FRANCE 117 



In 1863 the Baron Joseph cle Carayon La Tour wrote as follows :— 



" I was instructed in the principles of hunting by Count de St. Legier and Baron 

 de Ruble. Both these sportsmen, jealous of preserving the old traditions, loved the 

 chase as a science with its precepts and its laws. Count de St. Legier had a race of 

 dogs of Saintonge, which he had carefully preserved throughout his long life. Several 

 individuals of that race are still in the possession of his grandson, Viscount Henri de 

 St. Legier. Baron de Ruble had a preference for the race known as dogs of Gascony, 

 as ancient as the other, of which to-day he is still the fortunate possessor. These 

 two breeds were of the same build, their height ranging from 23 to 25 inches. 

 They possessed the qualities that have always distinguished the French hound — very 

 high nose, a deep voice, and a proud and upright bearing. The dogs of Saintonge, 

 with their white skin marked with black, had a delicate head, ears which doubled 

 over, the neck long and slender, deep chest, the back well formed but narrow, the 

 thighs flat, the tail carried low, the paw dry and sinewy. The dogs of Gascony had 

 the hair bluish, marked with black, powerful head, the ear long and doubled over, the 

 lips somewhat pendulous, the back broad and muscular, the ribs rather projecting, 

 the tail small and held over the back, and the limbs very powerful. 



" The former were delicate, hard to train, lacking control, and offending chiefly by 

 reason of their temperament, the result of the regrettable persistence with which the 

 Count de St. Legier had bred only among the pack, erroneously attaching no importance 

 to the grave and inevitable consequences of this inbreeding. Nevertheless this race 

 had in its great days, in spite of a lack of energy, a wonderful doggedness in keeping on 

 the trail, which showed, at any rate, a true love of the chase and a noble ancestry. The 

 dogs of Gascony, on the other hand, were of robust health, intelligent, keen, and active 

 when at fault. They followed the wolf with passion, the hare with rare skill. Besides 

 these two races, there were one or two isolated kinds in the Ciironde, the remains of the 

 old kennels of a Bordeaux society, presided over by M. Desfourniel. These dogs, known 

 as the Bordeaux race, had much in common with the Saintonge and Gascony breeds 

 described above. M. Desfourniel, an excellent huntsman and devoted adherent of the 

 French chase, had bred some very handsome individuals, of which I have exhibited 

 some examples that have been most useful to me. These kinds, of which there is no 

 description in the older works on hunting, must have had a similar origin, resulting 

 no doubt from the crossing of the blue and black dogs mentioned by King Charles IX. 

 in his treatise on hunting. I first made acquaintance with hunting, then, in presence 

 of the oldest and purest races of French hounds. Having had many opportunities 



