Part 7

Otters will certainly consume an immense quantity of fish; and the owners of salmon or trout streams have great spite against them. It is, however, very possible to tame them so as to make them bring the fish which they catch. This practice is much more followed in other countries than in England; they are purposely kept for it in Sweden, and at a signal from the cook will go and fetch the fish for dinner. Bishop Heber mentions, that he saw several large and very beautiful otters fastened to bamboo stakes by the side of the Matta Colly river, some of which appeared to be at play, and uttered a shrill, whistling noise. They wore straw collars and were very tame and docile. They should be caught quite young, and fed on small fish, then they are allowed bread and milk at alternate meals; till at last they entirely live upon this food. They are taught to fetch and carry with artificial fishes made of leather, and stuffed with wool. Then they are made to bring dead fishes, and if they attempt to tear them, they are severely punished. Thus trained, in process of time, the otter becomes useful and domesticated.

In their natural condition, otters will wander to considerable distances for their prey; Mr. St. John says, "I was rather amused at an old woman living at Sluie on the Findhorn, who, complaining of the hardness of the present times, when 'a puir body couldn'a get a drop smuggled whisky, or shoot a roe without his lordship's sportsman finding it out,' added to her list of grievances, that even the otters were nearly all gone 'puir beasties.' 'Well, but what good could the otters do you?' I asked her. 'Good, your honor? why scarcely a morn came but they left a bonny grilse (young salmon) on the scarp down yonder, and the vennison was none the worse of the bit the puir beasts ate themselves,' The people here (Morayshire) call every eatable animal, fish, flesh, or fowl, venison, or as they pronounce it, vennison. For instance, they tell you that the snipes are good vennison, or that the trout are not good vennison in the winter.

"It seems that a few years ago, before the otters had been so much destroyed, the people in particular parts of the river were never at a loss for salmon, as the otters always took them ashore, generally to the same bank or rock, and in seasons of plenty, they only eat a small piece out of the shoulder, leaving the rest untouched, and the cottagers, aware of this, searched every morning for their leavings."

"Otters," continues Mr. St. John, "are very affectionate animals; the young anxiously seek their mother, if she should be killed; and if the young are injured, the parent hovers near them till she is herself destroyed. If one of a pair be killed, the one that is left will hunt for its mate with untiring perseverance; and if one be caught in a trap, its companion will run round and round, endeavouring to set it free, on which occasions, though so quiet at other times, they make a snorting and blowing like a horse."

A dog belonging to the above gentleman was running and splashing through the shallow water, and suddenly stood still, sometimes whining, as if caught in a trap, and then biting furiously at something in the water. He was called by his master, but as he did not obey, his master waded to him, and found a large otter, holding on by his powerful jaws to the dog's shoulder; and had he not had a good covering of curly hair, he stood a chance of having his leg broken, the bite was so severe.

The people in Scotland believe that the otters have a king, or leader, which is larger than others, and spotted with white. They also believe that when these animals are killed, a man or another of the brute kind dies suddenly at the same moment; that their skin possesses an antidote to infection, preserves soldiers from wounds, and saves sailors from disasters at sea. The darkness in which otters delight, their watery habitations, their oily, noiseless movements, and their dark fur, invest them with mystery in the eyes of the peasantry in many parts of England.

The emigration of otters is established by the following fact:--"A labourer going to his work, soon after five o'clock in the morning, saw a number of animals coming towards him, and stood quietly by the hedge till they came alongside of him. He then perceived four old otters, probably dams, and about twenty young ones. He took a stick out of the hedge and killed one. Directly it began to squeak, all the four old ones turned back, and stood till the other young ones had escaped through the hedge, and then went quietly themselves. Several families were thus journeying together, and probably they had left their former abode from not finding a sufficiency of food."

The beautiful otter in the Museum of the Zoological Gardens is from Ireland, and is by some considered as a distinct species. It is chiefly found on the coast of Antrim, living in the caverns formed by the basaltic columns of that shore, and, as it hunts the salmon, rewards are offered for its destruction.

The flesh of all otters is extremely rank and fishy; and because it cannot be called meat, it is often allowed to be eaten on the meager days appointed by the Romish Church.

Captain Brown, in his Popular Natural History, tells us of a person who kept a tame otter with his dogs, which followed him in company with them. He hunted fish with them, and they never would hunt any other otter as long as he was with them.

