10 The Dog Book 



devoured. I was told that they were the favourite prey of this animal, and 

 that in order to seize upon them with the greater ease it puts itself into a 

 crouching position, and begins to play several antics to attract the attention 

 of the poor dog, which, caught by these seeming demonstrations of friend- 

 ship, and fancying it to be done by one of its own species from the similarity, 

 advances toward it to join in the gambols and is carried off by its treacherous 

 enemy. Several peasants that I have conversed with mentioned their 

 having been eye witnesses of this circumstance." 



In English books in any way treating of the origin of the dog, reference 

 is always made to the breed kept by the Hare Indians of the Mackenzie 

 River. We know nothing of them beyond what Dr. Richardson, who with 

 Sir John Franklin took some to England from the neighborhood of the 

 Mackenzie River, told at the time, and the description of the specimens 

 taken to the Zoological Gardens in London. Dr. Richardson was of the 

 opinion that this species was spread over the northern parts of America, 

 but being only fitted for the chase, it had since the introduction of guns given 

 way to the mongrel Eskimo - Newfoundland. That is guesswork, of 

 course, but the description given of the dogs in the London gardens is not. 

 They had an elongated, pointed muzzle, sharp, erect ears, and a bushy tail 

 not carried erect, but only slightly curved upward, and were of general slen- 

 derness of contour. According to those who took them to England, these 

 dogs ran the moose and deer on the crusted ice and held them at bay till the 

 hunters arrived. They were quite fox-like in appearance, with no resem- 

 blance to the wolf, and if crossed with anything, or descended from any 

 wild animal, it must have been the fox. They interbred freely with the 

 Eskimo and other varieties of dogs, so that we have to face the anomaly that 

 as descendants of fox and wolf interbred they must be of identical species. 



If we turn to what we know are wild dogs, there is little help for the 

 wolf theory. There is the Dingo, more dog-like than wolf-like in many 

 points, and reddish, or what would pass for a "sable" in the collie. In 

 India there are several varieties of wild dogs with which naturalists have 

 been well acquainted for many years — in fact, it is probable that the oppor- 

 tunities for obtaining information regarding them was better fifty years ago 

 than now. Mr. Hodgson gave the name of Cants primavus to the Buansu 

 of Nepal, its range being between the Sutlege and Brahmapootra. Mr. 

 Hodgson, however, stated that with immaterial differences its range was 

 much further extended. He had obtained many specimens and kept some 



