SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 689 



and small wares of all sorts, has been often described. These 

 dogs become aware of the nature of their employment, and 

 the arts by which it must be carried on. They watch the 

 motions of their enemy the revenue-officer, steal past him 

 when the opportunity offers, or conceal themselves until he 

 is out of sight. They make their way to the receivers of the 

 goods, and when they arrive at the door of the hut or cot- 

 tage where they are expected, announce their arrival to the 

 inmates. But should the customhouse-officer be on the watch, 

 they hide themselves in the neighbouring bushes or hedges 

 until they may come forth. Although thousands of these 

 dogs are every year destroyed, the trade continues. The 

 quantity of goods smuggled in this way across the Rhine 

 exceeds belief. It has been necessary for the revenue-offi- 

 cers to procure dogs to detect and circumvent those of the 

 smugglers, so that the system has become a war of dogs, 

 each class perfect in its own tactics, and zealous in the dis- 

 charge of its own duties. But riot less remarkable than these 

 smuggling-dogs, were the sheep- stealing dogs of Scotland. 

 The offence of sheep-stealing, it is to be observed, prevailed 

 to an enormous extent in the south of Scotland during a 

 great part of the last century. In all cases the sheep-stealers 

 depended upon the sagacity of their dogs. When the stolen 

 sheep were intrusted to these animals, they conducted them 

 through unfrequented paths, in silence and alone, to the 

 places of rendezvous. Very late in the century, a sheep- 

 stealer who was tried on various charges for this offence, was 

 in almost every case able to prove an alibi. It was proved, 

 however, that his dog conducted the stolen sheep to his con- 

 federates. So perfect was the animal in his lesson, that when 

 his master examined a lot of sheep under pretence of pur- 

 chasing them, it sufficed that he pointed out to the dog, by 

 secret signs, the particular sheep which he wished to appro- 

 priate. The dog, returning in the dead of night, selected them 

 from the flock, and brought them to the place appointed. The 



