The great want he will experience is that of trained dogs, those used by the Indians being nearly useless, as after alarming the game by their noise, they can’t hunt it with any thing like spirit. Some few Kangaroo dogs, however, brought from Sydney, have been eagerly purchased by the Indian sportsmen, and are said to be an immense improvement on those of the country, although I have never seen their performances in the field; from their speed and strength, however, they appear more than a match for the deer of the islands, which are small-sized and greatly inferior in strength to those of the Highlands of Scotland.
The race of dogs formerly known as Manilla bloodhounds has become quite extinct, although some descendants of a half-bred progeny still remain, being a cross between them and the street curs. Although they possess some of the fierce and savage qualities of the old hound, it is in a much inferior degree to that of the genuine breed, whose size and appearance was very much finer than any of the mongrels now to be seen.
The old breed were so fierce as to be absolutely unsafe when at liberty, and always required to be chained up. Several years ago two fine dogs of the old breed were procured with considerable trouble, and at some expense sent to England, to a gentleman fond of dogs.
He gave orders to keep them at all times on the chain, during which they behaved so well, that a groom, going out to air a horse one morning, unloosed the chain of one of them, and took him along with him.
The dog remained quiet enough till happening to meet another man, also airing a pair of skittish horses,—the capering of the horses, or something else, roused the brute’s savage nature, and he sprang on one of them like a tiger, fastening on his flank, and sucking his blood so greedily that all the two men could do did not make the savage beast quit his hold, till gorged with the blood of the victim.
The horse was spoiled for ever, or, I believe, died from the hemorrhage, and as he chanced to be a valuable one, which, of course, the owner of the dog had to pay for, he was so disgusted at having to do so, that he made both of them be shot at once, in order to prevent any possibility of the recurrence of such an accident.
The only other dog at Manilla besides the worthless street cur, is a sort of ladies’ poodle, with long and silky white hairs; their fine coats only making them favorites, as they are good for nothing else than women’s pets.
The smaller these are, when full grown, the more they are esteemed; their white hair should be entirely free from any spots of black or brown, these being generally the mark of a mongrel breed.
They are so delicate, that few of them can stand a sea-voyage, and all those I have ever sent away from Manilla, to any distance, have died before reaching their destination. A well-bred dog of this breed of middling size, is about as large as a full grown tom-cat, or a little bigger.
It has always appeared to me a most curious and inexplicable fact, that when good dogs are sent out from home to a hot climate such as this, they invariably are found to deteriorate to an uncommon extent, the heat causing them to lose their spirit, and also their scent. But, in fact, the animal in perfection, or, as he has been truly called at home, “the most intelligent of beasts, and the companion of man,” is only found in some places of Europe to be such.