422 



GREYHOUND 



GREYWETHERS 



shape ; many Egyptian monuments are decorated 

 with figures of dogs closely resembling the smooth 

 English greyhound. The greyhound has been 

 known in England since the time of King Canute, 

 who confined its use to the nobility by statute. 

 Until comparatively modern times only land- 

 owners were permitted to use the greyhound. 

 When the game-laws were relaxed, coursing be- 

 came open to all, until now upwards of five thou- 

 sand greyhounds are kept for public Coursing ( q. v. ). 

 Clubs were formed for the encouragement of the 

 sport, and a scale of points by which competing 

 greyhounds could be tested was arranged. When 

 it is desired to test two rival greyhounds, they are 

 placed in the hands of the 'slipper,' towards whom 

 the hares are driven. After getting the dogs in a 

 straight line behind the hare, he liberates them by 

 means of a mechanical contrivance, allowing the 

 hare from 50 to 80 yards start. The 'judge,' 

 who follows on horseback, then notes the points 

 scored by either greyhound, giving his decision, 

 from which there is no appeal, at the end of each 

 course. The scale of points adopted is as follows : 

 'the run-up,' fii'st reaching the liare, one to three 

 points, according to lead gained ; ' the turn,' causing 

 the hare to turn at an acute angle, two points ; ' the 

 wrench,' turning at an obtuse angle, one point ; ' the 

 go-by,' starting behind a competitor and passing 

 him, two points ; ' the trip,' knocking the hare 

 over but not killing, one point ; ' the kill,' not more 

 than two points, sometimes none, according to 

 merit. Many greyhounds, after they have been 

 repeatedly coursed, 'run cunning' or 'lurch' i.e. 

 allow their opponent to do all the work, only 

 waiting for an opportunity to kill ; this vice is 

 hereditary, and must be guarded against in breed- 

 ing. The greyhound is a large and graceful dog, 

 conveying an impression of great speed. His 



Greyhound. 



head should be long and narrow, with powerful 

 jaws ; shoulders, sloping back, allowing free play 

 for the fore-legs ; fore-legs, strong and muscular ; 

 chest, deep and narrow ; hind-legs, very long from 

 hip to hock, and 'well-bent.' The points of the 

 greyhound are neatly summed up in the 15th- 

 century rhyme : 



The head of a snake, 

 The neck of a drake, 

 A back like a beam, 

 A side like a bream, 

 The foot of a cat, 

 And the tail of a rat, 



which is still a fairly accurate description. _The 

 greyhound is rarely kept as a companion, its 

 intelligence not being of a high order. The Russian 

 and Circassian greyhounds are identical in shape 

 with the English greyhound, but much rougher in 

 coat, and slower. The Italian and Turkish grey- 



hounds are shaped very much the same way, but 

 on a very reduced scale ; they are used entirely as 

 pets, being too delicate for any active work. See 

 H. Dalziel, The Greyhound: its History, Points, 

 and Breeding ( 1886 ). 



GreyillOUtll, a rising port of New Zealand, on 

 the west coast of South Island, at the mouth of 

 the Grey River, 190 miles SSW.. of Nelson. Ex- 

 tensive harbour-works, including two breakwaters 

 and the addition of 600 feet of wharf, have been 

 erected since 1885, and railways to Nelson and 

 Christchurch were commenced in 1887. The 

 entire district is auriferous, and 55,036 ounces of 

 gold (value 220,503) were exported during 

 1887-88. Greymouth, however, is famous chiefly 

 for its coal, of which over 130,000 tons, of the best 

 quality in Australasia, were raised in 1887 in the 

 neighbourhood. Pop. ( 1891 ) 3787. 



Greystone, a rock-term (now disused) for 

 certain light gray lavas intermediate in character 

 between trachytic and basaltic lavas. The grey- 

 stones are probably all varieties of Trachyte (q.v. ), 

 but perhaps to some extent of liparite and even of 

 basalt. 



Grey town (San Juan del Norte), the only 

 Nicaraguan port on the Caribbean Sea, is on the 

 northern delta of the San Juan River, which until 

 1889 was nearly choked with sand. In that year 

 labourers were despatched from the United States 

 to commence work on the interoceanic canal, of 

 which Greytown is the proposed terminus on the 

 Atlantic side, and to construct a breakwater here. 

 Greytown was neutralised under the Clayton- 

 Bulwer treaty, and has been a free port of Nicar- 

 agua since 1860. Pop. 1500. 



Greywacke (Ger. Grauwacke), a partially 

 translated German word, used as the name of an 

 indurated sedimentary rock, which occurs exten- 

 sively among the Palaeozoic systems, where it is 

 associated with similarly indurated shales and con- 

 glomerates. It is an aggregate of rounded sub- 

 angular and angular grains and splinters of qiiartz, 

 felspar, and slate, sometimes with mica and grains 

 of other minerals and rocks, embedded in a hard 

 paste or matrix, which may consist of siliceous, 

 calcareous, argillaceous, or felspathic matter. The 

 rock is generally harder than most sandstones, and 

 is usually gray or dark blue in colour, but green, 

 red, brown, yellow, and even black varieties are 

 met with. It varies in texture from fine-grained 

 and compact up to conglomeratic and brecciiform, 

 and occurs in thick massive beds like liver-rock 

 (see SANDSTONE), and in thinner beds and layers 

 like ordinary sandstones and flagstones. It 

 represents the muddy sediments of the Palaeozoic 

 seas, and often retains ripple-marks, sun-cracks, 

 worm burrows and castings, and other superficial 

 markings. 



Greywetliers, the name given to large blocks 

 of hard sandstone, which are scattered sporadi- 

 cally over the southern and south-eastern parts of 

 England. The name has probably been suggested 

 by their resemblance in the landscape to sheep 

 lying about. Other names by which they are 

 known are Sarsden Stones, Druid Stones. They 

 are as a rule roughly oblong, and are of all sizes up 

 to 10 or 15 feet in length, and 2 or 4 feet in 

 thickness ; and are believed to be the relics of 

 beds of Eocene age which formerly extended over 

 all the region where they occur. These beds 

 probably consisted chiefly of loose sand, &c., the 

 greywethers representing concretionary portions 

 hardened by siliceous cement, which have thus 

 withstood the denudation that has swept away the 

 incoherent deposits of which they once formed a 

 part. The outer ring of monoliths at Stonehenge 

 is formed of greywethers. 



