336 SPANISH-TOWN. 



rejecting at once the Hairless Dog, identical with the 

 Bald Turk of the old continent, admits readily the 

 species called Ytzcuinte PotzotU, a dog, short-necked 

 in an unusual degree, and humped in shape, with 

 silky hair; and the Techichi, wild and melancholy 

 in aspect ; as true aboriginal dogs. The first of these 

 two species he recognises as the same with the Lap- 

 dog of Peru, — the little plump fondling of the 

 Indian women ; and the other as a larger and lighter- 

 made species, but dull and spiritless, which the In- 

 dians make use of in the chase, — in which he sees 

 the Forest Dog of Guiana. It seems exceedingly 

 probable that there were two breeds of indigenous 

 CariidcB in these Islands at the time of the discovery, 

 and that their common name Alco was a generic 

 appellation ; — that one breed, the silky-haired Alco, 

 came hither from Yucatan and Mexico, the seat of 

 Indian civilisation ; and that the other, the short- 

 haired, was brought in from the Southern Main by 

 the predatory Caribs. The variety now knov^^n as 

 the Mexican Mopsy differs only in the woolly in- 

 stead of the silky hair, from the detailed description of 

 Buffon. Pendent ears, the sign of domestication ; the 

 forepart of the head white, save round the eyes and on 

 the ears, which are tinged with rufous ; the back, 

 sometimes, inclined to yellow ; the tail white and 

 short, and flowing but half way down the thighs ; 

 the body marked occasionally with black spots ; the 

 legs white and toes long. These details are minutely 

 descriptive of our little Mexican favourites, — the 

 yellow-rufous prevailing on the face and ears, inside 

 and out, but more especially on the inside ; while 



