THE ST. BERNARD 33 



and are individually excellent guards and companions. As 

 a companion, the St. Bernard cannot be surpassed, when a 

 large dog is required for the purpose. Most docile in tempera- 

 ment and disposition, he is admirably suited as the associate 

 of a lady or a child. 



The St. Bernard is sensitive to a degree, and seldom forgets 

 an insult, which he resents with dignity. Specimens of the 

 breed have occasionally been seen that are savage, but when 

 this is the case ill-treatment of some sort has assuredly been 

 the provoking cause. 



The dogs at the Hospice of St. Bernard are small in com- 

 parison with those that are seen in England belonging to the 

 same race. The Holy Fathers were more particular about 

 their markings than great size. The body colour should be 

 brindle or orange tawny, with white markings ; the muzzle 

 white, with a line running up between the eyes, and over the 

 skull, joining at the back the white collar that encircles the 

 neck down to the front of the shoulders. The colour round 

 the eyes and on the ears should be of a darker shade in the 

 red ; in the centre of the white line at the occiput there should 

 be a spot of colour. These markings are said to represent 

 the stole, chasuble and scapular which form part of the vest- 

 ments worn by the monks ; but it is seldom that the markings 

 are so clearly denned ; they are more often white, with 

 brindle or orange patches on the body, with evenly-marked 

 heads. 



In England St. Bernards are either distinctly rough in coat 

 or smooth, but the generality of the Hospice dogs are broken 

 in coat, having a texture between the two extremes. The 

 properties, however, of the rough and smooth are the same, 

 so that the two varieties are often bred together, and, as a 

 rule, both textures of coat will be the result of the alliance. 

 The late M. Schumacher, a great authority on the breed in 

 Switzerland, averred that dogs with very rough coats were 

 found to be of no use for work on the Alps, as their thick 

 covering became so loaded with snow and their feet so clogged 



