146 FROM MADEIRA TO THE BARRIER 



dogs; they follow the sport with genuine passion. 

 There would be no great objection to it if they had not 

 the peculiar habit of always combining to set upon a 

 single dog, who is chosen as their victim for the occa- 

 sion; they all make for this one, and if they are left to 

 themselves they will not stop until they have made an 

 end of the poor beast. In this way a valuable dog may 

 be destroyed in a moment. 



We therefore naturally made every effort from the 

 first to quench their love of fighting, and the dogs very 

 soon began to understand that we were not particularly 

 fond of their combats; but we had here to deal with a 

 natural characteristic, which it was impossible to eradi- 

 cate; in any case, one could never be sure that nature 

 would not reassert itself over discipline. When the 

 dogs had once been let loose, they remained free to run 

 about wherever they liked for the remainder of the 

 voyage; only at meal-times were they tied up. It was 

 quite extraordinary how they managed to hide them- 

 selves in every hole and corner; on some mornings there 

 was hardly a dog to be seen when daylight came. Of 

 course they visited every place where they ought not to 

 have gone. Several of them repeatedly took the oppor- 

 tunity of tumbling into the forehold, when the hatches 

 were open; but a fall of 25 feet did not seem to trouble 

 them in the least. One even found his way into the 

 engine-room, difficult as it might seem to gain access to 

 it, and curled himself up between the piston-rods. For- 



