6 On Indian Degs, 



found among thefe Indians. There do not appear to be good 

 grounds to lufpeft that they were of the alco or itzcuinlepotz- 

 otlt kinds. It is certain that neither of thefe animals is now 

 known among any of the Floridian Indians; and it does not 

 feem hkely that the breeds which thefe Indians at prefent 

 poflefs have been reclaimed from the wild ftate fince the 

 time of Soto's **mad adventures." 



The does which are now in ufe among the Creeks, Chik- 

 kafah, and other fouthern tribes, are of different kinds. As 

 far as I have been able to colleft information concerning 

 them, the)', in general, bear a very ftrong family refemblance 

 to the wolf. One kind is very fimilar to the cants lycaon, or 

 black wolf, of which I have already made mention. It is 

 not, however, always black, but of different colours, com- 

 monly of a bay colour, and about o,ne-third lefs than the 

 wild black wolf. It carries its ears almofl eredt, and has the 

 fame wild and fly look thai the wolf has *. 



The other kind of dog is fmallcr than the one jufl men- 

 tioned, and is more like, the common red fox. Both kinds 

 bark, but not fo much as the common dogs; and their bark 

 is different from that of our dogs, being more nearly allied 

 to the howl of the wolf f . 



I am unable to fay, with certainty, whether thefe fouthern 

 dogs differ very elfenlially from thofe among the northern In- 

 dians. I rather fuppofe they do not. I know, at leaff, that 

 among the latter, as well as among the former, there are two 

 fpecies or varieties; one which has generally been confidered 

 as the wolf merely altered by the domefticated (late, and the 

 other more allied to the fiDx. But as my information con- 

 cerning the northern dog ^s more correct and particular than 

 it is concerning the fouthern, I wifli to be underflood as 

 ipeaking principally of the former, in the following defcrip- 

 tion of the Indian dogs. 



The Indian dog (I mean that which is moft allied to the 

 woH) is frequently called, by the traders and others, the half- 

 irolf breed. His general afpeft is much more that of the 

 wolf than of the common domellicate.d dogs. His body, in 

 general, is more fleuder than that of our dogs. He is re- 

 markably fniall behind. His cars do not hang like thofe of 



• Vrom the information of Mr. V\'illiaiTi Bartram. 



+ I have b'-en informed, that among the Cheerake Indians the dogs are 

 of a more mixed breed, more hke thole of the whiles. 'J Ills is doubtlefs 

 owing to the greater intercourl'e which has fuhlified between thefe Indians 

 and the whites. The Cherakee themfclvts are lb much mixed with tfie 

 Europeani that they are often named by the traders, the " Breeds." 



our 



