BLOODHOUND.] 



THE DOG, AND ITS VARIETIES; 



[beagle. 



Racrificed on such occasions. Henry the 

 Minstrel tells a romantic story of AVallace, 

 founded on this circumstance. The hero's 

 little band had been joined by an Irishman, 

 named Eawdou, or Eadzean, a dark, savage, 

 and suspicious character. After a sharp skir- 

 mish at Black- Erne Side, Wallace was forced 

 to retreat, with only sixteen followers. The 

 English pursued with a border bloodhound. 

 In the retreat, Fawdon, tired, or affecting to 

 be so, would go no farther. Wallace, having 

 in vain argued with him, in hasty anger 

 struck off his head, and continued the retreat. 

 When the English came up, their hound stayed 

 upon the dead body." 



Mr. Boyle, in his Treatise on Air, informs 

 us, that a person of quality, in order to ascertain 

 whether a young bloodhound had been well 

 trained, caused one of his servants to walk to 

 a town four miles off, and then to a market- 

 town three miles from thence. The dog, with- 

 out seeing the man he was to pursue, followed 

 him by the scent to the above-mentioned places, 

 notwithstanding the multitude of market peo- 

 ple that went along the same road, and of 

 travellers that had occasion to cross it; and 

 when he came to the chief market-town, he 

 passed through the streets without taking any 

 notice of the people there. He ceased not 

 till he had gone to the house where the man 

 he sought rested himself, and where he found 

 him, iu an upper room, to the wonder of those 

 who had accompanied him in his pursuit. 



In 1803, the " Thrapstone Association" — a 

 society formed in Northamptonshire for the 

 suppression of felony — procured and trained a 

 bloodhound, for the detection of sheep-stealers. 

 In order to prove the utility of the dog, a man 

 was dispatched from a spot where a great con- 

 course of people were assembled, about ten 

 o'clock, A.M., and an hour afterwards the 

 hound was laid on the scent. After a chase 

 of an hour and a-half, the hound found the 

 man secreted in a tree, many miles from the 

 place of starting. 



The Cuban bloodhound, as it is termed, is a 

 dog of Spanish descent, sagacious and savage, 

 and which was employed by the Spaniards with 

 atrocious barbarity in their conquest of Ame- 

 rica; and, more recently (1795), in Jamaica, 

 agaiust the Maroons, who luid revolted, and 

 were waging a bloody and successful war 

 424 



against the government forces, but which the 

 very terror these dogs inspired, at once hap- 

 pily brought to a close. 



The dogs used in Cuba in the pursuit of 

 murderers and felons, have a fine scent and great 

 power. Their colour is tan, with black about 

 the muzzle; the ears are comparatively small; 

 the muzzle is shorter and more pointed than 

 in the ordinary hound, and they are shorter on 

 the limbs. In some prints they resemble the 

 mastiff or ban-dog, especially in the form of 

 the head, which approaches that of the bull- 

 dog : indeed, by many, and with reason, they 

 are regarded more as a variety of the mastiff 

 than the hound ; and, for ourselves, we hesitate 

 not to regard them as such. They make ex- 

 cellent watch- dogs, and attack both the bull 

 and the bear with determined resolution. 

 Their height at the shoulder ia about two feet. 



BEAGLE, HARRIER, AND FOX-HOUND. 



Several varieties of hounds now exist in our 

 island ; and of these, the Beagle, the Harrier, 

 and the Eox-hound are fiimiliar to all our 

 readers. No country equals England in the 

 swiftness, spirit, and endurance of its hounds ; 

 and in no country is so much attention paid 

 to the difierent breeds, especially the harrier 

 and fox-hound. The beagle was formerly a 

 trreat favourite, but is now little used. It is 

 of small stature, but of exquisite scent, and its 

 tones, when heard in full cry, are musical. It 

 has not, however, the strength or fleetness of 

 the harrier, and still less of the fox-hound, 

 and hence it does not engage the attention of 

 the sportsmen of the modern school, who, un- 

 like Sir Eoger de Coverley, are impetuous in 

 the field, preferring a hard run to a tame and 

 quiet pursuit. The beagle was only employed 

 in hunting the hare, as is the harrier; but the 

 fox-liound is trained both for the deer and the 

 fox. The strength and powers of scent of the 

 fox-hound are very great, and many astonishing 

 instances of the energy and endurance of these 

 animals are on record. 



The cost of keeping a pack of harriers, or 

 beagles, varies according to modes and means ; 

 also according to the nature of the country in 

 which they are maintained. In Irehmd, for 

 example, all things being equal, a pack would 

 be kept at a cheaper rate than a similar pack 

 might be expected to be in England. This, 



