Useful Companions of Man. 



59 



the low countries pass over the mountains. During this 

 inclement season all travellers from Martigny are desired 

 to pass the night at the first house of refuge. Every 

 morning a servant, accompanied by a St. Bernard dog, 

 descends from the hospice to take all the travellers under 

 his direction. The dog leads the way, for he can not 

 only discover the buried traveller by his marvellous 





St Bernard. 



powers of scent, but he can also to a certainty keep the 

 track, in spite of snowstorms and bewildering drifts. 

 The dogs have been used by the monks in these ways, 

 and in ?io other, for years, and they have acquired a well- 

 deserved high reputation for perseverance, sagacity, and 

 power of scent. 



" The old breed died out many years ago, and we 

 doubt whether the monks have possessed the present 

 race of dogs more than forty or fifty years. 



