204 THE CUR DOGS. 



innate courage, sagacity, and prolific power, without 

 training or care in breeding : we find these qualities 

 most unquestionably united in the terrier, and no- 

 where so fully marked with all the tokens of ancient 

 originality as in the rough-haired or Scottish species. 

 In the terrier we still see all the alacrity of innate con- 

 fidence, all resources of spirit, all the willingness to 

 remain familiar with subterraneous habitations, and 

 all the daring and combination which makes him 

 fearless in the presence of the most formidable ani- 

 mals ; for it is often noticed in India, that when the 

 bull-dog pauses, British terriers never hesitate to 

 surround and grapple with the hyaena, the wolf, or 

 even the panther. Nor is the arrangement of placing 

 the terrier race at the head of the cur dogs to be re- 

 jected, because we are habituated to consider that 

 appellation as applicable only to mongrels ; the name 

 Cur is only a mutation of the Celtic Cu, the Greek 

 Kwv, and even the Latin Canis, all emphatically 

 pointing to the most ancient and general name of 

 the dog in Europe. Among them there are con- 

 stantly found individuals endowed with the keenest 

 faculties and discernment. One of these, as related 

 we believe by Michel Montaigne, who witnessed 

 the fact, was the guide of a blind man, who, when 

 his road lay along a brook, would draw his master 

 to the farther side from the water's edge, although 

 it was there much more rugged and unfit to walk 

 on! 



