16 Some Account of the 



did not view the American dog as a mere domesti- 

 cated wolf. In other words, it shows, that they con- 

 sidered him as a hybrid animal. I may add, that 

 Carver and other writers, who have enjoyed pretty 

 extensive opportunities of observing the dogs of the 

 Indians, merely speak, of their resemblance to the 

 wolf, without pretending to assert, that they are only 

 domesticated wolves*. 



Owing, however, to the great affinity which sub- 

 sists between the Indian dog and the wolf, the sava- 

 ges, in some parts of North-America, bestowed the 

 same name upon both of these animals. Thus, Fa- 

 ther Hennepin expressly informs us, that Chonga is a 

 dog or wolf, in the language of the Issati and Naudo- 

 wessies. In general, however, the Indians apply dif- 

 ferent names to the wolf and to the dog, whether it 

 be their own (or native) dog, or those varieties which 

 they have received from the Whites. (See the list of 

 the Indian names of the wolf, and of the dog, in this 

 article. J I may add, that the Indians seem also to 

 have remarked the resemblance of some of their dogs 

 to the fox. For the Mohawks (or at least the Coch- 

 newagoes, who have sprung from the Mohawks) call 

 the red-fox, Cheets-hoo. Now the Tuscaroras, who 

 speak a dialect of the language of the Mohawks, call 

 a dog, Cheeth and Cheetht. Much dependence, how- 

 ever, should not be placed upon this application of 



* " The dogs employed by the Indians in hunting, appear to be 

 all of the same species; they cany their ears erect, and greatly 

 resemble a wolf about the head." These arc Carver's words. 

 See his Travels, Sec. p. 416. 



