76 The Carnivora. 
nate circumstance for man, enabling him almost everywhere 
to avail himself of its services; and its singular plasticity 
has afforded him opportunities for selecting the form most 
suitable to his wants. To the West Indian Islands, Poly- 
nesia, New Guinea, the Malayan Archipelago, and New 
Zealand it does not appear to be indigenous. Australia is 
doubtful, but I shall have occasion to refer to that presently. 
At all events, the races of man which now dominate the 
globe have always been in association with one member or 
other of the group capable of being raised to domestica- 
tion. The young would frequently be met with, and curiosity 
in the first place might lead primitive man to take them 
home and rear them. He would have observed the wild 
species hunting down their quarry, and what more reason- 
able than that he should endeavour to obtain such fleet and 
strong animals to assist him in his own hunting expeditions ? 
In the back,bush of Australia I have often seen the whelps 
of the indgo running about the camps of the natives. This 
is, or was before the advent of Huropeans, the source of 
their hunting dogs. The young are taken from the nest 
(frequently in a hollow log) and brought up among the children, 
soon becoming attached even to these poor specimens of 
humanity. In this way, no doubt, the dog became the friend 
and companion of man in every part of the world. The Aus- 
tralian aborigines have not improved the character of their 
dogs; but we can easily imagine intelligent savages paying 
attention to the qualities exhibited by certain individuals— 
strength, fleetness, and, above all, docility—and mating those 
which possessed them, or at least preserving the most promis- 
ing young. Thus from the very first the principle of selection 
would be adopted to some extent, while the race of dogs would 
be gaining something by inheriting the effects of training and 
association with man. 
This process has been going on for ages. Man has, in fact, 
been transforming the wolf into the dog by the exercise of that 
selective principle which he has applied to other domestic 
