184 British War Dogs 



" Because I was perfectly certain that, in this case, the 

 idea of protecting property was innate or instinctive. I 

 have seen this dog escort a donkey, which had baskets on 

 its back filled with apples. Although the dog did not 

 know he was being observed, he accompanied the donkey 

 all the way up the long hill, for the express purpose of 

 guarding the apples. For every time the donkey turned 

 his head to take an apple out of the baskets, the terrier 

 sprang up and snapped at his nose ; and such was the 

 vigilance of the dog, that although his companion was keenly 

 desirous of tasting the fruit, he never allowed him to get 

 a single apple during the half-hour they were together." 



The desire for speech in the dogs — that is as an audible 

 mode of self-expression, is an instinct, on which we depend 

 largely in connection with our watch dogs. It has been 

 observed, that the faculty of expression itself through sound, 

 is regulated largely by the environment in which the dog 

 finds itself. Thus Mr. Romanes says, " Ulloa noticed, that 

 in Juan Fernandez the dogs did not attempt to bark 

 till taught to do so by the importation of some dogs from 

 Europe, their first attempts, being strange and unnatural." 

 Hancock says, that " European dogs, when conveyed to 

 Guinea, in three or four generations ceased to bark, and 

 only howled like the dogs, native of that coast. Lastly, 

 it is now well known, that the dogs of Labrador are silent 

 as to barking. So that the habit of barking, which is so 

 general among domestic dogs, as to be of the nature of an 

 instinct, is nevertheless seen to vary with geographical 

 position." 



In an interesting chapter on language in lower man, 

 Dr. Lauder Lindsay says : 



' There are many people, destitute of written and 

 printed language, and not a few savage races, which can 



