292 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



inhumanely treated as some tourists hastily 

 assume, and their lot has been much improved 

 by the prizes given by the authorities for the 

 best-kept dog every year. The harness is 

 admirable, distributing the strain and allowing 

 the animal to lie down when tired. Though 

 few of the present generation seem to remem- 

 ber the fact, draught dogs were common in 

 the streets of London until prohibited by law. 

 It is an open question whether their abolition 

 was called for by popular sentiment against 

 real or imaginary cruelty, or whether it resulted 

 from the more prosaic complaints of the noise 

 made by their barking at Covent Garden 

 Market at daybreak, which must certainly 

 have been very annoying to residents in that 

 quarter of the town. Whatever the cause, 

 they were declared henceforth illegal. Per- 

 haps this sweeping edict was a mistake. 

 Sweeping edicts often are. With proper 

 supervision of their treatment, and with due 

 attention on the part of the vigilant officials 

 of the R.S.P.C.A., many of our big breeds 

 would be all the better for a little hard work. 

 As it is, our mastiffs and great Danes are 

 merely ornamental, degenerating rapidly for 

 want of exercise to brace their muscles and 

 keep them in condition. 



Some animals have been reduced to a state 

 that is best described as half tame. Such are 



