DOG. 



303 



be left to predator}' animals of different structure. So 

 also those larger cats cannot prey on wide plains, be- 

 cause they have no concealment in which they can 

 lie in wait ; and, therefore, a race of animals to scour 

 the grounds are there required, not only to clear away 

 the decaying substances, but to keep down the num- 

 bers of the browsing animals, and of those birds which 

 seek their food upon the ground. In all such situa- 

 tions \ve have the proper work cut out for the genus 

 Cttnin, thouu'li. of course, the tribes of that genus are 

 adapted to different haunts, and possess different 

 habits. What they were original! y we do not exactly 

 know ; but from their superior sagacity, and the ease 

 and speed with which they adapt themselves to cir- 

 cumstance-, it is easy to see that they are exactly the 

 animals to conform their habits to every change of 

 place, and thus to preserve their existence, after those 

 races which, though more powerful in the individual 

 animal, and also in the individual effort, are much less 

 Capable of enduring changes. 



It. is farther worthy of remark, that animals of this 

 tribe have greater adaptation to all varieties of prey, 

 as v.eil as greater aptitude for all varieties of food, 

 than any other of the predatory tribes ; thuir social 

 habits, and the readiness with which they collect at 

 the sound of each other's voices, make them a match 

 in their collective capacity, for any animal which we 

 could suppose to inhabit their common localities. 

 These localities are the intermediate ones, neither the 

 marshy banks of the water nor the bleak hills ; and as 

 the more powerful of the pachydermatous animals, 

 such as the elephant and the rhinoceros, are found in 

 the marshes, which are also the resorts of the larger 

 of the genus Box, the dog tribe can always muster 

 in sufficient numbers to master any animal which they 

 have in general to encounter, and as they have more 

 staunchness than any other animals whatever, the 

 killing of a portion of their numbers by the animal 

 attacked, does not turn them from their purpose. 



Nor is their habit of miscellaneous feeding of less 

 service to them. This Mjries in the several tribes, 

 and also in the several varieties of the same tribe, or 

 even with change of circumstances in the same indi- 

 viduals ; but. generally speaking, they can eat that 

 prey which they have previously killed, or they can, 

 in case of necessity, eat the most offensive garbage ; 

 and also, in case of emergency, subsist in whole or 

 in part upon vegetable substances. They have also 

 some skill in what we may call animal medicine ; for 

 when a dog gels diseased either from improper food, 

 or from a surfeit, to which latter he is often subject 

 after lonir fasting, he knows as exactly the vegetable 

 substance which will set him to rights, as a human 

 gourmand of experience knows what to order from his 

 apothecary under similar circumstances. 



It is in different parts of India chiefly that the dog 

 is still found in what may be considered a perfectly 

 wild state, or living in the woods toward the moun- 

 tains, without any apparent disposition to approach 

 the habitations of the human race ; and those which 

 have this habit, are still very retired, so much so as to 

 be not very often seen, though they are known to 

 exist, and that in considerable numbers, all the way 

 from Nepal to the southern heights, and probably to 

 the extremity of India, in all situations where there is 

 sufficient cover for them ; but though these dogs are 

 well known, and have been seen and described by 

 Europeans, more especially since Indian zoology has 

 been so laudably and so successfully prosecuted by 



British officers, especially those at the out-posts, and 

 detachment stations in the wilder parts of the country, 

 still, with all the knowledge that has been acquired, 

 it is impossible to say whether those dogs existed 

 originally in the mountains and forests oi' India, or 

 have been allowed to escape in the course of some of 

 those wars by which that country has been so often 

 wasted. We shall have occasion to mention the 

 appearance of this race, when we come to give our 

 list of the leading varieties, so that all we require to 

 do here is to mention that no particular conclusion 

 can be drawn from these regarding what may be the 

 actual habits of dogs in a state of nature. There are 

 oliier ownerless dogs in the Indian villages, and also 

 in the towns, which resemble more in their manners 

 those varieties which live in the service of man ; and 

 these are more social than the dogs of the hill forests. 

 They are advantageous rather than otherwise ; be- 

 cause they come and assist the adjutants and other 

 large birds in clearing away the refuse, which other- 

 wise infects the air in an Indian town or village. In 

 this operation they are assisted by the jackalls. which, 

 thouuh they do not. make their appearance during the 

 day, begin to yelp in the neighbouring thickets as the 

 dn*k sets in ; and come during the night to perform 

 their labours, which are far from being without their 

 value. 



The circumstances now mentioned \\ith regard to 

 India tend to show the natural uses of the dog in 

 tropical climates; and this is about the utmost extent 

 to which we can go on that part of the subject ; be- 

 cause every where else the dog is to some extent or 

 other associated with man, and made to render some 

 sort of service at the bidding of his master. In the 

 more thinly inhabited countries which are wooded, 

 and consequently contain numbers of small quadru- 

 peds, there are many of those half-domesticated dogs 

 which seek their prey by ranging ownerless in the 

 woods ; but, generally speaking, they are of the same 

 variety with those that obey human masters. The 

 islands where the larger breed of dogs is kept, or at 

 least captured as game, are almost the only places, 

 wit.li the exception of India, where the wild rangers 

 of the woods and the domesticated ones are of different 

 varieties; and, as the wild dogs there are sought after 

 for food with nearly the same eatrerness as game is 

 in this country, they may be considered as in part 

 answering the purposes of flocks and herds to the 

 inhabitants. 



In the rest of the world, the other members of the 

 genus Cants come in the place of the wild dogs which 

 have been mentioned ; and in the extreme north the 

 foxes and wolves, are very abundant ; the latter espe- 

 cially are described as being, in the Esquimaux conn- 

 try, the determined and destructive enemies of those 

 domestic dogs which are so eminently serviceable to 

 the people there. 



In more advanced states of society the uses of 

 dogs are so familiar to every one, that it is unneces- 

 sary to repeat them ; but the probability is that 

 enough is not made of the strength and power of 

 enduring fatigue in those animals. It is true that 

 they are used for drawing trucks and small carriages ; 

 and though very many of them are in the hands of 

 persons who do not treat them kindly, yet they have 

 more apparent zeal in the performance of their work, 

 and do more of it in proportion to their size, and the 

 cost of their maintenance than any other of our 

 working animals ; and they at the same time act as 



