THE MASTIFF TYPE. IJ 



European, and places the English bulldog as the most typical 

 of the European mastiff group, and simply unique in its 

 characteristics. 



Before proceeding further it may perhaps render the subject 

 more easy of comprehension, if the history of the Asiatic 

 mastiff is briefly traced from the earliest times up to the 

 present. 



It would be difficult to denominate any precise home of the 

 Asiatic mastiff, or to give any more generic name to embrace 

 the allophylian varieties than that from their distinctive 

 features, they must at once be classed as belonging more or 

 less to the mastiff family. 



Their geographical position however has extended, and still 

 extends from the Caucasian ranges through the valleys of the 

 Elburz mountains, and onwards through the north of Turk- 

 istan to the Himalayas, and thence northwards over the vast 

 area of Thibet, the Shan districts, Mongolia and Siberia. 

 The accounts of travellers respecting the characteristics of 

 these Asiatic mastiffs are so varied, that the only way to 

 reconcile the conflicting statements at all, is to assume that 

 district varieties have arisen, owing to a greater or less amount 

 of adulteration, with the blood of the sharper muzzled sheep- 

 dogs of their respective localities. 



That a true Asiatic mastiff has existed from very remote 

 ages, is proved by their figures represented on Assyrian 

 sculptures some 650 years B.C. These show the broad short 

 truncated muzzle of the true mastiff, the lips being deeply 

 pendulous, and the loose skin down the sides of the face 

 falling in heavy folds. The ears being wholly pendent, and 

 the dewlap very pronounced (which seems very characteristic 



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