474 THE PHILOSOPHY 



upon bearing particular foundsj the appearance of natural 

 enemies, the fele<5lion of food, &c. feem to be partly the effects 

 of imitation. It is remarked by Ulloa, that, in the year 1 743, 

 the dogs in Juan Fernades had loft the faculty of barking. 

 When aflbciated with other dogs, it was with great difilculty 

 that they again learned, by imitation to bark. The caufe of 

 thefe dogs loofing the expreffion of their ufual language in a 

 domefcic ftate, it is not eafy to invefligate. Perhaps, by the 

 aid of experience, and their own fagacity, they difcovered 

 that barking warned their prey to efcape from danger. The 

 jackals, however, who are confidered as belonging to the dog- 

 kindj, not only hunt in packs, but, during the chafe, make a 

 loud znd a hideous noife. Mr. White, in his Natural Hiflo- 

 ry of Selborne, a work which contains much information, 

 and dlfcovers a good and benevolent heart in the author, in- 

 forms us, that he had an opportunity of feeing two dogs, a 

 male and a female, which had been brought from Canton in 

 China. Thefe dogs, v/hich, in China, are fattened for eat- 

 ing, are about the fize of an ordinary fpaniel, and are of a 

 yellow colour. * When taken out into a field,' he remarks, 

 « t' e bitch fliowed fome difpofltion for hunting, and dwelt 

 « on the fccnt of a covey of partridges till flie fprung them, 

 ' giving her tongue all the time. The dogs in South Ame- 

 ' rica are dumb -, but thefe bark much ih a fliort thick man- 

 'ncr, like foxes •, and have a furly favage demeanour, like 



< their anceftors, which are not domefdcated, but bred up in 



< flies, where they are fed for the table with rice-meal, and 



< other farinaceous food. Thefe dogs, having been taken 

 « on board as foon as weaned, could not have learned 

 ^ much from their dam ; yet they did not relifh flefli when 



< they came to England. In the iflands of the Pacific Ocean, 



< the dogs are bred upon vegetables, and would not eat flefli 

 ? when offered them by our circumnavigators.' 



