visited the country—perro, in the Spanish language, being the name of a dog.
We will now turn to the northern parts of America. The races of wild dogs are there considerably limited, both in number and the districts which they occupy.
In the elevated sandy country north of the source of the Missouri, inhabited by the "Stone" and the "Black Foot" Indians, is a doubtful species of dogs—wolves they used to be called—who hunt in large packs and are exceedingly swift; whose bark is similar to that of the domestic dog, but who burrow in the ground, and eagerly run to their holes, when the gun of the hunter is heard. The habit of selecting large, open, sandy plains, and burrowing there, extends to the greater part of the American wild dogs.
In some parts of North America whole troops of horses are guarded and kept together by dogs. If any of the troop attempt to steal away, the dog will immediately fly after the horse, head him, and bring him back to his companions.
The wild dogs abound in many parts of South America. In some of the forests on the banks of the Oronoko they multiply to an annoying degree. The Cayotte of Mexico, described by some as a wolf, and bearing no slight resemblance to that animal, belongs to the South American wild dogs, as do also the Aguara dogs of every kind. These wanderers of the woods are, however, diminished in numbers in every part of that continent, and are replaced by other kinds, many of which have been imported from Europe and domesticated. Many of the Indian tribes have succeeded in reclaiming the dog of the woods, and have made him a useful although not a perfectly attached servant.
The dogs of the Falkland Islands, and the Indian North American dogs generally, are brown or gray-coloured varieties of the wild dog; but they are nearly exterminated.
The history of the
WILD DOG OF AFRICA
will occupy little space. It has already been stated that in Egypt and in Nubia we have the first records of the dog. Many superstitious notions were connected with him, and divine honours were paid to him. Those times are passed away, and he is regarded with aversion by the Moslem of the present day. He is an outcast. He obtains a scanty living by the offal which he gathers in the towns, or he is become a perfect wild dog, and scours the country for his prey. His modern name is the deab, He is of considerable size, with a round muzzle, large head, small erect ears, and long and hairy tail, spotted with black, white, and yellow, and having a fierce wolfish aspect. These dogs are not, however, numerous; but the mischief which they do is often great, whether in pairs they burrow in the earth, or associate with others and hunt in troops.[1]
- ↑ Poiret, in his Travels in Barbary, asserts that "the dog loses in the East a great part of those good qualities that make him the friend of man. He is no longer a faithful domesticated animal, faithfully attached to his master, and ever ready to defend him even at the expense of his own life. He is cruel and bloodthirsty, his look is savage, and his appearance revolting; carrion, filth, anything is good enough for him if he can but appease his hunger. They seldom bite one another, but they unite against a stranger who approaches the Arab tents and would tear him to pieces if he did not seek his safety in flight."—Vol. i. p. 353.
Denon, when in the city of Alexandria, in Egypt, says, "I have no longer recognized the dog, that friend of man, the attached and faithful companion—the lively and honest courtier. He is here a gloomy egotist and cut off from all human intercourse without being the less a slave. He does not know him whose house he protects, and devours his corpse without repugnance."—Travels in Lower Egypt, p. 32.
