as it is longer in shape, and not always of the same colour. It seldom barks, except in the chase, and is very obedient to the voice of its leader. A writer quaintly remarks: "They have good and hard feet and stately stomachs, and are very properly denominated sanguinary, or blood hounds, on account of their extraordinary scent; for if their game be only wounded, so that it escapes the huntsman's hands, or if it be killed, and never so cleanly carried away, these dogs, by their exquisite smell, will discover it, and not be wanting, either by nimbleness or greediness, to come at it, provided there be stains of blood; nay, though by all the cunning and foresight imaginable, a beast be conveyed away without spot or blood, yet through the roughest and most crooked ways and meanders this dog will find out the deer-stealer, and, even in the thickest throng, will, by his smell, separate and pick him out."

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In training a young dog for the chase, a staunch old hound" was conducted to the spot whence a deer had been taken for a mile or two, and the two having been laid on the "drag," as it was termed, they were afterwards rewarded for their labour by some venison. The young hound was next taken with the old one to a spot whence a man, whose shoes had been rubbed with the blood of a deer, had gone, and the pursuit was commenced, followed by a similar reward. The lessons were thus gradually taught till proficiency was attained, and the dog was ready for any occupation of this nature. The name of Sagax, which Linnæus applied to this dog, calls to remembrance those scenes of feudal times, in which the strong arm of power set aside right, and held entire command.

The bloodhound is specially esteemed for the acuteness of its scent, and the pertinacity with which it pursues any track which is pointed out. The sagacity it thus manifests occasioned its use in the chase; but it has, at other periods, been employed in the pursuit of men. When Robert Bruce was chased by his English foes, the intelligence and perseverance of the bloodhounds they employed in his track

greatly imperilled his safety; and he at length found it essential to wade a considerable distance up a stream, by which the track was lost, and he eventually escaped.

The political historians of Bruce and Wallace frequently relate very curious facts as to the employment of these animals, the services rendered by them, and the escapes they had from those of the enemy. The bloodhound was in great request on the confines of England and Scotland, where the borderers were continually preying on the flocks and herds of their neighbours.

Sir Walter Scott often alludes to these circumstances; and William of Deloraine, who had "baffled Percy's best bloodhounds," is prominently advanced. Vividly, too, does he picture the position of the heir of Branksome :

"Starting oft, he journey'd on,

And deeper in the wood is gone,—
For aye the more he sought his way,
And further still he went astray,

Until he heard the mountains round

Ring in the baying of a hound.

And hark! and hark! the deep-mouth'd bark

Comes nigher still and nigher;

Bursts on the path a dark bloodhound,

His tawny muzzle track'd the ground,
And his red eye shot fire."

Barbour states that Bruce waded a bow-shot down a stream, and climbed a tree which overhung the water. He well describes, too, the wavering of the "sleuthhund” “ta and fra," and the disappointment of " Jhon of Lorn;" while Henry the minstrel relates the following by the English, of a party under Wallace, with the assistance of a border blood-hound :

:

"In Gelderland there was that brachet bred,

Liker* of scent, to follow them that fled;

So was he used in Eske and Liddesdail,
While she gat blood no fleeing might avail."

* Sure.

The true bloodhound of the borders was large, strong, muscular, of great breadth of chest, and of a tan colour, while a black spot above each eye added to the fierceness of its appearance.

"The

Gervase Markham*, speaking of hounds, says: bay-coloured ones have the second place for goodness, and are of great courage, venturing far, and of a quick scent, finding out very well the turns and windings. They run surely and with great boldness, commonly loving the stag more than any other beast; but they make no account of hares. It is true that they be more headstrong and hard to reclaim than the white, and put men to more pain and travail about the same."

At the present time, the "slave," or "nigger-hunters," as they are termed, of the United States, are continually in requisition, aided by this noble but mis-used animal. May the time soon come when the world shall recognise the law of universal brotherhood, and those degrading and heartsickening scenes, which professedly civilized nations thus display, be unknown for ever! Instead of pursuing knights and warriors, the bloodhound was employed in the chase of criminals or deer-stealers; and when, about a century and a quarter ago, the latter crime was common, the parkkeepers relied with confidence on their dogs for the detection of the offender.

One instance will suffice to illustrate the sagacity which distinguishes this animal, combined with its acuteness of scent. About fifty years ago, a person, while getting over a style into a field near the New Forest, observed blood upon it, and he immediately recollected that some sheep had been killed, and several stolen in the neighbourhood. Thinking that this discovery might throw some light on the question, he proceeded to the nearest lodge to communicate the information; and, as bloodhounds were kept for the purpose of tracing deer which might be wounded, a keeper brought one and laid it on the scent. After follow

* Maison Rustique.

ing the track for a considerable distance, they arrived at a heap of furze faggots belonging to a cottager, one of whose family attempted to drive the dog away. On the removal of the heap, however, a hole was discovered, which contained the body of a sheep lately killed, and a considerable quantity of salted meat.

The services of the bloodhound have, however, been generally superseded by the warrant of the justice and the constable, and they are now principally kept as curiosities. About forty years ago, the Thrapston association for the prevention of felonies in Northamptonshire, provided and trained a bloodhound, for the detection of sheepstealers. To demonstrate the unerring power of the animal, and to deter all evilly-disposed persons, a day was appointed for a public trial,—the man to be hunted starting about ten o'clock, in the presence of a great concourse of people, and the dog being laid on an hour afterwards:

"Foot by foot he marks

His winding way, while all the listening crowd
Applaud his resoundings

O'er beaten paths, with men and beast distrain'd,
Unerring he pursues."

After a chase of an hour and a half, the hound ran up to a tree in which he was secreted, at the distance of fifteen miles from the place at which he started, to the surprise and satisfaction of a large assemblage of persons.

The Cuban bloodhounds, when properly trained, will not kill or hurt the pursued, unless he offers resistance. When they reach the fugitive they bark at him till he stops, and then crouching near him, terrify him with a ferocious growling if he stirs, and give notice to the "chasseurs," who come up and secure the prisoner. This dog is of the size of the largest hound, with erect ears, which are usually cropped at the points, the nose being pointed, and the skin exceedingly hard. Bryan Edwards states, that though the Cuban hound is not larger than the English shepherd dog,

it is equal to the mastiff in bulk, to the bulldog in courage, to the bloodhound in scent, and to the greyhound in agility. Visitor of 1848.

K. N. S.

THE STOLEN ROSE TREE.

I SHALL do just as I please, I don't care for anything they say at the Sunday-school. This was George Martin's exclamation to one of his companions who was trying to dissuade him from going to look for birds nests on a Sunday afternoon. Oh, how many young people might bear witness from their own sad experience to the mischief which has been done by those two words, don't care. In many cases the boy who has begun by despising the kind instructions of his teacher has ended by breaking the laws of both God and man: an instance of this appears in the conduct of George Martin, whose further history I will briefly relate as a lesson to those who may be tempted to pursue the same evil way. Sabbath breaking always leads to other sins; it brought George Martin into evil company, and he was encouraged to disobey his parents, to use bad language, and to steal. He had till then been an honest boy, and, therefore, the first time that he ventured to take a penny, which his mother had laid upon the window sill to be ready for the milkman, his conscience severely smote him for the crime; but, as it was not found out, he afterward became more bold, and at last grew quite hardened in his guilt. For a long time he contrived to escape detection, until his wicked practices were unexpectedly discovered in the following manner :-Not very distant from the abode of his father there lived an old gentleman who was very fond of flowers, and, having a garden adjoining his house, he devoted much time to their cultivation. Just underneath his