There was a tame otter in Northumberland, which also followed his master wherever he went. He caught his own food, and returned home when satisfied. Once he refused to come to the usual call when he was out, and was lost for some days. At length, going back to the same place, he, with great joy, came creeping to his master's feet, who was still seeking his favourite.

DOGS.

Baron Cuvier says that the most useful conquest achieved by man, is the domestication of the dog--a conquest so long completed, that it is now impossible, with any certainty, to trace these animals to their original type. The cleverest of naturalists have supposed them to descend from wolves, from jackals, or from a mixture of the two; while others, equally clever, assert that they proceeded from different species of dogs. The latter maintain that the Dingos of Australia, the Buansas of Nepal, or Dholes of India, the Aguaras of South America, and several other races, are original; and although they may not have produced the dogs which attend man, they prove that we may attribute the latter to predecessors of the same kind, without having recourse to other animals which they more or less resemble. On the other hand again, some of our first men are of opinion that there are now no original dogs, but that all the packs called wild are those which have made their escape from a state of domesticity. This is not the place to examine the merits of the different proofs brought in favor of each argument; and I hasten to a brief notice of some of those which subsist independently of human assistance.

All dogs, wild or tame, walk upon their toes with a firm, elastic gait, and their toes are not retractile. Their other external characters are so varied, that it is impossible to give a general summary of their colour or form; the largest on record (a Suliot, belonging to the king of Naples), measured four feet at the shoulders; the least would probably give a height of as many inches. All the untamed species are lank and gaunt, their muzzles are long and slender, their eyes oblique, and their strength and tenacity of life are almost marvellous.

The Dingo, or Australian dog, roams in packs through that vast country; has a broad head, fierce, oblique eyes, acute muzzle; short, pointed, erect ears; tail bushy, and never raised to more than a horizontal position. He does not bark, but howls fearfully; is extremely sagacious, and has a remarkable power of bearing pain. When beaten so severely as to be left for dead, he has been seen to get up and run away. A man proceeded to skin one, not doubting that life was extinct, and after proceeding a little way with the operation, he left the hut to sharpen his knife. When he returned, the poor animal was sitting up, with the loose skin hanging over one side of his face.

The Dingos worry the cattle of the settlers, and will even eat pieces out of them as they lie upon the ground; the leg of a sheep has been frequently gnawed off by them. Domesticated dogs will hunt and kill them; but show signs of great disgust afterwards, always, if they can, plunging themselves into water, as if to get rid of the contamination caused by such contact. One taken from his mother at six weeks old was partially tamed; but at first he crouched down in all the darkest corners he could find, looking at every one with aversion, and when alone howling incessantly, especially if the moon were shining. He became gradually reconciled to those who fed him, but to no one else. He never gave warning of the approach of strangers, and never made an open attack. It is remarkable that these dogs are not found in the closely neighbouring island of Van Diemen's Land.

The wild dogs of India go under the name of Buansa, Dhole, and Kolsun, are found in Nepal, the Nilgiris, Coromandel, the Dekkan, etc., and bear various names, according to their locality. They prey night and day, have an acute smell, a peculiar bark, not unlike that of a hound, and are of a sandy or red colour. Their head is long; they have an ill-natured look, oblique eyes; long, erect ears; powerful limbs, bushy tail, fur varying according to climate, and all animals are afraid of them. They kill tigers and cheetahs, and the remains of hogs and deer are to be found in their path. An endeavour to tame one succeeded, and he was as affectionate and intelligent as many other dogs.

In Java there is a large, wild dog, and in Beloochistan whole packs are to be found, which pull down buffaloes with ease; their footmarks are like those of a hound; and still further to the west a much larger species is said to exist.

The Sheeb or Schib, of Syria, is wild, and is probably the wolf-dog of Natolia. The Deeb of Nubia would seem to be also a primitive species, but not resembling the packs of wild dogs which inhabit Congo and South Africa, etc., and live in covers and burrows.

The hunters of South Africa tell us that they pull down the strongest antelopes; they are very destructive to sheep, and mangle more than they devour. They are extremely swift, and utter a sharp bark, or chattering cry, which calls the pack together, and is very soft and melodious. The hatred between them and tame dogs is unconquerable, and in their appearance they look like a link between the wolf and the hyaena.

A large group of dogs includes all the indigenous canines of South America, under the name of Aguaras, and resembles foxes. They are silent, if not dumb, and appear to congregate in families rather than packs. They have a peculiar propensity to steal and secrete, without any apparent object for so doing.

