CARNIVORA. 197 
suffer much from age and decay in their latter 
days. 
Mr. Pennant cites Galen, Hippocrates, and Pliny, 
to prove, that the ancients were fond of the flesh of 
dogs as food. He states, also, that the New Zea- 
landers and inhabitants of the Society Islands eat 
them at the present day. The Chinese are said, 
also, to be fond of this sort of food, which is com - 
monly sold in their markets j and the celebrated 
Captain Cook’s recovery from a serious illness at 
sea was much accelerated by the broth and flesh of 
a dog. 
Notwithstanding the endless varieties of the dog, 
and the near relationship, which numerous instances 
of the mixtures of the breeds evince with the wolf 
and fox, the dog, properly so called, is always di- 
stinguishable by its tail, which, in all cases, takes an 
arched direction, more or less perfect in the different 
varieties ; and it is observed, that all dogs, which 
have any white about them, always have the tail 
tipped with this colour. 
It would be desirable to arrange the varieties of 
this species in successive groups, as they diverge 
from the original stock ; and much research has 
been made for this purpose, from w^hich different 
opinions have resulted as to the original type in a 
state of nature, which has been so remarkably ex- 
cited to variety by domestication or other causes. 
Some have considered the dog as a domesticated 
wolf: others think it is a jackal ; and many, ob- 
serving that wild dogs are found always to have the 
