Rutland. — History of the Pacific. 31 



intentionally or accidentally by man. The natives tame the 

 dingo, and train it to hunt, but it cannot be considered a 

 domestic animal, as these same specimens often refuse to 

 follow their owners ; and the females, when in young, always 

 disappear before the period of parturition, the natives being 

 thus dependent on the discovery of litters of pups in the 

 bush." That they fully recognise the value of the dingo as an 

 assistant in the chase is shown by the care they take of the 

 few they possess. According to Lumholtz, they are more 

 attentive to their dogs than to their children. From this I 

 think it may be safely concluded the dingo was not introduced 

 as a domestic animal either by or with the present aborigines, 

 for had they ever possessed it in domestication they would not 

 have allowed it to go entirely wild. 



The natives of Tierra del Fuego, who are far lower in the 

 scale of humanity than the Australians, maintain a breed of 

 domestic dogs they value so highly that in times of famine they 

 eat their old women rather than sacrifice these animals, f As 

 the natives of New Guinea, as well as those of Polynesia, had 

 dogs in domestication before Europeans came in contact with 

 them, the question arises. Why do the aborigines of Australia 

 differ in this respect from them, and from most savages of 

 whom we have any knowledge ? Woodford, who travelled in 

 Australia, and was familiar with the dingo, ascertained during 

 his visits to the Solomon Group that it is identical with the 

 ancient domestic dog of those islands. And from the follow- 

 ing description left by Crozet of the now extinct New Zealand 

 dog it is evidently identical with that animal also, and conse- 

 quently, we must infer, with the ancient dog of Polynesia : 

 " The only quadrupeds I saw in this country were dogs and rats. 

 The dogs are a sort of domesticated fox, quite black or white, 

 very low on the legs, straight ears, thick tail, long body, full 

 jaws, but more pointed than that of the fox, and uttering the 

 same cry ; they do not bark like our dogs. These animals are 

 only fed on fish, and it appears that the savages only raise them 

 for food. Some were taken on board our vessels, but it was 

 impossible to domesticate them like our dogs ; they were always 

 treacherous, and bit us frequently.":]: This, taken in con- 

 junction with the fact before mentioned of the taro being 

 found wild in a few parts of northern Australia, renders it ex- 

 tremely probable that some of the Polynesian people visited 

 the continent and settled there for some time, and that the 

 now feral animal and the feral plant were introduced by them. 

 The ancestors of the various dojnestic dogs scattered over the 



* " Among Gaunibals." Carl Tjumholtz. 

 t " Voj-age of a Naturalist." Darwin. 



\ " Crozet's Voyage to Tasmania and New Zealand." Trans., H. 

 Ling Roth, 



