"His snuffling nose, his active tail,
Attest his joy; then with deep op'ning mouth,
That makes the welkin tremble, he proclaims
Th' audacious felon; foot by foot he marks
His winding way, while all the listening crowd
Applaud his reasonings. O'er the watery ford,
Dry sandy heaths, and stony barren hills,
O'er beaten paths, with men and beasts distain'd,
Unerring he pursues; till at the cot
Arriv'd, and seizing by his guilty throat
The caitiff vile, redeems the captive prey:
So exquisitely delicate his sense!"--SOMERVILLE.
These noble dogs were also called "Slough dogs," in consequence of
their exploring the sloughs, mosses, and bogs, in pursuit of
offenders, called Moss-troopers. They were used for this purpose as
late as the reign of James the First. In Scotland they are called the
Sleuth-hound. It is the largest of any variety of hound, some of them
having measured from twenty-six to twenty-eight inches to the top of
the shoulder. They are beautifully formed, and have a noble expression
of countenance, so finely portrayed in Sir Edwin Landseer's well-known
and beautiful picture of "Dignity and Impudence." There is, as Colonel
Hamilton Smith has observed, a kind of sagacious, or serious, solemn
dignity about him, admirably calculated to impress the marauder with
dread and awe. Indeed, so much is this the case, that I knew an
instance of a bloodhound having traced a sheep-stealer to his cottage
in Bedfordshire; and so great was the dread afterwards of the peculiar
instinct of this dog, that sheep-stealing, which had before been very
common in the neighbourhood, was put an end to. It has, therefore,
often occurred to me, that if bloodhounds were kept for the general
good in different districts, sheep-stealing would be less frequent
than it is at present. They might also be usefully employed in the
detection of rick-burners. At all events the suggestion is worth
some consideration, especially from insurance offices. In 1803,
the Thrapston Association for the Prosecution of Felons in
Northamptonshire, procured and trained a bloodhound for the detection
of sheep-stealers. In order to prove the utility of the dog, a man was
dispatched from a spot where a great concourse of people were
assembled, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, and an hour afterwards the
hound was laid on the scent. After a chase of an hour and a half, the
hound found him secreted in a tree many miles from the place of
starting. The very knowledge that farmers could readily have recourse
to the assistance of such a dog, would serve to prevent the commission
of much crime.
To try whether a young bloodhound was well instructed, a nobleman
(says Mr. Boyle) caused one of his servants to walk to a town four
miles off, and then to a market-town three miles from thence. The dog,
without seeing the man he was to pursue, followed him by the scent to
the above-mentioned places, notwithstanding the multitude of people
going the same road, and of travellers that had occasion to cross it.
When the hound came to the chief market-town, he passed through the
streets, without noticing any of the people there, till he got to the
house where the man he sought was, and there found him in an upper
room.
A sure way of stopping the dog was to spill blood upon the track,
which destroyed the discriminating fineness of his scent. A captive
was sometimes sacrificed on such occasions. Henry the Minstrel tells
us a romantic story of Wallace, founded on this circumstance. The
hero's little band had been joined by an Irishman named Fawdon, or
Fadzean, a dark, savage, and suspicious character. After a sharp
skirmish at Black Erneside, Wallace was forced to retreat with only
sixteen followers. The English pursued with a border sleuth-bratch, or
bloodhound. In the retreat, Fawdon, tired, or affecting to be so,
would go no farther. Wallace having in vain argued with him, in hasty
anger struck off his head, and continued the retreat. When the English
came up, their hound stayed upon the dead body.
To the present group has been referred by some naturalists a dog of
Spanish descent, termed the Cuban bloodhound. A hundred of these
sagacious but savage dogs were sent, in 1795, from the Havanna to
Jamaica, to extinguish the Maroon war, which at that time was fiercely
raging. They were accompanied by forty Spanish chasseurs, chiefly
people of colour, and their appearance and that of the dogs struck
terror into the negroes. The dogs, muzzled and led in leashes, rushed
ferociously upon every object, dragging along the chasseurs in spite
of all their endeavours. Dallas, in his "History of the Maroons,"
informs us that General Walpole ordered a review of these dogs and the
men, that he might see in what manner they would act. He set out for
a place called Seven Rivers, accompanied by Colonel Skinner, whom he
appointed to conduct the attack. "Notice of his coming having preceded
him, a parade of the chasseurs was ordered, and they were taken to a
distance from the house, in order to be advanced when the general
alighted. On his arrival, the commissioner (who had procured the
dogs), having paid his respects, was desired to parade them. The
Spaniards soon appeared at the end of a gentle acclivity drawn out in
a line, containing upwards of forty men, with their dogs in front
unmuzzled, and held by cotton ropes. On receiving the command, 'Fire!'
they discharged their fusils, and advanced as upon a real attack. This
was intended to ascertain what effect would be produced on the dogs if
engaged under a fire of the Maroons. The volley was no sooner
discharged than the dogs rushed forward with the greatest fury, amid
the shouts of the Spaniards, who were dragged on by them with
irresistible force. Some of the dogs, maddened by the shout of attack
while held back by the ropes, seized on the stocks of the guns in the
hands of their keepers, and tore pieces out of them. Their impetuosity
was so great that they were with difficulty stopped before they
reached the general, who found it necessary to get expeditiously into
the chaise from which he had alighted; and if the most strenuous
exertions had not been made, they would have seized upon his horses."
