THE GREAT DANE ( GERMAN DOGGE ). 533 



and when bears and lions became scarce, the bull was sub- 

 stituted for them. 



John Stow describes a contest between three of these 

 dogs and a lion, in the presence of James I. One of the 

 dogs being put into the den, was soon disabled by the lion; 

 the second met with a similar fate, but the third immedi- 

 ately seized the lion by the lip and held him for a long 

 time, till, being considerably torn by the lion's claws, he 

 was obliged to quit his hold. The lion, greatly exhausted 

 by the conflict, refused to renew the engagement, but, 

 taking a sudden leap over the dogs, fled into the interior 

 part of his den. Two of the dogs soon died of their 

 wounds; the last survived, and was taken care of by the 

 king's son, who said: " He that has fought with the king 

 of beasts shall never fight with an inferior creature." 



The dogs, however, were not the antagonists of wild 

 beasts only; they or their descendants were also trained to 

 attack persons. During the conquest of Cuba and San 

 Domingo, in 1511, the Spaniards under Diego Velasquez 

 employed the dogs in subduing the natives and pursuing 

 them into the forests, where they had sought refuge. Hor- 

 rible deeds are recorded of the famous dog, Berezillo, that 

 was killed by an Indian with a poisoned arrow during the 

 conquest of Porto Rico, in 1514. A descendant of Bere- 

 zillo, Yasco Nunez de Balboa's dog, Leoncico, was also 

 famous for killing and tearing to pieces numbers of Indi- 

 ans. In 1519, the Spaniards J under Hernando Cortes em- 

 ployed these dogs in the same cruel manner to hunt down 

 and kill the natives in Mexico. 



During the reign of Charles the Great, in the eighth 

 century, the Canis molossus is mentioned, and in the for- 

 est laws of King Henry II. of England, of the twelfth 

 century, we read of the Canis mastivus. 



Many varieties are the descendants of the Canis mo- 

 lossus, the most popular of which are the Bulldog, his 

 diminutive relative the Pug, the English Mastiff, and the 

 German Dogge. 



In pictures painted by celebrated artists in the begin- 



