378 NATURAL HISTORY 



LETTER LVIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



MY near neighbour, a young gentleman in the service 

 of the East India Company, has brought home a clog 

 and a bitch of the Chinese breed from Canton ; such as 

 are fattened in that country for the purpose of being 

 eaten : they are about the size of a moderate spaniel ; 

 of a pale yellow colour, with coarse bristling hairs on 

 their backs; sharp upright ears, and peaked heads, 

 which give them a very fox-like appearance. Their hind 

 legs are unusually straight, without any bend at the 

 hock or ham, to such a degree as to give them an auk- 

 ward gait when they trot. When they are in motion 

 their tails are curved high over their backs like those 

 of some hounds, and have a bare place each on the 

 outside, from the tip midway, that does not seem to be 

 matter of accident, but somewhat singular. Their eyes 

 are jet black, small, and piercing ; the insides of their 

 lips and mouths of the same colour, and their tongues 

 blue. The bitch has a dew-claw on each hind-leg; the 

 dog has none. When taken out into a field the bitch 

 showed some disposition for hunting, and dwelt on the 

 scent of a covey of partridges till she sprung them, 

 giving her tongue all the time. The dogs in South 

 America are dumb; but these bark much in a short 

 thick manner, like foxes; and have a surly, savage 

 demeanour like their ancestors, which are not domesti- 

 cated, but bred up in sties, where they are fed for the 

 table with rice-meal and other farinaceous food. These 

 dogs, having been taken on board as soon as weaned, 

 could not learn much from their dam; yet they did not 

 relish flesh when they came to England. In the islands 

 of the Pacific Ocean the dogs are bred up on vegeta- 



