ENGLISH POINTER TRUFFLE HUNTING. J19 



THE POINTER. 



THE figure here exhibited, appears to ns a very correct representation of the 

 modern ENGLISH POINTER ; the result doubtless of a Fox Hound cross upon the 

 old Spanish Pointer, but not so deep a dip of the lightest Fox Hound blood, as 

 distinguished the famous Dash, possessed by Colonel Thornton, some years ago ; 

 which indeed, in figure, shewed more of the Fox Hound, than we ever witnessed 

 in any other Pointer. The more we reflect, the greater probability appears of 

 the truth of what we have already advanced on the almost identity and converti- 

 bility of blood and qualification in the Hound and Pointer. In the mean time, as 

 to natural pointing, is there any specific or striking difference, in that respect, 

 between the Pointer and the Houndand suppose a puppy of each kind, taken 

 together into the field, would there be any visible and obvious difference in their 

 mode of hunting would the pointer puppy alone, stand? That high-crossed 

 Pointers would hunt Deer, Hare, or Fox, we have no doubt from what we have 

 repeatedly witnessed in the field ; which is also confirmed by the well known cir- 

 cumstance of Colonel Thornton's pointer Pluto, a dog apparently by no means so 

 highly hound -crossed as the celebrated Dash, running many long and successful 

 chases after outlying Deer. A pack of modern Pointers would, in all probability, 

 hunt as fast as the old Southern Hounds. 



Truffle hunting is, we believe, pursued indifferently, with Pointers, Setters, and 

 Spaniels, trained to the purpose. Truffles are subterraneous mushrooms, much 

 more plentiful in the Southern Countries than in this. In Italy, a Pig is the usual 

 truffle hunter, and he is trained to lead in the field, by a cord tied to his hinder leg, 

 the Huntsman discovering his game in the spot where the pig begins to root. 



This kind of mushroom is, we believe, sometimes found on Salisbury Plain, and 

 there used to be a considerable quantity of them found in the Park of the late Duke 

 of Queensbury, at Ambresbury. A gentleman, many years ago, in the summer 

 season, accompanied a Truffle hunter in that Park, where the dog found repeatedly. 

 Suddenly he leaped over an adjoining hedge, and ran with the utmost haste across 

 a field, full one hundred yards to the opposite hedge, where, under a Beech tree, he 

 found, and returned with a truffle of uncommon size, weighing twelve and a half 

 ounces. This is related as an extraordinary proof of the exquisite sense of smelling, in 

 the truffle dog ; but it should, at the same time, be considered that the effluvia from 

 the truffle is exceedingly volatile and fragrant, and the dog perhaps being favoured 

 by the wind, his nerves were necessarily and forcibly affected ; beside, we have 

 been informed by an inhabitant of Kent, that the large truffles in ditches and warm 



