SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 253 



animal seems to be entirely left to chance : a 

 few Spanish pointers are to be seen, but the 

 rest are a mixed mongrel race of every de- 

 scription, of which some are large and kept as 

 house-dogs. Every village swarms with them ; 

 they are a perfect nuisance from their numbers 

 and being always prowling about loose. Tra- 

 vellers can scarcely pass a village or house in 

 the night but they rush out, and by their 

 noise alarm and sometimes even seize the 

 horses ; a tax on them, well enforced, would 

 either remedy this evil or produce a good 

 revenue. 



A very curious and diminutive species of 

 wild dog is found in the mountains to the 

 north east of Durrango. They are only eight 

 or nine inches long, in form something like a 

 greyhound, with a large high projecting fore- 

 head, long ears, and a long tail. They bur- 

 row in the ground, and are said (which, if 

 true, is very extraordinary) to feed on grass 



