THE VARIOUS USES OF DOGS 207 



mediately disappear in its gluttonous maw. So the 

 animal is drawn off at the right moment, while as a 

 recompense and to encourage it in this good work it 

 has a chestnut or an acorn thrown to it in place of 

 the mushroom, and then the digging is finished with 

 a small spade. This truffle-hunting requires, as you 

 see, constant watchfulness, since the pig might, in an 

 unguarded moment, unearth the truffle and straight- 

 way gobble it up. A grunt of satisfaction might an- 

 nounce the finding of the edible, morsel, but it would 

 be too late : the gluttonous beast would already have 

 devoured the tidbit. 



" Hence the dog is preferred to the pig, being 

 more active than the latter, more docile, of keener 

 scent, and seeking the truffles only for its master, 

 with no selfish motive of its own. It is marvelous 

 to see it at work. Nose to the earth, the better to 

 catch the faint emanation from underground, it 

 systematically explores the places that seem to it 

 the most promising, such as copses of young oaks 

 and thickets of brushwood. It scents something. 

 Good! It is a truffle. With much tail-wagging in 

 evidence of its joy the dog burrows a little with its 

 paw to indicate the place. Man continues the dig- 

 ging with an iron tool. But the truffle is not always 

 unearthed at the first attempt; the search involves 

 uncertainties and the following of false leads. 'Let 

 me look into this a little closer,' says the dog to it- 

 self. And it pokes its muzzle into the very bottom 

 of the hole, with sniffings that powder its nose with 

 earth. 'It is this way, master, to the left; dig 



