1104 Quadrupeds. 



contributed to the production of this variety, and the physical charac- 

 ters of the spaniels, as well as their dispositions, are indicative of an 

 admixture of the Spitz with some of the varieties of hunting-dogs. 

 The prevalence of the Spitz in Europe would readily account for such 

 a combination. This, however, suggests another remark, bearing on 

 the ethnological part of the subject. The possession in common of a 

 particular variety of dog, whether in its pure or mixed character, whilst 

 it becomes a strong evidence that the nations of men with whom they 

 are found, must have had some communication direct or indirect with 

 each other, can afford no indication of the fusion of the two human 

 varieties, or even of the extent of intercourse which has existed, since 

 this must depend upon circumstances, favourable or unfavourable, 

 which have influenced the production and diffusion of the domesti- 

 cated animal. Thus, we may find Eskimaux dogs in London, where 

 we never see an Eskimaux ; and it will be possible for the traces of 

 these animals, as seen in their descendants, to remain as tokens of our 

 intercourse with the Eskimaux, if that race of men should become ex- 

 tinct, and our commerce with that part of the globe should come to 

 an end. But should a permanent and highly valuable variety be the 

 produce of an admixture with these dogs, an extension would be given 

 to them altogether disproportioned to the intercourse which has sub- 

 sisted between the English and the Eskimaux. 



A remarkable and highly prized endemic variety of dog is found in 

 the Western Islands of Scotland, and it is commonly called the Skye 

 terrier. On the same principle on which I would account for the pro- 

 duction of the gigantic Newfoundland dog, I would refer the Skye 

 terrier to the union of a diminutive variety of terrier with the Iceland- 

 ish dog, which 1 have noticed as a small and low specimen of the dogs 

 of the first-mentioned division. In this light, the Skye terriers may 

 preserve the traces of some immemorial relations between the western 

 Hebrides and some more northern island of the ocean, since the com- 

 munication may have been with Iceland itself, or more indirectly. 



I offer these remarks upon the dog, chiefly as an example of the 

 mode in which the study of the races of domestic animals may be 

 made subservient to the study of Ethnology. Besides the direct help 

 to be derived from evidence of a particular kind of the migrations and 

 communications of man, another advantage is offered, which deserves 

 to be mentioned. In this investigation we clash with no scruples 

 which, in the breasts of some persons, militate against similar inves- 

 tigations regarding the human race, from an idea that the Records of 

 Scripture may be called in question. 1 have elsewhere expressed my 



