NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BLOOD-HOUND. 19 
present, and in the excitement of the scenes I witnessed, I forgot for a long while 
to reflect upon their barbarity. When I mention such things, therefore, it is 
merely to display the character of the animal I am describing in a clear point of 
view, while at the same time I disapprove of such practices. 
The Spanish blood-hound is more commonly seen in this country than the 
African or Spanish varieties, and I have found that to it is the name of blood¬ 
hound almost exclusively applied. The finest specimen of the breed I have ever 
seen was in the possession of Mr. Johnston, of Edinburgh, to whom, as I was 
told, it had been sent from Jamaica by a brother resident there. I was informed 
that Mr. Johnston was offered sixty guineas for this Dog, which, however, he 
refused. I saw this animal, in company with a young South-American, who 
assured me of its being, as far as he could judge, a perfectly fine specimen. I 
saw also a smaller Dog of the same breed in Edinburgh, in the possession of Mr. 
Charles MacKnight, son of the late Dr. MacKnight of that city. At that 
time I did not believe Mr. MacKnight’s Dog to be thoroughbred, in consequence 
of its diminutive size. I have since, however, seen one in Dublin, the property 
of Sir Philip Crampton, the Surgeon-General, which is even less than it, and of 
the purity of whose blood I can hardly entertain a doubt. The Surgeon-General’s 
Dog is of a very light Mouse or silvery-grey colour, and appears certainly far 
better bred than any of her offspring that I have ever seen. I also saw two of 
this breed in London; they had been brought from Barbadoes, and were hand¬ 
some animals. 
Since I came to Dublin I have been much amused at the comical ideas prevalent 
respecting this Dog, his name being commonly bestowed upon some large black 
and brown mottled coarse-looking Dogs utterly useless, often misshapen, or even 
of diminutive size, and destitute of all value or attraction, save such as they 
might derive from the singularity of appearance or colour. I am at a loss to 
know how these Dogs came first into Dublin, and particularly how in the name 
of wonder they ever came to be styled blood-hounds. From their appearance I 
should be inclined to derive their blood from the great Danish Dog; but if so, that 
lordly and gigantic animal must have undergone a variety of crossing, and have 
reached no trifling pitch of degeneracy, ere from his stock could spring such 
attempts as are some of these pseudo blood-hounds; that, indeed, might be rather 
referred, one would think, to a mixture of the carriage Dog ( Cams Dalmatiensis ) 
with the Italian greyhound or common greyhound, as size might indicate. Here 
ends my description of the Spanish or Cuban bloodhound, and I shall conclude its 
history with a simple anecdote, illustrative of its courage, strength, and sagacity. 
You may rely upon its authenticity, and also upon its originality—two great 
points, in my opinion, for I hate retailing or hearing retailed those common-place 
anecdotes of Dogs that have run the gauntlet through society for the last ten or 
