284 SHEEP HLSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



very active horse, saved the rider's throat and his life but so narrowly 

 nad he escaped, that he felt the gnashing teeth of the frenzied brute 

 scrape down his dress, where they came in contact with and closed upon 

 his watch, tearing it away with the adjacent clothing. The horseman fled 

 for his life, while the baffled dog vented his rage on the gold watch 

 which he had captured, by chewing it into atoms ! The cause of this ter 

 rible onset not being disclosed at the time, Mr. R., though convinced from 

 the character of the dog that he had not been the aggressor, felt constrain- 

 ed to give orders to have him shot. 



THE HUNGARIAN SHEEP-DOG. The following description of the Hunga- 

 rian Sheep-Dog, occurs in Paget's " Hungary and Transylvania :"* 



" It would be unjust to quit the subject of the Puszta Shepherd without making due and 

 honorable mention of his constant companion and friend, the juhfisz-hulya the Hungarian 

 shepherd dog. The shepherd dog is comnjonly white, sometimes inclined to a reddish 

 brown, and about the size of our Newfoundland dog. His sharp nose, short erect ears, 

 shaggy coat, and bushy tail give him much the appearance of a wolf ; indeed, so great is the 

 resemblance, that I have known a Hungarian gentleman mistake a wolf for one of his own 

 dogs. Except to their masters, they are so savage that it is unsafe for a stranger to enter the 

 court-yard of a Hungarian cottage, withoulanns. I speak from experience ; for as I was walk- 

 ing through the yard of a post-house, where some of these dogs were lying about, apparently 

 asleep, one of them crept after me, and inflicted a severe wound on my leg, of which I stiil 

 bear the marks. Before I could turn round, the dog was already far off ; for. like the wolf, 

 they bite by snapping, but never hang to the object like the bull-dog or mastiff. Their saga- 

 city in driving and guarding the sheep and cattle, and their courage in protecting them from 

 wolves and robbers, are highly praised ; and the shepherd is so well aware of the value of a 

 good one, that it is difficult to induce him to part with it." 



I have little doubt that the Hungarian dogs above described are the 

 descendants of the Spanish ones, introduced into Hungary with the Meri- 

 no sheep, though possibly they maybe somewhat crossed by interbreeding 

 with the dogs of the country. 



THE MEXICAN SHEEP-DOG. The following acccount of these noble dog8 

 appears as a communication from Mr. J. H. Lyman, in the third volume of 

 the American Agriculturist :t 



;< Although Mr. Kendall and some other writers have described this wonderful animal as 

 a cross of the Newfoundland dog, such, I think, cannot be the fact; on the contrary, I have 

 no doubt he is a genuine descendant of the Alphie mastiff, or more properly, Spanish shep- 

 herd dog introduced by them at the time of the Conquest. He is only to be found in the 

 sheep-raising districts of New Mexico. The other Mexican dogs, which number more than 

 a thousand to one of these noble animals, are the results of a cross of everything under the 

 sun having any affinity to the canine race, and even of a still nobler class of animals if Mexi- 

 can stories are to be credited. It is believed in Mexico, that the countless mongrels of that 

 country owe their origin to the assistance of the various kinds of wolves, mountain cats, 

 lynxes, and to almost if not every class of four-footed carnivorous animals. Be this as it may, 

 those who have not seen them can believe as much as they like ; but eye-witnesses can assert, 

 that there never was a country blessed with a greater and more abundant variety of misera- 

 rable, snarling, cowardly packs, than the mongrel dogs of Mexico. That country of a surety 

 would be the plague-spot of this beautiful world, were it not for the redeeming character ol 

 the truly noble shepherd dog, endowed as it is with almost human intellect. I have often 

 thought, when observing the sagacity of this animal, that if very many of the human race 

 possessed one half of the power of inductive reasoning which seems to be the gift of this 

 animal, that it would be far better for themselves and for their fellow-creatures. 



The peculiar education of these dogs is one of the most important and interesting steps 

 pursued by the shepherd. His method is to select from a multitude of pups a few of tho 

 healthiest and finest-looking, and to put them to a sucking ewe, first depriving her of her 

 own lamb. By force, as well as from a natural desire she has to be relieved of the con- 

 tents of her udder, she soon learns to look upon the little interlopers with all the affection 

 she would manifest for her own natural offspring. For the first w days the pups are kept 

 In the hut, the ewe suckling them morning and evening only ; but gradually, as she be- 



Hungary and Transylvania, by John Paget. Esq., vol. ii., p. 12, et supra* f Pe 94L 



