104 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



There is, first of all, the fact of identity of structure. There is absolutely no definition framable 

 which will include all the varieties of the domestic Dog, and exclude all the wild species none even 

 which will include all the Dogs properly so called, both wild and tame, and at the same time exclude 

 the Wolf and Jackal. It is the same as regards habits, instincts, mental endowments, &c. Wolves 

 and Jackals can be and have been tamed. Domestic Dogs can become, and have again and again 

 become wild, and in no way better than true aborigines ; and to assert that the Dog is not descended 

 from a Jackal because his manners and customs are better, his tail more curly, and his voice a bark 

 instead of a howl, is about as just as to assert that Englishmen cannot possibly be descended from 

 ancient Britons, because they wear clothes instead of a coating of blue paint. 



HARE INDIAN DOG. 



With regard to the opinion that many races of men are not likely independently to have tamed 

 wild Canidce, there are certain facts which show that the exact contrary is the case. Savages in all 

 parts of the world are fond of making pets of various kinds, and would have been certain to come 

 across Wolf or Jackal pups in their wanderings through the woods. Then, again, as Mr. Darwin 

 remarks, "At an extremely ancient period, when man first entered any country, the animals living 

 there would have felt no instinctive or inherited fear of him, and would consequently have been tamed 

 far more easily than at present. For instance, when the Falkland Islands were first visited by man, 

 the large Wolf-like Dog (Canis antarcticus) fearlessly came to meet Byron's sailors, who, mistaking this 

 ignorant curiosity for ferocity, ran into the water to avoid them. Even recently a man, by holding a 

 piece of meat in one hand and a knife in the other, could sometimes stick them at night." Another 

 important point is the readiness with which many wild species of Canidce breed in confinement, so that 

 the difficulty of perpetuating the newly-acquired characteristics of the tamed animal is, in this case, 

 obviated. Furthermore, it is perfectly well known that savages at the present day do actually tame, 

 and make useful to themselves, the wild Dogs of their particular countries : "the savage^ of Guiana 



