NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 265 



LETTER LVIII. 



My near neighbour, a young gentleman in the service of the 



East India Company, has brought home a dog and a bitch 

 of the Chinese breed from Canton, such as are fattened in 

 that country for the purpose of being eaten : they are about 

 the size of a moderate spaniel ; of a pale yellow colour, with 

 coarse bristling hairs on their backs; sharp upright ears, 

 and peaked heads, which give them a very fox-like 

 appearance. Their hind legs are unusually straight, without 

 any bend at the hock or ham, to such a degree as to give 

 them an awkward gait when they trot. When they are in 

 motion their tails are curved high over their backs like 

 those of some hounds, and have a bare place each on the 

 outside from the tip midway, that does not seem to be 

 matter of accident, but somewhat singular. Their eyes are 

 jet-black, small, and piercing ; the insides of their lips and 

 mouths of the same colour, and their tongues blue. The 

 bitch has a dew-claw on each hind leg ; the dog has none. 

 When taken out into a field the bitch showed some disposi- 

 tion for hunting, and dwelt on the scent of a covey of 

 partridges till she sprung them, giving her tongue all the 

 time. The dogs in South America are dumb j but these 

 bark much in a short thick manner like foxes, and have a 

 surly, savage demeanour like their ancestors, which are not 

 domesticated, but bred up in sties, where they are fed for 

 the table with rice-meal and other farinaceous food. These 

 dogs, having been taken on board as soon as weaned, could 

 not learn much from their dam ; yet they did not relish 

 flesh when they came to England. In the islands of the 

 Pacific Ocean the dogs are bred upon vegetables, and would 

 not eat flesh when ofiered them by our circumnavigators. 



