84 
NATURE NOTES. 
We confess to having long shared this feeling towards the 
Indian pariah, but a residence during some years in the 
Mofussil, where he may be studied in his habitat, has induced 
us to correct our impressions, and to hold that, on the whole, he 
is a somewhat maligned creature, who, for fidelity and trust- 
worthiness, compares not unfavourably with the more fortunate 
members of his species. 
One of our chief reasons as boys for holding the pariah to 
be beyond the pale of fellowship, was that he owned no master, 
and was owned by none. Whenever we saw him he was bent 
on some thievish errand, or was in full retreat, bearing the 
traces of discovered guilt in the pursuing stick or stone. Where 
he lived was a mystery, and as nobody owned him nobodj' 
offered a reward for him when he disappeared, or threatened 
reprisals or legal proceedings if he was put out of the way. 
This was our experience of the pariah in towns, but in the 
Mofussil things are different. Here the pariah does not pursue 
an unblushing career of crime, for though he is by nature of a 
roving disposition he soon settles down to what may be termed 
the regular habits of a householder. He chooses his own master 
and cleaves to him for better or for worse. In the matter of 
making a choice his arrangements are very simple. He takes 
up with the first unguarded house in which he finds something 
to eat, and remains in its neighbourhood, fighting off interlopers 
of his own kind, and waiting for a morsel to be thrown to him. 
This he will take to be a sign that his services are accepted, 
and his position as sole guardian of the homestead secured. 
The only sign perhaps that the master will henceforward give 
of his ownership will be to chastise the dog occasionally. He 
will never stroke or fondle him. Such details as regular meals 
or baths for his four-footed servant will, of course, never enter 
his mind. But the pariah is thankful for the smallest of 
favours, and once the fiduciary relation between master and dog 
is established he will fulfil his part of the contract to the letter. 
To say that the pariah guards his master’s house as well as the 
village choukidhar (watchman), would be both libelling the dog 
and flattering the man. The pariah does not, indeed, pretend 
to much courage, but he seems never to want sleep at night, 
and has a voice of wonderful capacity for destroying sleep and 
so giving an alarm. 
Having observed the pariah so far, and found that he could 
develop into an excellent watch dog, we began to consider our 
boyish idea that he was beyond the pale of fellowship to be 
somewhat erroneous, and experience soon compelled us to 
dispel it as an illusion. When we came to our present Mofussil 
station, we found a pariah in charge of the bungalow we were to 
reside in. We did not know he was on duty, and attempted to 
dislodge him. It is needless to say we did not succeed, and we 
determined to leave the ugly custodian of the place severely 
alone. He, however, considering, no doubt, that it was a pity 
