food : it is just
now forcibly removed.

THE SPRINGER,
PLATE XVI.

Is smaller than the former, of elegant form, gay
aspect, and usually white with red spots, black nose
and palate.

200

KING CHARLES'S SPANIEL,
PLATE VI.

A BEAUTIFUL breed, in general black and white,
and presumed to be the parent of

THE COCKER,
PLATE XV.

WHO is usually black and shorter in the back than
the spaniel. This appears to be the Gredin of
Buffon.

The Blenheim, Marlborough, or Pyrame of Buf-
fon, is very similar to the above, but the black colour
is relieved by fire-colour spots above the eyes, and
the same on the breast and feet; the muzzle is
fuller, and the back rather short.

The Maltese Dog (Canis Melitaeus), the Bichon,
or Chien Bouffe of Buffon, is the most ancient of the
small spaniel races, being figured on Roman monu-
ments and noticed by Sfcrabo ; the muzzle is rounder,
the hair very long, silky, and usually white, the
stature very small, and only fit for ladies' lap-dogs.

201

THE WATER-DOG.

Canis aquations.

PLATE XX.

Barbet of the Continent.

THIS race of dogs has the head rather large and
round, the cerebral space more developed than in
any other canine, the frontal sinus expanded, the
ears long, the legs rather short, and the body com-
pact ; the hair over every part of the animal long,
curly, black, or white and black, sometimes rufous ;
height at the shoulder from eighteen to twenty
inches. The water-dog, or poodle of the Germans,
is in its most perfect state not a British race, but
rose into favour first in Germany, and during the
revolutionary wars was carried by the troops into
France, and only in the latter campaigns became
familiar to the British in Spain and the Netherlands.
The coarser crisped-haired water-dog was indeed
long known to the middle classes of England, and to
fishermen on the north-eastern coast and profes-
sional water-fowl shooters; he was occasionally
also brought to the environs of London, in order
to afford the brutal sport of hunting and worrying
to death domestic ducks placed in ponds for that

202 THE CUR DOGS.

purpose. No dog is more intelligent or attached to
his master ; none like the poodle can trace out and
find lost property with more certainty and perse-
verance. Several instances are on record of their
remaining on the field of battle by the dead bodies
of their masters, and Mr. Bell relates an anecdote of
one who perceived his owner had dropped a gold
coin, and watched it so carefully that he even
refused food until the money was recovered.

The Little Barbet is a diminutive breed, with
smooth and long silky hair on the head, ears, and
tail, while the rest is more curly ; and

The Griffon Dog is said to be a cross of the
water-dog and sheep-dog. It resembles the former,
but the ears are slightly raised ; the hair is long,
not curled, but gathers in pencils; the colour is
usually black, with tan spots on the eyes and feet ;
the lips are clad with long hair.

The Lion Dog is a small variety, with the head,
ears, and shoulders covered by long, curly, and soft
hair, and a floccose tail ; the rest of the body, like
the lion, being proportionably clad in smooth fur.
This variety is extremely rare.

THE CUR DOGS.

Canes domesticii.

WE have already shown, that in the western conti-
nent there were several races of indigenous small
dogs before the arrival of the Spaniards, but whether

THE CUR DOGS. 203

they came from the Thoan and Sacalian groups, or
sprung from a lost species now entirely absorbed in
domestication, is a question : we have in part pointed
out the presence of similar small species over the
whole surface of the old world, which in Greece, un-
der the name of Alopecides appear to have modified
and influenced the characters of the large breeds by
introducing their own individual capacities and
-propensities. It is credible, in fact, that in the first
attempts at the subjugation of canines to the pur-
poses of man, he would begin by the smaller and
less powerful individuals of the genus, and accord-
ingly we see most generally, where the savage state
still obtains, that the dogs accompanying it are small
and resemble some wild species of the country, and
that universally through the world, when no care
happens to be taken in selecting the breeds and
preserving them more or less in the purity of given
qualities, the small cur blood predominates in their
character.

In Southern Africa we have a race of small Saca-
lian dogs ; in Arabia, one of Thoan form ; in India,
the parent Pariah breed, apparently captured in the
woods of the country ; Southern China, all Persia,
Natolia, and Russia have a similar predominant
race of curs, and in Europe there is every where
evidence of an originally indigenous species of small
dimensions, or at least of one, brought in by the
earliest colonists of the West, extending from Lap-
land to Spain; and if we search for that which
now seems to be the most typical ; that possessing

204 THE CUR DOGS.

innate courage, sagacity, and prolific power, without
training or care in breeding : we find these qualities
most unquestionably united in the terrier, and no-
where so fully marked with all the tokens of ancient
originality as in the rough-haired or Scottish species.
In the terrier we still see all the alacrity of innate con-
fidence, all resources of spirit, all the willingness to
remain familiar with subterraneous habitations, and
all the daring and combination which makes him
fearless in the presence of the most formidable ani-
mals ; for it is often noticed in India, that when the
bull-dog pauses, British terriers never hesitate to
surround and grapple with the hyaena, the wolf, or
even the panther. Nor is the arrangement of placing
the terrier race at the head of the cur dogs to be re-
jected, because we are habituated to consider that
appellation as applicable only to mongrels ; the name
Cur is only a mutation of the Celtic Cu, the Greek
K«wv, and even the Latin Canis, all emphatically
pointing to the most ancient and general name of
the dog in Europe. Among them there are con-
stantly found individuals endowed with the keenest
faculties and discernment. One of these, as related
we believe by Michel Montaigne, who witnessed
the fact, was the guide of a blind man, who, when
his road lay along a brook, would draw his master
to the farther side from the water's edge, although
it was there much more rugged and unfit to walk
on!

205

THE TERRIER.
Cants terrarius, FLEM.

VIGNETTE, AND PLATES XVII., XVIII., XVIII.*

IF there be an original and indigenous dog of Britain,
it is surely the species we have now under review ;
for if the Irish wolf-dog or a questionable gaze-hound
were derived from the British wolf, such a conquest
over a powerful and ferocious animal could scarcely
have been achieved without the aid and intelligence
of a previously domesticated and smaller species.
But it is more likely the terrier of antiquity was of
the same race with the hard-footed dogs of the

206 THE TERRIER.

Cymbers, and that the first were brought over from
the north-west of Europe with the primitive inha-
bitants. Certain it is, that the intermixture of
terrier blood with other and later races has in no
instance tended to diminish their courage, hardi-
hood, and fidelity, and in no part of Europe has the
rough-haired breed retained so completely as in
Britain all the traits which constitute a typical
species. No dog carries the head so high and
boldly, or expresses more lively energy than this
breed; the distinctions marking its purity of race
are equally discernible, although we have from
fancy or accident two very evident varieties. The
first is smooth, rounded, and rather elegant in make,
with colours usually black, and tan spots over the
eyes, and the same tint spread over the extremities
and belly ; sometimes also white (PL XVII) ; the
muzzle sharp, the eye bright and lively, the ears
pointed or slightly turned down, and the tail carried
high and somewhat bowed ; but the second, repre-
sented on the Yignette and on Plates XVII. and
XVIII., is the more ancient and genuine breed, usu-
ally called the wire-haired or Scottish terrier; the
muzzle is shorter and fuller, the limbs more stout, the
fur hard and shaggy, and the colour a pale sandy or
ochry, and sometimes' white. Neither of these are
crooked-legged, nor long-backed, like turnspits, these
qualities being proofs of degeneracy or of crosses of
ill-assorted varieties of larger dogs, such as hound,
water-dog, or shepherd's dog females, and then per-
petuated to serve as terriers. This is the case on

THE TERRIER. 20?

the continent, where they use the turnspit mongrels
for the purposes to which our terriers, though
smaller in bulk, are far better adapted.

In Germany, the Saufinder, or Boarsearcher, is
a large rough terrier dog, employed to rouse the
fiercest beasts of the forest from their lair in the
thickest underwood, and they never fail to effect the
purpose by their active audacity and noisy clamour.
They are usually of a wolfish grey- brown, with
more or less white about the neck and breast, and a
well fringed tail curled over the back ; having in
all probability in them a cross of the Pomeranian
dog, which may have increased their stature and
their caution.

In England the cross of terriers is perceptible in
sheep and cattle dogs, but most of all in the, breed
called bull- terriers, because it is formed of these two
varieties, and constitutes the most determined and
savage race known. It is reared in general for pur-
poses little honourable to human nature, and most
disgraceful to the lower orders of England, where,
for the sake of betting, the true wild game qualities
of the animals are exhibited in mutual combats, in
which neither will give up while life remains, and
the last struggle is borne without a groan ! Yet
they might be exported to, or bred with great ad-
vantage for the use of colonists in South Africa,
and contribute mainly to the security of persons
and property against the depredation of the lion and
the hyeena.

The Russian, Finland, and Siberian dogs of the

208 THE LAPLAND CUR.

car races are so intermixed as to bear but little of
purity of their type about them. Yet there is a
breed in the first mentioned country, rugged and
low on the legs, with many good qualities ; but the
Siberian, usually black, are not larger than a hare,
with ears half erect, slightly folded in the middle,
the body round, and the tail obtuse at the end, where
it is white; this variety is exceedingly voracious,
familiar, and filthy.

The Lapland Cur is probably of the same race, —
black, or liver-coloured and rugged. It is a kind of
watch-dog, and used also in hunting ; but a people
depending entirely for subsistence on the produce of
reindeer, has not food to spare for large dogs, and
are unwilling to trust them in the vicinity of their
flocks.

Although the race of cur origin may be traced
eastwards through Turkey, Persia, and slightly in
Egypt, where the outcasts are an intermixture
of all the forms of dogs, we find in their squalid
exterior only a predominant tendency to the more
original race of each country, having universally
long tails, erect ears, lank bodies, and sharp muzzles,
with yellowish, yellow-grey, and yellow and white
colours; but it cannot be said with absolute pro-
priety that they are of the cur races of Europe, their
aspect becoming more and more like that of the
Indian Pariahs, in proportion as we advance east-
ward ; and if we consider that Central Asia, India,
and Syria have for more than thirty centuries been
traversed by nations, by great armies, and still more

THE PARIAH DOG. 209

constantly by innumerable caravans, always attended
by canines both wild and domestic, it is to be ex-
pected that the whole area in question should be
tenanted by mongrels of interminable crossings, and
that at the extremities of the caravan movements
we should again begin to find decided marks of
purer breeds. This we have shown is the case in
some respects in Egypt, and we find it still more
clearly beyond the Indus, always excluding the
breeds watched by man. We find in those regions
The Pariah Dog, or native eur of India, a race
we have already shown exists to the north-east of
those regions in a wild state, where we are assured
they occupy the woods in considerable troops, and
keep the jackal at a distance. The external appear-
ance of the animal has been noticed, and of the do-
mesticated we need only add, that they bear the
marks of degradation and mixture in various forms,
but still the rufous colours and their direct sign of
domesticity shown by the admixture of white pre-
dominates; that they all have lengthened backs,
pointed ears, a sharp nose, and the tail more or less
fringed. They are sagacious, noisy, and cowardly ;
trained by the Sheckarees to their mode of sporting,
and used by the villagers in occasional hunts. Many
are in a state of wretchedness even greater than the
Turkish or Egyptian, but fondness for human so-
ciety is marked in all ; nay, they will sometimes fix
upon a stranger, and leave no art or exertion un-
tried to be admitted into his service. Thus, one
determined at fir?* sight to follow a gentleman tra-

210 THE FOE DOG.

veiling through the country in haste; he was as
usual carried in a palanquin, and the poor beast fol-
lowed by his side, stage after stage, until at length,
exhausted with exertion in a lonely part of the
route, he dropped, but kept looking wistfully after
the object of his choice till out of sight.

In the great Asiatic islands, the cur dogs still
retain the general characters of the Pariahs, although
about insular situations and great straits, where
navigation more necessarily congregates, a greater
variety of dogs must be looked for. This, for in-
stance, is already the case in the South Sea Islands,
where the influx of European dogs brought from
different countries, and of different breeds, are
rapidly extinguishing the native race, known by
the name of

The Poe Dog (Canis Pacificus, NOB.), Uri-Mahoi
of Tahiti and Ilio of the Sandwich Islands, from
Uri a dog, and Mahoi indigenous. In form this
variety bears marks of decrepitude; the head is
sharpened at the muzzle, the ears erect, the back
long, the limbs crooked ; the hair is smooth, but re-
tains its primitive livery of tan or rusty ochre- colour.
It is a silent lazy animal, feeding on vegetable diet,
such as taro, bread-fruit, &c., and entirely reserved
for the table. Since the dogs of Europe have mul-
tiplied, the Poe dog is becoming daily more scarce,
and the practice of eating the flesh begins to be
abandoned, although it is considered a real delicacy
by the natives, and said by Europeans to be not un-
palateable ; but for this purpose vegetable food, with

NEW ZEALAND DOGS. 21 1

perhaps a little fish, must be given the dog, and as
the breeds from Europe are fed on animal substances,
they are never eaten.

To Mr. Frederick Bennet we are indebted for a
note on these dogs, which we here insert. " Amongst
the Society Islands, the aboriginal dog, which was
formerly eaten as a delicacy by the natives, is now
extinct, or merged into mongrel breeds by propaga-
tion with many exotic varieties. At the Sandwich
group, where the inhabitants have been more re-
markable for the use of this animal as food, and
where that custom is yet pertinaciously retained
(owing probably to the scarcity of swine and spon-
taneous fruits of the earth), the pure breed of the
Poe dog has been better protected; and although
becoming yearly more scarce, examples of it are yet
to be met with in all the islands, but principally as
a delicacy for the use of the chiefs. As late as
October 1835, I noticed, in the populous and well
civilized town of Honoruru at Oahu, a skinned dog
suspended at the door of a house of entertainment
for natives, to denote what sumptuous fare might be
obtained within." That gentleman then proceeds to
give a similar description of the appearance of the
dog as above indicated, making it equal in size to a
terrier, with a dull expression of countenance ; tail
straight or slightly curled, a brown livery, and
having a feeble but shrill bark ; it is gentle, indo-
lent, and in aspect presents the mixed forms of a
fox-dog, tnrnspit, and terrier.

