60 Useful Companions of Man. 
“ About forty years ago, or a little more, all their dogs 
and several servants were swept away by an avalanche ; 
but two the monks had given away were returned to them, 
and the breed was thus preserved. One of the St. Ber- 
nard dogs, Barry, a brindled and white one, saved the 
lives of forty-two persons, and was vigorous and active at 
the age of fifteen years, although they generally succumb 
to rheumatism in their tenth year. He is preserved in: 
the Berne Museum, wearing an iron collar with large 
spikes, which had often protected him from the wolves. 
We are told he had discovered a man lost in a snow-drift, 
and, being mistaken for a wolf, the poor fellow received 
a blow on the head, and ‘7/ était obligé de mourir, 
“At the time we were the guests of the monks, they 
possessed but three dogs, Barry, Pluto, and Pallas. The 
finest specimen had goitre or bronchocele, and wore a 
muzzle, as he was of an uncertain disposition ; and a very 
fine bitch was expected soon to add to the strength of the 
company. ‘Two dogs were placed out at some neigh- 
bouring hospice. We purchased a young dog at the 
H6tel des Alpes (on our way home), from the proprietor: 
the. mother had been procured from the hospice; the 
father was the fine specimen we have seen there. Subse- 
quently we found him very intelligent and good tempered; 
he was very pleased to carry and fetch, and he appeared 
to have an excellent nose: but, alas! when nearly twelve 
months old, like Barry, ‘ 2 &azt obligé de mourir’? AN of 
these dogs were orange tawny; they had white legs, 
flecked siightly with orange, white belly, white collar 
round the neck; the head remarkably fine, majestic, and 
full of character; the ears small and set low; the eyes 
deeply set, a crease between them giving a mastiff cha- 
racter to the whole animal; from the eyes half-way down 
the face black, then suddenly white to the nose (which is 
black); the lips, which are pendulous, spotted with orange 
and black; the white above the nose is continued in a 
blaze or streak up the forehead, and extends in a narrow 
line down the poll, meeting the white collar round the neck. 
“The monks begged us to observe this peculiar mark, 
and compared it to the badge of their order—a white 
