QUADRUPEDS. 27 



be ascertained (if at all) only by the investigations of the 

 naturalist. So infinitely varied is the external aspect of the 

 domestic dog, and so much does it seem to depend, not only 

 on the physical conditions of clime and country under 

 which the animal exists, but on the moral and political state 

 of the particular nation by which it is held in subjection, 

 that in numerous instances all traces of resemblance to the 

 original stock, or to any known species of wild animal, 

 have disappeared ; and after the lapse of ages, we are in 

 fact at last presented with what may be called artificial 

 creatures, incapable of subsisting without the aid of man, 

 and of which accordingly no strictly natural type can be 

 said to have ever existed in any age or country. They have 

 arisen in some cases from the necessities, in others from the 

 caprices, of the human race, which in tliis respect may be 

 said to have fulfilled the threat of Caliban, and " peopled' the 

 isle with monsters."* 



The jackal or chacal (Canis aureus) is extensively 

 spread over all the countries of the East. Its great voracity, 

 gregarious habits, and dreadful nocturnal cries are well 

 known to Indian travellers ; and poor Leyden has alluded 

 to this animal in his address to an Indian gold coin, writ- 

 ten, it is said, when labouring under the fatal effects of a 

 coup desoleil. 



" Slave of the dark and dirty mine ! 



What vanity has brought thee here ? 

 How can I love to see thee shine 



So bright whom I have bought so dear? 

 The tent-ropes flapping lone I hear, 



For twiligtit converse arm in arm ; 

 The Chacal's shriek bursts on mine ear, 



When mirth and music wont to charm. 

 By Cherical's dark wandering streams. 



Where cane-tufts shadow all the wild, 

 Sweet visions haunt my waking dreams 



Of Teviot, loved while yet a ciiild; 

 Of castled rocks stupendous piled, 



By Esk or Eden's classic wave. 

 Where loves of youth and friendship smiled 



Uncurs'd by thee, vile yellow slave I 



The most remarkable of the canine animals of India'is 

 the Thibet-dog, a gigantic kind of mastiff, which inhabits 



* See Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. 5, p. 540. 



