DOG. 



305 



understood tnat the eastern islands even as far as the 

 Archipelagos of the central Pacific, it is highly pro- 

 bable that the dogs there are still originally of the 

 same variety. 



THK AUSTRALIAN DOG OR DINGO. This seems 

 still, in its essential characters, to be the same dog ; 

 and as there is no placental animal of nearly the 

 same dimensions in Australia, and the Malays have 

 long frequented the northern parts of that country, it 

 has in ail probability been imported by them ; though 



The Australian Dog. 



as the natives of Australia had no memory or tradi- 

 tion beyond their personal observation when they 

 were first visited by Europeans, it is not at all likely 

 that they could have remembered the importation, 

 more especially as their topographical knowledge 

 appears just as limited as their natural history. The 

 following is the description of the Australian dog : 

 the head is much elongated and compressed, and 

 tapers abruptly towards the muzzle, having much the 

 appearance of a fox, with short erect ears. In the 

 general proportion of the body he resembles the 

 shepherd's dog. His body is thick with hair ; his 

 tail bushy ; the hair is of two sorts, one woolly and 

 grey, the other silky and of a deep yellow. The 

 colour is deepest on the top of the head, and on the 

 upper parts of the neck and tail, and the back ; the 

 under parts of the neck and tail are paler ; the muzzle 

 and face and inner side of the hams are whitish. The 

 tail has eighteen vertebrae (dogs in general have nine- 

 teen). The length of the body from the point o 

 the nose to the commencement of the tail is two feet 

 five inches. This dog possesses great agility, and i 

 full of courage ; when running he carries his head up 

 and his tail raised or extended horizontally ; and he 

 is very voracious, seizing upon every kind of anirna" 

 food that comes in his way. According to the de- 

 scription, the dingo is altogether rather smaller in 

 size, shorter in the legs and neck, and by no means 

 so fleet as the wild dog of India ; but still the differ- 

 ences in these respects are not sufficient to refute the 

 notion of both being originally the same race ; anc 

 we may see why they should be different, both in 

 appearance and character, when we reflect on the 

 difference between the countries which they inhabit 

 From the great numbers of deer, antelopes, jungle 

 fowl, and game of all sorts, India is a remarkably gooc 

 dogs' country ; and we have experimental proof in 

 the fact of there being two irreclaimed races in sup- 

 plement to all the tame ones. Australia, on the other 

 NAT. HIST. Vor,. II. 



land, is just as bad a dogs' country as we could well 

 suppose. Most of the small animals are climbers 

 and even a sort of fliers, or leapers a great way from. 

 >ranch to branch by the help of the extended mem- 

 )ranes attached to their legs ; they also live in hol- 

 ow trees, and places where dogs cannot easily get at 

 them ; and thus the only game which is left for the 

 dogs is the kangaroo, which is a fleet jumping animal, 

 iar from numerous, and capable of breaking "the skull 

 of a dog by the stroke ot its immense claw, when it 

 kicks out in running. These may be among the 

 reasons why the dingoes were originally found almost 

 wholly in attendance on the bivouacs of the natives ; 

 and it also explains why this animal, which is said to 

 have been a favourite with the poor natives, has be- 

 come a notorious sheep biter, and even an enemy to 

 domestic dogs, since sheep and other European ani- 

 mals were introduced into the colony. On the first 

 introduction of sheep into the highlands of Scotland, 

 about the time when the old practice of honourable 

 cow-stealing by the men began to fall off, the curs of 

 many places became notorious sheep-stealers ; and 

 there are perhaps no dogs which will not kill sheep 

 when pressed for food, if they have not been taught 

 the contrary. 



THE AFRICAN DOG. The native dogs, which are 

 in a state of semi-domestication among the rude na- 

 tions of Africa, appear to be of nearly the same race 

 as those which have been already noticed, only by 

 being more domesticated their colours are more vari- 

 able. Their habits are not much better known than 

 the general characters of the countries in which they 

 reside. The following are some of the particulars 

 which are detailed. The wild dogs of Lower Guinea 

 go out to hunt in large packs, and when they meet 

 with a lion, tiger, or elephant, in their course, they 

 set upon him with great fury, and usually overcome 

 him. In these encounters they often lose a number 

 of their pack. They do little or no damage to the 

 inhabitants. They are red-haired, have small slender 

 bodies, and their tails turn up upon their backs. The 

 wild dogs at the Cape of Good Hope also range in 

 large packs, and clear the whole country where they 

 abound of all the wild beasts, and even the domestic 

 flocks belonging to the several districts. What they 

 kill they carry to a place of rendezvous, but allow 

 the Europeans and Hottentots, who follow them, to 

 take what they think proper without resistance. The 

 Hottentots eat the flesh they thus obtain, and the 

 whites salt it for their slaves. 



SOOTH AMERICAN DOG. When America was first 

 visited by Europeans, the Indians, both of the south 

 and the north, were in possession of dogs in a half 

 tamed state, and agreeing in many of their characters 

 with those dogs of the eastern continent which have 

 been described. Since then the numbers both of 

 Indians and of dogs have been very much thinned in 

 all the better known parts of the country ; but they 

 are still to be met with, and in the wilder places 

 where the Indians have retained their old habits, they 

 are still in possession of the dogs. 



The South American dog resembles the wild dogs 

 of India rather more than those of the Asiatic isles, 

 of Australia, or of Africa. The muzzle is rather slen- 

 der, the ears short and erect, and the hair pretty long, 

 especially that on the tail. The prevailing colour is 

 grey with a tinge of brown on the back, a yellowish 

 tinge on the under part, and ochre-yellow spots on 

 the flanks. In the South American forests, where 

 U 



