THE DOMESTIC DOGS OF OTHER SAVAGE TRIBES.
The Antarctic savages occasionally domesticate the Dingo. Of this Dog we shall give an account later on. Many of the African savages—such, for instance, as the Damaras, Namaquas, and Kaffirs—also keep Dogs. The first-named of these tribes take great care of the Dogs, and value them highly. Mr. Andersson says he has “known them pay as much as two fine Oxen for a Dog.” The Kaffir Dogs, on the contrary, are thought very little of. Mr. Baldwin speaks of them as “a set of noisy curs, which invariably, at the sight of a white man, tumble head-over-heels in all directions, upsetting everything, as frightened as if they had seen an apparition. After the first alarm, they bait you unmercifully, and for many minutes it is impossible to hear yourself speak. I don’t know that I ever succeeded in making friends with a real Kaffir cur in my life, not even a puppy; and I scarcely ever saw, or knew, or heard of one good for anything; they do, indeed, lead the life of a Dog. They are well fed when quite young, but afterwards they are expected to provide for themselves, and are consequently wretchedly lean and mangy, but they continue to exist.”
Dogs are also half-tamed by the natives of South America, where there are, according to Humboldt, two very distinct breeds, one “totally hairless—with the exception of a small tuft of white hair on the forehead and at the tip of the tail—of a slate-grey colour, and without voice. This variety was found by Columbus in the Antilles, by Cortes in Mexico, and by Pizarro in Peru (where it suffers from the cold of the Cordilleras); and it is still very frequently met with in the warmer districts of Peru, under the name ofPeiros Chinos.”
The second kind, sometimes calledCanis ingæ, “belongs to the barking species, and has a pointed nose and pointed ears. It is now used for watching sheep and cattle. It exhibits many varieties of colour, induced by being crossed with European breeds. TheCanis ingæfollows man up the heights of the Cordilleras. In the old Peruvian graves, the skeleton of this Dog is sometimes found resting at the feet of the human mummy, presenting an emblem of fidelity frequently employed by the mediæval sculptors.”
This breed is also distinguished by great ferocity, and will bite strangers upon the slightest provocation, or even without any provocation at all. With their masters, too, they are often very surly.
We now come to