that those before him seemed to sink in an abyss of whirlpools. Excepting broken knees for the horses, it was evident there was not the least danger. To sit firmly, and give the horse his head, was all we had to think of; for, cushioned in the stream, no fall could be hard, and rocks above water were always around. Once or twice there was a longer swim, and then also a moment's scrambling along the bank; but with care and patience we soon lowered ourselves several hundred feet, and then struck into a path, where we alighted, and, undressing, in a few minutes dried our dripping garments upon the broiling rocks, from whence, at an easy canter, we reached the review ground, about seventeen hundred feet below our starting place. We were on the spot before the troops began to fall in, all parties refusing to believe in the route by which we had arrived.

Militia infantry reviews are soon over in the West Indies; and the cavalry, which once understood how to ride round a portentous cotton tree, with a colonel who warned the general with the remark-" Ah, sir! if you did but know how much trouble I had to get them to do so much, I am sure no further exertion would be demanded"-was now, after a miserable failure at a flourish from a negro trumpeter, handsomely dismissed, in order to prepare in real earnest for the coming grand dinner; where numerous toasts were drunk, and sundry gentlemen commenced singing ballads, whereof many beautiful stanzas were unfortunately drowned by the excessive applause bestowed upon the first.

THE GREAT IRISH WOLF-DOG;

IDENTICAL WITH THE HIGHLAND DEER-HOUND OF MODERN TIMES.

AN ESSAY.

BY H. D. RICHARDSON, S.E.R.R.S.E.

The identity of the Highland deer-hound with the old Irish wolfdog not being generally known or admitted, it strikes me that it will be as well to demonstrate that fact ere going any further, and for this purpose I shall quote a paper which I published about a year ago in the Irish Penny Journal; at the head of it also will be found a good engraving taken from a portrait of Oscar, a Highland deer-hound of prodigious size and beauty, the property of my friend J. J. Nolan, of White's Avenue, Merrion. I may be accused of vanity in thus quoting from my own works, but I really cannot avoid doing so when they are the only writings to which I can at all refer. I quote the paper to which I allude, almost entire.

"The greyhound! the great hound! the graceful of limb!
Rough fellow tall fellow! swift fellow, and slim!

Let them sound through the earth, let them sail o'er the sea,
They will light on none other more ancient than thee!'

OLD MS.

*This was published in 1841.-Saturday May 8., No. 45.

сс

"No individual of the canine race has attained an equal amount of fame, or excited an equal degree of attention throughout Europe-not merely in the days of his acknowledged existence among our dogs of chase, but even now, that he is considered to be extinct-with that once possessed by the superb creature whose picture adorns our title-page, and an account of whom forms the subject of our present article. Public opinion has long been divided respecting the precise appearance and form of this majestic animal; and so many different ideas have been conceived of him, that many persons have been induced to come to the conclusion that no particular breed of dogs was ever kept for wolf hunting in this country, but that the appellation of wolfdog' was bestowed upon any dog swift enough to overtake and powerful enough to contend with and overcome that formidable animal.

"There are those who hold this opinion, and there are likewise those who hold that while a particular breed was used, it was a sort of heavy mastiff-like dog, now extinct. It is the object of the present paper to show that while Ireland did possess a peculiar race of dogs, exclusively devoted to wolf hunting, these dogs, instead of being of the mastiff kind, resembled the greyhound in form; and instead of being extinct, are still to be met with, although we are compelled to acknowledge that they are very scarce.

"We are informed by such disjointed scraps of Celtic verse as Time, that merciless destroyer, has suffered to come down, though in a mutilated form, to our days, that in the times of old, when Fioun Mac Combail, popularly called Fin Mc Coul, wielded the sceptre of power and of justice, we possessed a prodigious and courageous dog, used for hunting the deer and the wild boar, with-though last, not least the grim and savage wolf, which ravaged the folds and slaughtered the herds of our ancestors. We learn from the same source that these dogs were also frequently employed as auxiliaries in war, and that they were mighty in combat, their breasts like plates of brass, and greatly to be feared.' We might adduce the songs of Ossian, but that we fear to draw upon ourselves the envious rancour of some snarling critic. We cannot, however, avoid observing that the epithets hairy footed,' white breasted,' and 'bounding,' are singularly characteristic of some of the striking peculiarities of the dog in question, and strangely coincide with the descriptions furnished by other writers respecting him; so that Mc Pherson must at all events have been at the pains of considerable research if he actually forged the beautiful poems which he put forth to the world under Ossian's name. The word 'Brau,' the name given to Fingal's noble hound, employed by others than Ossian, or I should not mention it, is Celtic, and signifies mountain torrent,' implying that impetuosity of course and headlong courage so characteristic of the subject of my paper. I have said that many assert the Irish wolf-dog to be no longer in existence, I have ventured a denial of this, and refer to the wolf-dog or deer-dog of the Highlands of Scotland as his actual and faithful living representative. Perhaps I am wrong in saying 'representative:' I hold that the Irish wolf-dog and the Highland deer-hound are one and the same; and I now proceed to cite a few authorities in support of my position.

