THE BLOODHOUND 



any fixity of type, and as far as it is possible to ascertain it resembled 

 a bad Great Dane (see Fig. 30) more than anything else, and was 

 undoubtedly a savage brute. The hounds which were used for 

 slave-hunting, and which are still used in some penitentiaries in 

 South America, were trained to pull their man down when they 

 had overtaken him. It would not be practicable to do this with 

 the Bloodhound, although, partly in consequence of his sanguinaiy 

 name (the innocent origin of which we have explained), and partly 

 in consequence of his supposed association with "Uncle Tom's 

 Cabin " horrors, the vulgar superstition is that he is a treacherous 



FIG. 30. CUBAN BLOODHOUND. 



and dangerous animal endowed with almost supernatural powers. 

 Nothing could be further from fact and there are few delusions 

 which die so hard as this. As a matter of fact, there is no member 

 of the canine race whose temper is more reliable, though, curiously 

 enough, a cross between the Bloodhound and some other breed is 

 frequently just the reverse. So far from being of a savage nature, 

 the Bloodhound (owing no doubt to in-breeding) is sometimes 

 rather shy. 



About the early part of the last century the breed became very 

 scarce, and if it had not been for the institution of dog shows it 

 might possibly have become extinct. 



In-breeding gradually became commoner, until now it is 

 scarcely possible to obtain two specimens which are not more or less 



