110 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



and ill-treated. All European breeds of dogs perpetuate 

 themselves very well in South America, and if the dogs there 

 are not so handsome as those in Europe, the reason is partly 

 want of care, and partly that the handsomest varieties (such 

 as fine greyhounds and the Danish spotted breed) have never 

 been introduced there. 



Herr von Tschudi makes the singular remark, that 

 in the Cordilleras, at elevations of 13000 feet, tender 

 races of dogs and the European domestic cat are exposed 

 to a particular kind of mortal disease. "Innumerable 

 attempts have been made to keep cats as domestic animals 

 in thp, town of the Cerro de Pasco, 13228 French (or 

 14100 English) feet above the level of the sea, but such 

 attempts have failed, both cats and dogs dying at the end of 

 a few days in fits, in which the cats were taken at first with 

 convulsive movements, then tried to climb the walls, fell 

 back 'exhausted and motionless, and died. In Yauli I had 

 several opportunities of observing this chorea-like disease ; 

 it seems to be a consequence of the absence of sufficient 

 atmospneric pressure/' In the Spanish colonies, the hair- 

 less dog was looked upon as of Chinese origin, and called 

 Perro Chinesco, or Chino. The race was supposed to have 

 come from Canton or from Manila : according to Klaproth, 

 it has certainly been extremely common in China since very 

 early times. Among the animals indigenous to Mexico 

 there was an entirely hairless, dog-like, but very large wolf, 

 called Xoloitzcuintli (from the Mexican xolo or xolotl, 

 servant or slave). On American dogs, see Smith Barton's 

 Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania, P. i. p. 34. 