"The venerable Bede, as well as the Scottish historian John Major, informs us that Scotland was peopled from Ireland, under the conduct of Renda; and adds, that even in his own days, half Scotland spoke the Irish language as their mother tongue; and many of my readers are, doubtless, aware that even at this present time the Gaelic and the Erse are so much alike, that a Connaught man finds no difficulty in comprehending and conversing with a Highlander, and I myself have read the Gaelic bible with an Irish dictionary. Scotland was also called by the early writers Scotia Minor, and Ireland Scotia Major. The colonization, therefore, of Scotland from Ireland admits of little doubt.

"As the Irish wolf-dog was at that time in the enjoyment of his most extended fame, it was not to be expected that the colonists would omit taking with them such a fine description of dog, and one which would prove so useful to them in a newly established settlement, and that too at a period when hunting was not merely an amusement, but one of their main occupations, and their main source of subsistence. The Irish wolf-dog was thus carried into Scotland, and became the Highland or Scottish wolf-dog, changing, in process of time, his name with his country; and in the course of ages, when the wolves died out of the land, his occupation being no longer the hunting of those animals, but of deer, he became known as the Highland deer-dog, and no longer as the Highland wolf-dog; though, indeed, he is to the present called by the latter of these appellations by many writers, both Irish and Scottish.

"In Ireland the wolves were in existence longer than in Scotland; but as soon as the wolves ceased to exist in this country, the dogs were suffered to become extinct also; while in Scotland there was still abundant employment for them after the days of wolf hunting were over, for the deer still remained; and useful as they had been as wolf-hounds, they proved themselves, if possible, more as deerhounds.

"That the Irish wolf-dog was a tall, rough greyhound, similar in every respect to the Highland dog of the present day, I beg to adduce in proof the following authorities:

"Strabo mentions a tall greyhound in use among the Pictish and Celtic nations, which he states was held in high esteem by our ancestors, and was even imported into Gaul for the purposes of the chase. Campion expressly speaks of the Irish wolf-dog as a 'greyhound of great bone and limb.' Silans calls it also a greyhound, and asserts that it was imported into Ireland by the Belgæ, and is the same with the renowned Belgic dog of antiquity, and that it was, during the days of Roman grandeur, brought to Rome for the combats of the amphitheatre. Pliny relates a combat in which the Irish wolf-dogs took a part: he calls them' Canes Graii Hibernici,' and describes them as much taller than the mastiff. Hollinshed, in speaking of the Irish, says they are not without wolves, and greyhounds to hunt them.' Evelyn, speaking of the bear-garden, says, the bull-dogs did exceeding well; but the Irish wolf-dog exceeded, which was a tall greyhound, a stately creature, and beat a cruel mastiff.'

"Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, was presented by King John with a specimen of this kind of dog;

'The greyhound! the great hound! the graceful of limb!

and most of my readers are acquainted with that beautiful poem, the Grave of the Greyhound.' These animals were in those days permitted to he kept only by Princes and chiefs; and in the Welsh laws of the ninth century we find heavy penalties laid down for the maiming or injuring the Irish greyhound, or as it was styled in the code alluded to, the Canis Graius Hibernicus; and a value was set on them equal to more than double that set on the ordinary greyhound.