Those of New Zealand, according to Forster, are

212 DOG OF THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

a long-haired breed, resembling the sheep-dog ; they
are of divers colours^ variously spotted, entirely
black, or wholly white. Their food is fish, and the
remains of what the natives eat themselves; the
mode of attaching them is by the middle of the
belly, not as we practise by the neck ; they are in
favour with that people, who nevertheless kill them
for food, for their skins, or to make fringes to their
dresses with the hair. These animals are stupid^
having little more sagacity than sheep. The same
author declares the dogs of the South Sea Islands to
have very large heads and small eyes, with pointed
ears and short tufted tails. /

What has been stated regarding the variety of
races of the canine family to be met with in great
islands and the shores of straits, we find confirmed
in the western hemisphere, about the Magellanic
Strait and the Fuegian Islands; for although the
native dogs of America north of the equator have
been already noticed, there remains still some ac-
count to be given of those to the south of it. On
the coasts, and wherever Europeans have pene-
trated, dogs introduced by them have multiplied,
and the wild aborigines have adopted them in pre-
ference to their own. Those of European origin,
carried to the west for the purposes of war, of
coursing, and of guarding cattle or plantations,
were, it may be assumed, numerically few in pro-
portion to the mongrels of all kinds which the
fancies of individual adventurers took in their com-
pany; and all, it appears, on the continent, were

THE PATAGONIAN DOG. 213

with little or no care allowed to breed at random ;
hence in Paraguay, for instance, a true greyhound,
spaniel, or a bull-dog is very rare; the dogs in
general form a mixed breed, assuming, however,
characters distinct from the eur breeds of Europe,
and emphatically deserving the name of mongrels ;
larger in proportion, more sagacious, more bold,
with acuter senses, with more personal enterprise,
but also with less attachment to mankind, and al-
most entirely destitute of education. Hence, in a
climate where they find food sufficiently abundant,
and they suffer no rigour of cold, we cannot wonder
there should be feral dogs in numbers ; nevertheless,
the nations of the interior are still in part attended
by the same species as we have already described
under the name of Aguara dogs, and towards the
farthest south, where the resources of life are much
fewer. The resident Fuegian and Nomad Patago-
nians value dogs beyond measure, being only scan-
tily possessed of an indigenous breed, but from all
appearances having among them several mixed races,
acquired no doubt by means of the annual migra-
tions of the riding tribes towards the Pampas, and
by shipwrecks on the coast. Such at least, it would
appear, are the inferences to be drawn from the let-
ters on the subject Captain Fitzroy favoured us
with. We will here subjoin an abstract of their
contents, as much as possible in his own words.

" The dog of Patagonia is strong, about the size
of a large fox-hound ; his coat is usually short but
wiry, though in some instances it is soft and long
like that of a Newfoundland dog; indeed I should

214 DOGS OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO.

say, in general terms, that the dogs seen by us in
the southern part of Patagonia resembled lurchers
or shepherds* dogs, with a wild wolfish appearance,
not at all prepossessing ; one of this kind I obtained
near the Otway water; his habits were savage
rather than domestic. These dogs hunt by sight,
and do not then give tongue ; but they growl and
bark loudly when attacked or attacking. Their
colour is usually dark and nearly uniform, spotted
dogs being rare. The dogs of the Fuegian Indians,
who have no horses but move about in canoes, are
much smaller than those of Patagonia or the eastern
part of Tierra del Fuego ; they resemble terriers, or
rather a mixture of fox, shepherd's dog, and terrier.
All that I examined had black roofs to their mouths,
but there was much variety in the colours and de-
grees of coarseness of their coats. Not one dog, out
of the number which were brought to England,
could easily be prevented from indulging in the
most indiscriminate attacks upon poultry, young
pigs, &c. Many Fuegian dogs are spotted, and not
a few have fine short hair, but all resemble a fox
about the head, although there are among them
many varieties of size and colour, as well as of form
and hairy coat. One brought from Tierra del Fuego
was white, with one black spot, and very hand-
some ; his size was about that of a terrier, his coat
short but fine, and his ears extremely delicate and
long, although erect ; this is the case with all the
other breeds likewise, their muzzle also is long, and
they have the tail rough and drooping ; they keep
most vigilant watch, and bark furiously at a stran-

SOUTH AMERICAN DOGS. 215

ger ; with them the natives guard their habitations,
hunt otters, and catch sleeping or wounded birds.
-As they are never or seldom fed, they provide for
themselves at low water, by cunningly detaching
limpets from the rocks, or breaking muscle-shells
and eating the fish.

" In the eastern portion of Tierra del Fuego, where
the natives have neither horses nor canoes, the dog
is invaluable; no temptation would induce some
Indians, seen near the Strait of Le Maire, to part
with a fine dog of the size of a large setter, which
had, except about the head, an appearance like that
of a lion ; behind the shoulders it was quite smooth
and short-haired, but from the shoulders forward it
had thick rough hair of a dark grey colour, lighter
beneath, and white on the belly and breast; the
ears were short but pointed, the tail smooth and
tapering, the fore quarters were very strong, but
the hinder appeared weaker. It had a wolfish
appearance about the head, and looked extremely
savage.

" None of the dogs in the southern part of South
America are mute ; there are none in a wild state,
and there is a scarcity rather than an abundance of
those which live with the aboriginal natives. In
times of famine, so valuable are dogs to them, it is
well ascertained that the oldest women of the tribe
are sacrificed to the cannibal appetites of their coun-
trymen rather than destroy a single dog. ' Dogs,'
say they, c catch otters* old women are good for
nutlrnjj/ "

216

THE MASTIFFS.
Canes urcani, CAIUS. *

IF there be one form of domestic dogs more marked

with the characters of a distinct origin than any

* " Est Urcanus Sseva bestia et intractabilis irae, ceeteroa

THE MASTIFFS. 217

other, it is most certainly that which includes mas-
tiffs and bull-dogs. The particular arch of their
skulls and structure of their lower jaws have already
been noticed, and with animals so well known it is
scarcely necessary to dilate upon their massive form,
powerful legs, strong neck, and muscular back ; nor
to advert to the frequency of a fifth toe, truncated
tail, and semi-pendulous small ears.t To recal them
to the mind of the reader serves our purpose only
that we may point out their corresponding charac-
ters of taciturnity, phlegm, and sense of power,
which disdains excitement, faces danger with the
coolest resolution, and show that they stand in
some measure isolated from the whole family in all
these particulars, and still more in their indifference
to form cross breeds with other races. Although
the mastiff race is found at a remote period spread
asunder at a vast distance, it never was any where
very abundant, and though nowhere in a wild state,
it is, as a domestic animal, more an independent as-
sociate than a servant. When we look for the ori-
ginal type, and assume that we must search for it
in the localities where the race is most numerous,
and in the fullest perfection of form, we find that a

canes feroci nostros crudelitate superans, vel aspectus torvitate
terribilis, in pugna acris et vehemens, tantaque mordacitate, ut
citius discerpat, quam dissolvas, nee lupmn nee taurum ursem
aut leonem reformidat," &c. Caitis. Having shown the Mo-
lossian dogs not to be mastiffs, the distinctive name first given
by Caius is here restored.

f In Frederick Cuvier's works, and in the Penny Cyclo-
paedia, the structure of the skull is fully described, under the
word Dog.

218 THE MASTIFFS.

mountainous or a cold region is best suited to its
nature, and that the highest ranges of Central Asia,
and the island of Great Britain, are the most genial ;
yet in form, in the roundness of the ears, the thick
neck and short muzzle, the zone of the earth which
includes both these regions contains no similar wild
creature : we are therefore obliged to search for it in
Africa, and there we find the Lycaon, who alone
of all the canines possesses several of the most pro-
minent characteristics of the mastiff. In this spe-
cies are perceived ears which, though erect, have
rounded tips, a muzzle, jaws and dentition, not
unlike the mastiffs, a powerful neck, and in the
livery a combination of yellow and black marks
upon a white surface, which is still very similar in
the broad-mouthed dogs that retain their ancient
brindled coat; but the species is distinguished by
having only four toes on all the feet, and the legs
are high and slender, while in the mastiffs there is
very generally a fifth toe on the hind, and always
five on the fore feet, and the limbs are massive :
they are not therefore of the same origin, but we
think them nearly allied. The Lycaon is the Afri-
can form of an osculating congener of a northern
latitude, now absorbed in domesticity, or not yet
discovered in a wild state. Yet though in associa-
tion with man, contrary to all the other species resid-
ing in climates of so much severity, it still retains
the characters which assimilate with the African,
being possessed of a short but shaggy fur, and no-
where assuming that of the long and dense covering
which belongs to the wolf-like dogs.

THE MASTIFFS. 219

In the last paragraph of our description of
Chryseus scylax, we have noticed a canine which
might be the representative of the original bull-dog,
and as the animal is very little known in India, and
when seen was more towards the west, it may be
that the real and fall sized type is still to be sought
in the mountains of the Caufirs and the Douraunee
territory : for the present mastiffs of Tibet are clearly
the same as the dogs of the ancient Indi and Seri, and
nearly the same as those of Hyrcania. The absurdi-
ties regarding the Cynocephali, the Cynomolgi, and
the Dardai of Ctezias, &c., were lately explained
into intelligible, and not improbable relations, by
a Sanscrit scholar* of eminence; and they show
undeniably, that long before the era of Alexander's
march to the Indus, the mountain nations to the
north of it were in possession of a race of dogs
mainly instrumental in their well-being. From
some authors, we learn that the Macedonian con-
querors received presents of dogs of huge size and
prodigious powers, which, since we are acquainted
with the mastiffs of Tibet, leave no doubt respecting
the race they were of: but, from other sources,
there is evidence that the fiercest dogs of the north-
east were considered to be cross breeds with a tiger,
or spotted animal, of considerable size and strength.
Among these Nearchus is quoted to have remarked,
that Thoas, the species in question, were pied, or

* Wilson. Indica of Ctezias, where the wonders of that
author, of Megasthenes, and their copyers, are satisfactorily
reviewed, or commented on with equal acuteness and learning.

220 THE MASTIFFS.

varied in colour, and larger than other canines, but
not real tigers : thus there was a Tlioa different
from the already described group, and evidently a
large wild dog. Oppian likewise remarks Thoas to
be like wolves in form, but like panthers in colours :
here then we find a spotted or brindled animal of
the canine family in Asia, not of the true Thoes,
which we have seen are only speckled, nor yet the
Lynx, so strangely confounded with the Canidce by
earlier writers. We have before shown the mastiff
form became distinctly known to the Greeks only
about the period of the Macedonian conquest, and
that the classic writers of the Roman Empire then
first enter into particulars concerning it : such is the
description of Oppian's war-dogs, who attack the
Urus, and prostrate the wild boars of the forest,
not even fearing their king, the lion.* He dis-
tinctly mentions the fiery light brown eyes, the
truncated muzzle, loose folded skin above the brows,
broad backs, great stature, and muscular legs of

* Aristotle, from the information of his correspondents in
Alexander's army, either applied or invented the name of
Leontomyx for the Tibetan or Indian race, and, perhaps with
some nationality regarded the Arcadian breed of Greece as
belonging to that form of dogs ; but Nieander of Colophon,
with right Hellenic feelings, made the mastiff of India a pro-
geny of Aetaeon's dogs, who, after eating their master, expa-
triated themselves, swimming the Bosphorus, the Euphrates,
the Tigris, and the Indus, to colonize the far East. Cselius,
however, makes the Arcadian dogs, Cypseli, with marbled
ears, and the same as the Apodse, a kind of fleet greyhoundg,
certainly not likely to be from a cross breed with lions.

THE MASTIFFS. 221

these animals, and draws a complete portrait of a
modern mastiff of Tibet, which, in his time, seems
to have been found in Hircania; although it is
probable that, as at present, the huge mastiff was
the rare breed, and the bull-dog the more common
below the mountains. A few centuries, later, we
find them again noticed by Marco Polo, who de-
scribes these dogs as little less than asses in size ;
an account not exaggerated, when we recal to mind
the enormous cross breed of Epirus already men-
tioned. The high mountain breed of Asia is, we
hear, in general black, or very dark in fur, with
only a few tan- coloured marks about the face and
limbs. A race of dogs allied to the bull breed was
anciently ochre-coloured, with a dark muzzle, such
as the British mastiffs are mostly at present ; but
in former times, when the bull-dog was a larger
animal than now, and the mastiff more frequent in
Great Britain, as well as through the northern
parts of Europe, they were almost invariably yel-
lowish with black brindles, and more or less white
about the throat, belly, and inside of the limbs.
White and black species would naturally occur,- from
the tendency to these colours existing in most car-
nivora, and indeed in nearly all mammalia.

The mastiff* is often reckoned an indigenous

. * We have pointed out the probability that this word is a
mere mutation of the French Matin. Old writers Latinized
the Mastiff into Mastinus, and more rarely into Mastivus. Mr.
Pennant, however, upon the authority of Manwood (Forest
Laws), mentions the word Masetkeefe, because it frightened

222 THE MASTIFFS.

variety of Great Britain, exported from thence to
continental Europe, but from what is before stated,
we believe that it was imported by the Cimbric
Celtge of the north-east of England ; in fact, it is
still in that part of the kingdom the race is most
commonly found, and the name is not Celtic of the
western dialects of either Britain or Ireland. It
may be said that it is not Teutonic or Gothic,
though we might answer that the French matin
does not belong to that language, but is a word of
Frankish origin, distorted and misapplied in modern
France. As this species is known to exist in High
Asia, and extends in its full vigour through South
and Eastern Tartary, it is more likely from thence
that we have obtained it, than that it is an original
cross between the bull-dog and the great Dane, or
the slow-hound. Yet a race, either mastiff, bull-
dog, or both, was certainly existing in Britain be-
fore the arrival of the Romans, who valued their
courage so highly, that they were much sought for
to exhibit in the combats of the amphitheatre ; and
at length a Roman officer was charged with the

away thieves. Without further intending to explain the first
word maze (to astonish), we may observe, that tfiefe is indeed
thief, but also a bitch ; and, in connexion with the Oriental
dialects, a dark, a ferocious dog or wolf. That the mastiff
was known to the Lombards, and possibly once deified, is suf-
ficiently evident from the respect attached to the names dog
and mastiff in the very ancient family de la Scala ; among the
earliest chiefs of that house, Cane and Mastino de la Scala
occur very repeatedly.

THE MASTIFFS. 223

care of breeding these animals on the spot, in
order to forward a proper number to the capital.

Although, from the size of the head, the cerebral
part of the cranium appears to be ample, so much
of the space is made up of the powerful muscles of
the jaws and temples, that in reality the brain is
much confined, and the animals themselves are far
below the spaniel, and other varieties, in intelli-
gence and sagacity, and their confidence in the
arms and vigour they possess makes them disregard
the resources of cunning; hence they are sedate,
little irascible; when provoked, they attack in
front, without much precaution, with little or no
menacing barking, and often with the desire of
conquest only, refusing to bite a prostrate foe.
They have the instinct of property, being excellent
guardians of farms and house-yards, and have a
strong, but not obtrusive attachment to their mas-
ters. The acute sense of smelling is not imparted
to them, but they have it often in a degree far su-
perior to what is the common opinion.

The Mastiff (C. urcanus). — Although Great Bri-
tain was celebrated in remote ages for her noble
breed of dogs, the typical mastiff is more likely to
be the dog of Tibet than any of the West, because
in that breed we find the traits described by Oppian
still fully retained.

224

THE MASTIFF OF TIBET,
PLATE XIX.

Is larger than the English, with a thick head, ele-
vated occiput, very pendulous lips, the skin from
the eyebrows forming a fold towards the outer edge
of the eyes, and ending in the jowl ; the ears are
round and drooping ; the neck remarkably full ; the
back slightly arched; the tail, turned over the
back, is well fringed, and, together with the very
rugged hair of the body, deep black, with the sides
somewhat clouded ; over the eyes, about the muzzle
and the limbs, there is some tawny. There is a
beautiful wood-engraving of this noble dog, accom-
panied by an interesting description, in the " Gar-
dens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society, by
Mr. Bennet." In that writer's account are pointed
out several inferior breeds of this race existing in
other parts of the Himalaya Mountains ; and Mr.
Hodgson admits, that at Katmandoo the dogs of
this splendid breed do not prosper.

