156 THE DINGO. 



greyhounds, and terriers of the colonists. On Herbert river there are 

 rarely more than one or two Dingoes in each tribe, and as a rule they 

 are of pure blood. The natives find them as puppies in the hollow 

 trunks of trees, and rear them with greater care than they bestow on 

 their own children. The Dingo is an important member of the family ; 

 it sleeps in the huts, and gets plenty to eat, not only of meat, but also 

 of fruit. Its master never strikes but merely threatens it. He caresses 

 it like a child, eats the fleas off it, and then kisses it on the snout. 

 Though the Dingo is treated so well it often runs away, especially in 

 the pairing-season, and at such times it never returns. Thus it never 

 becomes perfectly domesticated, still is very useful to the natives, for it 

 has a keen scent, and traces every kind of game ; it never barks, and 

 hunts less wildly than our dogs, but very rapidly, frequently capturing 

 the game on the run. Sometimes it refuses to go any further, and its 

 owner has then to carry it on his shoulders, a luxury of which it is very 

 fond. The Dingo will follow nobody else but its owner ; this materially 

 increased my difficulty in finding a dog, for it was useless unless the 

 owner could be persuaded to go with me ; besides, but few of the 

 Dingoes understand hunting the boongary *, for which they have to be 

 specially trained from the beginning." 



As to the question of the antiquity and distinctness of the Dingo, it 

 may be well to quote the remarks and opinions of Frederick McCoy, 

 F.R.S., who has done so much for science. He tells us f : " The origin 



o 



of the domestic dog is a question of great difficulty and interest, which 

 it has been suggested could be best investigated by a study of the 

 Dog known to the lowest types of the human race ; and the aboriginal 

 inhabitants of Australia were thought to afford these conditions. On 

 the other hand, the remarkable absence of the higher orders of Mam- 

 malian Quadrupeds in Australia was supposed to render it highly 

 probable that the Dingo was not really a native of the place, but was 



* A tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus) discovered by Mr. Lumholtz in Australia, and 

 named D. lumholtzii. 



t See the ' Geological Survey of Victoria. Prodromus of the Paleontology of 

 Victoria,' decade vii. pp. 7-10 (1882). 



