The Basset-Hound. 499 



l< To account for this somewhat extraordinary 

 assumption I must go back in the history of these 

 countries to somewhat remote periods, and ask the 

 reader what the use in those days, that is to say 

 the days when men did not take the trouble to 

 hunt small game, and the modern weapons of 

 sport were still unin vented, would have been for 

 such a hound as the Basset, which to-day, in 

 France and Belgium especially, is looked upon as 

 one of the best companions the sportsman can 

 have by him. 



" I need hardly say that such a hound as the 

 Basset, when men followed the chase on horseback 

 and looked upon rabbits and hares as vermin, would 

 have been quite out of place, and the only logical 

 conclusion one can come to as to the origin of these 

 hounds is, that as men took up the chase of the 

 smaller game a slower hound was required a type 

 of hound which would at once be produced by breed- 

 ing only from those that were short in the leg, and 

 consequently slower in speed. Breeding from such 

 hounds, it must be observed, would but tend to 

 decrease the height, and not the bodily proportions, 

 coat, or form of head. 



" In due time, as weapons made their appearance 

 and by weapons I especially mean when guns 

 came into use a slower dog still was required, 



K K 2 



