DANISH DOG DRAUGHT DOGS THE SLEDGE. 143 



however mild and good their dispositions may naturally be, yet cannot on their 

 first intercourse with civilized men, repress their thievish propensities. 



C. Garland^ Esq. a Magistrate, who died a few years since near St. John's, New- 

 foundland, had a dog, which used to carry the lanthorn before him, by night, as 

 steadily as the most attentive servant, stopping* when his master stopped, and pro- 

 ceeding when he saw his master disposed to go on. When Mr. Garland was out, 

 by night, this dog, the lanthorn being fixed to his mouth, and the command given, 

 * go fetch your master,' would set off and proceed directly to the town, which 

 was about a mile distant, where he would stop at the door of every house which he 

 knew his master frequented, and laying down his lanthorn, growl and strike 

 the door with his foot, making all the noise in his power, until the door was 

 opened. Not finding his Master there, he would proceed farther, in the same 

 manner, until he found him. If he had only accompanied his Master once into a 

 house it was sufficient to induce him to take that house in his round. 



The Danish Dog has been represented as the largest and strongest of the species; 

 and Buffon describes one of them which he had seen, zsfive feet in height, when 

 sitting. 



Was the Dog indigenous only to the northermost parts of the American Continent, 

 since the first discoverers of America, whether North or South, found none of the 

 canine species ? There were doubtless dogs of a large size, both in the Southern 

 and Northern parts of Europe, in ancient times. Aristotle mentions such in Epirus, 

 and Pliny gives an account of one sent from Albania, to Alexander the Great. 



It is time to advert more particularly, to the most useful property of these Dogs, 

 namely, their ability for draught. The fact is remarkable and may be witnessed in 

 London, that dogs are the most honest and willing of all draught animals, and so 

 great is the eagerness of the Arctic dogs, that they frequently dislocate their joints 

 in drawing, and exert themselves to so violent a degree, that their hair is often 

 tinged with red, from the extravasation of blood, occasioned by their violent strain- 

 ing. The Greenlanders and all the people of those frozen regions, travel in 

 sledges drawn by dogs, the most usual number being five, one going before, but 

 occasionally this number is extended to eight and even ten. The following is a 

 description of the Siberian Sledge 



The length of the body is about four and a half feet, the breadth one foot : the 

 form, that of a crescent, and made of light tough wood, fastened together with 

 wicker work : and those of the principal people are elegantly stained with red and 

 blue, the seat being covered with furs and bears' skins. It has four legs about 

 two feet in height, resting on two long flat pieces of wood, of the breadth of five 

 or six inches, which extend a foot beyond the body of the sledge at each end. 

 These turn up before in the form of a skait, and are shod with the bone of some 

 marine animal. The carriage is ornamented in front, with tassels of coloured 

 cloth and leather thongs. It has a cross-bar, to which the harness is joined, and 



