THE NEWFOUNDLAND-DOG. 723 



fits him for the use of man, and he never shrinks from any 

 service which may be required of him, but undertakes it 

 with an ardour proportionate to the difiiculty of the exe-- 

 cution. 



" Sagacity, and a peculiarly faithful attachment to the hu- 

 man species, are characteristics inseparable from this dog ; 

 and hence he is ever on the alert to ward off from his master 

 every impending danger, and to free him from every peril to 

 which he may be exposed. He is endowed with an astonish- 

 ing degree of courage, whether to resent an insult or to 

 defend his friends, even at the risk of his own life. 



As a proof of the intellectual superiority of the Newfound- 

 land-dog, we may mention, that innumerable instances h^ve 

 occurred of their having saved persons from drowning, of 

 th^ir own accord, which the following facts will prove : — 



A farmer's servant man, passing a deep water on horse- 

 back, with a woman behind him, the latter slipped off, and 

 after a few struggles sunk to the bottom, unperceived by the 

 clown, who rode on. Some spectators at a distance hastened 

 to the water-side, and beheld the efforts of a Newfoundland- 

 dog which attended the careless servant. The friendly ani- 

 mal had perceived the woman fall, and instantly swam to the 

 place and dived after her. At first he brought her cap to 

 the shore, but looking at it he dived again, and brought up 

 her cloak : when he had brought it to the w^ater-side, he 

 looked at it for some moments as if with the anger of disap- 

 pointment, and rushed back to the place the third time, and, 

 to the wonder of the people present, he brought up the 

 woman, over whom he expressed every demonstration of joy. 

 She soon recovered, and was afterwards housekeeper to a 

 clergyman in Norfolk. 



In the summer of 1792, a gentleman went to Portsmouth 

 for the benefit of sea-bathing. He was conveyed in one of 



