738 Canvas -Back and Terrapin. 



merino ram for the dog, at the time of the merino fever, when such rams were selling for 

 many hundred dollars, and took him over to his estate on the eastern shore of Mary- 

 land, where his progeny were well known for many years after, and may still be known 

 there and on the western shore as the Sailor breed. The slut remained at Sparrow's 

 Point till her death, and her progeny were and are still well known through Patapsco 

 Neck, on the Gunpowder, and up the bay, amongst the duck-shooters, as unsurpassed 

 for their purposes. I have heard both Doctor Stewart and Mr. Mercer relate most 

 extraordinary instances of the sagacity and performance of both dog and slut, and 

 would refer you to their friends for such particulars as I am unable, at this distance of 

 time, to recollect with sufficient accuracy to repeat. 



" 'Yours, in haste, 



" ' George Law.' 



" On inquiry, since the date of the above, of Mr. Mercer and of Dr. J. Stewart, it is 

 ascertained of the former, who owned Sailor, that 'he was of fine size and figure — lofty 

 in his carriage, and built for strength and activity ; remarkably muscular and broad 

 across the hips and breast ; head large, but not out of proportion ; muzzle rather larger 

 than is common with that race of dog ; his color a dingy red, with some white on the 

 face and breast ; his coat short and smooth, but uncommonly thick, and more like a 

 coarse fur than hair; tail full, with long hair, and always carried very high. His eyes 

 were very peculiar; they were so light as to have almost an unnatural appearance, 

 something resembling what is termed a wall eye in a horse ; and it is remarkable that 

 in a visit which I made to the eastern shore, nearly twenty years after he was sent there, 

 in a sloop which had been sent expressly for him, to West River, by Governor Lloyd, 

 I saw many of his descendants who were marked with this peculiarity.' 



" Does it not seem to be a characteristic of the best water-dogs that, like the 

 eagle and the owl, the lion and the cat, and other birds and beasts of prey whose 

 condition and habits require extraordinary powers of vision, as does the dog when 

 swimming in pursuit of ducks at a great distance, that they should have eyes of a 

 yellow or, at least, of an uncommon, not black, color? 



* * * "Were old Varnell (the trusted servant and duck-shooter of that vener- 

 able and high-spirited patriot, Doctor J. Stewart) still alive, he could relate many most 

 extraordinary feats performed by Canton at Sparrow's Point. She surpassed her species 

 generally in unrivaled devotion to the water and to the sport of ducking, as carried on 

 by the old Doctor's colored man, Varnell, with his murderous swivel gun! Her patience 

 and endurance of fatigue seemed almost incredible, and her performances would be 

 best illustrated by taking down, from the old Doctor and others, who remember 

 them, the facts of her fights with wounded swans, after pursuing them in the water 

 for miles. Also her extraordinary pursuit of wounded ducks, amongst rotten and 

 floating ice, and sometimes in fogs and darkness. On one occasion, she brought 

 out 22 or 23 ducks, all killed or wounded by Varnell at a single shot. A good 

 deal of time was lost in pursuing these wounded ducks, and at the close of this 

 pursuit, it being then dark, Varnell gave up the slut as lost, so many hours had she 

 been engaged in bringing out her game ; but after Varnell had sorrowfully turned 

 his face homeward, she overtook him with one or two ducks in her mouth ; and 

 the old Doctor remembers hearing Varnell say, that at one time, when she was most 



