THE BLOODHOUND. 225 



tury under the name of riemish hounds, were divided into two 

 subdivisions, according to their colour, viz., the black and the 

 white. They seem to have descended from the famous Bel- 

 gian hounds of which Silius Italicus speaks, and which he men- 

 tions as being excellent lymers for unharbouring wild boar. 

 Thus a Belgian hound pursues the wild boars, and unwinds 

 cleverly the track of the beasts, the nose low bent to the earth, 

 following up the scent silently. They were, in fact, natives of 

 the same country, and, like the Belgian hounds of the Latin 

 poet, excellent lymers for tracking the boar. The most highly 

 esteemed were the black-coated ones, and the abbots of St. 

 Hubert's Abbey had kept up the breed in memory of their 

 founder. They were generally of a slightly reddish black, with 

 tan marks over the eyes and on the legs and feet, long pen- 

 dulous ears, well-shaped but rather long loins, not so high on 

 the leg as the Kormandy hound, and possessing great hunting 

 qualities, most particularly that of keeping true to the scent. 

 They were deep-throated, fine-nosed dogs, showing great powers 

 of endurance, but not great swiftness, and were very courageous 

 and daring, prompt to show fight with any sort of game." In 

 another place the same author says : " These animals were 

 strong-bodied hounds, full of dash and spirit, but rather unruly. 

 They were seldom ill, feared neither cold nor wet, were excel- 

 lent for all kinds of ' black beasts,' as boars, badgers, &c. The 

 huntsmen were obliged to treat them severely, for, besides being 

 quarrelsome and apt to fight together, they showed savage dis- 

 positions towards man." I learn from the same source that 

 after the sixteenth century they were thought much less of in 

 France, and, in fact, used principally as lymers for the wolf and 

 boar — those presented by the abbots of St. Hubert to the king 

 every year being put to that use, and they were much prized 

 by the harbourers up to 1789. Charles the Mnth comi^lains ihat 

 these hounds, when the game tries to put them off the scent, 

 and give change, neither cast forward nor take up a new track, 

 which is certainly a defect, but one at least which proves their 



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