This terrible exhibition produced the intended effect--the Maroons at
once capitulated, and were subsequently sent to Halifax, North
America.
* * * * *
Mr. John Lawrence, says that a servant, discharged by a sporting
country gentleman, broke into his stables by night, and cut off the
ears and tail of a favourite hunter. As soon as it was discovered, a
bloodhound was brought into the stable, who at once detected the scent
of the miscreant, and traced it more than twenty miles. He then
stopped at a door, whence no power could move him. Being at length
admitted, he ran to the top of the house, and, bursting open the door
of a garret, found the object that he sought in bed, and would have
torn him to pieces, had not the huntsman, who had followed him on a
fleet horse, rushed up after him.
* * * * *
Colonel Hamilton Smith says, that he was favoured with the following
interesting notice of this dog from Sir Walter Scott, and which agrees
exactly with some I have seen bred by Lord Bagot at Blithfield in
Staffordshire, and some belonging to Her present Majesty.
"The only sleuth-hound I ever saw was one which was kept at Keeldar
Castle. He was like the Spanish pointer, but much stronger, and
untameably fierce,--colour, black and tawny, long pendulous ears,--had
a deep back, broad nostrils, and was strongly made, something like
the old English mastiff, now so rare."
* * * * *
Wanley, in his "Wonders of the Little World," relates the following
anecdote:--
"Anno Dom. 867.--Lothbroke, of the blood-royal of Denmark, and father
to Humbar and Hubba, entered with his hawk into a boat alone, and by
tempest was driven upon the coast of Norfolk in England; where being
found, he was detained, and presented to Edmund, at that time King of
the East Angles. The king entertained him at his court; and perceiving
his singular dexterity and activity in hawking and hunting, bore him
particular favour. By this means he fell into the envy of Berick, the
king's falconer, who one day, as they hunted together, privately
murdered and threw him into a bush. It was not long before he was
missed at court. When no tidings could be heard of him, his dog, who
had continued in the wood with the corpse of his master, till famine
forced him thence, at sundry times came to court, and fawned on the
king; so that the king, suspecting some ill matter, at length followed
the trace of the hound, and was led by him to the place where
Lothbroke lay. Inquisition was made; and by circumstance of words, and
other suspicions, Berick, the king's falconer, was pronounced to be
his murderer. The king commanded him to be set alone in Lothbroke's
boat, and committed to the mercy of the sea, by the working of which
he was carried to the same coast of Denmark from whence Lothbroke
came. The boat was well known, and the occupant, Berick, examined by
torments. To save himself, he asserted that Lothbroke had been slain
by King Edmund. And this was the first occasion of the Danes' arrival
in this land."
A planter had fixed his residence at the foot of the Blue Mountains,
in the back settlements of America. One day the youngest of his
family, a child of about four years old, disappeared. The father,
becoming alarmed, explored the woods in every direction, but without
success. On the following day the search was renewed, during which a
native Indian happened to pass, accompanied by his dog, one of the
true bloodhound breed. Being informed of the distress of the planter,
he requested that the shoes and stockings last worn by the child might
be brought to him. He made the dog smell to them, and patted him. The
intelligent animal seemed to comprehend all about it, for he began
immediately to sniff around. The Indian and his dog then plunged into
the wood. They had not been there long before the dog began to bay; he
thought that he had hit upon the scent, and presently afterwards,
being assured of it, he uttered a louder and more expressive note, and
darted off at full speed into the forest. The Indian followed, and
after a considerable time met his dog bounding back, his noble
countenance beaming with animation. The hound turned again into the
wood, his master not being far behind, and they found the child lying
at the foot of a tree, fatigued and exhausted, but otherwise unhurt.
Some of these dogs are kept by the keepers in the royal parks and
forests, and are used to trace wounded deer. An officer in the 1st
Life Guards has two noble dogs of this description, for one of which,
I am informed, he gave fifty pounds. In fact, they are by no means
uncommon in England. One distinguishing trait of purity in the breed
is the colour, which is almost invariably a reddish tan, progressively
darkening to the upper part, with a mixture of black upon the back.
* * * * *
"In the Spanish West India Islands," says Bingley, "there are officers
called chasseurs, kept in continual employment. The business of these
men is to traverse the country with their dogs, for the purpose of
pursuing and taking up all persons guilty of murder, or other crimes;
and no activity on the part of the offenders will enable them to
escape. The following is a very remarkable instance, which happened
not many years ago.
