THE JACKAL 175 



fashioned out of stone, the tattooing of the body in 

 blue went on, and at the entrance to the hut the en- 

 emy's head was still nailed as a horrible trophy of 

 war." 



"I see," said Louis, "how immensely useful the 

 dog has been and still is to us; so I should like to 

 know at what time and by whom this valuable ani- 

 mal was trained for our service." 



"No one could give a satisfactory answer to that 

 question. The timing of the dog goes back to the 

 earliest times and all remembrance of it is lost. 

 There is the same deep obscurity as to its origin and 

 the wild species from which it is descended. No- 

 where has the dog been seen by travelers in its prim- 

 itive state, in a state of complete independence. If 

 some dogs are found leading a wild life, they are 

 runaways ; that is to say, dogs that have fled from 

 domestic life to live as they please in desert regions. 

 Such are those that burrow and hunt for themselves 

 in the vast plains of South America. They are cer- 

 tainly descended from domestic dogs carried thither 

 by Europeans ; for at the time of its discovery, nearly 

 four centuries ago, the New World had no dogs. All 

 that can be affirmed is that the dog came to us from 

 Asia already trained for man's use. Apparently 

 Asia made a gift to Europe of the oldest known do- 

 mestic animals, such as the ox, the 'ass, and the hen. 



"On account of the almost infinite variety in re- 

 spect to its coat, its shape, and its size, it is suspected 

 that the dog is not derived from a single source but 

 comes from various species that have been improved 



