Cb. XL] THE HAIRLESS DOG. 205 



houses that run out barking at a stranger, but seldom 

 bite. 



The hairless dogs, mentioned by Humboldt, as being 

 abundant in Peru,* are not common in Central America, 

 but there are a few to be met with. At Colon I saw 

 several. They are of a shining dark colour, and are 

 quite without hair, excepting a little on the face and on 

 the top of the tail. Both in Peru and Mexico this 

 variety was found by the Spanish conquerors. It would 

 be interesting to have these dogs compared with the 

 hairless dogs of China, which Humboldt says have cer- 

 tainly been extremely common since very early times. 

 Perhaps another link might be added to the broken 

 chain of evidence that connects the peoples of the two 

 countries. 



A large naked dog-like animal is figured by Clavigero 

 as one of the indigenous animals of Mexico. It was 

 called Xoloitzcuintli by the Mexicans; and Humboldt 

 considers it was distinct from the hairless dog, and was 

 a large dog- like wolf. Its name does not support this 

 view ; Xoloitzcuintli literally means " a servant dog," 

 from " Xolotl" a slave or servant, and itzcuintli, a dog ; 

 and we find the word Xolotl inHuexlotl, the Aztec name 

 of the common turkey, which was domesticated by them, 

 and largely used as food. I am led to believe from this, 

 that Xolotl was applied to any animal that lived in the 

 house or was domesticated, and that the Xoloitzcuintli 

 was merely a large variety of the hairless dog. Clavi- 

 gero's description of it would fit the hairless dog of the 

 present day very well, excepting the size ; he says, it was 

 four feet long, totally naked, excepting a few stiff hairs 

 * " Aspects of Xature," vol. i. p. 109. 



