30 CASSEU/S rOl'UI.Ai: NA'ITUAL HISTORY. 



instructed, directed one of his servants to Walk i.r a (own four miles distant, and afterwards to a 

 market town three miles from thence. The dog, without seeing the man he had to pursue, followed 

 him. l>y the scent to both these places, notwithstanding that a multitude of market people went along 

 i In- .-a me road, and that it was crossed by many more. When the bloodhound reached the chief market 

 town, lie passed through the streets without noticing any person there, and did not stop till he had 

 reached the upper room of a house to which the man had gone, to tlic astonishment and admiration ot 

 all who had accompanied him in this pursuit, 



Another instance of this animal's sagacity is not less remarkable. A person, in getting over a 

 stile into a field near the New Forest, remarked that there was blood upon it. Almost imme- 

 diately he remembered that some deer had been killed and several sheep had been stolen in the 

 neighbourhood, and he thought that perhaps this was the blood of one that had been killed in the 

 preceding night. 



The man went now to the nearest lodge to give information ; but the keeper being from home, lie 

 had to go to Rhiuefield lodge, which was at a considerable distance. Toomer, the under-keeper, went 

 with him from thence, accompanied by a bloodhound. The dog, being brought to the .spot, was laid on 

 the scent, and, after following for about half a mile the track the depredator had taken, came, at last, 

 to a heap of furze faggots, belonging to the family of a cottager. The woman of the house attempted 

 to drive the dog away, but was prevented, and, on the faggots being removed, a hole was discovered 

 in the ground, which contained the body of a sheep, recently killed, and also a considerable quantity of 

 salted meat. The most extraordinary part of the discovery is, that the dog was not brought to the 

 scent till more than sixteen hours after the man had carried away the sheep. 



A breed of these dogs was in the possession of the late Mr. Jacob Bell, of Oxford-street, London, 

 and it was considered one of great purity. The form was very robust, and the height at the shoulders was 

 not less than twenty-eight inches. The muzzle was broad and full, the upper lip large and pendulous, 

 the vortex of the head prominent, the expression stern, thoughtful, and noble; the breast broad, the 

 limbs strong and muscular, and the original colour was a deep tan with large black spots. A warm 

 friendship, terminated only by the death of Mr. Bell, subsisted between him and Sir Edwin Landseer ; 

 and a knowledge of this fact leads us to conjecture that one of his dogs served as a model to the great 

 painter of animals, for the noble creature contrasting so signally with the snappish terrier at his side, 

 in the famous picture, "Dignity and Impudence."* No wonder the artist has acqiiired the name, ot 

 " Le Eaffaelle des Chiens." Nothing can exceed the calmness of great yet restrained power in the 

 noble hound, nor the irritability of the little brute, ready to growl, to bark, or to bite, should any 

 one dare to intrude on a domain which he accounts his own. This picture was painted for Mr. Bell, 

 and will, doubtless, be still preserved in his family. 



Allied to the animals now considered is a dog of Spanish descent, called the Cuban bloodhound. 

 A hundred of these sagacious but savage dogs were sent, about seventy years ago, from the Havanna to 

 Jamaica, to extinguish the Maroon war, which at that time was fiercely raging. Accompanied by forty 

 Spanish chasseurs, chiefly people of colour, their appearance and that of the dogs struck terror into the 

 negroes. The dogs, although muzzled and led in leashes, rushed furiously at every object, dragging 

 along the chasseurs, in spite of all their endeavours to restrain them. 



General Walpole ordered a review of the dogs and the men, that he might know how they would 

 act. He set out for a place called Seven Rivers, accompanied by Colonel Skinner, whom he appointed 

 to conduct the attack. Notice of his coming having preceded him, a parade of the chasseurs was 

 ordered, and they were taken to a distance from the house, in order to be advanced when the general 

 alighted. On his arrival, the commissioner, who had procured the dogs, was desired to parade them. 

 The Spaniards soon appeared at the end of a gentle acclivity, drawn out in a line, containing upwards 

 of forty men, with their dogs in front, unmuzzled, and held by cotton ropes. On receiving the 

 command, fire! they discharged their fusils and advanced, as for a real attack. This was intended to 

 ascertain what effect would be produced on the flogs, if engaged under a fire of the Maroons. Tho 

 volley was no sooner discharged than the dogs rushed forward with the greatest fury, amid the shouls of 

 the Spaniards, who were dragged on by them with irresistible force. Some of the dogs, maddened l>y 

 the shout of attack, while held back by the ropes, seized on the stocks of the guns in the hands of their 



* See " Masterpieces of Celebrated Painters." Caasell. Fetter, and Galpin. 