"A fleet from Jamaica, under convoy to Great Britain, passing through
the Gulf of Mexico, beat upon the north side of Cuba. One of the
ships, manned with foreigners (chiefly renegado Spaniards), in
standing in with the land at night, was run on shore. The officers,
and the few British seamen on board, were murdered, and the vessel was
plundered by the renegadoes. The part of the coast on which the
vessel was stranded being wild and unfrequented, the assassins retired
with their booty to the mountains, intending to penetrate through the
woods to some remote settlements on the southern side, where they
hoped to secure themselves, and elude all pursuit. Early intelligence
of the crime had, however, been conveyed to Havanna. The assassins
were pursued by a detachment of the Chasseurs del Rey, with their
dogs; and in the course of a very few days they were every one
apprehended and brought to justice.
"The dogs carried out by the Chasseurs del Rey are all perfectly
broken in. On coming up with the fugitive, they bark at him till he
stops; they then crouch near him, terrifying him with a ferocious
growling if he attempts to stir. In this position they continue
barking, to give notice to the chasseurs, who come up and secure their
prisoner.
"Each chasseur can only hunt with two dogs. These people live with
their dogs, and are inseparable from them. At home the animals are
kept chained; and when walking out with their masters, they are never
unmuzzled nor let out of ropes, but for attack.
"Bloodhounds were formerly used in certain districts lying between
England and Scotland, that were much infested by robbers and
murderers; and a tax was laid on the inhabitants for keeping and
maintaining a certain number of these animals. But as the arm of
justice is now extended over every part of the country, and as there
are now no secret recesses where villany can be concealed, their
services in this respect are become no longer necessary.
"Some few of these dogs, however, are yet kept in the northern parts
of the kingdom, and in the lodges of the royal forests, where they are
used in pursuit of deer that have been previously wounded. They are
also sometimes employed in discovering deer-stealers, whom they
infallibly trace by the blood that issues from the wounds of their
victims.
"A very extraordinary instance of this occurred in the New Forest, in
the year 1810, and was related to me by the Right Hon. G. H. Rose. A
person, in getting over a stile into a field near the Forest, remarked
that there was blood upon it. Immediately afterwards he recollected
that some deer had been killed, and several sheep stolen in the
neighbourhood; and that this might possibly be the blood of one that
had been killed in the preceding night. The man went to the nearest
lodge to give information; but the keeper being from home, he was
under the necessity of going to Rhinefield Lodge, which was at a
considerable distance. Toomer, the under-keeper, went with him to the
place, accompanied by a bloodhound. The dog, when brought to the spot,
was laid on the scent; and after following for about a mile the track
which the depredator had taken, he came at last to a heap of furze
fagots belonging to the family of a cottager. The woman of the house
attempted to drive the dog away, but was prevented; and on the fagots
being removed a hole was discovered in the ground, which contained the
body of a sheep that had recently been killed, and also a considerable
quantity of salted meat. The circumstance which renders this account
the more remarkable is, that the dog was not brought to the scent
until more than sixteen hours had elapsed after the man had carried
away the sheep."
* * * * *
An old writer--the author of "The History of the Buccaneers"--though
full of prejudice against the Indians, thus describes some of the
atrocities practised by the Spaniards:--
"The Spaniards having possessed themselves of these isles (South
America), found them peopled with Indians, a barbarous people, sensual
and brutish, hating all labour, and only inclined to killing and
making war against their neighbours; not out of ambition, but only
because they agreed not with themselves in some common terms of
language; and perceiving that the dominion of the Spaniards laid great
restrictions upon their lazy and brutish customs, they conceived an
irreconcileable hatred against them, but especially because they saw
them take possession of their kingdoms and dominions. Hereupon they
made against them all the resistance they could, everywhere opposing
their designs to the utmost; and the Spaniards, finding themselves
cruelly hated by the Indians, and nowhere secure from their
treacheries, resolved to extirpate and ruin them, since they could
neither tame them by civility nor conquer them by the sword. But the
Indians, it being their custom to make the woods their chief places of
defence, at present made these their refuge whenever they fled from
the Spaniards: hereupon those first conquerors of the New World made
use of dogs to range and search the intricate thickets of woods and
forests for those their implacable and unconquerable enemies; thus
they forced them to leave their old refuge and submit to the sword,
seeing no milder usage would do it: hereupon they killed some of them,
and quartering their bodies, placed them in the highways, that others
might take warning from such a punishment. But this severity proved of
ill consequence, for instead of frightening them, and reducing them to
civility, they conceived such horror of the Spaniards, that they
resolved to detest and fly their sight for ever; hence the greatest
part died in caves and subterraneous places of woods and mountains, in
which places I myself have often seen great numbers of human bones."
* * * * *
It has been already stated, that in the West Indies bloodhounds were
employed to hunt the runaway blacks. I had one of these Cuban
bloodhounds given to me a few years ago, and finding him somewhat more
ferocious than I liked, I made a present of him to a keeper in the
neighbourhood. He was put into a kennel with other dogs, and soon
killed some of them. Keepers, however, in going their rounds at night,
are frequently accompanied by bloodhounds, and poachers are said to
have a great dread of them.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE TERRIER.]