CHAPTER XIII 

 THE BLOODHOUND 



THE Bloodhound was much used in olden times in hunting 

 and in the pursuit of fugitives ; two services for which his 

 remarkable acuteness of smell, his ability to keep to the 

 particular scent on which he is first laid, and the intelligence 

 and pertinacity with which he follows up the trail, admirably 

 fit him. The use and employment of these dogs date back 

 into remote antiquity. We have it on the authority of Strabo 

 that they were used against the Gauls, and we have certain 

 knowledge that they were employed not only in the frequent 

 feuds of the Scottish clans, and in the continuous border forays 

 of those days, but also during the ever-recurring hostilities 

 between England and Scotland. 



Indeed, the very name of the dog calls up visions of feudal 

 castles, with their trains of knights and warriors and all the 

 stirring panorama of these brave days of old, when the only 

 tenure of life, property, or goods was by the strong hand. 



This feudal dog is frequently pictured by the poet in his 

 ballads and romances, and in " The Lady of the Lake " we 

 find the breed again mentioned as 



" dogs of black St. Hubert's breed, 

 Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed." 



These famous black Bloodhounds, called St. Huberts, are 

 supposed to have been brought by pilgrims from the Holy 

 Land. Another larger breed, also known by the same name, 

 were pure white, and -another kind were greyish-red. The 

 dogs of the present day are probably a blend of all these 

 varieties. 



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