FOUR-FOOTED PRIZE-FIGHTERS. 



horseman and hunters can see their game from afar, 

 dogs are, indeed, less indispensable ; but the Spaniards 

 valued a stanch dog above a fleet horse, and were the 

 first to breed those big blood-hounds that proved their 

 terrible efficacy in the conquest of the New World. 

 The race of the Caribs that inhabited the east coast of 

 Central America and the larger islands of the West- 

 Indian Archipelago was almost exterminated by these 

 domestic beasts of prey. Davila Pedrarias invaded 

 Panama with three hundred troopers and forty mastiffs 

 that had been trained to fight in ranks and used to 

 charge in the van of the squadron ; and Navarete quotes 

 as the lowest estimate that, in Cuba alone, the blood- 

 hounds of Victor Holgar killed four thousand natives 

 in a single year! Balboa's famous "Adjutant," Leon- 

 icico, was a gigantic butcher-dog that could kill an In- 

 dian as a terrier would despatch a rat. This monster 

 wore a coat of mail, and, in the opinion of his master, 

 was worth any ten cuirassiers in the Spanish army, for 

 in the three campaigns against the Honduras hill-tribes 

 he had rid the " king's dominions" of more than two 

 hundred rebels. During the last year of his eventful 

 career he drew the pay of a color-sergeant, and used 

 to be carried on horseback to economize his valuable 

 strength. The Indians hated him like a were-wolf, and 

 their cazique had offered a large prize for his head, but 

 that cursed cuirass always saved his life till a well-aimed 

 arrow hit him in the eye ; and if he went to where he 