The English Mastiff. — This breed, now somewhat
crossed by stag and blood -hounds, is little inferior
in stature and strength to the former, and in aspect
is considerably more elegant and majestic. The co-
lour is usually deeper or lighter buff, with dark
muzzle and ears. One, the property of the 43d
regiment, measuring twenty-nine and a half inches

THE ENGLISH MASTIFF. 225

in height at the shoulder, had killed his brother in
comhat, but was perfectly gentle, acknowledging
the caresses of strangers by a slight wagging of the
tail, but with a grave, and somewhat mournful look.
Cirino, Whitaker, and others, relate the exuberant
usurper zeal of Henry VII. for the prerogative of
Royalty, when he ordered a mastiff to be hanged,
because the animal had dared to engage singly with
his lord and sovereign the lion. And there is a
story related of another in the reign of Elizabeth,
when Lord Buckhurst was Ambassador at the Court
of Charles IX., who, alone and unassisted, succes-
sively engaged a bear, a leopard, and a lion, and
pulled them all down.

The care these dogs take in watching is well
known, and the cool attention they have evinced in
walking by the side of a nightly thief, forbidding
his laying hands upon any article, yet abstaining
from doing him bodily harm, and suffering his
escape over the walls, is sufficiently attested. The
story of a mastiff who, long molested by a playful
cur, at last rose, took him up and dropped him in
the neighbouring water, is universally known ; and
we may add another, told of Chicken (the dog of
the 43d), who, passing up Union Street, at Ply-
mouth, was beset by a whole troop of curs, till they
quite impeded his sober walk, sufficiently to excite
his resentment, and accordingly he lifted one of his
hind legs, and astonished them all. The mastiffs
of the Continent are generally white, with very
large clouds of black or of reddish ; two which had
p

226 THE CUBA MASTIFF.

belonged to the Elector of Saxony, King of Poland,
we measured, and found to be thirty inches at the
shoulder. The ancient English breed was, however,
brindled yellow and black.

The Cuba Mastiff.— The fine pair of this breed in
the Zoological Gardens have made the public well
acquainted with their aspect. We were informed
in the West Indies, by Spanish cattle-dealers on
the south side of the island, who pay great atten-
tion to preserve them,* that they were introduced
from England in the time of Philip ll/ " They
are," in the words of Mr. Bennet, " larger than our
common bull-dogs, and smaller than the mastiff,
well made, and rather stout in their proportions ;
moderately high on the legs ; muscular and power-
ful; their muzzle is short, broad, and abruptly
truncate, with somewhat of an upward curve ; the
head broad and flat, and the lips elongated, and so
deeply pendulous as to overlap the margins of the
lower jaw ; the ears, which are of a middling size,
are also partly pendulous, but not to such an extent
as to be flat upon the sides of the head ; the tail is
rather short, cylindrical, and turned upwards and
forwards towards the tip." Those we have seen were
of a rusty wolf-colour, with face, lips, and legs
black. The common Spanish cattle-dog of Ame-
rica is evidently crossed with this breed.

^ They were first kept at a Monastery in the ancient capi-
tal, St. Jago, according to the accounts received from a priest
by our informant.

227

THE BULL-DOG.

Cams Anglicus.

PLATE XX.

IT may be doubted whether there were in Britain
two races of broad-mouthed dogs during the Roman
era ; it seems to us there was but one, and in that
case the bull-dog was the animal in question. One,
indeed, far superior in size to the present breeds,
little inferior to the mastiff, and probably very like
the Cuba race before mentioned, but with the pe-
culiar features of the bull form more strongly
marked ; " the distorted blear eyes, cheeks and
lips sordid and hanging loose, looking like mon-
sters, and the more repulsive in aspect the better in
qualities.*

The celebrated verses of Gratius Faliscus have
been so often repeated, that we point out only the
last lines, to remark how superior the British bull-
dog was in courage to the Molossian of Greece, also
how inferior in size.

Haec una est catulis jactura Britannis.
Ad magnum cum venit opus, promendaque virtus,
Et vocat extreme prseceps discrimine mavors
Non tune egregios tantum admirere Molossos.

* Joanes Ulizius. Occulis ita lippis et detortis, labris et
mails adeo sordidis et pene dentibus apparent ; ut advenes
mera monstra videantur : at quanto deformiores eo fere me-
liores eetimantur.

228

Nor is there in any of the classics ascribed to other
dogs the habitual distinction of pulling down a bull,
noticed by Claudian.

Magnaque taurorum fracturas colla Britannse.

In Stil. 3.

Recent experiments have confirmed the result of
those instituted in the reign of James I. ; and al-
though our dogs are now of a smaller breed, four
have still proved more than a match for a caged
lion.

The bull-dog is possessed of less sagacity and less
attachment than any of the hound tribe; he is there-
fore less favoured, and more rarely bred with care,
excepting by professed amateurs of sports and feel-
ings little creditable to humanity. In stature the
present race is of moderate size, but entirely
moulded for strength and elasticity; the head is
large; the forehead sinks between the eyes, and
the line of the nose rises again at a considerable
angle ; the lower jaw projects beyond the upper,
often showing the teeth, which altogether, with the
frequent redness about the eyelids, produces a most
forbidding aspect ; the ears are partially drooping,
unless the terrier blood is crossed in the animal ;
and the tail is carried high. The present breed is
commonly ochry or reddish buff, with the nose and
chops alone black. Formerly when the brindled
breed, always preferred on the Continent, was ex-
ported for strengthening the wolf and boar packs of
hounds, the ears were always cropped; and we
have seen leathern armour, consisting of a breast-
piece and cap, with holes for the eyes, made of

THE BULL-DOG. 229

studded leather, which were used, along with a
spiked collar, for some valuable dogs to engage the
boar or wolf, and protected them effectually; in-
deed such a defence, where the breed was scarce,
may have been necessary, from the unceremonious
mode of attacking, and indomitable pertinacity the
dogs evince when once excited; never letting go
the hold they have, even if mutilated, as if there
was some spasm in the jaws to prevent their un-
locking. The bull-dog differs from all others, even
from the mastiff, in giving no warning of his attack
by barking ; he grapples his opponent without in
the least estimating their comparative weight or
powers. We have seen one pinning an American
bison and holding his nose down, till the animal
gradually brought forward its hind feet, and, crush-
ing the dog to death, tore his muzzle out of the
fangs, most dreadfully mangled. "We have known
another hallooed on to attack a disabled eagle ; the
bird, unable to escape, threw himself on the back,
and, as the dog sprang at his throat, struck him
with his claws, one of which penetrating the skull,
killed him instantly, and caused the butcher, his
master, the loss of a valued animal, and one hun-
dred dollars in the wager. We may safely reject
the accounts of the mastiff or bull-dog engaging
with success such a huge and wary animal as the
elephant, with the circumstances described by clas-
sical writers ; a dog cannot reach any tender part,
and if it comes between his legs, the elephant has
a mode of kicking alternately with the four, in such

230 THE PUG DOG.

a manner, that the assailant is inevitably tossed

backwards and forwards till not a bone remains
unbroken.

THE BULL-TERRIER.
PLATE XVIL,

Is a variety somewhat smaller, more lively, and, if
possible, still more ferocious than the common. In
this the ears are always pointed, and the colour is
very commonly white, with some black about the
head. There exists a print of Pincher, a hound-
terrier about four years old when it was taken, the
dog was considered the trustiest and fiercest of his
kind; he had then fought thirty battles, all of
which he won, killing five of his opponents. He
was an unrivalled rat-catcher, and weighed thirty-
two pounds ; his colour was white, with black about
the head.

The Pug Dog has much of the external appear-
ance of the bull-dog, but being timid, is fit only for
a ladies pet. "We have witnessed forbearance in
one belonging to a lady, whose child bit the dog
until he yelled, but never showed anger, or a dis-
position to get away. The colour of pugs is usually
yellowish with a black snout, and the tail is firmly
curled over the back.

In the south-east of Arabia, we are informed
there is a race of dogs allied to the mastiff by its
great size and round truncated muzzle, but the lips
do not overhang the lower jaw, and the ears are

THE ALICANT DOG. 231

half erect ; the hair is smooth ; on the head, neck,
and back, liver-coloured grey, or yellowish and black-
ish mixed, with darker spots scattered upon the sur-
face ; the muzzle and chaps black, and the inside of
the limbs whitish. This appears to be the kind figured
in the temples of Ceylon, whither the race may have
been brought by Arabian navigators.

We may add in this place three or four known
breeds of small dogs evidently the mongrel produce
of several, and therefore not strictly referrible to
one more than another. These have, however, a
round forehead, and therefore approximate the bulL
dog form. Such is

The Roquet (Canis hybridus, LINN.) — Is known
by a round head, short muzzle, large eyes, small
pendulous ears, slender limbs, tail turned upwards
and forwards. Colour often slaty or blackish, with
white about the limbs.

The little Danish Dog (Canis variegatus, LINN.) —
Very like the preceding, with the muzzle somewhat
longer and finer, body more lengthened ; fur and
colours similar to the above, and both not unfre-
quently white with black spots, when they are
called the Harlequin Dogs.

The Artois Mongrel (Canis fricator). — A French
race ; muzzle very short and flattened. It is the
quatre vingts of the French, and totally worthless,
though now very rare.

The Alicant Dog (Canis Andalusia?, DESM.)— •
This has the muzzle of the pug, with the fur of a
water-spaniel. Little is known about this variety.

232

SUB-GENUS III. VULPES.

THE FOXES.

IN whatsoever form we arrange the Canidas, oscu-
lating species will always he found somewhere at a
distance from each other, because either the quarter
of the glohe interposes, or the individuals in the
series approximate others at a distance from the
direct succession. Thus our Chrysocyon should be
placed immediately after Lupus; Dusicyon, in the
new continent, and Cynalopex in the old, pass into

THE FOXES. 233

But although the last group of true dogs
having short truncated mouths approximates Ly-
caon, Baron Cuvier judiciously placed the foxes
between them, because the latter, notwithstanding
that they constitute the nocturnal section of canine
animals, are, in other respects, more nearly allied
to true dogs than 'the former, which assume the as-
pect of hyasnas.

The foxes may in general be distinguished from
diurnal Canidce by a lower stature in proportion to
their length, by an invariably sharp anterior head,
an apparent shorter neck, slender limbs, and a tail
reaching to the ground, or even longer, always well
furnished with long hairs in the form of a cylindri-
cal brush : they are further distinguished by a finer,
denser, and more glossy fur, and a gland at the base
of the tail emitting more or less odour ; by a pro-
pensity to burrow ; a nocturnal life ; and, above all,
by the pupils of the eyes, when turned towards a
strong light, contracting vertically like the section
of a lens, and not circularly as in diurnal dogs. No
true foxes are found to the south of the equator.

In manners they are unsociable, not capable of
true domesticity; shy, cautious, exceedingly cun-
ning and patient, cleanly, retired, and apt to sacri-
fice their own limbs when caught by one in a trap :
their senses are acute, those of smell and hearing
in particular ; their members are exceedingly pliant,
the tail flexible, so that they can roll it round the
nose. While young they are full of vivacity and
playfulness; their resources of instinct to escape

234 THE FOXES.

deiection or an enemy are numerous, never trusting
to their courage until they are exhausted, and then
defending themselves to the last gasp against dogs,
but sometimes deceiving mankind by simulating
death ; depositing their prey under ground and in
different places, and consistent in character, not
attacking poultry under any circumstances while
kept chained. They cannot be habituated to do-
mesticity; always meditating escape, and when
freedom is hopeless they die of ennui.

There are instances of hybrid animals between
the dog and fox, but these are sterile; and the
ancients, who believed the Laconian race of dogs
to have began in crossing the two species, have
clearly mistaken for a fox some other canine more
nearly allied to the dog.

Foxes feed on small game, leverets, rabbits, moor-
fowl, partridges, pheasants, poultry, eggs, moles, rats,
field-mice, cheese, fruit, and particularly ripe grapes :
also fish, oysters, limpets, carrion, &c. are devoured
by them, together with snakes, lizards, to^ds, beetles,
wasps, and bees. The species best observed do not
breed more than once in the year, and litter from
four to six pups in the spring. Foxes grow to the
second year, and live thirteen or fourteen. Next to
the dog they have the greatest number of intonations
of the voice, they yelp, bark and scream with a
sound resembling that of a peacock ; they cry in
hunting, and murmur when pleased : they lie down
twisted in a curve, sleep profoundly, and, when
watching birds, stretch the hind legs behind them.

THE FOXES, 235

The burrowing species, when hunted, make a
direct effort to regain the earth, and if this be
stopped, they make a circuit and then return to the
same, or to a second outlet ; but when convinced
their home is closed up, they start off for some dis-
tant cover with great velocity, leaving a strong
scent. Hounds hunt them with singular pleasure,
and, before they can defeat the numerous wiles they
have to encounter, are often tried to the utmost. In
this respect, the English foxes appear to have edu-
cated themselves far above the continental, where,
not being pursued in a similar manner, their sagacity
and vigour of limb is less exercised. Finally, they
justly deserve admiration, for being singly often
more than a match for all the sagacity of twenty
or thirty dogs, and a number of other animals that
run after them.

The typical colour of foxes is fulvous, more or
less grizzled with white or black. Albinism and
melanism exerts among them their usual influences ;
whole species or varieties acquire these colours with
the season, with age, or possess, one or the other in
constancy : intermediate shades of grey and wholly
grey, bluish and buff- grey occur.

They are found over the surface of both conti-
nents, most abundantly in the north, and in the
greatest varieties; and we have endeavoured to
point out several Tropical and Austral aberrant
groups or species of day foxes, and of those animals
who, with vulpine forms, appear to possess diur-

236 THE ARCTIC FOX.

nal eyes, and are capable of some domesticity and
training.*

All true foxes have so strict a resemblance be*
tween them, that a satisfactory distinction of species
is still impracticable. We intend to arrange them
according to their apparent affinity in the two con-
tinents, beginning with the northern, because, al-
though they are not typical, they may nevertheless
be considered as common to both the eastern and
western hemispheres.

The Arctic Fox (Yulpes lagopus, Canis lago-
pus, LINN. ; Isatis, GMEL.) — It is a question whe-
ther the pupils of the eyes in these animals be
elliptical, like those of true foxes, or not. "Wanting
better means of investigation, more attention is in
general bestowed upon the accessible characters of
fur and form, and, guided by outward similarities,
locations are determined upon, which further exa-
mination would not justify ; but where the question
must be decided by the form of the pupil, as in the
present case, and that form being difficult to observe,
it is no wonder, when once the idea was received
that the Arctic animal was a fox, that no further at-
tention should be paid to the circumstance, even by
those who possessed living individuals. Yet, judg-
ing from the form of the head, the rounded ears, the
barking voice, the confiding aspect, natural unsus-
piciousness, and ready familiarity evinced by this
species, we so far agree with Buffon that it is an
intermediate between the dog and fox, very nearly
* See Cynalopex, Dusicyon, and Megalotis.

THE ARCTIC FOX. 237

allied to our group of Cynalopex, and particularly
to C. turcicus, and that it may be ultimately re-
ferred to the diurnal tribe of Canida.

