222 WHITE 



of sharp-eared, peak-nosed dogs to draw their sledges; as 

 may be seen in an elegant print engraved for Captain Cook's 

 last voyage round the world. 



Now we are upon the subject of dogs, it may not be imper- 

 tinent to add that spaniels, as all sportsmen know, though they 

 hunt partridges and pheasants as it were by instinct, and with 

 much delight and alacrity, yet will hardly touch their bones 

 when offered as food; nor will a mongrel dog of my own, 

 though he is remarkable for finding that sort of game. But, 

 when we came to offer the bones of partridges to the two 

 Chinese dogs, they devoured them with much greediness, and 

 licked the platter clean. 



No sporting dogs will flush woodcocks till inured to the scent 

 and trained to the sport, which they then pursue with vehe- 

 mence and transport ; but then they will not touch their bones, 

 but turn from them with abhorrence, even when they are 

 hungry. 



Now, that dogs should not be fond of the bones of such 

 birds as they are not disposed to hunt is no wonder ; but why 

 they reject and do not care to eat their natural game is not 

 so easily accounted for, since the end of hunting seems to be, 

 that the chase pursued should be eaten. Dogs again will not 

 devour the more rancid water-fowls, nor indeed the bones of 

 any wild fowls ; nor will they touch the fetid bodies of birds 

 that feed on offal and garbage; and indeed there may be 

 somewhat of providential instinct in this circumstance of dis- 

 like ; for vultures, 1 and kites, and ravens, and crows, etc., were 

 intended to be messmates with dogs 2 over their carrion ; and 

 seem to be appointed by nature as fellow-scavengers to re- 

 move all cadaverous nuisances from the face of the earth. 



I am, etc. 

 NOTES 



1 Hasselquist, in his travels to the Levant, observes that the dogs and 

 vultures at Grand Cairo maintain such a friendly intercourse as to bring up 

 their young together in the same place. G. W. 



2 The Chinese word for a dog to a European ear sounds like quihloh. 

 G. W. 



