130 THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 



toes and curving claws capable of being sheathed 

 like those of a cat — also needing clipping if the dog 

 is kept too much in the house. In short, the Chihua- 

 hua is built for a burrowing animal, even the lazy 

 Betsinda digging for hours at a time if the notion 

 seized her. Another and by no means negligible 

 proof of ancestry is insisted on by Chihuahua 

 breeders: the pups are more or less of a gamble: 

 one of a litter may sport back to some ancestor of 

 whom nothing is known. But litter is a misnomer ; 

 the mother who presents her owner with three pups 

 is rare. In these comments the imitation animal 

 bought by Tenderfooters at fancy prices finds no 

 place. Tiny terriers can be evolved by inbreeding 

 or liquor doping, but they seldom boast a single 

 truebred point or characteristic. Mexicans, or 

 Americans long resident in Mexico will have none of 

 these fakes, to which however, find a ready market 

 owing to the increasing scarcity of the genuine Chi- 

 huahua — scarcity induced, perhaps, by unsettled 

 conditions in Mexico of such long standing.* 



Montezuma was considered by competent judges 

 a perfect specimen, though as he stood eight inches 

 high, a trifle oversized. Dog fanciers offered big 

 prices for him, and nothing but his wariness and 

 my watchfulness prevented him from being stolen 

 again and again. Even Cortes, not so perfect, had 

 his narrow escapes, and once indeed was kidnapped 

 and would have been spirited across the border had 

 he not been recognized and regained by an acquain- 

 tance. 



*So little is known in the Eastern States of the Chihuahua dog, 

 its points, breeding and so forth that one may see even in periodicals 

 of high standing quite amusing travesties of the little animal. 



