122 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



appear as if they were never to be sullied by the tempest. 

 But a storm suddenly comes on; the roads are rendered 

 impassable by drifts of snow ; the avalanches, which are huge 

 loosened masses of snow or ice, are swept into the valleys, 

 carrying trees and crags of rock before them. Benumbed 

 with cold, weary in the search for a lost track, his senses 

 yielding to the stupifying influence of frost which betrays the 

 exhausted sufferer into a deep sleep, the unhappy man sinks 

 upon the ground, and the snow-drift covers him from human 

 sight. It is then that the keen scent and the exquisite 

 docility of these admirable dogs are called into action. 

 Though the perishing man lie ten or even twelve feet beneath 

 the snow, the delicacy of smell with which they can trace 

 him offers a chance of escape. They scratch away the snow 

 with their feet; they set up a continued hoarse and solemn 

 bark, which brings the monks and labourers of the convent 

 to their assistance. To provide for the chance that the dogs, 

 without human help, may succeed in discovering the unfortu- 

 nate traveller, one of them has a flask of spirits round his 

 neck, to which the fainting man may apply for support ; and 

 another has a cloak to cover him. These wonderful exertions 

 are often successful ; and even where they fail of restoring 

 him who has perished, the dogs discover the body, so that 

 it may be secured for the recognition of friends; and such 

 is the effect of the temperature, that the dead features gener- 

 ally preserve their firmness for the space of two years." One 

 of these dogs is said to have saved as many as forty lives 

 and finally to have fallen a victim to an avalanche. 

 The Greyhound. The Greyhound is characterised by elegance 

 of form and grace of movement; he has also great powers 

 of speed and endurance, is mild and affectionate in disposition 

 and sagacious in matters other than those connected with 

 the chase. " The narrow, sharp head, the light half hanging 

 ears, the long neck, the arched back, the slender yet sinewy 

 'imbs, the deep chest, showing the high development of the 



