CONJECTURAL ORIGIN QUALITIES. 139 



THE GREENLAND DOG. 



THE ARCTIC or GREENLAND DOG appears to be the indigenous wild dog" of the 

 Hyperborean regions, unchanged, with respect to his breed, by human art, and 

 abandoned during a part of the year, to his native liberty. His upright ears, 

 sharp muzzle, and shaggy coat, seem to denote a wolfish origin, whilst in his com- 

 pact form, short quarter, and curled tail, he resembles the Dutch Pug. The origin 

 then of the breed may, with probability, be referred to a conjunction between the 

 Wolf, Water Dog, and the native Northern Pug. 



The height and size of these Dogs of the Arctic regions, is considerable, with 

 strength in proportion, qualifying them for that labour as draug'ht animals, which 

 is their universal destination, wherever they are subdued by man. As will be seen 

 by a comparative view of the plates, they are inferior in size and length, and 

 different in form, from the hound-like figure of the Newfoundland Dog ; nor have 

 they that kindness and gentleness of nature, which distinguishes the latter ; in all 

 other respects, the analogy is complete, as to their qualifications and services. The 

 colour of the Greenland Dog is generally white, with a mixture of black, sometimes 

 with a black face, some are completely pye-bald, a few of them brown or black. 

 Their hair is thick, close and curling, not long and shaggy, like other varieties of 

 the Northern Dog. They are naturally aquatic, or water dogs, and have great 

 power in that element. Their hardiness of constitution keeps pace with the ex- 

 cessive rigour of the climate which they inhabit, and they sleep through the night, 

 with the firmament for their canopy, in a bed or burrow excavated in the snow, 

 their noses only, appearing above their white and sparkling sheets. They are ex- 

 cessively fierce and savage, their growling is frightful, and their bark rather the 

 howl of the wolf, which they greatly resemble in manner, flying upon and destroy- 

 ing any domestic animals which come in their way. Their courage and perseverance 

 are equal to their fierceness, and like our English Bull dogs, they never give up a 

 contest whilst life lasts ; hence they often destroy each other in their combats. Most 

 fortunately for the inhabitants, canine madness is unknown in those frozen regions, 

 although in Sweden and Norway, the wolves are said to be occasionally liable to it ; 

 a circumstance, whenever it happens, attended with the most direful consequences ; 

 and by a strange anomaly, the access of the rabies among the wolves, is generally 

 in the midst of the winter season. 



There seems to be a uniformity of Species between the Dogs of Greenland, Siberia, 

 and Kamtschatka. In their wild state, they hunt for subsistence either indivi- 

 dually or in packs, the Arctic fox and the seals upon the ice, subsisting also upon 



