OF SELBORNE 235 



LETTER LVIII 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARR1NGTON 



MY near neighbour, a young gentleman in the service of 

 the East-India Company, has brought home a dog and a 

 bitch of the Chinese breed from Canton ; such as are 

 fattened in that country for the purpose of being eaten : 

 they are about the size of a moderate spaniel ; of a pale 

 yellow colour, with coarse bristling hairs on their backs; 

 sharp upright ears, and peaked heads, which give them a 

 very fox-like appearance. Their hind legs are unusually 

 straight, without any bend at the hock or ham, to such a 

 degree as to give them an awkward gait when they trot. 

 When they are in motion their tails are curved high over 

 their backs like those of some hounds, and have a bare 

 place each on the outside from the tip midway, that does 

 not seem to be matter of accident, but somewhat singular. 

 Their eyes are jet-black, small, and piercing ; the insides 

 of their lips and mouths of the same colour, and their 

 tongues blue. The bitch has a dew claw on each hind 

 leg ; the dog has none. When taken out into a field the 

 bitch showed some disposition for hunting, and dwelt on 

 the scent of a covey of partridges till she sprung them, 

 giving her tongue all the time. The dogs in South 

 America are dumb ; but these bark much in a short thick 

 manner, like foxes ; and have a surly, savage demeanour 

 like their ancestors, which are not domesticated, but bred 

 up in sties, where they are fed for the table with rice- 

 meal and other farinaceous food. These dogs, having 

 been taken on board as soon as weaned, could not learn 

 much from their dam ; yet they did not relish flesh when 

 they came to England. In the islands of the pacific ocean 

 the dogs are bred up on vegetables, and would not eat 

 flesh when offered them by our circumnavigators. 



We believe that all dogs, in a state of nature, have 

 sharp, upright fox-like ears ; and that hanging ears, which 



