■WOLF-DOG.] 



THE DOG, AND ITS VAEIETIES; [st. bernaed do&. 



«• ' Two yellow feet, such as Bran had ; 

 Tjco black eyes, 

 And a white breast ; 

 A back nariow and fair, 

 As required for hunting ; 

 And two erect ears of a daik-brown red.' 

 "Towards the close of the day, after some 

 severe runs, which, however, still left the com- 

 parative merits of the two dogs a subject of 

 hot dispute, Bran and Phorp were brought 

 front to front, to prove their courage; and 

 they were no sooner untied than they sprang 

 at each other, and fought desperately. Phorp 

 Beemed about to overcome Bran, when his 

 master, the Sutherland chief, unwilling that 

 either of them should be killed, called out, 

 ' Let each of us take away his dog.' Fingal 

 objected to this; whereupon the Sutherland 

 chief said, with a taunt, that ' it was now evi- 

 dent that the Inngalians did not possess a dog 

 that could match with Phorp.' 



"Angered and mortified, Fingal immedi- 

 ately extended his ' venomous paw,' as it is 

 called (for the tradition represents him as pos- 

 sessing supernatural power), and with one 

 liand he seized Phorp by the neck, and with 

 the other, which was a charmed and destruc- 

 tive one, he tore out the brave animal's heart. 

 This adventure occurred at a place near the 

 March, between the parishes of Clyne and 

 Kildonan, still called 'Leek na Con' (the 

 Stone of the Dog^) ; there having been placed 

 a large stone on the spot where they fought. 

 The ground over which Fingal and the Suther- 

 land chief hunted that day is called 'Dirri- 

 leck-Con.' Bran suffered so severely in the 

 fight, that he died in Glen Loth before leaving 

 the forest, and was buried there. A huge cairn 

 was heaped over him, which still remains, and 

 is known by the name of ' Cairn Bran.' " 



Thus, whilst the ancient Highland chiefs 

 piled a cairn, or heap of small stones, on the 

 graves of their favourite dogs, modern ad- 

 mirers erect to them monuments, and engrave 

 upon them epitaphs, which celebrate their 

 virtues. 



The original greyhound was a long-haired 

 dog ; and the modern smooth-coated and thin 

 animal, now known by that name, is compara- 

 tively of recent date. Of this we have suffi- 

 cient evidence in the ancient monuments of 

 Egypt, where, as well as in Persia and India, 

 rough greyhounds of great size and power still 

 408 



exist. A dog of the same kind has been de- 

 scribed by H. Smith, as well known in Arabia ; 

 and a gigantic rough greyhound was found by 

 Dr. Clarke, on the confines of Circassia, and 

 by him described as identical with our old Irish 

 greyhound. 



THE NEWFOUNDLAND, LABRADOR, AND ST. 

 BERNARD DOGS. 



'We are inclined to consider the Italian wolf- 

 dog, used in the Abruzzi by the shepherds to 

 defend their flocks, the Newfoundland and 

 Labrador dog, and the Alpine dog, as the re- 

 presentatives of a distinct group ; the latter 

 dog, indeed, approximates to the mastiff. We 

 have seen several noble specimens of the Al- 

 pine, or St. Bernard breed : their size is equal 

 to that of the largest mastiff; the muzzle is 

 deep ; the ears are pendulous ; the fur is rather 

 long and wiry ; the eye is full and very expres- 

 sive ; and the form of the body and limbs indi- 

 cates great strength. Their sense of smell is 

 very acute, and aids them in the work of 

 mercy to which the worthy monks of the con- 

 vent of the Great St. Bernard have applied 

 them. To the honour of those excellent men 

 be it spoken, that while others have trained 

 the dog to the combat, to the chase of the run- 

 away slave, and to the pursuit of game, they 

 have availed themselves of the power, intelli- 

 gence, and courage of the animal, to rescue 

 the unhappy traveller from the horrors of 

 death amidst the snows of the mountains. 



One of these noble dogs was decorated with 

 a medal, in commemoration of his having 

 saved the lives of twenty-two persons, who, 

 but for his sagacity, must have perished. He 

 was lost in 1816, in an attempt to convey a 

 poor traveller to his anxious family. The man 

 was a Piedmontese courier, who arrived at St. 

 Bernard in a very stormy season, labouring to 

 make his way to the little village of St. Pierre, 

 in the valley beneath the mountain, where his 

 wife and children dwelt. It was in vain that 

 the monks attempted to check his resolution 

 to reach his family. They at last gave him 

 two guides, each of whom was accompanied by 

 a dog, of which one was the remarkable crea- 

 ture whose services had been so valuable to 

 mankind. Descending from the convent, they 

 were in an instant overwhelmed by two ava- 

 lanches; and the same common destruction 



