278 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER XVII. 



SHEEP DOGS. WOOL DEPOTS, Ac. 



llie estimation in which dogs hare heen held by different nationa, &c...The SheepDog— BuffoB I 

 description of him. ..'I'he Spanish Sheep-Dog — Origin — Introduction into the United States— Value-- 

 Arrogante— his history... The Hungarian Sheep-nog— Mr. I'acet's description of— probable origin— lb* 

 Mexican !-heep-Oog — Mr. Lyman's description of— Mr. Kendall's. ..South American -^heep.Dogs- Oar- 

 win's description of. ..The English Sheep.Dog — Mr. (iates's description of. ..Mr. Cohnan's... I he Scotch 

 .'■heep-Kog— Mr. Hogg's account of.. Mr. Peters's. ..Necessity of accustoming Sheep to a dog. ..Wool 

 Depots— »ir. Blanchnrd's account of their origin — [yCltcr from Mr. Peters, describing their object, methods 

 of doin" business, and advantases — Utility of these depots— their especial utility to the South.. .A correc- 

 tion — Mr. UutHn. ..Note in relation to Austrulia— Statistics of its Wool Trade brought down to 1846. 



Dear Sir : — In all ages of the world, and among nearly all nations 

 savage and civilized,* the dog has heen the friend and cherished com- 

 panion of man. The Egyptians placed him among their gods. The 

 brreeks held him in the highest estimation. His figure mingles with that 

 of warriors and demi-gods on their friezes ; and Argus, the dog of 

 Ulysses, lives as immortal in the Odyssey, [vide Book JCVI1.,'jj. 344 /o 400) 

 as his sagacious master, or the faithful Penelope, Alexander the Great 

 founded a city in honor of a dog ! The Romans treated him with similar 

 respect. His skin covered the statues of the sacred Lares: his figure, aa 

 the emhlem of care and vigilance, stood at the feet of these household 

 gods — venerated and loved as the tutelary manes of departed ancestors, 

 Horace in his Ode to Cassius Severus [Book V., Ode VI.,) compares him- 

 self to the Molossian, or the tawny Spaitan d ~>g, which defends the flocks, 

 and with ears erect, pursues the wild beast thr. ,ogh the deep snows. Virgil, 

 in the delightful Georgics, admonishes the Roman shepherds not to neglect 

 the care of their dogs : 



" Nee libi cura canum fuerit postrema : sed un4 

 Veloces Sparta) catulos, acremque Molossmn, 

 Pasce eero pingtii : nunquam, custodibus illis, 

 Nocturnum stiihulis furem, incursusque luporum, 

 Aut impacalos &. tergo horrebis Iberos.'" 



[Geor^. Liber III., commencing at line 404. 



Thus translated 1/y Sotheby : 



Nor slight thy dogs ; on whey the mastiffs feed, 

 Molossian race, and hounds of Spartan breed ; 

 Beneath tlieir care, nor wolves, nor thieves by night, 

 Nor wild Iberian shall thy fear excite. 



These " Spartan hounds, " I may remark, par parenthesis, are the ones 

 spoken of by Shakspeare, in that glorious description of the music of a 

 pack in full cry, and of the points of a hound, in Midsujnmer-Nighfi 

 Dream : 



Hippolita. — I was with Hercules, and Cadmup, once. 



When in a wood of Crete they bayed the bear 

 With hounds of Sparta : never did I hear 

 .''nch eallant chiding ; for, besides the groves, 

 The skies, the fountains, every region near 

 Seemed all one mutual cry : I never heard 

 So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. 



ne»eut.— Hy hounds are bred out of the .Spartan kind, 



So Hewed, so sanded ; and their heads are hung 



With ears that sweep away the morning dew ; 



Crook-kneed, and dew lii|)ped, like 1'hessalian bulls; 



Slow in pursuit, but matched in month like b«Jls, 



Rach under each. A cry more tunable 



Wa^ never hallo'd to, nor cheered with hotv. 



In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly. 



♦ The «mly exceptions which m w occur to me are the Jews, the Hindoos, and the MahommedMi Bill as* 

 mi tribe« 



