6 Some Account of the 



cribed to enable us to determine, with as much cer- 

 tainty as the naturalist could wish, whether it was 

 merely a variety of the common dog, or an entirely 

 distinct species. It is to be regretted, indeed, that 

 the naturalists who visited America in the sixteenth 

 century, whilst the alco was still a common animal, 

 have left us so much in the dark concerning its origin 

 and nature. Owing to their negligence, we are, at 

 this distance of time, only permitted to say, with 

 some degree of probability, what it was not. I do 

 not, with Mr. Pennant, think it probable, that it was 

 derived from the wolf. Its entire muteness is, I 

 think, greatly opposed to this idea; as is also, perhaps, 

 its complete domestication. If it were immediately 

 derived from the wolf, we ought, at least, to allow the 

 Americans some share of merit for the successful 

 pains they had taken to reclaim this animal from the 

 wild ferocity of his nature. 



This species or variety of dog appears to have been 

 pretty extensively diffused through the southern parts 

 of the continent of America, and, certainly, existed 

 in some of the islands, when they were first disco- 

 vered by Columbus. Peter Martyr, and after him 

 other historians, mentions the discovery of mute little 

 dogs in the island of Juanna, in 1492. Martyr says 

 they were deformed in shape, and that the savages 

 ate of them, as the Europeans did of goats*. I can- 

 not find that this species was discovered among any 



* The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West-India, &c. The 

 first decade, p. 15. English translation. London: 1555. 4to. 