The Arctic fox is smaller than the common,
measuring only one foot eleven inches to the tail,
which is twelve inches in length, and the height at
the shoulder is about the same ; the head is short,
but the muzzle being pointed, appears long; the
feet and soles are thickly covered with fur, like
those of a hare ; the tail densely clothed, and the
back and sides are likewise covered with wool and
hair above two inches in length. During winter
the colour is pure white, which, as the summer
approaches, gradually becomes browner, grey, or
bluish, on the head and back, along the upper sur-
face of the tail, and across the shoulders : in this
condition, when the fur is likewise less dense and
shorter, these animals have been called cross and
pied foxes ; but as autumn returns, the white hairs
increase till they again acquire the winter dress.
In Russia they are more frequently bluish. A spe-
cimen we copied at Munich was of a chocolate
colour, hoary, with the lower end of the tail darker ;
a second, at Paris, in its long fur, is dirty yellowish
mixed with whitish, and the tip of the tail black ,
a third, pure white, with the tail likewise black.
All the above, we believe, were derived from Russia,
but a fourth, entirely white, came from America ;
the ears of the Russian appeared somewhat larger
and more pointed than those of the American polar
regions, and the nose was more obtuse. These dif-

238 THE ARCTIC FOX.

ferences, trifling though they he, may indicate a
decided distinction of races, if not species ; for the
terminal tip of the tail in foxes is not so indecisive
or variable a character as is often asserted.

Both the races of America and the old continent
reside in open deserts adjoining the Frozen Ocean,
scattered over Eastern Asia, Siberia, and Lapland,
but more numerous on the coasts : they do not
descend in Russia so far to the south as in Ame-
rica, where they are found nearly to the 50th
degree of latitude. Their young are somewhat
migratory, more social, sometimes gregarious, and
more prolific than true foxes. Their burrows are in
sand on the sea coast, very deep, provided with
more than one outlet, and furnished with dry moss.
In these are littered the young cubs about the end
of May, amounting in number from six to eight.
Russian hunters declare, that sometimes twenty or
twenty-five cubs are found in one earth ; but if this
be a fact, it would prove only that their social
habits admit more than one family in the same re-
treat, and that, in that respect also, the Arctic fox
approximates to dogs more than foxes. This is the
more credible, since it is known, that, like jackals,
they form communities of twenty or thirty burrows
together, which, under certain circumstances, may
have their different outlets communicating with each
other. The Pedsi Skins, for by that name they are
known in Russia, are of inferior estimation. The
flesh of the American is eaten, and, while young,
is declared not unpalateable.

THE SOOTY FOX. 239

Although they are without the distrust of foxes,
there is no want of sagacity in their conduct. The
notice of Captain Lyon, R.N., is sufficient proof of
both ; and their dexterous industry when searching
for food, swimming from rock to rock to feed on
birds' eggs, the young brood, or the parents, to
catch fish or mollusca, is well known. We refer to
the Fauna Borealis Americana of Dr. Richardson
for a more detailed account of this species.

The Sooty Fox (Yulpes fuliginosus, Canis fill, of
authors), is, by many naturalists, considered as a
mere variety of colour of the former, and it is pos-
sible that such a variety occurs in America. But,
in that case, we are not aware that travellers describe
it as residing in the highest latitudes : they notice
sooty foxes much more to the south. One brought
from Norway we examined at Amsterdam, and, if
there be no mistake in the races of America, this
was certainly higher on the legs ; in bulk, inter-
mediate between the Arctic and the Norway red
fox, with rather large triangular ears, the fur on
the body and tail of the ordinary length, and the
colour wholly sooty black, with dull brown about
the nose, and on the flanks and legs.

240

THE COAL FOX

Vulpes alopex.

Charbonnier of Burgundy?
PLATE XXI.

BY naturalists, of late date, considered as a mere
variety of colour, and confounded with the hrant
fox. Mr. Frederick Cuvier distinguished it solely
by the fur on the back being furnished with more
long hairs tipped with black than are found in the
common fox. Mr. Pennant makes similar remarks,
and adds a black tip to the tail, a character most
sportsmen assert to be found in many English foxes.
This assertion is not however quite correct ; for, of
the hundreds of foxes and skins examined by us,
although there be many with the end of the tail
apparently black, we have not found one where
there was not a white tip within the black ; although
most foxes occasionally pull out the hairs at the end
of the tail. Now, with regard to the coal fox, the
tip of the tail is entirely of a sooty black. The ani-
mal is in stature only equal to our smallest race of
cur foxes ; the forehead is narrower, and the back

THE NEPAL FOX. 241

and upper surface of the tail are not blackened by
the tips of the longer hairs, but of a chocolate-brown
mixed with grisly; the cheeks, shoulders, flanks
and legs are huffish yellow ; the anterior part of the
fore limbs, and of the tarsi and feet, sooty ; the out-
side of the ears of the same colour, the inside, the
region round the muzzle, chin, breast and belly,
white mixed with ashy ; the cubs are of a dirty
fawn colour, seldom exceeding four in number. The
coal fox is more timid, and therefore less dangerous
to poultry and farmers' stock. It is not found in
Britain, nor in the west of Europe, beyond, perhaps,
the wooded and rocky hills of Dauphiny and Alsace,
but is the predominant race of northern Switzerland
and Bavaria, and it may extend much further to
the eastward.

The Brant Fox is assumed to be the same spe-
cies as the coal fox ; but Linnaeus, in the Fauna
Suecica, describes it as brighter fulvous than the
common, and with the end of the tail black. Dr.
Shaw mixes the above with a Pennsylvanian speci-
men we think totally distinct ; and it may be sus-
pected that the tips of the tails were not accurately
observed in either, or* that the Linnaean Brant is
a fine variety of the Sooty, before described.

The Nepal Fox (Yulpes Hodgsonii.) — This spe-
fxies, of which we do not know the dimensions, was
first described by General Hardwicke : it is covered
with a rather woolly fur ; above bluish-grey ; the
forehead, nape, and middle of the back, yellowish
brown ; tlie end of the tail black ; the chin and

242 THE COMMON FOX.

beneath white. It resides in the mountains of
Nepal and the hills of Northern India, and is
probably allied to the former * Coal or Brant Fox.

We now come to the foxes of the old continent,
having the tail tipped with white.

The Common Fox (Yulpes vulgaris, BRISS. ;
Canis vulpes, LINN.) — Foxes with white tipped
tails are found in the four quarters of the globe,
but they do not extend to the south of the northern
hemisphere in either: among them the common
red species appears to occupy the greatest geogra-
phical surface, being found from Spain to Norway,
and from Great Britain as far as the eastern ex-
tremity of European Russia. It is said, likewise,
to have been carried by sporting amateurs to the
United States, and to have multiplied in the
western hemisphere. But he must have been
fastidious indeed who could not find sufficient
variety and quantity of indigenous foxes in the
west, to import the British on purpose for hunt-
ing : it is more likely that this report arose from
seeing the red and little foxes of the United
States. Kalm, who first adverted to this opinion,
did not believe in it, although he might well pause
before he decided that these races were not of the
same species as the European. Another account,
asserting their arrival on the ice in a severe winter
about the period of the first European settlements

* See Mr. Gray's notice in London's Mag. of Nat. Hist.
Toli.

THE COMMON FOX. 243

in the west, derived from old Indians, and men-
tioned by Bartram, we presume may relate to the
red foxes of America, who, anterior to that period,
may have existed more in the interior ; for if the
presence of the European common fox is still dis-
puted, how could Indians be proper judges whe-
ther the red species were indigenous or foreign ;
and as for their being found in California, how
could they have reached that still more remote
region, since we are by no means certain that they
exist in the north-east of Asia ?

The fox measures in length about two feet five
inches, the tail one foot three inches, and the
height at the shoulder and croup, one foot two
inches and one foot three inches. Some races are
smaller, and that of Norway longer, but not more
elevated on the legs. The plane of the nose and
forehead are even more rectilinear than that of the
common greyhound ; the head is broad ; the snout
sharp ; the forehead flat ; the eyes are placed
obliquely ; the ears erect ; the body is well covered
with hair; and the tail is cylindrical, forming a
brush with a somewhat pointed end. In colour,
the fur of the forehead, back, and tail, varies from
yellowish red to paler yellow, and there is often a
considerable mixture of grisly white, and at other
times of blackish stipples, or black pointed hairs,
mixed with it ; whitish or ash colour is still more
visible on the forehead, the rump, and hams ; the
lips, cheeks, and throat are white, as well as a
line of the same on the inner surface of the legy ;

244 THE CROSS-FOX OF EUROPE.

the breast and belly are pale grey or whitish ; tlie
outside of the ears and the feet black ; and the tail
terminates in a milk-white point, in some races
preceded by a ring of black more or less in breadth.
The largest breeds we have seen were destitute of
the black ring, the middle sized, and usually the
more grizzled, were provided with it; and Mr.
Pennant ascribes to the cur foxes of Wales a black
tip Altogether, although we recollect formerly to
have seen many specimens of a small race in Kent
and Dorset without this mark.

But in England, since foxes have been imported
from the continent for sporting purposes, it has be-
come impossible to ascertain the varieties formerly
noticed. The grisly black-ringed we believe to be
from the west of France, and the reddish, without
black, indigenous, or from the Flemish and German
shores.

It is needless to enter more in detail on the man-
ners of a species so well known, and therefore we
proceed to allied species or varieties.

The Norway Common Fox is paler yellow, with
a white tip to the tail, having no black ring. The
race is large, of very strong bone, and in shape so
lengthened, that it might be called a turnspit
fox.

The Cross-Fox of Europe (Yulpes crucigera),
described by Gesner, from a communication received
by him in a letter from George Fabricius, together
with a figure. No mention is uiade of the general
colours, which, from the context, appear to have

THE BLACK FOX. 245

been those of the Swedish or Norway common fox,
but a broad band of black passed from the nose
over the head and back down to the end of the tail,
and was crossed by another over the shoulders,
extending in a narrower line over the outside of the
fore .legs down to the toes. This variety is noticed
likewise by Olaus Magnus, and does not belong to
Germany, being confined to the Scandinavian pe-
ninsula. It is a different species from that of
America.

The Roman Fox (Vulpes melanogaster, BONA-
PARTE.)— We think this to be a distinct species,
both from its form and colours. The animal is of
the larger size of foxes, the nose pretty full and the
limbs high. The nose, forehead, nape, back, shoul-
ders, after edge of the fore legs, and base of the tail,
yellowish fulvous; the inside of the ears, cheeks,
lips, chin, a streak in front of the fore legs, ante-
terior part of the thigh and groin, white ; the back
of the ears, throat, breast, belly, the inside of the
thighs, and the whole of the legs, black ; a collar
of brown passes under the throat from behind each
ear ; and the tail, grisly at the base, becomes gra-
dually white, ending in that colour at the tip,
having just above it one broad black ring, and ten
others of the same colour, broadest on the inferior
surface, and gradually obliterating on the superior
as they ascend towards the root. This species is
found in the vicinity of Rome, and was first noticed
by the Prince of Musignano.

The Black Fox. — This variety of Northern Asia

246 THE HIMALAYA FOX.

is reported to be of greater size than the American
silver-fox, with larger ears, and entirely of a velvet-
black, without silvery hairs on the forehead, or
sides, but with the tip of the tail white. A single
skin of this animal, when in perfect fur, is valued
at four hundred rubles, on account of its beauty
and rarity ; the species being extremely subtle and
rare in Kamschatka, whence the furs are mostly
transported into the Chinese dominions.

The Himalaya Fox (Vulpes Himalaicus; V.
Nepalensis ? V. montanus, PERRY ?) described by
Mr. Ogilby in Mr. Royle's Flora Himalaica, is a
species nearly allied to the common fox, but supe-
rior in size and the brilliancy of its colours. It
measures two feet six inches in length, and the tail
one foot six inches ; the ears are four inches long ;
the height at the shoulder one foot four inches.
Like the common, the ears are black on the outside,
and the anterior part of the legs is of the same co-
lour. The fur is long, dense, and fine, lying smooth
in any direction, over a bluish or brownish under-
wool, each hair having a yellowish white ring and
a bright bay tip, producing on the upper surface of
the head, the neck, and back, a full and brilliant
red; the sides of the neck, the throat, ribs and
flanks, are pure white, changing to a light smoky
blue on the last mentioned parts; the lips and
thighs are slightly hoary, and the whole under sur-
face is smoky brown ; the brush is large, and full-
coloured like the back, with a white tip. It is
found but rarely in Nepal, but more common in

THE SYRIAN FOX. 245

the Doon, in Kumaon, and in the western moun-
tains, whence the Europeans call it the Hill Fox.

The Indian Fox is noticed by Dr. Daniel John-
son, and described by him as being grey, with a
large black brush and a white tip. He remarks,
that it runs swiftly when coursed by greyhounds,
making directly for the nearest earths, which, be-
ing generally three or four within a couple of miles,
it soon reaches, and escapes. The species is not
above half the size of an English fox, and so exces-
sively agile, that the natives have a saying, that
this animal can turn nine times within the space of
its own length. In the Journal of Bishop Heber,
an Indian fox is mentioned feeding chiefly on field
mice and white ants, with a tail like a squirrel. It
is unquestionably a Cynalopex, already described,
most likely the Corsac.

THE SYRIAN FOX.

V.&akb1! NOB.

Shual of the Hebrews?
PLATE XXI.*

WE think this genuine fox has been confounded
with the next, or Egyptian species, though it does
not seem to be found in the valley of the Nile, but
to extend from Palestine eastward, into Southern

248 THE EGYPTIAN FOX.

Persia. It is the size of an English cur-fox, and
is similarly formed, but the ears are considerably
wider and longer. The fur is ochry-rufous, most
red on the nose, cheeks, forehead, and legs ; round
the eyes there is a pale buff space ; this colour ex-
tends on the upper arms and the anterior edge of
the thighs ; the region of the vibrissae, the inside
of the ears, and the throat, and inside of the thighs,
are white, as is also the tip of the tail, with a faint
blackish ring above it ; the back of the ears like-
wise is sooty, with the anterior edge bright ful-
vous.

This is, we are assured, the only fox of Pales-
tine, where it does much mischief to the vineyards .
and, according to the opinion of a friend, it is
found to the northward in the vallies of Asia
Minor.

THE EGYPTIAN FOX ?

V. Niloticus ; Cants Niloticus, GEOFFROY.

Sabora of the Arabs.
PLATE XXI.*

AFRICA possesses, we believe, only this fox, which
already assumes, in the enlarged ears, slightly
furred soles, and slender structure, so many of the

THE FOXES OF AMERICA. 249

characteristics of the Cynalopex and Fennecs, that
we doubt the propriety of placing it here. It is in
length two feet one inch, the tail one foot six lines,
the ears are three inches, and the stature at the
shoulder is one foot one and a half inches. Though
high on the legs, and slender of body, it resembles
the common fox. The fur is reddish on the head,
neck, and back, and the sides have the hairs tipped
with yellow; the feet and tail foxy red, with a
black ring, and the tip white ; the lips and under
jaw of the same colour; and the throat, breast,
and belly, cinereous grey.

This animal burrows, hunts birds, coleoptera,
and other insects, and abounds in Ambukol and in
Upper Egypt.

THE FOXES OF AMERICA.

