Beeton's book of poultry and domestic animals - Thurman Lodge ...

folks, that distingnishes the Thibet dog, is in this cast exactly
reversed, if not by nature, at least as far as the teachings of
brutal men may prevail. Sometimes this mastiff is called the
" Nigger " hound, a term the appUcation of which wiU render
any explanation as to this dog's pursuits almost unnecessary.
When, in reading slave romances or realities, the reader comes
across a runaway-nigger hunt, he may bear in mind that the
dog in question is the foremost brute in the chase. When the
Spaniards invaded America, the ravages and blood-thirstiness
of these creatures astonished the simple natives no less than
the " thunder and lightning " of the Spanish arms.
THE ENGLISH MASTITP.
This, the largest of the dogs indigenous to this country, is a
creature whose chief characteristics might be emulated by not
a few bipeds. In times of peace, and when not disturbed by a
sense of responsibility, the huge fellow is just as mUd as a
kitten. No puppy is too young for him to try a game with
and should the waspish little brute turn and snap at his huge
patron, he will merely blink his eyes good-humouredly and wag
his tail, as though he thought it rather a good joke, or, better
stiU, remembering his own strength, aa an act of pluck on the
part of thb pigmy, and a thing he admired.
AH this may happen in the daytime, when the sun is shining,
and all men have their eyes open to watch over their goods.
But stay tiU nightfall, when the mastiff " mounts guard " in
the yard or warehouse. Then his whole faculties! are his
master's. In any one else's interest, or in his own, he has
neither ears nor jaws nor limbs, and should his oldest canine
chum approach with no worse intention than a gossip, he will
be warned off surlily ; if he comes any closer, he will be bit.
His discrimination between friend and foe is seldom at fault,
and even in cases that reasoning mortals would regard as a
" fix," the mastiff manages sometimes to pull through cle-
verly.
My grandfather used to tell me a dog story illustrative of
this. At the time in question he hved at Yarmouth, and had
for a neighbour a tanner, whose manufacturing premises were
close at hand. The tanner had a mastiff that guarded his yard
by night. The tanner had a foreman, who lived with him
many years—before the purchase of the mastiff, indeed. As
V'e foreman was more about the premises than any one else,|
wid as, moreover, it was his business to see that the doe was
;