294 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



settlers, tended greatly to impede the progress of husbandry. In the 

 Gennesee country, and the western parts of Pennsylvania, they yet 

 occasionally make a sweep amongst the sheep. But such is the hos- 

 tility of the inhabitants, that in a short time these animals will entirely 

 disappear from those parts. In Louisiana they are numerous ; and 

 commit ravages amongst the Deer and Antelopes, hunting them, it is 

 said, in packs, like hounds, and sometimes relieving each other du- 

 ring the chase, as the game are too swift to be run clown by a single 

 Wolf. It is even asserted that they will venture to attack a straggling 

 Bison or Buffaloe. They frequently kill each other in their contests 

 for a carcass. 



Indian Dog. Pennant is of opinion that this animal is the Wolf in 

 a domesticated state. "It still betrays," says he, "its savage descent, 

 by uttering only a howl, instead of the significant bark of the genuine 

 dog. It is singular that the race of European dogs shew as strong an 

 antipathy to this American species, as they do to the Wolf itself. They 

 never meet with them, but they shew all possible signs of dislike, 

 and will fall on and worry them; while the wolfish breed, with every 

 mark of timidity, puts its tail between its legs, and runs from the rage 

 of the others. This aversion to the Wolf is natural to all genuine 

 dogs ; for it is well known that a whelp, which has never seen a Wolf, 

 will at first sight tremble, and run to its master for protection : an old 

 dog will instantly attack it."* 



Almost all the northern and western Indians employ these dogs, 

 yoked to sledges, for the purpose of transporting their game &c. 

 Mackenzie, in his general history of the fur trade, says "that the 

 Knisteneaux Indians in the winter, when the waters are frozen, make 

 their journies, which are never of any great length, with sledges 

 drawn by dogs.f Patrick Gass observes that " the Sioux Indians fasten 

 their dogs to poles, and make them draw them from one camp to 

 another, loaded with skins and other articles. "J And again, that 

 " they yoke them to a kind of car, which they have to haul their bag- 

 gage from one camp to another. The dogs," continues he, "are not 

 large, much resemble a wolf, and will haul about seventy pounds 

 each."§ 



From the Journal of Lewis and Clark we learn that "dog meat is a 

 great dish among the Sioux Indians, and used on all festivals." But 

 it seems that the nations to the westward of the Rocky Mountains, 

 though they possess numbers of these animals, yet they do not eat 

 them. With the last mentioned travellers, dog meat became a fa- 

 vourite food, was found to be a strong healthy diet, preferable to lean 

 Deer or Elk, and much superior to horse flesh in any state. || 



With all due deference to the opinion of the respectable Mr. Pen- 

 nant, we must dissent from him with respect to the origin of the In- 

 dian Dog. We do not consider this animal the Wolf. If he be not, 

 as some suppose he is, a collateral descendant of the European family, 

 introduced by the eavly adventurers into the New World, we have 

 strong reasons to conclude that he is an independent species. How- 

 ever, the result of our inquiries into the history of this animal is very 

 unsatisfactory. 



In Barton's Medical and Physical Journal, vol. i, part ii, p. S, we are 



• Arctic Zoology, Art. Wolf. § Gass's Journal, p. 47. 



f Mackenzie's Voyages, vol. i. p. 120. |( Hist, of the Exp. vol. 2. p. 239. 



i Gass's Journal, p. 42. 