THESE animals in the new continent are likewise
confined to the north side of the equator, all the
other osculating species being crepuscular, not noc-
turnal ; that is, hunting in the dusk, or during
moonlight, but not in dark nights, the pupils of
their eyes taking the elliptical form with more diffi-
culty and less perfectly, while the genuine foxes
effect it in a moment, and prowl in the darkest
localities and periods without hesitation. Of the

250 THE RED FOX.

Arctic species mention is made in the preceding
pages, believing that it is the same species in both
continents, though separated by slight distinctions.
The first that appears to be really distinct is
The Eed Fox (Yulpes fulvous. )— -The Virginian
Fox of Palisot de Beauvoir. This species was for-
merly confounded with the common fox of Europe,
but is now determined to be distinct. It measures
two feet three and a half inches in length, and the
tail one foot four inches. The upper surface of the
body is red-fulvous, with various shades ; the muz-
zle dark rufous ; forehead and cheeks pale ; edge of
the lips white ; inside of the ears yellowish white,
the outside black; back and sides of the neck,
shoulders, and fore legs, bright rufous; on the
back are some waves of whitish, because the longer
hair is fulvous at the base and at the point, with a
white space in the middle ; the chest is grey, and
the inside of the thighs white ; anterior line of the
fore legs deep black, down to the toes, which are
fulvous ; the hind legs rufous above, and whitish
on the inside, as low as the feet ; the tail is mixed
fulvous and black, with a white tip.

In the skull of this species there is a marked
difference from that of other foxes, the latter having
the lateral crests, serving to attach the chrotaphite
muscles, in the shape of an angle, but slightly
prolonged before they unite on the frontal suture,
while, in the former, these crests run parallel, at
more than an inch distance, and unite only at the
occipital crest.

THE CROSS-FOX OF AMERICA. 251

The fur of this animal is little inferior in elegance
to that of the fox of the Himalayas, but for hunt-
ing it affords little sport, running swiftly a short
distance only, and is then easily overtaken by dogs
and horsemen. In propensities to rob the fanner
they yield nothing to the most mischievous foxes of
Europe, and they are still more cautious in their
proceedings. The red fox inhabits a great surface
of America, being found in the wooded districts of
the fur countries in the north, and there acquiring
fur under the feet during the winter season, and
growing to a larger size than in the south, in which
direction they are found as far as the Carolinas.

THE CROSS-FOX OF AMERICA.
V. decassatus,

PLATE XXII.

DR. RICHARDSON and Mr. Bennet are of opinion
that this race is only a variety of the red fox, and
until a comparison of their skulls shall have deter-
mined the question, we are inclined to coincide in
the opinion; remarking, however, that as so en-
lightened an observer as the Doctor formed his
conclusions in the north, we had opportunity to

252 THE CROSS-FOX OF AMERICA.

make numerous comparisons of skins in the Atlantic
States of America, and then came to the conclu-
sion, that the constant variations in the colours of
cross -foxes passed gradually into the grey, and
even offered individuals, when it could not be deter-
mined whether it was a cross, a grey, or a tri-
coloured fox, excepting by the presence of white on
the abdomen. The specimen which served for our
notes and drawing was a large and strong-limbed
fox ; his aspect not corresponding with the red ani-
mal in the Menagerie of the Zoological Society,
the eyes being less sunk, and the head not so round.
The forehead, back, and thighs, were of a mixed
yellow, black, and white, forming a grey like the
colour of a hare ; the nose, as far as the eyes, was
black ; from the nape, along the back to the tail,
ran a black streak, distinctly crossed at the shoul-
ders with another, but not descending more than
half way on each side ; from this bar forward to the
back of the ears, and the ears themselves (exclusive
of the tips, which were black), the fur was bright
fulvous ; this colour reappeared again on the edge
of the buttocks and upper surface of the tail, where
it formed four distinct large spots ; the inside of
the ears, the cheeks, lips, jaws, and the tip of the
tail, were white ; the throat, breast, abdomen, feet,
inside of the thighs, under surface of the tail, upper
part of the root, a ring at base, and the separations
between the red spots above were sooty black.

In other specimens, the back and shoulders had
so much of black colcur, as well as the tail, that

THE LITTLE FOX. 253

but little fulvous remained, and in some the grey-
was bluish-ash, and spread to the throat and belly.

The Silver Fox (V. argentatus), appears to be
the ultimate deviation from the typical colour of
the red fox, of which it is deemed to be a variety.
When adult, and in prime fur, it is entirely deep
glossy black, with a silvery grizzle on the forehead
and on the flanks, passing upwards to the rump,
and occasionally there is a white spot on the breast.
This variety is extremely rare, and the skins sell
considerably higher than those of any other colour.
It is found in the same latitudes as the red. Both
varieties are kept in the Zoological Gardens, Lon-
don.

The Little Fox (C. velong, SAY.) — In examining
the immense collection of peltry in the stores of Mr.
Astor, at New York, bundles of skins of reddish
foxes, strung together by the heads, always showed
a few of the number considerably surpassing the
rest in length, their hind feet hanging full six
inches lower; both kinds were, however, nearly
of the same colour, and both had their tails tipped
with white. Mr. Astor stated, that there was a
sp<icies much larger than the common fox, which
we then took to be identical with the European,
and concluded the larger to be new, and a genuine
American animal. In the Paris Museum there is a
red fox from New York, figured by Mr. Frederick
Cuvier, and somewhat different from Dr. Richard-
son's V.fuhus, probably a variety of latitude only;
but the smaller species can be no other than the

254 THE TRI-COLOURED FOX.

C. velong of Mr. Say. Mr. Bartram likewise no-
tices a red fox in Florida, distinct, it would appear,
from the former, by the fur being entirely of one
colour.

THE TRI-COLOURED FOX.
V. cinereo argenteus, ERXLEB.

PLATE XXIII.

THERE exists considerable confusion in the descrip-
tion of the species of the more southern foxes. .If
commentators on d'Azara's notice of Guarachay
may be credited, the tri-coloured fox is found in
Paraguay. There are at this moment before us
drawings of three very distinctly marked foxes, all
bearing the same name ; two having for synonims
the words Canis Azarce. Prince Maximilian's
figure differs from that published by Mr. Darwin,
and neither are like the drawing in the Prince of
Nassau's collection, nor are they similar to two
Aguaras drawn by ourselves ; and all are very dif-
ferent from the tri-coloured fox, of which we before
stated that there are again many varieties of colour
approximating the cross-fox in different gradations,
and that the individuals corresponding to the de-
scription are rare; but whatever be these varia-

Of THE

(UNIVERSITY

THE TRI-COLOURED FOX. 255

tions, they never assume the liveries of any Aguara,
and they are, by their pupils being elliptical, true
foxes, wanderers in the dark ; while the others are
only crepuscular.

The specimen from which we took our drawing
was equal in size to the cross-fox, and very like it
in form ; both had the back of the ears, excepting
the tips, fulvous, and that colour spread over the
neck to the shoulders ; but in the present animal
the fulvous passed quite round the neck, covered
also the whole of the upper fore legs and the joints
of the hind legs, mixed in a delicate tinge on the
flank, belly, and anterior part of the thigh, and
formed the under part of the tail to the very tip ;
the inside of the ears, the lips, cheeks, throat, and
breast, were pure white ; and the nose, forehead,
back, shoulders, hams, and upper surface of the
tail, a beautiful silver-grey; on the edges of the
buttocks and tip of the tail nearly pure white ; be-
neath the eyes there was a faint rufous mark, and
on each side of the nose a small black streak ; the
fulvous on the neck, limbs, and ears, contrasted
strongly with the grey and black, none of the
colours blending excepting at the sides and belly,
where the appearance had almost a coppery metallic
lustre.

This fox is a native of the United States, and
may extend into Mexico, but is not found in South
America that we know of. It is said to have the
powers and propensities of the other varieties of
North America.

256

THE GREY FOX.
V. cinereus.

PLATE XXII*

THERE are doubts respecting this animal's existence ;
it may be considered a variety of the foregoing,
where the fulvous is altogether obliterated ; but as
the ideas regarding it depend upon Catesby's figure,
and we believe that figure is copied from the wood-
cut of the common fox in Gesner, it is probable that
the colouring is from memory, and that, instead of
being entirely of a silvery grey, the smaller details
respecting the ears and feet, &c. were overlooked
or forgotten. We have seen many skins of what
might have been called grey foxes, but all were
referrible to the tri-coloured, or the cross-fox. A
stuffed fox, lately observed in a shop at Plymouth,
and which we examined, may represent the cine-
reus ; the specimen is of the ordinary size, densely
furred, with the nose, forehead, temples, nape,
shoulders, back, flanks, hams, and base of tail, of
a uniform sepia and white-grey ; the lips, cheeks,
throat, and belly, pure white ; the back of the ears,
a crescent beneath the throat, bright fulvous ; the
upper arms, anterior edge of the thigh, and tail to-

THE GKASTOFUR. 25?

wards the tip, dull rufous, the tip itself black, and
the feet sepia brown ; but we are inclined to refer
this to a variable fox, whose winter fur is white,
and the tip of the tail alone black.

The Brant Fox of Pennsylvania, described by
Pennant, belongs also to the races with a black tip
to the tail. It is scarcely half the size of the common
fox, with a black nose, the head much sharper than
in that animal ; the space round the eyes is ferru-
ginous ; the forehead and upper surface of the body
black, mixed with red and ash colour, the ash co-
lour predominating; the tail is black above, red
beneath, and ash-coloured* at the sides.

We conclude the notice of the foxes, by men-
tioning an animal of Iceland which may not be a
canine ; it is known on the spot by the name of
Grastofur, and considered to be a fox, although it
does not molest either lambs or ptarmigan, and
feeds on the roots of grasses, on the angelica and
other vegetable substances. Being harmless in ha-
bits, the inhabitants take no pains to hunt it, and
the shepherds do not even allow their dogs to worry
it.*

* See Nemnich Polyglot der Natur in voce Canis Vulpes.

SUB-GENUS~FF?=^RIODUS.*

Remarkable for an additional tooth in both jaws, not found to
any other species of dog.

MR. FREDERICK CUVIER, commenting on the den-
tition of dogs, had already observed, that there are
occasionally additional molars, or tubercular teeth,

* We are indebted to the kindness of G. R. Waterhouse,
Esq. for the figure of the skull, and several important notes on
the Canidse in general, and this species in particular.

AGRIODUS. 259

on one or the other sides of the jaws ; but the ani-
mal forming the type of the present sub-genus,
although in external appearance resembling a fox,
and, in the great development of the ears, assimi-
lating with the Megalotes, differs from both, and
from all the known Canidce, by having in the
upper jaw seven molars, and in the lower eight ; of
these three are false molars, and four have the
crown formed into real grinders; below, the false
molars are four, then follows a small imperfect car-
nassier, and behind it three tubercular teeth ; the
canines are slender, and, along with the incisors,
inclined forward. The skull has a long plane pro-
file, is nearly destitute of an interparietal ridge?
but marked with two broad temporal ridges, one
on each side, extending from the post orbital pro-
cess to the occiput, and run almost parallel to
each other ; one may be seen in the profile of the
skull, above represented. The toes are in number,
form, and position, as in foxes. The anomalous
character of the teeth indicates the food of the
Agriodus to differ considerably from that of other
Canidce, and no doubt the manners of the species
are equally influenced by this conformation. These
considerations induced us to prefer the name here
assigned to the sub-genus to that of Megalotis,
which Illiger originally bestowed upon the Fennecs,
and which, in truth, expresses their preeminent
distinction. The sub-genus Agriodus appears t«
be essentially Austral, or proper to the southern
hemisphere, and at present it contains but one
species,

260

LALANDE'S ZERDA,

Agriodus auritus^ NOB. ; Megalotis Lalandii, HAM. SMITH «
Canis megalotis,

PLATE XXIII.*

FIRST figured by us in Mr. Griffith's edition of
Cuvier's " Animal Kingdom," and then considered
as a Megalotis. The animal seems to have been
noticed by Sir John Barrow, but M. de Lalande
first sent its spoils to Europe from the Cape of Good
Hope. In size, the Agriodus is equal to an European
fox : the ears are very broad, and little shorter than
the head, open, erect, folded at the edges, and some-
what square in figure; they are whitish within,
grey at the back, and edged with black, bordered
by white on the inner surface ; the head is round,
the muzzle rather obtuse, blackish on the nose and
cheeks; the forehead, neck, shoulders, and hams,
dark slaty-grey, with a slight intermixture of buff;
the throat and breast dirty whitish-grey ; the limbs
black ; the tail nearly as long as that of a fox, and
forming a brush little less dense, but coarser in tex-
ture, and in colour slaty-grey, paler beneath, and
marked with three black spots on the upper surface,
and a black tip. The manners of the species we

THE LYCAON. 26i

are unacquainted with, but on reconsidering what
we have stated of the Abyssinian Tokla, we suspect
the A. auritus, or a second species of this sub-
genus, may have been intended.

SUB-GENUS V.— LYCAON.

THE Dutch colonists of the Cape of Good ,Hope
having applied the name of wolf to the spotted and
villous hyaena, found, that in the wilderness there
were other animals like canines, and among them
confounded the species which forms the type of the
present subdivision under the name of " wilde
honden," and we designated by the name of Lycaon,
from the time when the late Mr. Joshua Brooks, at
our suggestion, adopted it in the arrangements of
his Museum. For, knowing that in the Caffrarian
dialects, Likene denoted a dog, a wild canine, and
finding the Lycaon of Ethiopia, in Solinus, described
as an animal with a maned neck, and marked with
many colours, while Pliny says the Lycaon changes
colour ; the first seemingly confounding the Lycaon
pictus with a true hyaena, and the second indicating
a beast of prey liable to change its fur in particular
seasons, as this animal is known to do in Ethiopia/
while both adopt that name of which the African
form is still indigenous. We thought these notices,
supported by the existence of the species on the

262 THE LYCAON.

Nile, sufficient warrant for making use of the above
distinctive appellation. In describing the mastiff
race, and in other paragraphs, we have likewise
pointed out the probabilities that congeners, or im-
mediately osculating species, existed, and possibly
may still be found in Asia, nor are we completely
satisfied that the Cape, the Nigritian, and the
Ethiopic animals are all the same; but whether
they be of one or several, their common characters
are, — size, inferior to a mastiff; head short, trun-
cated ; mouth broad ; dentition very strong, and
similar to dogs, but with the central incisors some-
what displaced, and the cheek teeth more closely
together; snout and muzzle black; ears large,
rounded, erect; neck rather long and stiff; body
short; limbs highest before, slender; tail short,
pendulous, inflexible; four toes on all the feet;
pupil of the eyes round ; mammae ten ? fur short,
close, marbled with black and white upon a white
or buff ground ; the throat black, and a streak of
the same passing over the forehead to the nape.

These animals are gregarious, hunting in troops
or packs, having an excellent scent and no less
piercing sight ; they are fleet in pursuit, active in
springing, and scarcely stationary, roaming over a
great surface of the country, equally familiar with
the forest, the plain, and the mountain; they do
not burrow, and extend over the whole of Africa
south of the Zahara, and along the Nile, probably
through a part of Arabia to the Euphrates, and
even further eastward to the Indus ; at least the

THJB LfCAON. 263

mention of a spotted wild dog reported to exist in
the southern mountains of Persia may refer to a
Lycaon. The Marafeen of Ethiopia is, we think,
the animal of Solinus before noticed, and the Taraffe
of Madagascar, the Impompo of Sofala, Mebbia of
Congo, and Maipu of some tribes of Caffraria. It
is also to a Lycaon, or a congener, that the ancient
name of panther is most applicable ; and the canine
tigers of Nearchus,* the wild progenitors of the
Indian race of spotted dogs, must refer to the Jungle
Koola, described among the Lycisci, or to a species
of the present form.

The Marafeen, we are told by an attentive and
erudite observer t (taking it to be the hyaena of
Ethiopia), is figured in the sculptures of Egypt,
and may be the Chaus of Pliny, " Effigie lupi,
pardorum maculis." He describes the animal as
gregarious, not solitary, preying in preference upon
asses, but when pressed by hunger devouring stand-
ing corn and dourra, and the female often whelping
in corn fields.

