1 74 THE RED DOGS. 



of Beloochistan, one of two species of wild canines 

 found in the woody mountains of South-eastern 

 Persia, and probably extending along the high lands 

 west of the Indus into Caubul. It is described as a 

 red wild dog, very shy, and extremely ferocious ; 

 himting by day in packs of twenty or thirty, seizing 

 a bullock or a buffalo without hesitation, and tearing 

 the animal to pieces in a few moments. A British 

 officer, who traversed a part of this wild region of 

 alternate jungle and sandy plateau, deeply scarred 

 into long and parallel furrows, barren and vertical, 

 so that no quadruped can cross many without com- 

 plete exhaustion, observed a group of these red dogs 

 basking on the edge of the forest, yet on the watch 

 for game ; but they withdrew into cover before he 

 could fire at or completely examine them : they 

 were, however, long, and rather low on the legs, of 

 a rufous colour, with a hairy tail and a powerftil 

 structure : their foot-marks in the sandy soil were 

 very distinct, and indicated that their feet were 

 exactly like those of a hound. The native peasants 

 related that they keep aloof from human habitations, 

 and consequently do little injury to human pro- 

 perty ; but that no animal, especially if it be 

 entangled in the billowy ridges before mentioned, 

 can escape the pertinacity of their pursuit. Having 

 demanded some particulars about their structure, 

 they pointed to a domestic dog then present, and 

 said that the Belueh was very like it, but larger 

 and destitute of white colour, which marked the 

 domestic animal ; but that there existed, farther ti 



