204 BRITISH DOGS 



ditto a jambes torses (fore legs fully crooked). And in each of 

 these classes will be found three varieties of coats viz. the Bassets 

 a poil ras (smooth-coated), those a poll dur (rough-coated), and 

 a class half rough, half smooth-coated, which is called half griffon. 



The types vary for almost each province, but the general 

 characteristics 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 a 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 fore-legs. Hence the Bassets a jambes torses show, as a rule, 

 far better properties than their congeners. 



In build the Basset a 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 overestimated. 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 a 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 separate tracks of different animals, unless at once 

 stopped, and put together on the same one, each will follow its own 

 find, and let the shooter or shooters do his or their best. That is 

 why a shooter who is fond of that sort of spoit rarely owns more 

 than one or two of these hounds. One is enough, two may be 

 handy in difficult cases, but more would certainly entail confusion, 

 precisely because each one of them will rely only on the evidence 

 of his own senses. 



I have now several clever Bassets a jambes torses in my mind's 

 eye, and their general description would be about as follows : 

 Height, between loin, and i5in. at shoulder; longish barrels; very 