The Mebbia of Congo, in the travels of F. Zuchi,
is described as a wild species of dogs resembling
hounds, assembling in numbers of thirty or forty,
hunting and attacking all kinds of quadrupeds. J

* See Arrian de reb. Ind. Oppian also says of his Thoes,
that they resembled wolves in form and panthers in colours.

+ Wilkinson's Egypt.

* "VVe have reason to conclude that the Mebbia, here con-
founded with Lycaon, is, from information lately obtained, a
real Chryseus, and should have been classed with that group.

264 THE LYCAON.

Bosnian, under the name of Jackals of Commany
and Aquambo, as tall or taller than sheep, having
spotted coats, a large and flat head, and very long
teeth and claws, and with powers to spring upon
high walls, evidently alludes to the Lycaon ; and
the name itself, Mebbia, sounds as if it were an
imitation of a frequent tremulous and jabbering
voice, which we have heard the animal utter when
expressing impatient desire.

The spotted wild dogs of the Cape were indis-
tinctly noticed by Sparman, Yiscount Querhouent,
Vaillant, and others ; but it was not until about the
year 1814 or 1815 that a skin was brought to Eng-
land from Western Africa, and we think first shown
in Riddel's Museum ; soon after, Mr. Howitt made
a drawing of a living specimen in the Exeter Change
collection of Mr. Cross. We know not if this died,
and the skin became the property of Mr. Bullock,
but Mr. Temminck, at the time of the sale of the
London Museum, purchased the specimen, which
he first described under the name of Hycena picta
in the Mem. de I' Ac. de Bruxelles. At that time
there was another living in the possession of Mr.
Burchel, which we saw often, and the late Joshua
Brooks had then, or soon after, the individual upon
which he established his genus Lycaon. Next,
M. de Lalande brought a skin from the Cape, and
about 1824, one or more were sent to the Frank-
fort Museum, by M. Riippel, from Upper Egypt.
Having taken notes of the living, and drawings of
all the specimens here mentioned, it resulted from

THE LYCAON. 265

comparing them that they were congeners, and
though all differed in their markings and distribu-
tion of colours, that they can hardly be distin-
guished as species; yet, when referring to the
absolute canine characters ascertained by Zoologists,
characters which the skins cannot afford, and in the
living specimens were not accessible, we are some-
what surprised that their attitudes, movements,
voice, and aspect, while alive, should be so singu-
larly conformable with those of hyaenas, and unlike
the same in any species of true canines. It was
from these that both Mr. Burchel, who kept the
animal thirteen months in a stable-yard, and our-
selves who repeatedly visited it, judged the affinity
was more with the former than the latter ; and al-
though there be a rudiment of a fifth toe on the

o

anterior carpus, the presence of two large and foetid
glands beneath the tail, and the doubtful question
of the modus copulandi, still approximates them
more to hyaena than M. Riippel seems disposed to
admit.

266

Hyaena venatica, BURCHEL.
PLATE XXIV.

WE shall describe the Cape variety first, because it
was not only the first noticed, but its habits and
manners are likewise best known. This animal is
in stature equal to a tall greyhound, very high on
the legs in proportion to the length, and from the
hind quarters standing somewhat crouched, it ap-
pears as if the fore legs were longest ; the head is
broad, flat; the muzzle rather short, truncated,
with the under jaw very prominent ; the ears large,
oval, erect, black on the external surface, naked
on the internal, and with a pencil of upright white
hairs at the opening ; the neck is straight, with the
throat slightly maned, bearing the head, like in the
hyaena, apparently stiff, and, when running, it seems
to wag from side to side ; the back straight ; the
haunches gathered up, and the tail held out with a
sort of occasional convulsive shake at the extre-
mity; the abdomen full; the limbs as slender as
in the greyhound, bending with a great angle at the
joints, and well covered with hair. The colour is

LYCAON VENATICUS. 267

all ochraceous, excepting some white on the breast,
a spot on the neck, a second on the shoulders, a
third on the loins, and a fourth at the crupper, all
bound in a black edging ; similar black wavy streaks
on the shoulders, on the flanks, hams, joints, and
middle of the tail, the end being white. The whole
muzzle and cheeks black, the colour passing up-
wards between the eyes to the nape, and downwards
on the throat, and a small white spot under each
nostril on the front of the upper lip. Such were
the markings of this individual : but that of M. de
Lalande was distinguished by a considerable increase
of the black spots, these extending in broad surfaces
over the abdomen, and even on the toes.

The specimen was fastened to a long chain at-
tached to a post. It ran with great lightness back-
wards and forwards, came boldly towards spectators,
with the whimpering voice before noticed. His
keeper never could venture within the gripe of the
animal ; and a dog given to it as a companion could
indeed play with it, but as the chain only extended
so far that they could meet, one step backwards
placed it out of danger. It was a male.

According to Mr. Burchel, these Lycaontes hunt
in packs both by day and night, committing at times
considerable depredations on sheep, but attacking
cattle only by surprise, and then invariably biting
off their tails. Repeated attempts have been made
by the Cape colonists to tame the young whelps
occasionally taken or found abandoned, but always
without success, their ferocity increasing with

268 LYCAON PICTUS.

their growth, till it was found necessary to kill
them.

Lycaon pieties (Canis pictus, TEMM.) — Whether
the painted Lycaon be distinct, or a variety of loca-
tion and climate, for the sake of clearness we believe
it best to describe it separately. This race is the
Slmir of Kordofan, and described by Ixiippel as
three feet two and a half inches long, the tail one
foot three inches and three-fourths, the ears four
inches eight lines, and the height at the shoulder
one foot ten inches.

If the stuffed skin and published figure pourtray
the outline of the living animal, the Simir would
really represent a wild hound without the least ap-
proximation to the hyaena, so conspicuous in the
Cape animal, and M. Riippel seems never to have
been struck by this appearance ; consequently we
might believe the Kordofan variety so far differ-
ent, if we did not find the Marafeen, which we
take to be the same, considered by the Arabs as an
hyaena. In the present race the disposition of the
colours varies as in the former, with every indivi-
dual, excepting about the head, neck, and tip of
the tail, where, as before, black occupies the muz-
zle to the eyes, a streak of it passes over the fore-
head to the nape, and from the under jaw forms
another streak beneath the ears towards the shoul-
der; these marks are upon a pale tawny, which
passes in clouds over the body and limbs, generally
edged in with black : but on the Simir there ap-
pears a much greater proportion of white, particularly

HYAENA. . 269

about the abdomen and limbs, than in the Cape
race, and the white of the tail is always divided
from the rufous at its base by a broad blackish
space. This variety becomes hairless at the period
of changing the fur, and when old, remains altoge-
ther naked. M. Riippel encountered these animals
in the wilderness of Korti and the deserts of Kor-
dofan, where they hunt in packs, form ambushes
in the vicinity of springs to surprise antelopes, and
when pressed by hunger they will attack man, on
which account they are feared by the natives.

The specimens we took for Mebbia (which are
red canines) were two skins only ; they appeared
to indicate animals, in proportion, with larger bodies,
shorter and much stronger legs ; their fur well fur-
nished, of similar colours, but with few insulated
white spots edged with black, the white being
without borders, and the black broad, indifferently
passing on the white and the black, particularly
upon the nape, across the rump, and obliquely over
the shoulder ; the abdomen rufous.

GENUS II.-HY.flEN A.*

ALTHOUGH, in zoological arrangement, several other

digitigrade Carnassiers may be interposed between

the true Canidce and the present group, we may,

* See Engraving of Skull, F^. 1, Plate XXXL, VoL I.

270 HYJBNA.

nevertheless, for our present purpose, be permitted
to place them in juxta position, and by closing the
volume with the genus Proteles, restore the links of
the chain to the Viverrine family of Civets and
Ryzaenas.

The hyaenas, according to the system of Linnaaus,
were included in his genus Canis, but they differ
widely in many respects from the more strictly con-
sidered Canldce. They form a group of species
singularly coarse and ferocious in character, with
sanguinary and revolting habits, with constitutions
seemingly capable of resisting the extremes of tem-
peratures, the most noxious states of the atmosphere,
and adapted to gorge on the grossest animal sub-
stances, prey, dead or alive, fresh or corrupted,
great and small, being alike devoured by them. If
the genus be now comparatively not numerous, and
confined at present to regions within or near the
torrid zone, there was a period, in the interme-
diate time of the existence of organised beings, when
the hyaena appears to have been universally spread
over the great surface of the old world; for, al-
though the debris of great felinae, and of bears, are
likewise discovered in the deluvian strata and ca-
verns of our present period, they bear no compari-
son, in point of numbers or extent, to the immense
quantity of fossil remains of hyaenas (H. spelea}
spread through the earth, from Great Britain to
Tibet, as if they had been appointed almost the
sole consumers. of mastodons, elephants, tapirs, and
the great ruminantia of that period ; the marks of

HY-fflNA. 27J

their teeth being still found upon the bones. These
antique hyaenas do not however exhibit in their
remains proportions much surpassing the present,
they scarcely exceed the larger races now occupying
Africa, and to that quarter of the world, in the
present zoological distribution, their centre of ex-
istence seems to have been originally confined. The
extension of their habitat to the high mountains of
Central Asia and to the Bosphorus, may be a result
of gradual progress in following the march of armies
and caravans : it is a consequence of their ability to
sustain heats, droughts, and all the various priva-
tions of the wilderness, and being provided with a
temperament the most enduring, a hide peculiarly
hard, with jaws and teeth of such strength that they
break the shin bone of an ox with the utmost facility,
and, moreover, acting often in concert, they dread
neither the presence of the lion or the tiger, and stand
in awe of man only in the day-time. Their structure
is equally repulsive : with a large truncated head set
on a protruded and stiff neck, with high fore legs,
a short body, and low hind quarters, a long bristly
mane ranging from the nape to the tail, and that
organ itself short and ill-formed, a wallowing gait,
great personal uncleanness, and a horrible voice :
no beast of the forest offers a more disgusting or
frightful aspect ! Nor is this impression diminished
by their malignant eyes in the day light, when the
pupil assumes an elliptical form above and a rounded
below, nor in the dark, when it gleams like burn-
ing sulphur : the very ornaments of dark stripes or

272 HYJENA.

spots upon their fur add to our dislike, and the offen-
sive odours of their carrion breath, with exhalations
from the glandular pouch beneath the tail, complete
the character. By nature they are the scavengers of
the desert, the forest, and of the sandy beach, feed-
ing on dead carcases of elephants or whales ; prone
to attack horses, asses, and domestic cattle ; devour-
ing dogs, seizing isolated camels, sometimes filling
their stomachs with farinaceous vegetables, but al-
ways solicitous to roam in burying places, and dig
out the dead.* All these qualities combined, were
the cause of the mysterious and awful opinions the
ancients promulgated respecting the hyaena. They
were taught to believe that the species was herma-
phrodite, and changed sex at stated periods, being
alternately the hyaena or the trochus. That to de-
ceive mankind they could imitate the human voice :
and in Abyssinia it is still averred, that a caste of
iron-smelters and smiths possess the mysterious
power of changing their persons into the aspect of
hyaenas, and perpetrate all the demon wonders that
were formerly ascribed in Europe to the Wehr
wolf! Hence the hyaena is the Dub, Dubbah,
Dabah, Zabah, &c. of the Semitic nations, all de-
noting a dark and sinister being. Possessed of the
most powerful teeth, it requires dogs of no ordinary

* We think it is Mr. Bruce who mentions that one, or seve-
ral acting together, had dragged a dead camel in the course of
the night above a mile distance from the caravan; an instance
of single strength or combined intelligence almost exceeding
belief.

273

courage to grapple with them in the chase, and if
their speed was great, they would seldom fail escap-
ing into cover : for woe to him who unarmed ven-
tures to arrest them in front. A near relative of
ours unthinkingly intercepted one in his flight
towards a jungle, hut the animal immediately
sprang at his horse, pulled it down hy the nose,
and before the rider could recover, passed on and
escaped. They burrow in jackal-earths, or occupy
caverns in certain seasons; but, in general, little
affected by the sun, they prowl upon the desert,
sometimes scratching the sand up for a slight shel-
ter. Their ferocity is not entirely untameable : we
have seen the spotted species actually pleased with
caresses. In the French collection at the Jardin des
Plantes, another of the same species was familiar
with her keeper, but capriciously hostile to other
persons. Sir J. Barrow, in his journey, says even,
that it had been tamed in the district of the Sneeuw
bergen, wrhere it was considered more serviceable
for the chase than the dog, and fully equal to that
animal in courage and fidelity. We suspect the
assertion here made refers to the Lycaon venaticus,
and that the results were magnified by the traveller's
informant.

So little was the form of these animals understood
when the older Zoologists published their writings,
that the most fanciful figures were invented and
engraved in their works, all intended to pourtray
tne descriptions of the ancients, although Busbe-
quius and Ka3mpfer had fully recognised it in

274 THE SPOTTED HY^NA.

Gesner, who, without being aware of the identity,
or misled by Belon, gave one, by no means ill
executed, under the name of Lupus marinus.
The distinctive characters of the genus, in addi-

tion to those already enumerated, are : incisors —

1_1 5_5

canines - — -? molars - — » = 34: the inferior

1 — 1 4 — 4

incisors on a single line, canines exceedingly strong ;
the superior cheek-teeth on each side three, coni-
cal, blunt, large false molars, one enormous car-
nassier outwards tricuspidate, on the inside forwards
with a small tubercle, — and a tuberculous tooth;
the inferior cheek-teeth similarly formed, but with
the tuberculous wanting, the carnassier bicuspidate,
and no tubercular process. The tongue is covered
with horny papillae; the eyes with irides vertical
above and circular below ; the ears long, pointed,
very open, erect ; all the feet four-toed, with strong
but not retractile claws fit for digging ; after-quarter
lower than the shoulders, and depressed ; glandu-
lous pouch beneath the tail ; tail short, little move-
able ; mammas only four. Hyaenas exist in every
part of Africa, and of Southern and Middle Asia,
from the Bosphorus through Persia, on the south of
the Himalayas to the west bank of the Burham-
pootra, but not farther to the east, according to Mr.
Crawfurd.* The most common in Africa is

The Spotted Hyaena (H. crocuta). — This species
is little inferior in size to the largest striped hyaenas.
A specimen now in the Plymouth Museum mea-
* Crawford's Embassy to the Court of Ava.

THE SPOTTED HYJENA.

sures from the nose to the tail four feet seven inches,
and including the tail five feet eight inches; the
head alone is eleven and a half inches. As these
animals stand in height at the shoulder ahout half
their total length, we may estimate the stature at
above thirty inches : dimensions nearly equal to the
largest hyasnas of Abyssinia. The byname of Capensis
given to this species by Desmarets, after Erxleben
had already promulgated that of Crocuta, appears
to be the more improper, because the species ex-
tends to Guinea, and on the east coast to the north-
ward of Zofala. In form this species greatly resembles
the striped hysena, but the head is broader and flat-
ter, the muzzle fuller, and the eyes still nearer the
nose ; the mane is not long or very remarkable, and
the general colour is a dirty ochry-grey, marked,
with small round spots of a brown colour, and not
very abundant ; the muzzle, up to the eyes, and the
lower limbs are sooty ; the interior face of the limbs
dirty white ; and the tail and terminal tuft are with-
out spots, and dark.

