44 ANIMALS OF THE 



peans introduced others ; and even now, on the 

 remoter shores, or the more inland parts of the 

 country, the savages still make use of these ani- 

 mals in hunting. They are very tame and gentle; 

 and those of this kind that are wild are neither 

 so large nor so fierce as an European wolf, nor 

 do they ever attack mankind. They go together 

 in large packs by night to hunt the deer, which 

 they do as well as any dogs in England ; and it 

 is confidently asserted that one of them is suffi- 

 cient to run down a deer.* Whenever they are 

 seen along the banks of those rivers near which 

 the wandering natives pitch their huts, it is taken 

 for granted that the bison or the deer are not far 

 off; and the savages affirm that the wolves come 

 with the tidings, in order to have the garbage 

 after the animal has been killed by the hunters. 

 Catesby adds a circumstance relative to these 

 animals, which, if true, invalidates many of M. 

 Buffon's observations in the foregoing history. 

 He asserts, that these being the only dogs used 

 by the Americans, before the arrival of the Euro- 

 peans among them, they have since engendered 

 together, and that their breed has become proli- 

 fic ; which proves the dog and the wolf to be of 

 the same species. It were to be wished that this 

 fact were better ascertained ; we should then 

 know to a certainty in what degree the dog and 

 wolf resemble each other, as well in nature as in 

 conformation ; we might then, perhaps, be en- 

 abled to improve the breed of our dogs, by 



Dictionaire Raisonnee, Loitp. 



