732 THE DOG. 



stance, it is believed, is on record, in which a Bull-dog has 

 leaped ftito water to save a drowning person. 



The Asiatic Mastiff seems to have been widely spread over 

 the temperate countries of Western Asia and Europe, and 

 his characteristic form and habit may be traced in numerous 

 dogs in all these countries, as in most of those employed in 

 the chase of wolves and boars, such as the great Irish Wolf- 

 dog, and most of the German Boar-hounds, but still more in 

 the larger dogs used for protecting our persons and property, 

 as the Albanian Sheep-dog, the English Ban-dog, the Spanish 

 Mastin, the French Matin. Of these mixed races it is un- 

 necessary to treat in this place ; but there are two races con- 

 forming to the Molossian type, which merit a passing notice, 

 the Great Dog of St Bernard, and the Old British Blood- 

 hound. 



The Great Dog of St Bernard is found in the mountains 

 of Switzerland ; but is better known as the breed reared at 

 the Hospice, as it is called, situated at the pass of the Great 

 St Bernard, one of the denies connecting the high lands of 

 Switzerland with Italy. This Hospice is an ancient Monas- 

 tery, placed amidst a wilderness of rocks at the summit of the 

 pass, more than 8000 feet above the level of the sea. It is 

 inhabited by a small number of monks of the order of St 

 Augustin, who, at the early age of eighteen, devote themselves 

 to the purpose of affording succour to persons in distress, 

 and way-worn travellers, of whom great numbers traverse 

 the dreadful pass even in winter. The period of the vow of 

 the brethren is fifteen years, the term of which few of them 

 reach, on account of the maladies to which they become sub- 

 ject, from the rarity of the air, and the rigour of the cold, in a 

 region of clouds and storms. Scarcely four months in the 

 year include spring, summer, and autumn, during which the 

 water in the pools and tanks freezes every night, and clouds 

 of snow frequently cover the mountains. The remaining 

 eight months of the year are the proper winter, during which 

 snow falls almost daily, covering all the rocky mountains to 



