134 



CHAPTER X. 



WHY A DOG BARKS. THE DEER AND THE CUYOTES. 



CUYOTE SIEGE. ANECDOTE. DROWSINESS CURED. 



nPHE origin of the " cuyote," or wild dog, 

 in Central America is not known, and 

 never will be : they are often called wolves, 

 but they are not wolves, and yet they are 

 very different in their habits from dogs. The 

 cuyote cannot bark, but his howl resembles 

 that of a dog baying the moon, and also very 

 much the cry that is often heard from dogs 

 in a barrack yard when they hear the sound 

 of a bugle. They seem to be of the large 

 Cuba bloodhound breed that were at one time 

 much used for hunting down the natives ; I 

 have had them very young, and brought them 

 up with dogs who would face anything, and 

 yet they always proved dunghill when any- 

 thing in the fighting line was going on. They 

 were afraid of facing the meanest depredatory 

 animal, yet they were always carrying on a 

 cunning stealthy war against the poultry and 

 tame animals they ou2"ht to have defended ; 



