HUNTING DIRECTORY. 291 



Training Hounds. 



When they are masters of these alternate returns, 

 their execution is rendered moi-e difficult, by obliging 

 them to halt as instantaneously as if they had been or- 

 dered by the voice, by the mere motion of the arm, or 

 the handkerchief of one of the men on the flanks, or of 

 the leader, when they are at a considerable distance from 

 him. These movements, it is true, are not new to them, 

 since they are taught them in the first lessons they 

 receive in the kennel ; and they are required to obey 

 them as promptly as verbal commands. 



The dogs having become familiar with their guides, 

 and perfectly comprehending their gestures and orders, 

 they are then accustomed to go out without being- 

 coupled, taking care to unloose first those that are the 

 most tractable and docile. They are at first walked in 

 places where they cannot be lost, nor diverted by any 

 object from the attention that is required of them ; they 

 are then taken to all kinds of situations, to accustom 

 them to execute their different lessons, and to be kept in 

 the same state of docility amidst the variety of objects 

 that will present themselves. This ensures their perfect 

 obedience, which is one of the principal delights of the 

 chase ; and can never be obtained in enclosed places, 

 which are justly considered pernicious, even to old packs. 



When the hounds are supposed to be sufficiently in- 

 structed in all the intonations of the voice, they are then 

 exercised with the sound of the horn, preserving the 

 same gradation in these new lessons. They are first 

 stopped with the voice ; the man at their head removes 

 to some distance, and calls them to him by a recheat ; 

 they are in like manner commanded to return ; and when 



