THE BLOODHOUND. 123 



stealers by the scent of the blood dropped on the line ; but his fine nose was also 

 employed to follow the body scent, whether of man or animals; and in this way 

 he was employed in former days to pursue runaway slaves, but being rather 

 unmanageable when he reached them, the Cuban mastiff, or a cross between this 

 mastiff and the bloodhound, was generally preferred on account of his greater 

 amenity to the discipline and control of 'his master. At present the bloodhound is 

 little used in this country, two packs of staghounds comprising the whole extent 

 to which his employment in hunting reaches; Lord Wolverton's is said to be 

 pure, but Mr. Nevill's differs greatly in appearance from the recognised type of 

 the breed. The bloodhound in the hands of our chief exhibitors is now kept for 

 ornament only, or for the purpose of exhibition and prize taking; and it must 

 be estimated accordingly from the artistic point of view alone. 



Until within the last twenty years, or thereabouts, the bloodhound has been 

 almost entirely confined to the kennels of the English nobility ; but at about that 

 distance of time Mr. Jennings, of Pickering, in Yorkshire, obtained a draft or two 

 from Lord Faversham and Baron Rothschild, and in a few years, by his skill and 

 care, produced his Druid and Welcome, a magnificent couple of hounds, which he 

 afterwards sold, at what was then considered a high price, to Prince Napoleon for 

 breeding purposes. In the course of time, and probably from the fame acquired by 

 these dogs at the various shows, his example was followed by his north- country 

 neighbours, Major Cowen and Mr. J. W. Pease, who monopolised the prizes of the 

 show bench with successive Druids, descended from Mr. Jennings' s dog of that 

 name, and aided by Draco, Dingle, Dauntless, &c., all of the same strain. Up to 

 1869 the only other largely successful dogs in this class were the two Rufuses 

 (Mr. Boom's and Mr. Brough's), whose pedigrees are chiefly composed of Faversham 

 and Rothschild blood, either through Jennings's -Druid or other channels. In 1869, 

 however, another candidate for fame appeared in Mr. Holford's Regent, a magnifi- 

 cent dog, both in shape and colour, but still of the same strains, and until the 

 appearance of Mr. Reynold Ray's Roswell in 1870 no fresh blood was introduced 

 among the first-prize winners at our chief shows. His pedigree is not well 

 ascertained, but no doubt from his stock it is a good one. This dog, who died in 

 1877, maintained his position for the same period almost without dispute, and even 

 in his old age it took a good dog to beat him. The head of the bitch is so 

 very inferior in majesty to that of the dog, that, as this is the peculiar feature 

 in the breed, it is by the male alone that it is adequately represented. 



As above remarked, the bloodhound must now be regarded chiefly as a 

 companionable dog, though he is always included at our shows in the division 

 comprising the " Dogs Used in Field Sports." He is in considerable demand 

 amongst country gentlemen ; but, having been much in-bred for many years, there 

 is a great difficulty in rearing puppies in this country, though in France and 

 Germany, probably from the change of climate and soil, bloodhounds have been 

 successfully bred and reared from the stock imported from England. From the keen 

 nose possessed by this hound, he has no doubt been employed as a cross for the 

 black and tan setter, and some mastiff breeders have resorted to him to give 



