84 British Dogs. 



"The vast army of French and Belgian bassets may be divided into 

 three grand classes, viz., bassets & jambes droites, straight legged ; ditto, d 

 jambes demi-torses, with forelegs half crooked ; and ditto, d jambes torses, 

 forelegs fully crooked. And in each of these classes will be found three 

 varieties of coats, viz., the bassets d poil ras, smooth coated ; those 

 d poil dwr, rough coated ; and a class half rough half smooth coated, 

 which is called half griffons. 



" The types vary for almost each province, but the general charac- 

 teristics remain throughout pretty well the same. All well-bred bassets 

 have long, pendulous ears, and hounds' heads ; but the crooked-legged 

 breeds show always better points in these respects than the straight- 

 legged ones, simply because, when a man wishes to breed a good basset 

 d jambes torses, he is obliged to be very careful in selecting the stock to 

 breed from if he does not wish his experiment to end in failure ; for, 

 should there be the slightest admixture of foreign blood, the ' bar 

 sinister ' will be at once shown in the forelegs. Hence, the bassets 

 d jambes torses show, as a rule, far better properties than their 

 congeners. 



" In build the basset & jambes torses is long in the barrel, and is very 

 low on his pins; so much so, that, when hunting, he literally drags 

 his long ears on the ground. He is the slowest of hounds, and his 

 value as such cannot be over-estimated. His style of hunting is peculiar, 

 inasmuch that he will have his own way, and each one tries for himself ; 

 and if one of them finds and * says ' so, the others will not blindly 

 follow him and give tongue, simply because he does (as some hounds, 

 accustomed to work in packs, are apt to do), but, on the contrary, they 

 are slow to acknowledge the alarm given, and will investigate the 

 matter for themselves. Thus, under covert, bassets d jambes torses 

 following a scent, go in Indian file, and each one speaks to the line 

 according to his own sentiments on the point, irrespective of what the 

 others may think about it. In this manner it is not uncommon to see 

 the little hounds, when following a mazy track, crossing each other's 

 route without paying any attention to one another ; and, in short, each 

 of them works as if he were alone. This style I attribute to their 

 slowness, to their extremely delicate powers of scent, and to their innate 

 stubborn confidence in their own powers. Nevertheless, it is a fashion 

 which has its drawbacks ; for, should the individual hounds hit on 



