THE PATAGONIAN DOG. 213 



with little or no care allowed to breed at random ; 

 hence in Paraguay, for instance, a true greyhound, 

 spaniel, or a bull-dog is very rare; the dogs in 

 general form a mixed breed, assuming, however, 

 characters distinct from the eur breeds of Europe, 

 and emphatically deserving the name of mongrels ; 

 larger in proportion, more sagacious, more bold, 

 with acuter senses, with more personal enterprise, 

 but also with less attachment to mankind, and al- 

 most entirely destitute of education. Hence, in a 

 climate where they find food sufficiently abundant, 

 and they suffer no rigour of cold, we cannot wonder 

 there should be feral dogs in numbers ; nevertheless, 

 the nations of the interior are still in part attended 

 by the same species as we have already described 

 under the name of Aguara dogs, and towards the 

 farthest south, where the resources of life are much 

 fewer. The resident Fuegian and Nomad Patago- 

 nians value dogs beyond measure, being only scan- 

 tily possessed of an indigenous breed, but from all 

 appearances having among them several mixed races, 

 acquired no doubt by means of the annual migra- 

 tions of the riding tribes towards the Pampas, and 

 by shipwrecks on the coast. Such at least, it would 

 appear, are the inferences to be drawn from the let- 

 ters on the subject Captain Fitzroy favoured us 

 with. We will here subjoin an abstract of their 

 contents, as much as possible in his own words. 



" The dog of Patagonia is strong, about the size 

 of a large fox-hound ; his coat is usually short but 

 wiry, though in some instances it is soft and long 

 like that of a Newfoundland dog; indeed I should 



