294 OTHER BEASTS OR BURDEN 
as any other town of its size in Europe ; and yet for 
every horse, at least two dogs are to be seen in its 
streets.” In the early morning, we are told, the 
boulevards are literally alive with them. The butcher, 
the baker, the grocer, the porter, carriers of all kinds, 
engage the dog’s services. His step is so much 
quicker than that of the horse, that he will in an 
hour cover twice as much ground, and he carries with 
him a greater burden in proportion to his size. Six 
hundred pounds is the usual weight for an ordinary 
dog, though a mastiff often draws as much again. 
They cost about 3d. a day to keep on black bread 
and horse-flesh, and draught- dogs are now carefully 
bred, mastiffs crossed with the bull-dog to give lungs 
and chest fetching the highest prices, averaging from 
^£4. to ^£6. The Consul concludes by stating his 
opinion that “ there is not an article of merchandise, 
from a ton of coals to a loaf of bread, sold in our 
cities, which might not be more advantageously 
delivered by dogs than horses.” The Consul is 
doubtless thinking of ordinary “ tradesmen’s ” de- 
liveries. It would be ridiculous to expect dogs to 
take the place of the brewers’ dray horses, or the 
railway-goods horses, — but his views certainly deserve 
consideration. In England, where their use was once 
common, we seem to look on dogs as only suitable 
for draught inside the Arctic circle. The absence of 
a strong shoulder and hard hoofs suggests cruelty in 
their employment. Nothing in Holland and Belgium 
gives an Englishman a keener sense of discomfort 