This species does not burrow, but readily occupies
earths made by other animals, or retreats into ca-
verns or other places for shelter : it moves little by
day, but quests in the darkest nights, and then will
enter farms, and even the streets of towns, to satiate
its hunger.

In Baron Cuvier's Reckerches sur les Ossemens
Fossiles d'Hyaenes, mention is made of a rufous
hygena (H. rufa)^ but the notice contains only the
remark that it is spotted like the Crocuta; instead

276 THE HY^JNA OF ATBARA.

of brown upon a greyish ground, the colours are
black upon rufous, and the ears, equalling those of
the striped hyaena, are ashy.

The Striped Hyaena (H. vulgaris, DESM.) — No
less remarkable for similar ferocious qualities with
the last mentioned, is, with slight variety of form,
stature, and colours, spread over the whole of
Southern Asia as far as the east of Bengal, and
Northern Africa to Morocco and Abyssinia. The
largest variety is

THE HYAENA OF ATBARA, BRUCK,
Hycsna vulgaris^ VAR.

The Canis hysenomelas of earlier Zoologists.
PLATE XXVI.

THE total length of one measured by Bruce was
five feet nine inches to the tail, and the height at
the shoulder three feet seven inches. The fur is
but slightly lined by a woolly under-coat, and the
upper is long, rank, and coarse, from the nape to
the tail, not particularly abundant on the neck and
flanks, and very long and stiff, in the form of a
mane along the ridge of the back. The specimen
we saw was smaller, although a large animal, en-

THE HYJENA OF PERSIA AND INDIA. 277

tirely of a dirty ochraceous colour, transversely
barred with several blackish streaks, the broadest
on the shoulders and hams; the tail, forming a scanty
brush about ten inches long, was dark at the base
and white at the tip ; the face covered with short
hair, sooty from the nose to the eyes ; and the limbs,
similarly covered, had numerous blackish rings up-
on them ; the ears broad and long are pointed, and
dark on the outside.

There is reason to believe this variety to be the
erocuta of the ancients, whose jaws were filled with
one continued tooth, and notwithstanding the powers
possessed by it, Bruce relates no facts to show there
is much disposition to attack mankind, but, on the
contrary, proves that it roamed about with the pre-
cautions of a thieving jackal. We figure this variety
from the specimens sent to Frankfort by M. Ruppel.

The Facasse of Madagascar is said to be an
hya3na: but no recent notice occurs in the narra-
tives and private papers within our reach where the
animal is mentioned.

The Hyaena of Persia and India (Kaftaar and
Hoondar of these countries) is not larger than a
powerful dog ; it has the snout fuller and shorter
than the former, the ears in proportion larger, and
equally pointed. They are of a dull purple, the
long hair more abundant, and the colour a dirty
whitish with black bars. The same variety, under
the name of Dubbak, is found in Arabia and Syria :
the Turks name it Dabba.

Another, evidently of this race, is

278

THE NAKED HY,ENA OF THE DESERTS
OF NUBIA,

Hy&na vulgaris.
PLATE XXVII.

THIS race is small and gaunt, entirely destitute of
hair, excepting the mane on the ridge of the neck
and back. The bare skin is of a purplish black,
the body is short, and the tip of the tail is furnished
with a small brush.
A fourth variety is

THE BROWN HY^NA,

Hyaena fusca,
Of the Paris Museum.

PLATE XXVIII.

THIS race is in size rather higher than a large dog,
but proportionally shorter of body. In form it is
similar to the first, but the muzzle is buff with a

THE STRAND HYJENA. 279

t>lack ridge on the nose ; the sides scantily supplied
with very coarse long hair of an ashy buff colour,
show indistinct bars broader and more obliterated
than in the former, and the mane on the back is
entirely of a dark sepia colour ; the tail is long and
dark. We suspect this animal to be the Faadh of
Shaw : but if this be the case, it is singular that
the residence of this variety should not have been
recognised by the French naturalists, for the speci-
men is without an habitat. It may be questioned
whether this animal is not more nearly allied to
the next.

THE STRAND HY^NA.
H. villosa, SMITH.

PLATE XXIX.

STRAND WOLF, Strand Jut of the Dutch colonists
at the Cape, is a distinct species, in nonage alone
resembling the common, and from that circumstance
formerly mistaken for it. This animal is however
considerably smaller, measuring only about four
feet from the nose to the end of the tail, and two
feet four inches in height at the shoulder. The
back forms the usual inclined plane of other hyaenas ;

280 THE STRAND HY^NA.

the fore quarters are also, as in others, more robust ;
the forehead is deep, slightly convex, and the nose
is similarly curved and truncated, the whole head
being covered with short rigid hair of black, white,
and reddish brown colours, forming a kind of grizzle ;
the irides are dark brown, the pupils vertical, some-
times linear, sometimes oval ; the ears are erect,
pointed, rather long, covered on both sides with
reddish white down, with a white tuft of hair in the
opening ; the chin and sides of the lips blackish ;
the upper part of the throat black ; fasciculi of long
dark hairs issue from several warty centres on the
sides of the cheeks and over the eyes ; the hair of
the neck is long and shaggy ; the sides of the neck
to the shoulders are dirty yellow, and the breast
and inner surface of the limbs paler dirty yellow ;
from the occiput along the back and upon the sides
the colour is dirty tawny grey, with a great number
of irregular blackish spots or oblique stripes, some-
times nearly effacing the lighter colours ; the base
of the tail dirty tawny, more whitish towards the
tip ; the outside of the limbs are whitish, with a
number of narrow blackish half rings.

This species, less powerful than the H. crocuta,
is less dangerous to mankind and to large cattle,
devouring only sheep and smaller animals. In
manners it is treacherous and exceedingly mistrust-
ful, slothful by day, but active in the night, rejoicing
in rain, licking the blood and rolling over the body
of his prey, concealing the superfluous parts ; fond
of appropriating every thing in his reach and car-

PROlk^tS. 281

rying it to his retreat; often preferring bones to
flesh, breaking them small and licking out the
marrow, extruding a fatty substance by rubbing the
nates against wood or stone, and then licking it up,
particularly after every meal. These are habits
which were observed by Dr. Smith upon one he
kept in confinement.

GENUS III.— PROTELES.

THIS genus is as yet very imperfectly known, but
forms an intermediate link between hyaenas and
viverras, by the fore legs with five toes (the fifth
being short and placed high), and the head narrowed
and more pointed, approximating the Civets; by
the high and slender legs, resembling dogs; and by
the mane on the neck and back, the short hard
brush, and even by the stripes on the body, indi-
cating an alliance with hyasnas. The dentition is
not as yet fully known, because the specimen ob-
served had only three small false molars, and a
diminutive tubercular back molar, as if in this case
the teeth had not come to perfection, as often hap-
pens with Civets. The only species known is

THE PROTELES LALANDII, ISWUH., GfcuF*.
Viverra Jiycenoides^ Cuv.

PLATE XXX.
[By mistake named Lalande's Agriodus.]

THE individual was shot by M. de Lalande during his
travels in Caffraria. The skull represented an in-
termediate form between a dog and a Civet ; the mo-
, lars of the upper jaw, four on each side, were small,
the three first having only a single point, and the
fourth being a small tubercular tooth ; below there
were only three cheek-teeth, the first with a single
point, the two others, one with a point and a small
process, and the other with two points and a pro-
cess. The form of the animal was that of a dimi-
nutive hyaena, with a small head and long legs;
the nose resembled a dog's ; the fore feet had five
toes and the hind feet four ; the colour was a yellow
ashy grey, with six or seven black bands passing
obliquely down the body, and three smaller on the
shoulder ; the tail a brush of dark hairs, and black
mane on the back. In weight this animal does not

THE PROTELES LALANDII. 283

exceed a common fox. All that is known of its
manners is, that it frequents clefts of rocks.

Herewith we terminate the history of digitigrade
carnassiers belonging to the canine family or allied
genera, without including in the series the new
genus Cynwtfif, lately established by Mr. Ogilby :
for although it appears, from the short notices
published respecting two species, that they range
between the dogs and Civets, and are intermediate
between Proteles and Ryzena, not having personally
examined specimens, we are uncertain, but believe
it belongs to the elongated group, and therefore
should stand at the head of the Viverrine genera.

In conclusion, we may be permitted to remind
the reader, that in the groups before described, spe-
cific names have been bestowed upon several animals
which may prove to be only varieties or races of
species, because, while the limits of what consti-
tutes a species remain unsettled, it was judged, in
doubtful cases, preferable to point them out under
distinct appellations, rather than leave their indica-
tions mixed up with others under some common
name, often found to conceal more than one spe-
cies. In this manner, the objects are at least
presented to the naturalist in a form that provokes
his attention and invites comparison, whereas in
the more generalised practice whole groups are
liable to escape detection under the name of one
alone. We hope likewise to have rendered a ser-
vice to science by the application of distinctive
names to groups, because by their means are avoid-

284 POSTSCRIPT.

ed the polynomic designations which hitherto were
t necessarily adopted, without producing a prima facie
idea of the animal, or even of the group to which
it- belongs.

These conclusions are not the result of hasty
conviction, as it is forty years since we first com-
menced to collect the materials upon which they
are based.

POSTSCRIPT.

SINCE the first part of the Work went to press, we
have been enabled, through the liberality of Mr.
Warwick, of the Royal Sifrrey Zoological Gardens,
to make a drawing and take notes from a skin of
the wild dog of. Sumatra, from which it appears
that there is in several respects considerable dif-
ference between that and the living individual
described by the late General Hardwicke. This
skin being three feet two inches from nose to tail,
of which the head alone measuring nearly ten
inches, shows an animal double the bulk of the
living specimen, although the height at the shoul-
der cannot have exceeded seventeen inches, while
the other was fourteen, and therefore in form it
must have resembled Chryseus primcevus : its colour
was entirely of a bright rufous orange, below pass-

POSTSCRIPT. 285

ing into reddish- white ; the lips and throat very
pale ; the legs strong and deep red, no additional
toe on the hind feet ; the eyes oblique, rather near
the muzzle; the dentition not powerful, but the
after teeth in the skin were not visible ; the tip of
the tail black and the claws brown, strong, and
worn; the pads of the toes full and naked, the
rest of the feet furred : it was a female ; the mam-
mae not visible. This species is therefore nearly
allied to the Dholes and wild Pariahs of India.

We wish to add also, that we have lately learned,
through information obtained from a Portuguese
officer who had visited the interior of Congo, that
the Mebbia, by us noticed along with Lycaon,
should be classed along with the Chrysean group,
having, we are assured, a close red fur, a strong
body, and low legs.

We may also observe, that the wild dog of Ke-
maun, seen by Bishop Heber, appears to be the
same as Chryseus primcevus, and that we see no
reason to make any material modification in our
views respecting the dogs of antiquity, since we
have met with Mr. Wilkinson's admirable work on
the manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians ;
but it may be advisable to remark on our note in
Vol. I. p. 175, respecting the Sheeb, that this active
and careful observer merely learned that the Sheeb
had a round head and shaggy neck ; and mentions
also the Aboo-mungar, which the Arabs described
to be a Carnassier, with a pointed nose like a wolf,
springing like a leopard, or rather like a dog, and

286 POSTSCRIPT.

attacking cattle. These and several other notices of
little known species, attest the necessity of atten-
tive and particular descriptions, and are evidence of
how much there remains to be done, even in the
confined field of Canine animals.

SYNOPSIS OF THE CANIDJ3.

INCLUDING THE GENERA

CANIS, HYAENA, AND PROTELES

•

OF AUTHORS.

CANID^S.

DENTARY FORMULA. — Incis. -r-, canine ^ — =-, cheek-

£» /> O * — 1

teeth z — ~, = 42. Muzzle in general elongated ;

nostrils naked, lunular, open at the sides ; tongue
soft ; ears of all the wild species erect ; feet anterior
pentadactylous, posterior tetradactylous ; walk on
the toes ; mammae both pectoral and ventral.

DIURNAL CANID^E WITH ROUND PUPILS.

SUB-GENUS I.— CHAON.

SECTION I. — Lupus. The Wolves. Lupus -, GESN. ;
Canis lupus^ LINN. — Head broad ; muzzle point-
ed ; eyes distant, oblique, small, malignant ; ears
erect, broad, pointed; legs strong; shoulder
higher than croup ; tail long, with a scanty brush
tipt with black ; fur shaggy on the neck, coarse
on the body, but short ; dark streak across the car-
pus ; ten mammae ; voice howling ; stature at the

288 SYNOPSIS OF THE CAMMS.

shoulder thirty inches. Inhabit the northern he-
misphere from the Polar Seas to Central China
and the Crishna in India, Northern Persia, Na-
tolia, Europe, Morocco ? in America to the Isth-
mus of Panama.

Lupus vulgaris, NOB., Can. lupus, Auct., the Common

Wolf ; Lupus vulgaris of America.
L. lycaon, Auct., the Black Wolf.
L. nubilus ? the Dusky Wolf ; Canis variegatus, WIED.
L. MeoricanuS) the Mexican Wolf. %

SECTION II. — Lyciscus. Head broad, more arched,
muzzle pointed; eyes more approximate, less
oblique ; ears erect, pointed ; shoulder and croup
equal ; fur short ; tail bushy, tipt white ; dispo-
sition more placable; stature about twenty-six
inches; voice barking and howling; burrows;
gregarious.

L. latrans, the Prairie Wolf of North America.

L. cagottiS) the Coyotl of Mexico ; Loup de Mexique, Cuv.

L. tigriS) NOB., the Jungle Koola.

SECTION III. — Chryseus. Head broad, muzzle less
pointed, forehead rounder, ears erect, triangular ;
eyes less oblique; body long; fur short; tail
straight, with small, or scarcely any brush ; colour
fulvous; from muzzle to eyes, with the feet darker ;
shy, fierce, placable; seldom burrow; hunt in
troops; bark; stature twenty-four inches, and
less ; mammas eight ? Inhabit the warmer parts
of Asia, Africa, and the islands of Australia.

Cliryseus prim&vus, the Buansu ; Canis primaevus, HODG.
C. Dukhunensis, the Kolsun ; Canis Dukhunensis, SYKES ;

the Beluel of Avicenna.
C. scylax, NOB., the Dhole.
C. Ceylonicus* Canis Ceylonicus, BODD.

[The above four have the second tubercular tooth of
lower maxilla wanting.]

SYNOPSIS OF THE CANHXffl. 289

C. paJiariah, the Wild Pariah Dog.

C. Javanicus, Canis Javanicus, DESM.

C. SumatrensiS) Canis Sumatrensis, HARDW.

C. Australia, the Dingo.

Mebbia of Congo ?

SECTION IV. — Thorn. Form of wolves on a small
scale, not more than eighteen inches high ; struc-
ture very light ; tail rather short, forming a scanty
brush, tip black ; fur close, hard ; livery mostly
chequered, or pencilled with black and white,
extremities buff; are not gregarious ; do not bur-
row ; have no offensive smell ; howl seldom ;
mammae eight ? Inhabit Africa and South-west-
ern Asia.

Thous anthus, Canis Anthus, Cuv. ; Deeb of the Arabs.
T. variegatus, Canis variegatus, RUPPEL ; Abu. Schom of

Arabs.
T. mezomelas, Canis Mesomelas, Auct. ; Bonte Vos of

the Cape.

