6o Useful Companions of Man. 



" About forty years ago, or a little more, all their dogs 

 and several servants were swept away by an avalanche \ 

 but two the monks had given away were returned to them, 

 and the breed was thus preserved. One of the St. Ber- 

 nard dogs, Barry, a brindled and white one, saved the 

 lives of forty-two persons, and was vigorous and active at 

 the age of fifteen years, although they generally succumb 

 to rheumatism in their tenth year. He is preserved in 

 the Berne Museum, wearing an iron collar with large 

 spikes, which had often protected him from the wolves. 

 We are told he had discovered a man lost in a snow-drift, 

 and, being mistaken for a wolf, the poor fellow received 

 a blow on the head, and ' il etait oblige de mourir.' 



" At the time we were the guests of the monks, they 

 possessed but three dogs, Barry, Pluto, and Pallas. The 

 finest specimen had goitre or bronchocele, and wore a 

 muzzle, as he was of an uncertain disposition ; and a very 

 fine bitch was expected soon to add to the strength of the 

 company. Two dogs were placed out at some neigh- 

 bouring hospice. We purchased a young dog at the 

 Hotel des Alpes (on our way home), from the proprietor : 

 the mother had been procured from the hospice ; the 

 father was the fine speoimen we have seen there. Subse- 

 quently we found him very intelligent and good tempered; 

 he was very pleased to carry and fetch, and he appeared 

 to have an excellent nose : but, alas ! when nearly twelve 

 months old, like Barry, * il etait oblige de moiirir.^ All of 

 these dogs were orange tawny ; they had white legs, 

 flecked slightly with orange, white belly, white collar 

 round the neck; the head remarkably fine, majestic, and 

 full of character ; the ears small and set low ; the eyes 

 deeply set, a crease between them giving a mastiff cha- 

 racter to the whole animal ; from the eyes half-way down 

 the face black, then suddenly white to the nose (which is 

 black) ; the lips, which are pendulous, spotted \yith orange 

 and black ; the white above the nose is continued in a 

 blaze or streak up the forehead, and extends in a narrow 

 line down the poll ^ 7neeting the white collar round the neck. 



" The monks begged us to observe this peculiar mark, 

 and compared it to the badge of their order— a white 



