Chap. I. THEIR PARENTAGE. 23 



Turning to the southern parts of the new world, Columbus 

 found two kinds of dogs in the West Indies ; and Fernandez 16 

 describes three in Mexico : some of these native dogs were dumb 

 — that is, did not bark. In Guiana it has been known since the 

 time of Buffon that the natives cross their dogs with an abori- 

 ginal species, apparently the Canis eanerivorus. Sir E. Schom- 

 burgk, who has so carefully explored these regions, writes to 

 me, " I have been repeatedly told by the Arawaak Indians, who 

 reside near the coast, that they cross their dogs with a wild 

 species to improve the breed, and individual dogs have been 

 shown to me which certainly resembled the C. eanerivorus much 

 more than the common breed. It is but seldom that the Indians 

 keep the C. eanerivorus for domestic purposes, nor is the Ai, 

 another species of wild dog, and which I consider to be identical 

 with the Dusieyon silvestris of H. Smith, now much used by the 

 Arecunas for the purpose of hunting. The dogs of the Taruma 

 Indians are quite distinct, and resemble BufTon's St. Domingo 

 greyhound." It thus appears that the natives of Guiana have 

 partially domesticated two aboriginal species, and still cross 

 their dogs with them ; these two species belong to a quite dif- 

 ferent type from the North American and European wolves. A 

 careful observer, Rengger, 17 gives reasons for believing that a 

 hairless dog was domesticated when America was first visited 

 by Europeans : some of these dogs in Paraguay are still dumb, 

 and Tschudi 18 states that they suffer from cold in the Cor- 

 dillera. This naked dog is, however, quite distinct from that 

 found preserved in the ancient Peruvian burial-places, and de- 

 scribed by Tschudi, under the name of Canis Ingse, as with- 

 standing cold well and as barking. It is not known whether 

 these two distinct kinds of dog are the descendants of native 

 species, and it might be argued that when man first migrated 

 into America he brought with him from the Asiatic continent 



of the same country ; but this may be " I qU ote this from Mr. R. Hill's ex- 



me prame-wolf. Another capable judge, cellent account of the Alco or domestic 



vLZ tT™. ?, The Natliralist ^ dog of Mexico, in Gosse's 'Naturalist's 



IrZ^ t'r ' \ 866 ' voUi -P- 21 8)> Sojourn in Jamaica,' 1851, p. 329. 



says that the Indian dog of the Spokans, V « Natoeschichte der Rieueethiere 



near the Rocky Mountains, «i 8 \ ej0 J von ft£J3?5*L ^ST*^ 



all question nothing more than a tamed is Quo f ed \ n Hu ' mboldt > s . Aspects 



Cayote or prame-wolf," or Canis la- of Nature' (Eng. trans.), vol. i. p. 



108. 



