THE GREYHOUNDS. 165 



of their hair, according to the climates they origi- 

 nally inhabited, or two anciently distinct races 

 'exist; one with long, the other with a close and 

 smooth fur. The Russian and Tahtar have long and 

 shaggy hair ; it is rough in Syria, Germany, and 

 Hungary ; silky in the Deccan, Persia, Natolia, and 

 Greece; and smooth in southern India, Arabia, Egypt, 

 the Greek islands, and southern and western Europe. 

 In Roumelia, the Turks have a breed with smooth 

 hair, but with long-haired ears like those of a spaniel. 

 In the West, however, the smooth coat is the result 

 of importation ; for the native races were rugged, 

 until the French kings, down to Louis XV., began 

 to introduce the more graceful breeds from Constan- 

 tinople, Crete, and even from Alexandria. 



The old greyhound of the "West, like that of the 

 East Indies, appears not to have been of pure breed, 

 but crossed with some other species endowed with 

 scent ; and, consequently, we find that it did not 

 depend at all times upon the powers of vision. The 

 old Irish grey was similarly constituted ; and we 

 are thence inclined to believe the gaze -hound* was 

 in reality the present smooth race, distinguished at 

 first from the more common by the faculty of hunt- 

 ing by the sight alone, and that the name of grey- 

 hound was gradually transferred to it when the old 

 breed began to be neglected, and sunk into the un- 

 fashionable lurcher. Yet it was this ancient race, 

 tall, strong, fierce, and rugged, that obtained almost 

 the exclusive patronage of the northern conquerors 

 of Europe, and for ages nearly excluded the hunting- 

 * Not the Agasseus, which was very different. 



