Useful Companions of Man. 59 
the low countries pass over the mountains. During this 
inclement season all travellers from Martigny are desired 
to pass the night at the first house of refuge. Every 
morning a servant, accompanied by a St. Bernard dog, 
descends from the hospice to take all the travellers under 
his direction. The dog leads the way, for he can not 
only discover the buried traveller by his marvellous 
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powers of scent, but he can also to a certainty keep the 
track, in spite of snowstorms and bewildering drifts. 
The dogs have been used by the monks in these ways, 
and in no other, for years, and they have acquired a well- 
deserved high reputation for perseverance, sagacity, and 
power of scent. 
“The old breed died out many years ago, and we 
doubt whether the monks have possessed the present 
race of dogs more than forty or fifty years. 
