of Selborne 235 



bitch of the Chinese breed from Canton ; such as are 

 fattened in that country for the purpose of being eaten : 

 they are about the size of a moderate spaniel ; of a pale 

 yellow colour, with coarse bristling hairs on their backs ; 

 sharp upright ears, and peaked heads, which give them a 

 very fox-like appearance. Their hind legs are unusually 

 straight, without any bend at the hock or ham, to such a 

 degree as to give them an awkward gait when they trot. 

 When they are in motion their tails are curved high over 

 their backs like those of some hounds, and have a bare 

 place each on the outside from the tip midway, that does 

 not seem to be matter of accident, but somewhat singular. 

 Their eyes are jet black, small, and piercing ; the insides 

 of their lips and mouths of the same colour, and their 

 tongues blue. The bitch has a dew-claw on each hind 

 leg ; the dog has none. When taken out into a field the 

 bitch showed some disposition for hunting, and dwelt on 

 the scent of a covey of partridges till she sprung them, 

 giving her tongue all the time. The dogs in South 

 America are dumb ; but these bark much in a short 

 thick manner, like foxes; and have a surly, savage 

 demeanour like their ancestors, which are not domes- 

 ticated, but bred up in sties, where they are fed for the 

 table with rice-meal and other farinaceous food. These 

 dogs, having been taken on board as soon as weaned, 

 could not learn much from their dam ; yet they did not 

 reHsh flesh when they came to England. In the islands 

 of the pacific ocean the dogs are bred up on vegetables, 

 and would not eat flesh when offered them by our 

 circumnavigators. 



We believe that all dogs, in a state of nature, have 

 sharp, upright fox-like ears ; and that hanging ears, which 

 are esteemed so graceful, are the effect of choice breeding 

 and cultivation. Thus, in the Travels of Ysbrandt Ides 

 from Muscovy to China, the dogs which draw the Tartars 

 on snow-sledges near the river Oby are engraved with 

 prick-ears, like those from Canton. The Kamschatdales 

 also train the same sort of sharp-eared peak-nosed dogs to 

 draw their sledges ; as may be seen in an elegant print 

 engraved for Captain Cook's last voyage round the world. 



