A WILD DOG. 
137 
CHAPTER XI. 
A WILD DOG. THE COORG RAJAH. 
While we halted at a village in our progress to- 
wards the Coorg capital, a native offered me for sale 
one of the wild dogs of the ghauts, which I was 
anxious to see. Having been recently taken, and 
confined in a cage, it looked sulky and fierce. It 
was about the size of a small hound, strongly limb- 
ed, with a large head and a long bushy tail. The 
head was of extraordinary length in proportion to 
the body, but very narrow ; the jaws opening much 
higher into the skull than in any other species of 
dog with which I am acquainted. From the great 
elongation of the forehead, the eyes appeared seated 
so near the nose as to impart a particularly repel- 
ling expression to the face. When any one ap- 
proached the cage, the animal growled fiercely, at the 
same time manifesting symptoms of fear; but the 
moment a piece of meat was thrown in, it devoured 
it with ravenous eagerness, 
I declined the purchase, knowing the difficulty of 
taming those creatures, especially if caught after they 
are full grown. Even if taken quite young, then- 
natural ferocity is never effectually overcome. 
These dogs hunt in packs, destroying deer, hogs, 
n 3 
