CM.] OF SELBORNE. 271 



LETTER CII. 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 



MY near neighbour, a young gentleman in the service of the 

 East India Company, has brought home a dog and a bitch of the 

 Chinese breed from Canton ; such as are fattened in that country 

 for the purpose of being eaten : they are about the size of a 

 moderate spaniel ; of a pale yellow colour, with coarse bristling 

 hairs on their backs ; sharp upright ears, and peaked heads, 

 which give them a very fox-like appearance. Their hind legs 

 are unusually straight, without any bend at the hock or ham, to 

 such a degree as to give them an awkward gait when they trot. 

 When they are in motion, their tails are curved high over their 

 backs like those of some hounds ; they have a bare place each on 

 the outside from the tip midway, that does not seem to be matter 

 of accident, but is somewhat singular. Their eyes are jet black, 

 small, and piercing ; the insides of their lips and mouths of the 

 same colour, and their tongues blue. The bitch has a dew-claw 

 on each hind leg ; the dog has none. When taken out into a 

 field, the bitch showed some disposition for hunting, and dwelt 

 on the scent of a covey of partridges, till she sprung them, giving 

 tongue all the time. The dogs in South America are dumb ; 

 but these bark much in a short thick manner, like foxes ; and 

 have a surly, savage demeanor like their ancestors, which are not 

 domesticated, but bred up in sties, where they are fed for the 

 table, with rice-meal, and other farinaceous food. These dogs 

 having been taken on hoard as soon as weaned, could not learn 

 much from their dam ; yet they did not relish flesh when they 

 came to England. In the islands of the Pacific Ocean the dogs 

 are bred up on vegetables, and would not eat flesh when offered 

 them by our circumnavigators. 



We believe that all dogs, in a state of nature, have sharp, 

 upright, fox-like ears ; and that hanging ears, which are esteemed 

 so graceful, are the effect of choice breeding and cultivation. 



