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Show 22 DOGS. CuAr. 1 when hungry t he y WI· n attack even ibeir masters. . ·A ccord1i ng to Kane they readily become feral. Their affimty IS so c osc 1 · th them and tho with wolves that they frequent Y cross Wl ' b _, f Indians talco the whelps of wolves " to I· mpr ovc the r.e cu o their doo·s." The half-bred wolves sometimes (Lamare-PlCquot) cannot be tamed, "though this case is rare;" but they do ~ot become thoroughly well broken in till the second o:· thu~ generat w. n. r'Ih esc facts ·s how th"a t there can be 1b ut ht1tlf e,£ I f. any, sterility between tho Esquimaux. dog and tIC .wo ' or otherwise they would not be used to Improve tho brood. As Dr. Hayes says of these clogs, " reclaimed wolves they doubtless are." 14 • North America is inhabited by a second kmcl of wolf, the prairie-wolf (Canis latrans), which is now looked at by all naturalists as specifically distinct from the com~on wolf.; a~d is, according to Mr. J. R. Lord, in some ~·espocts.mtcrmcdmto m habits between a wolf and a fox. Sn· J. Richardson, after closcribin()' tho Hare Indian clog, which differs in many respects b 1 . from the Esquimaux clog, says, "It bears the same re atwn to the prairie wolf that the Esquimaux dog docs to tl:c great grey wolf." He could, in fact, detect ~o mar~ed d1ff~r.ence between them; and Messrs. Nott and Ghclclon g1vc additiOnal details showing their close resemblance. The dogs deri vecl from tho above two aboriginal sources cross together and with the wild wolves, at least with the C. occidentalis, and with European dogs. In Florida, according to Bartram, tho black wolf-clog of the Indians differs in nothing from the wolves of that country except in barking.15 14 Tho authorities for tho foregoing statements arc as follow :-Richardson, iu • Fauna Bor ali-Americana,' 1R29, pp. (H,, 75; Dr. Kane, • Arctic Explorations,' 185G, vol. i. pp. 398, 1.55; Dr. Hayes, 'Aroti.c 13oat Journey,' 18GO, p. 1G7. Franklin's 'Narrative,' vol. i. p. 2GD, gives tho case of tltToe wl10lps of a black wolf being curried away by the Indians. Parry, Richard. on, and others, give accounts of wolves and dogs naturally crossing in the eastern parts of North America. Seeman, in his 'Voyage of JI.l\1.8. Herald,' 1853, vol. ii. p. 2G, says the wolf is often caught by the E,squi· maux for tho purpose of crossing with their dogs, und tbns adding to their size and strength. M. Lnmaro-Picquot, in ' Dull. do la Soc. d' Acclimat.,' tom. vii., 18GO, p. 148, gives a good account of the half-bred Esquimaux dogs. 1s ' l!'auna Boroali-Amorict1oa,' 1829, pp. 73, 78, 80. :Nott and Glidden,' 'fypcs of Mnnkinu,' p. 383. The naturalist and traveller Bartram is quoted by Hamilton Smith, in 'Nat. llist. Lib.,' vol. x. p. 150. A Mexican <lomcstic dog seems also to resemble a wild dog 'l'IIEIR PARENTAGE. 23 'furning to the southern parts of the New World, Columbus found two kinds of clogs in tho West Indies; and Fernandez 16 describes three in Mexico: some of these native dogs were dumb -that is, did not bark. In Guiana it has been known since the time of Buffon that the natives cross their dogs with an aboriginal species, apparently the Uanis cancrivorus. Sir R. Schomburgk, who has so carefully explored these regions, writes to me, "I have been repeatedly told by the Arawaak Indians, who I'osicle near the coast, that they cross their dogs with a wild species to improve the breed, and individual dogs have been shown to me which certainly resembled the C. cancrivorus much more than the common breed. It is but seldom that the Indians · ke p the C. cancrit•orus for domestic purposes, nor is the Ai, another species of wild dog, and which I consider to be identical with the Dusicyon silvestris of H. Smith, now much used by the Arecunas for tho purpose of hunting. The clogs of tho Taruma Indians are quite distinct, and resemble Buffon's St. Domingo greyhound." It thus appears that the natives of Guiana have partially domesticated two aboriginal species, and still cross their dogs with them; these two species belong to a quite different type from the North American and European wolves. A careful observer, Rongger,17 " gives reasons for believina that a hairless clog was domesticated when America was :firs~ visited by. Europeans : some of these clogs in Paraguay are still dumb, and Tschudi 18 states that they suffer from cold in the Cordillera. This naked dog is, however, quite distinct from that found preserved in tho ancient Peruvian burial-places, and described by Tschudi, under the name of Canis IngCE, as withstanding cold well and as barking. It is not known whether these two ~listin~t kinds of dog are the descendants of native species, and 1t might be argued that when man first mignited into America he brought with him from the Asiatic continent dogs of tho same country; but this may be the prairie-wolf. Another capable judge, Mr. J. K. Lord ('Tho Natumlist in Vancouver Island,' lSGG, vol. ii. p. 218), says that the Indian dog of the Spolmns, nonr the Rool'y Mountains, ''is beyond all quo tion nothing more than a tamed Cayoto or prairio-,volf," or Canislatrans. 16 I quote this from :Mr. R. Hill's exccllcut account of the Alco or domestic dog of Mexico, iu Gosse's 'Naturalist's ojourn in Jamaica,' 1851, p. 329. 17 'Naturgosohichtc clor Saeugethiere von Paraguay,' 1830, s. 151. 18 Quoted in Humboldt's 'Aspects of Natw-o' (Eng. tmnsl.), vol. i. p. lOS. |