VARIETIES OF THE DOG.

237

animals far separated from the class. What modifications we find in the breed, what races lost, what races created? Like man, whom he follows over the globe, the dog changes like him, but more greatly, and readily adapts itself to all climates and all habits.

And why? Because long domesticated, it has experienced infinite changes according to the localities; because man has selected the differences in individual births to create varieties; because he has coupled dogs having the same instincts, and improved them so as to obtain a race suited for a special purpose,

which he has not ceased to improve. He has obtained from a primitive animal, which is no longer met with, a varied race of animals which nature did not form.

It will be sufficient for our present purpose to class dogs under three heads ::

1. Farm dogs, which includes the colly, the shepherd's and drover's dog, the mastiff, and the bulldog.

2. Hunting dogs, as the terrier, the hound, the harrier, the beagle, and the greyhound.

3. Shooting dogs, as the pointer, the setter, and the spaniel.

The dog is old at fifteen years, and seldom lives beyond twenty. Dogs are encouraged and kept in most countries as companions, housedogs, guardians for sheep, for the chase, and in many cases for beasts of draught.

238

ARCTIC DOG SLEDGES.

In this country the employment of the dog for drawing burdens, or as a turnspit, has been done away with; but on the Continent they are still harnessed to small carts, and dog-trains for sledges are much employed in the Arctic Regions.

In Siberia, Greenland, and other northern countries, five dogs are yoked to a sledge, two and two, with the fifth in front as a leader. In general, only one person rides in a sledge, who sits

sideways, and guides the animals by reins fastened to their collars. Such is their fleetness, that they have been known to perform a journey of 270 miles in three days and a half, and so great their strength, that they will convey a sledge containing three persons and their baggage sixty miles in a day over the snow.

THE ESQUIMAUX DOG (Canis familiaris, var. borealis).—Captain Lyon thus describes the Esquimaux dog: In form he is very similar to our shepherds' dogs in England, but is more muscular and broad-chested, owing to the constant and severe work to which he is brought up. His ears are pointed, and the aspect of

THE ESQUIMAUX DOG.

239

the head is somewhat savage. In size a fine dog is about the height of the Newfoundland breed, but broad like a mastiff in every part except the nose. Young dogs are put into harness as soon as they can walk. Every dog is distinguished by a name, and the angry repetition of it has an effect as instantaneous as an application of the whip, which instrument is of an immense length, having a lash of from 18 to 24 feet, while the handle is one foot only. With this, by throwing it on one side or the other of the leader, and repeating certain words, the animals are guided or stopped.

I found (adds Captain Lyons) by several experiments that three of my dogs could draw me on a sledge weighing 100 lbs. at the rate of one mile in six minutes; and as a proof of the strength of a well-grown dog, my leader drew 196 lbs. singly, and to the same distance, in eight minutes. At another time seven of my dogs ran a mile in four minutes, drawing a heavy sledge full of men. Afterwards, in carrying stores to the "Fury," one mile distant, nine dogs drew 161 lbs. in the space of nine minutes. My sledge was on runners, neither shod nor iced; but had the runners been iced at least 40 lbs. might have been added for each dog.

240 DOG'S FLESH AS FOOD-THE DOG-TAX.

The flesh of the dog is eaten in several countries, and its skin utilised for leather. The flesh of the North American dog, var. Canis canadensis, is esteemed before that of almost any other animals by the Canadian voyageurs, and is eaten by some of the Indian tribes on the Saskatchewan and shores of the Great Lakes; but the Chipewyan tribes hold the practice in abhorrence, because they consider themselves to be descendants of a dog.

In many countries, to keep dogs within due bounds, a tax is levied on them, as in France, the United Kingdom, and parts of Germany. The dog-tax in Great Britain is 5s. per annum, and it realized in the year ending December, 1874, £313,017, so that there was duty paid on 1,252,068. The Commissioners of Inland Revenue, however, complain that, notwithstanding considerable exertion on the part of their officers and the assistance of the police, there is still a large number of dogs uncharged.

There are more than 120 packs of hounds kept, the number of harriers is about 20,000, and other fancy breeds and dogs for the chase, 114,500. In Yorkshire there are ten packs of foxhounds, one pack of staghounds, and five or six of harriers, equal in all to thirteen or fourteen packs of foxhounds. Thirteen packs of foxhounds, or fifty couple each, viz. 1300 hounds, consume annually 200 tons of oatmeal, at a cost of £2600, besides the carcases of about 2000 dead horses.

In Ireland the dog-tax is only 2s., and in 1870 duty was paid on 270,422, being a dog for every twenty persons. The tax produced £27,042, and after deducting £7000 for expenses in the administration of the Act of Parliament, there remained £20,000, which was paid over to the authorities in reduction of local taxation. There are now about 300,000 returned in Ireland.

In France the number of dogs was estimated at 2,250,000. The tax in that country is about six francs a head. Many are thrown into the Seine by their owners rather than pay the tax, and these carcases are occasionally so numerous, and so fat, that at Javelle there is quite a trade carried on in fishing for and

STATISTICS OF DOGS.

241

boiling them down for the fat, of which about 2,250,000 lbs. are obtained annually, this is sold to the glove-makers at Is. the pound, for dressing the better class of straw-coloured gloves.

In the city of Berlin the dog-tax is three thalers, or about 9s., and it is found there are about 21,000 dogs kept; of these nearly 3,000 are used in drawing carts. It was thought that the imposition of the tax would check the number of dogs kept, but notwithstanding the tax and the obligatory use of a muzzle, they were found to have increased by one-third in four years. In Wurtemburg the dog-tax brings in 376,355 marks, or nearly £19,000; in the Hawaian Islands 20,000 dollars, or £4,000.

In the United States it is officially computed that there is a dog to each family, and this gives in round numbers 8,000,000 dogs, each of which costs eight dollars a year to keep, and consumes annually food sufficient to raise a pig. But it is believed there are twice that number in the States. The dogs are found to commit sad ravages among the sheep there.

And then it is reasonably argued what benefits might not result from killing the larger number off. For instance :-—

Thus the surplus dogs, by proper use, might yield £800,000. If chopped up or ground, their meat and bones would be excellent for chicken feed; and their skins good for gloves and other manufactures.

The skins of big mastiffs are fit to be tanned for boots and shoes or thick riding gloves, the skins of lesser dogs can be dressed white for gloves. In the city of New York 6,000 to 8,000 dogs are annually impounded, a very small portion of which are redeemed. They are killed by drowning, and the carcases are taken to the offal boats, which convey them to Barren Island,

R