ILLUSTRATIONS (15). WILD DOG. 87 



generally despise them, and treat them ill. All European 

 dogs multiply rapidly in South America; and if no species 

 are to be met with equal to those of Europe, it is partly 

 owing to want of care, and partly to the circumstance that the 

 finest varieties (as the elegant greyhound and the Danish 

 tiger breed) have never been introduced. 



Von Tschudi makes the singular remark, that on the Cor- 

 dilleras, at elevations of more than 12,000 feet, delicate 

 breeds of dogs and the European domestic cat are exposed 

 to a particular kind of mortal disease. " Innumerable at- 

 tempts have been made to keep cats as domestic animals 

 in the town of Cerro de Pasco (lying at an elevation of 

 14,100 feet above the sea's level); but such endeavours 

 have invariably been frustrated, as both cats and dogs have 

 died in convulsions at the end of a few days. The cats, 

 after being attacked by convulsive fits, attempt to climb the 

 walls, but soon fall to the ground exhausted and motion- 

 less. I frequently observed instances in Yauli of this chorea- 

 like disease ; and it seems to arise from insufficient atmospheric 

 pressure." In the Spanish colonies, the hairless dog, which 

 is called Perro chinesco, or chino, is supposed to be of Chinese 

 origin, and to have been brought from Canton, or from Manila. 

 According to Klaproth, the race has been very common in the 

 Chinese Empire from the earliest ages of its culture. Among 

 the animals indigenous to Mexico, there was a very large, 

 totally hairless, and dog-like wolf, named Xoloitzcuintli, from 

 the Mexican xolo or xolotl, a servant or slave.* 



The result of Tschudi's observations regarding the American 

 indigenous races of dogs are as follows: There are two 

 varieties almost specifically different 1 . The Canis caraibicus 

 of Lesson, totally hairless, with the exception of a small tuft 

 of white hair on the forehead and at the tip of the tail ; of a 

 slate-gray colour, and without voice. This variety was found 

 by Columbus in the Antilles, by Cortes in Mexico, and by 

 Pizarro in Peru (where it suffers from the cold of the Cordil- 

 leras) ; and it is still very frequently met with in the warmer 

 districts of Peru, under the name of Perros chinos. 2. The 

 Canis ingce, which belongs to the barking species, and has a 

 pointed nose and pointed ears : it is now used for watching 

 sheep and cattle; it exhibits many variations of colour, in- 



* On the dogs of America, see Smith Barton's Fragments of tlie 

 Natural History of Pennsylvania, p. i., p. 3.4. 