"Moryson, secretary to Lord Deputy Mountjoy, says, 'the Irish men and greyhounds are of great stature.' Lombard says that the finest hunting dogs in Europe were produced in Ireland: greyhounds useful to take the stag, wild boar, or wolf. Pennant describes these dogs as scarce, and as being led to the chace in leather slips or thongs, and calls them'the Irish greyhound.' Ray describes him as the 'greatest dog' he had ever seen. Buffon says, he saw an Irish greyhound' which measured five feet in height when in a sitting posture; and says that all other sorts of greyhounds are descended from him, and that in Scotland it is called the Highland greyhound, that it is very large, deep-chested, and covered with long rough hair.

"Scottish noblemen were not always content with such specimens of this dog as their own country produced; but frequently sent for them to Ireland, conceiving, doubtless, that they would be found better and purer in their native land. The following is a copy of a letter addressed by Deputy Falkland to the Earl of Cork, in 1623 :

'MY LORD,-I have lately received letters from my Lord Duke of Buccleuch, and others of my noble friends, who have entreated me to send them some greyhound dogs and bitches, out of this kingdom, of the largest sort, which I perceive they intend to present unto divers princes and other noble persons; and if you can possibly, let them be white, which is the colour most in request here. Expecting your answer by the bearer, I commit you to the protection of the Almighty, and am,

Your Lordship's attached friend,

'FALKLAND.'

"Smith, in the second edition of his History of Waterford, says, The Irish greyhound is nearly extinct: it is much taller than a mastiff, but more like a greyhound; and for size, strength, and shape, cannot be equalled.' Roderick, King of Connaught, was obliged to furnish hawks and greyhounds to Henry II. Sir Thomas Rue obtained great favour from the Great Mogul, in 1615, for a brace of Irish greyhounds presented by him. Henry VIII. presented the Marquis of Dessarages, a Spanish Grandee, with two goss-hawks and four Irish greyhounds."

The space to which I have resolved upon restricting this paper

renders it necessary that I should here put a period to my quotations.

The Highland or Irish wolf-dog is a stately, majestic animal, extremely good tempered and quiet, unless when irritated, when he becomes furious, and is, in consequence of his tremendous strength, a truly formidable animal. The size of this animal has been exaggerated. Dr. Goldsmith asserts that he saw several, some of which were four feet high! They are certainly however, even now, taller than the common run of dogs--perhaps, if we except the boar-dog, the very tallest in existence. Her Majesty possesses one," Brau," 33 inches high.

The Scottish greyhound is by some writers classed as identical with this dog, and by others as altogether dissimilar, and as a totally different breed. For my part, I am disposed to regard the Scottish greyhound as merely a half-bred cross between the wolf-dog and the common greyhound. Yet as the Scottish greyhound is known as a distinct dog, and sometimes sold by roguish dog-dealers as the deer hound, it may not be amiss to present our readers with a description of him.

The principal characteristic of the Highland deer-hound, and that by which he may with greatest facility be distinguished from the Scottish greyhound, is his pendulous ear. His ear does not stand half erect like that of the latter, but, inclining at first slightly backwards, falls, and is decidedly pendulous; hence, some are of opinion that this hound had for one of his ancestors the old southern hound or Talbot. This, however, I should be rather inclined to doubt, as I conceive the Highland deer-hound to be of far more ancient origin even than that animal.

Another point in which this dog differs from the Scottish greyhound is in the length and texture of his hair. The hair of the Highland deer-hound is very long, shaggy, but not wiry, and stands forth around his face and eyes, which, in a fancy specimen, it almost conceals from view. He is, besides, much more powerfully built, and is a great deal taller.

The deer-hound stands from 28 to 33 inches in height, and frequently weighs more than 100 pounds avoirdupois. I should say, however, judging from my own experience, that his average height is 27 inches, and his average weight 70 to 75 pounds. His head, when a well-bred specimen, is carried high; his tail never; his mien is proud, daring, and commanding: I do not, indeed, know any dog in existence which exhibits such majestic deportment, or carries on his front greater evidence of purity of blood and originality of breeding. His body and limbs are not fleshy, but exceedingly firm and muscular; his back is arched; his legs straight and clean, and the hard projecting muscles may be felt upon his limbs standing out like iron prominences. His tail is long and bushy, with long hair depending from the under surface; it is usually carried in a hanging curve: when in the chase it is carried nearly horizontally, but curved downwards; and when excited to anger, it rises in a straight line.

The colours of domestic animals, especially dogs, will so vary, despite of all our care to the contrary, that I feel some hesitation in say