118 ADVANTAGE OF POLITENESS. off without showing any disposition to defend itself."* In all probability this fit of good humour was to be traced to the animal having been plentifully fed; for most assuredly the children would have stood but little chance had their visitor been subjected to a meagre diet for some days previously. Mr. Edwards, in his Voyage up the Amazon, tells of an exchange of courtesies between a traveller and a jaguar. The jaguar was standing in the road as the Indian came out of the bushes, not ten paces distant, and was looking, doubtless, somewhat fiercely as he waited the unknown comer. The Indian was puzzled for an instant, but summoning his presence of mind, he took off his broad-brimmed hat, and made a low bow, with "Muito bene dias, meu Senhor," or, "A very good morning, Sir." Such profound respect was not wasted on the jaguar, who turned slowly and marched down the road with proper dignity. It is difficult to say how many leopard and jaguar skins are annually imported, as the majority are brought by private hands. We have been told by an eminent furrier that about five hundred are sold each year to the London trade. They are chiefly used as shabraques, or coverings to officers' saddles in certain hussar regiments; but skins used for this purpose must be marked in a particular manner, and the ground * Travels and Researches of Alexander Von Humboldt, 1851. must be of a dark rich colour. Such skins are worth about three pounds; ordinary leopard and jaguar skins are valued at about two pounds, and are chiefly used for rugs or mats. The jaguar-skins are sometimes of great size, and we have measured one which was nine feet seven inches from tip to tip. The leopard-skins are exclusively used for military purposes, and the jaguars' are preferred for rugs. CHAPTER IV. WOLF. WOLVES.-ORIGIN OF DOGS AND WOLVES.-POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. A INFANT. TASTE FOR PORK.-AN AWKWARD PREDICAMENT.--A FIERCE PIG.-A SOLDIER DEVOURED.-CRY OF THE JACKAL.THE OLD QUARTERMASTER.-AN ATTRACTIVE FIGURE.—THE SAILOR AND THE BEEF.-UTILITY OF WOLVES. A PECULIAR interest attaches to the wolf, from the close analogy which in all its essential features it presents to the faithful companion of man. So close, indeed, is the analogy, that some of the ablest zoologists, the celebrated John Hunter included, have entertained the opinion that dogs, in all their varieties, and wolves, have descended from a common stock. With the exception of an obliquity in the position of the eyes, there is no appreciable anatomical difference between these animals. The question is one of difficulty; but we believe we are correct in stating that ORIGIN OF DOGS AND WOLVES. 121 the majority of the highest authorities agree in the belief that these animals are not derived from a common parent, but were originally distinct, and will ever so continue. There are several species of wild dogs known, quite distinct from the wolf; and although the opportunities have been numerous for dogs resuming their pristine form by long continuance in a savage state, no instance has ever occurred of their becoming wolves, however much they might degenerate from the domestic breed. The honest and intelligent shepherd-dog was regarded by Buffon as the "fons et origo" from which all other dogs, great and small, have sprung; and he drew up a kind of genealogical table, showing how climate, food, education, and intermixture of breeds gave rise to the varieties. At Katmandoo there are many plants found in a wild state, which man has carried with him in his migrations, and wild animals, which may present the typical forms whence some of our domestic races have been derived; among these is a wild dog, which Mr. Hodgson considers to be the primitive species of the whole canine race. By Professor Kretchner, the jackal was regarded as the type of the dogs of ancient Egypt, an idea supported by the representations on the walls of the temples. This question, however, of the origin of the canine race, is so thoroughly obscured by the mists of countless ages, as to be incapable of direct 122 POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. proof. Philosophers may indulge themselves with speculations; but in the absence of that keystone, proof, the matter must rest on the basis of theory alone. The following are some of the chief differences between wolves, wild dogs, and domestic dogs. The ears of the wild animals are always pricked, the lop or drooping ear being essentially a mark of civilization; with very rare exceptions, their tails hang more or less and are bushy, the honest cock of the tail so characteristic of a respectable dog, being wanting. This is certainly the rule; but, curious enough, the Zoological Gardens contain at the present moment, a Portuguese female wolf which carries her tail as erect and with as bold an air as any dog. Wolves and wild dogs growl, howl, yelp, and cry most discordantly, but, with one exception, do not bark; that exception being the wild hunting-dog of South Africa, which, according to Mr. Cumming, has three distinct cries; one is peculiarly soft and melodious, but distinguishable at a great distance: this is analogous to the trumpet-call, "halt and rally," of cavalry, serving to collect the scattered pack when broken in hot chase. A second cry, which has been compared to the chattering of monkeys, is emitted at night when the dogs are excited; and the third note is described as a sharp, angry bark, usually uttered when they behold an object they cannot make out, but which differs from the true, well-known bark of the domestic dog. |