52 THE ALAN OR ALAUNT. 



Col. H. Smith states that the mastiffs of the Continent are 

 generally white, with very large clouds of black or red. 



I have known several mastiffs brought from Spain, all of 

 which have been jet black in colour, one, a bitch, was brought 

 over by some cattle dealers, with cattle, from the mountains 

 of Spain. 



As a proof of the presence of the mastiff or Alano in Spain 

 in past times. In Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads 

 mention is made of a mastiff that belonged to Don Pedro the 

 cruel, Vide n, 12, 13, and 14 verses of the xxii. ballad, 

 entitled " The murder of the master of St. Jago," whick took 

 place at Sevile in 1358. I have not seen the original Spanish 

 version, but the particulars mentioned in the ballad show 

 that a mastiff and not a small bulldog was meant. 



The foregoing enumerations fully prove the existence of a 

 white breed of Alans, both in England and Spain, conforming 

 with the Asiatic mastiff in type and uses, and being seemingly 

 of Phoenician introduction. 



It is very probable that it is due to their blood that the 

 white blaze up the face, on the breast and paws, was form- 

 erly so prevalent in the English mastiff, and still so frequently 

 re-appears. 



