
“4 NATURAL HISTORY. - 
ANIMALS of the DOG KIND. 


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"Tue aoe, next to the elephant, is the moft: intelli- 
ent and friendly to man, of all quadrupeds. It feems 
Revand the power of ill ufage to alienate his affections 
from human nature. His beauty, fwiftnefs, vivacity, 
courage, fidelity, docility, and watchfulnefs, render 
him moft endearing to. man. When in his domettic 
ftate, his firft ambition, and greateft fatisfaction, is to 
pleafe: He is.more humble though affection than 
fervility : He waits his orders, and moft implicitly o- 
beys them. Friendly without intereft, and grateful 
for the flighteft favours, he fooner forgets injuries 
eee ts; hisonly aim isto ferve, never dif- 
eafe. 
® Numbers of dogs are found wild, or rather:without 
mafters, in Cougs, Lower. Ethiopia, and towards the 
Cape of Good Hope: ‘They goin great packs, and at- 
tack lions, tigers, and elephants, by all of which they 
‘are frequently killed. Although there are wild dogs, 
now in South America, yet this animal was unknown 
to the new continent, before it was carried there from 
Europe. This fhews that the brute creation, like the 
human fpecies, may degenerate from a ftate of refined 
fociety, to that of a favage nature. In their wild ftate, 
they breed’in holes, like rabbits; when taken young, 
they fo attach themfelves to mankind, as never to 
defert their mafters, or return to their favage com- 
panions. 
The dog is the only animal whofe fidelity is unfhak- 
en, and almoft the only one that knows his name, and 
anfwers to the dome 
eftic call. No other animal com- 
plains aloud.for the abfence, or lofs of his mafter, or 
finds fo readily his way home, after he has béen taken 
to a diitant place. iyi 
Of all animals, the dog is moft liableto change in 
its form; the different breeds are fo numerous, that 
it is impoffible for he moft minute obferverto defcibe 
