NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG. 29 



Var. Q — The Mastiff, Can. fam. Anglictis, Lin. ; Le dogue de 

 fort race, Buff.20 



* Mr. Griffiths derives the mastiiF from the bull-dog, which appears to me 

 most erroneous, the latter being a dog of much later date. The mastiff is a 

 straight- limbed dog ; his lips are characteristically pendulous in a much greater 

 degree than the bull-dog, and he is never underhung, and seldom has dew- 

 claws, which are so common to some breeds of the bull-dog. His tail also is 

 longer, thicker, and less tapered, and seldom carried erect. BuiFon forgot the 

 antiquity of this dog when he attributed its origin to thebull-dog and the Irish 

 greyhound ; nor is it likely, considering the known tendency in the bull-dog to 

 degenerate, that he would be so extensively diffused, and so readily preserve 

 in this wide diffusion his hereditary form and qualities. Wherever he is met 

 with, he is nearly the same, whether it be in the Alps, in Poland, Sweden, 

 Italy, Spain, or the Levant. As he extends into warmer countries, however, 

 he becomes rather more slender ; thus the mastiffs of Cuba, in the Zoological 

 Gardens, approach the old Spanish pointer in figure. The breed of mastiffs 

 was, in " olden times," an important branch of British commerce ; and when 

 this island was under the Roman yoke these dogs were in such request, that 

 an officer was appointed, under the name of Procurator Synegii, to superintend 

 the breeding and transmitting them to the Roman amphitheatre. Strabo 

 tells us that these dogs have been trained to war, and were used by the Gauls 

 against their adversaries. As a guard, there is no dog whatever that can super- 

 sede the mastiff; but unfortunately the beauty of the Newfoundland dog has 

 almost done this, and the change has not been a fortunate one on the score 

 of trust. The mastiff is vigilant in the extreme, and no less cautious than 

 watchful : in prosecuting his duty, he is silent as a sentry ; and while there is 

 no danger he appears as monotonous and indifferent to all around him ; and 

 under such circumstances it is difficult to decide which of the two is most 

 like an automaton. But a suspicious footstep made with caution is instantly 

 heard, and as instantly but silently watched and attended to. An ill-looking 

 person is not molested, but is followed as far as the precincts of the guard ex- 

 tend ; and so long as nothing is touched, the intruder is safe ; but no longer. 

 Even then he is seldom injured; sometimes he is merely led out; and unless 

 resistance is offered, few lacerations have been received from this formidable 

 but generous beast. What would I not have given to have seen the one which 

 was fovmd standing over a robber who had broken into a yard at Islington ! 

 The owner was called up by the watchman, who informed him that, " by the 

 bustle he heard in his yard, something was going on wrong there." It was the 

 brave mastiff who had seized the thief, had thrown him down, and had been 

 standing over him, it appeared, two or three hours : as long as the man remained 

 quiet, the dog did not even threaten ; but the moment he stirred only, a tre- 