T. Senegalensis, Chacal de Senegal, Cuv.
T. Tokla, NOB. ; Tulki of the Persians.
T. acmon, NOB. ; Wild Dog of Natolia, or Great Jackal.

SECTION V. — Sacalius, the Jackals. Forms of the
fox, with the head of dogs ; stature not exceeding
fifteen inches, body longer, ears pointed ; fur ra-
ther coarse ; livery fulvous-yellow, grizzled with
white or black ; tail bushy, straight ; odour offen-
sive; burrow; gregarious; familiar; howl ex-
cessively; mammae six ? Inhabit Southern India,
Western Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe.

Sacalius aureus, the Common Jackal ; Canis aureus, BRISS.
S. Syriacus, Canis Syriacus, HEMPRICH and EHRENBERG;

Syrian Jackal, the Grey Jackal.

S. Barlarus, the Barbary Jackal ; Canis Barbaras, SHAW.
S. Indicus, the Indian Jackal.
S. ? procyonoides, C is procyonoidcs; Racoon- faced Dog»

GRAY.

290 SYNOPSIS OP THE CANID^E.

SECTION VI. — Cynalopex, Day Foxes. Form small,
elegant; tail long, strait, forming a brush, tip
black ; fur close, fine ; conch of the ears open, the
tip pointed ; livery yellowish and liver-coloured
greys ; teeth showing insectivorous propensities ;
soles of the feet furred ? black spot on the base of
tail concealing a gland. Inhabits the plains of
Tartary, India, and Western Asia.

Cynalopex corsac, Canis corsac.

C. kokree, Canis kokree, SYKES.

C. chrysurus, Canis chrysurus; Fulvous-tailed Dog, GRAY.

C. pallidus, Canis pallidus, RUPPEL; Abu Hosein of

Arabs.
<7. Turcicus? Renard Turc; Tilki of the Turks.

SECTION VII. — Megalotis, the Fennecs or Zerdas,
the smallest of the canine family. Ears very large,
broad, erect, double folded ; auricular organs much
enlarged; skull convex, no central ridge; feet
furred ; tail bushy, spot at base, and tip black ;
eyes diurnal ; mammse six ? jaws weak ; teeth
insectivorous ; burrow ; not gregarious. Inhabit
Africa.

M.famelicus, Canis famelicus, CRETZSCHMAR; Sabora of

Arabs.

M. caama, Canis vulpes caama, SMITH.
M. zerda, Fennec of BRUCE ; Zerda, or Durda.

CanldoB of South America. — All, it seems,
with a tendency to elliptical pupils, but none
perfectly as in true foxes. Dentition invariably
less powerful.

SECTION VII T. — Chrysocyon, Aguara "Wolf. Stature
nearly equal to the wolf; head smaller ; legs long,
slender ; mane on neck and shoulders ; tail straight,

SYNOPSIS OF THE CANTOS. 291

bushy ; pupils round ? mammse six. Habits
subdiurnal and nocturnal ; solitary, campestral.

Chrysoci/on jnbatus, Canis jubatus, DESM.; Canis cam-
pestris, WIED.J Aguara Guazu, Maned Aguara.

SECTION IX. — Dusicyon, Aguara Dogs. Forms be-
tween the wolf and fox ; body bulky ; legs short ;
tail medial, tip white; eyes oblique, pupils
round ? burrow ; more social, more placable ; eat
fish, crabs, birds, &c. ; swim well ; subdiurnal.

Dusicyon canesccns, NOB., Hoary Aguara Dog; Canis

Thous? LINN.
D. Antarcticus, C. Antarcticus, Auct.; Falkland Island

Aguara.

D. silvestris, NOB., Aguara of the Woods ; Chien des bois.
D.fulvipes, Vulpes fulvipes, MARTIN; Culpew molina.

SECTION X. — Cerdocyon, Aguara Foxes. Form of
foxes: very large brushes; rather low on the
legs; nose very pointed; pupils vertically con-
tractile with difficulty; fur soft, abundant; li-
very mixtures of greys, buff, white, and black ;
tip of tail black ; subnocturnal ; placable.

Cerdocyon mesoleucus.

C. Guaraxa.

C. Azarce^ C. cancrivorous is the young.

C. Magellanicus.

All the foregoing sections present species more
or less liable to intermix with domestic dogs.

292

VOLUME II
SUB-GENUS II.— CANIS.

DOGS PROPERLY SO CALLED.

MUZZLE greatly varied ; ears pointed or rounded,
and pendulous; eyes horizontal, full, prominent,
pupils always round , tail never reaching to the
ground, in general bent upwards ; fur long or short;
livery of all colours, with tendency to form spots ;
mammse varying from ten to six. Several of the
varieties in all the groups partake of two distinct
races nearly in an equal degree, and others bear
marks of three races. Feet in some partially webbed,
in others with a fifth toe and claw on the hind legs
as well as the fore; voice barking, capable of very
varied expression; intellectual instinct variously
developed ; domesticity voluntary.

Canes Perl. Feral Dogs. In general assuming
external appearance between the wolf and cur dog.

Canis ictinus ? Feral dog of Natolia.

C.fossor, Feral dog of Russia.

C. Haitensis, Feral dog of St. Domingo,

C. campivagus, Feral dog of the Pampas.

Canes Familiares. Familiar Dogs. Heads elon-
gated, parietals shelving towards each other, the

SYNOPSIS OF THE CANIDJE. 293

lower jaw on the same line with the upper molars.
Inhabited originally the northern and temperate
zones north of the Equator.

SECTION I. — Canes Lachnel. The Wolf Dogs.
Densely clothed with long hair: originally all
with pointed ears. Inhabit nearest the Arctic
Circle in both continents; sagacious, laborious;
stature large ; livery in general white and black.

Canis Sibiricus,...TT\}e Siberian Dog; Kosha of the natives.

C. lorealis, Esquimaux Dog.

C. Idandicus, Iceland dog, Fiaar hunt.

C. lagopus, Hare Indian Dog.

[The last three appear to have an Aguara origin,

mixed with wolf. J
C. Terra Mw#,..Newfoundland Dog.

C. laniger, Nootka Dog.

C. Aleo, The Alco; Goschis.

C. domesticus, The Sheep-dog.

The Wolf-dog (great).

The Calabrian Dog.

The Alpine St. Bernard Dog.

C Pomeranus,...ThQ Pomeranian Dog.

SECTION II. — Canes Laniarn. The Watch and Cat-
tle Dogs. Skulls very like the former ; stature
mostly large, some very large; fur short; in-
stinct of watching ; hunt ; bold ; moderate saga-
city; moderate powers of smelling; not very
docile ; ears erect or partly turned down. In-
habited originally the temperate zone of the
northern hemisphere.

Canis, Turkman Watch-dog.

C. Suillus, ...Suliot Watch and Boar-hound.

Molossian Dog.

C. ylavcus,...'Tlic Danish Dog.
C. laniariit8,..T\ie Matin Dog.

Tlie Cattle Doe- of Cuba.

294 SYNOPSIS OF THE CANIDJE.

,.The Primitive Lurcher.

,.The Native Indian Carrier-dog.

.The Techichi.

.The Wolf-dog of the Floridas.

,.The Dog of the North American Indians.

SECTION III. — Canes Venatici, GRAYII. The Grey-
hounds. Skulls like the former, but the plane
of the head more rectilinear ; stature high ; chest
deep; loins arched; abdomen drawn up; tail
long, slender, in the original breeds only fringed ;
ears small, pointed, mostly turned back and
down; small powers of scent; little sagacity;
little personal attachment ; great swiftness ; hunt
by the sight; livery black, white, and slaty.
Inhabited originally the temperate and warm
zones of the northern hemisphere in the old
world, to the tropics.

Races with long Fur.

The Brinjaree Dog of India.

..The Persian Greyhound.

.The Arabian Bedoueen.

Canis hirsutus, The Russian and Tartar Greyhound.

C. Sccticus, The Scottish Greyhound.

C. Hibernicus,JY\\Q Irish Hound (largest of all).
C. Grains, The Greek Greyhound.

Races with smooth Fur.

, The Turkish Long-eared.

The Egyptian Smooth Greyhound.

The Bedoueen Acaba Greyhound,

Canis Ita/icus^.ThQ Italian Greyhound.
C. leporarius, . .The British Greyhound.

Mongrel Races.

Canis vertagus, The present Lurcher.

The Egyptian Street-dog.

The Hairless Dog.

The Turkish Naked Dog.

SYNOPSIS OF THE CANID-E. 295

SECTION IV. — Canes tfagaces. The Hounds. Skull
moderately elongated, parietals not approximat-
ing, but expanding, admitting a larger develop-
ment of brain; ears rounded, pendulous; great
olfactory power ; great sagacity ; middle stature,
strong and elastically shaped ; tail turned up ;
livery white and brown in spots, or white and
black. Inhabit temperate regions of the old
continent.

Races with short Fur.

Canis sanguinarius,..The Blood-hound.

The Oriental Hound.

The Talbot.

The old Southern Hound.

The Stag-hound.

The Fox-hound.

The Harrier.

..The Beagle.

The Turnspit.

The Burgos.

The Dalmatian, or Coach-dog.

C. avicularius, The Pointer.

Races with longer Fur.

Canisind-'sr, The Setter.

C. eatrarivs. The Spaniel.

The Springer.

King Charles's Spaniel.

The Cocker.

The Blenheim.

C. Melitensis, The Maltese.

C. ufjuaticus The Water-dog, or Poodle.

., The little Barbet.

The Griffon.

The Lion Dog.

SECTION V. — Canes DomesticiL The Cur Dogs.
Head round, muzzle pointed, eyes large, promi-
nent, ears erect ; stature below the middle size ;
sagacious, watchful, noisy ; generally debased :
appear to descend from three distinct species.

296 SYNOPSIS OF THE CANIDJE.

Inhabited originally, 1st, the temperate western
regions of the old continent ; 2d, warm and tro-
pical regions of the old continent ; 3d, the tem-
perate and cold latitudes of South America.
Canis terrarius, 1. The Terrier.

The Pariah of India.

The Poe Dog of the Pacific Islands.

The New Zealand Dog.

The Patagonian Dog.

The Tierra del Fuego Dog.

SECTION VI". — Canes Urcani. The Mastiffs. Muz-
zle truncated, cranium elevated, frontal sinus
large ; condyles of the lower jaw above the line
of the upper molars ; mouth rounder in front ;
head large ; ears small, partially drooping ; neck
and loins strong ; legs strong ; tail carried erect ;
structure powerful. Inhabited originally high
mountain ranges, and the more temperate regions
of the northern hemisphere on the old conti-
nent.

Canis urcanus, . . . The Mastiff of Tibet.

.....The English Mastiff.

Tiie Cuba Mastiff.

C. Anylicus, T 'e Bull-dog.

The Bull-terrier.

The Pug-dog.

C. fricator, The Roquet.

The little Danish Dog.

The Artois Mongrel.

The Alicant Dog.

SUB-GENUS III.— VULPES.

THE FOXES.

PUPILS of the eyes elliptical or contractile into a
vertical slit ; tail long, bushy ; lower on the legs in
proportion to the body ; fur finer; habit nocturnal.

SYNOPSIS OF THE CANID^E. 297

SECTION I.— Arctic Foxes. Feet furred ; fur very
thick and abundant ; livery variable, from white
to bluish liver colour; stature low; swim; feed
on fish, &c. ; migratory. Belong to the Arctic
zone of both continents.

Vulpes Jayopus, The Arctic Fox; Isatis of GMEL.
V. fuligiiiosuS) The Sooty Fox.

SECTION II. — On the eastern continent north of the
tropic.

With Hack Tip to the Tail
Vu'pes (dope**... The Coal Fox.

The Brant Fox.
V. Ilodgsonii,.... The Nepal Fox.

With white Tip to the Tail.
VuJpes vulgaris, The common Fox.
The Norway Fox.
V. melanogaster, The Roman Fox.

V. crucigera, The Cross Fox.

The Black Fox.

V. Hunalaicus,.. The Himalaya Fox.

The Indian Fox.

V. ihaieb, The Syrian Fox.

V. Niloticus,.... The Egyptian Fox.

SECTION III. — Foxes of America.
With white Tip to the Tail.

Vulpe* fidcus, The Red Fox.

V. decussatus, The American Cress Fox.

V. aryentatus, The Silver Fox.

V. velong, SAY The Little Fox.

V. cinereo argentatus^ The Tri-coloured Fox.

With black Tip to the Tail.

Vu 'pes cinereus, The Grey Fox.

The Brant Fox of Pennsylvania.

Fox ? of Iceland, the Grastofur.

298 SYNOPSIS OF THE CANIDJE.

SUB-GENUS IV.— AGEIODUS.

DENT. FORMULA. — Incis. -> canines r^-* cheek -

7—7

teeth - — » = 46 ; incisors oblique, almost hori-
zontal; crowns of the upper molars flat, of the
lower tubercular ; carnassiers small ; false molars
three on each side above, four below; scarcely
any interparietal ridge, but one temporal ridge on
each side, broad, prominent, parallel, passing from
the post orbital process to the occiput ; ears very
large, erect, double folded ; eyes diurnal ? tail
bushy ; colours dark ; feet and form like that of
a fox. Inhabits South Africa.

Agriodus auritus, Megalotis Lalandii, HAM. SMITH ; Ca-
nis Lalandii; Canis Megalotis.

SUB-GENUS V.-— LYCAON.

f\ 11

DENT. FORMULA. — Incis. — ' canines ^ — r> cheek -
- g

teeth = — ^ = 42 ; external appearance of an hy-

sena; incisor teeth irregular, the central in each
jaw more internal; muzzle truncated; ears large,
erect, oval; head protruded; neck shaggy; tail
rather short; muzzle dark; black streak passing
over the forehead ; black throat; colours yellowish
and white, with black borders and streaks ; toes
four ; mammas ten ; glandulous pouch ? Inhabits
Southern Africa.

Lycavn wnattcus, Hyaena picta, TEMM.J Canis pictus,
Idem ; Marafeen of Ethiopia ?

SYNOPSIS OF THE CAMDJE. 299

GENUS II.— HYAENA.

THE HYENAS.

INCISORS -9 canine 7— ,? cheek-teeth - — :9 =34.
6 1 — l

Canines exceedingly robust; the carnassier molar
with three cutting edges on the outside, a small
tubercle within ; below, the carnassier bicuspidate,
without inner tubercle ; jaws powerful ; tongue acu-
leated; ears large; toes four; pouch beneath the
tail ; mane on the back. Inhabit Africa and South-
ern Asia.

Hyanavu'garis, The Striped Hyaena; Canis Hyaena, LINN*

The Naked Hyaena.

H. fusca. The Brown H ysena.

H.villosa The Strand Hyaena, SMITH.

H. crjcuta, The Spotted Hyaena ; Canis crocuta ;

Quimbengo of Guinea.

GENUS III.— PROTELES.

6 1__1 4_4

INCISORS — > canines - — > molars - — =±= 30,

o 1 — 1 o — 3'

supposed to be imperfect. Head small ; ears long,
pointed ; body deep ; tail with a coarse brush ; legs
long, slender ; toes five before, four behind ; cha-
racter partaking of hyaena and civet; pouch ? In-
habits Southern Africa.

Protela Lalandii, Viyerra hvaenoides. Cuv.

J. OGDEN AND CO., PBINTEB8, 172, ST. JOHN STKEET, E.G.

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