Colonel Hamilton Smith, the able writer on dogs, does not acknowledge some of these wild races, but thinks they are what he calls feral, or domestic dogs which have regained their liberty, and have subsisted for many generations on their own intelligence. To these he refers the Natolians and Aguaras; but there can be no doubt concerning the feral nature of the dog of St. Domingo, which descends from the hounds trained to hunt human beings by the Spaniards, and which are supposed to have regained their liberty in the woods of Haiti. It is of these dogs the stories are told concerning runaway negroes, and which were taught by means of raw food, placed in stuffed representations of human beings. They are very handsome creatures, carrying their heads with an air of conscious superiority. They follow a track rapidly, and in complete silence; they, however, always seize their victims.

A contrast to the feral dog of St. Domingo, is the Alco of Mexico, with its small head, short neck, and very thick body. Those of the Pampas having assumed the shapes of all the dogs transported from Europe, have now settled into what may be called curs. They are very bold, very sagacious, are not inimical to men, but destructive to the young animals in herds. They live in burrows, and if brought back to domesticity, are valuable for their courage and highly developed senses.

In various cities exist herds of dogs, who do not own any masters; who infest the streets in packs, and who are at once the scavengers, the purifiers, and the greatest nuisances. In beautiful Lisbon; rising from the Tagus with her stately towers, her gardens, her churches, her deep blue sky, and her noble aqueduct, leading life's beverage to her exquisite fountains, these animals abound; their presence being easily accounted for by their owners bringing and abandoning them there at the time of the vintage. They eat so many grapes when ripe, that they are sent away in self-defence. Woe to the person who affronts one of them; he is obliged to run hard, or else to keep them at bay, by threatening to throw stones at them, and walking backwards; fortunately he can do this in the narrow streets of this city, for he would be lost if surrounded by them. They lodge by day in the holes of ruins, which are so plentiful in Lisbon.

The same dogs, with regard to habits, are to be met with in the cities of Russia, Turkey, and Egypt; but they differ in size and appearance. Those of Turkey are particularly audacious, and in all cities, where cleanliness is not systematically organised, they are doubtless of infinite service; though I have read, in a pamphlet written by a French savant, that those in Egypt are one means of continuing the plague, for they uncover the carelessly buried bodies, and drag portions of flesh and clothing into the houses of the living.

In some of the countries of Guinea, dogs are bred for the table, and sit in circles in the market places for sale. I do not know from what race they come; they are not used for any other purpose, and are small, extremely ugly, and variously marked with brown, red, or black spots. The passion for dog's flesh is in these countries very strong, and no European can keep an animal of this kind many weeks. An officer arrived at Cape Coast Castle when I was there, accompanied by three, not imagining the temptation they would present to the appetite of the natives. One disappeared in the act of landing, and the two others were gone before three weeks had elapsed. My uncle fancied that his rank would secure a favourite sent to him from Europe. He one morning received a deputation from the king of a native town, requesting a palaver, or conference. It was granted, and his sable majesty formally made proposals for Caesar to figure as a roast at a grand feast, which he was about to hold. My uncle indignantly refused; the king increased the sum offered, till it amounted to something considerable, and then the Englishman, unable to control himself, left the room and sent the customary refreshments, with a message, to signify that the palaver was ended. Although every precaution was taken to save the animal, he was stolen that same night, and gratified the palates of the African gourmands.

I now come to what Colonel Smith calls "The Familiar Dogs," where we find an amount of intellect, which forbids us to say that they do not reason, and where self-sacrifice, fidelity, courage, and affection, in many instances raise them far beyond more gifted creatures. It will be advisable to follow the series of some established work in treating of them, and I have selected that of Colonel Hamilton Smith, both for its extent and its ability. He begins with those which are placed nearest to the Arctic Circle of both hemispheres, and which form a group of large, wolfish dogs, with tapering noses, pointed ears, and, generally speaking, long, white and black hair. They are fierce, broad, and often web-footed; they swim well, hunt together or alone, and when their owners turn them out to obtain their own living, often fish with great dexterity. When they quarrel they constantly destroy each other, for they never will give up while they are alive. Among them are the Siberian dogs, remarkable for the instinct with which they return to their masters, after weeks of absence and self-subsistence, to drag their sleighs. This is the more curious, as they are then always very ill fed, and ill treated. They utter yells when about to be yoked, but, once in file, they move silently and rapidly, sometimes, however, trying to upset their drivers.

The tail of the Esquimaux dogs is bushy, and curls very much over the back, which is covered with long, waving hair. They are very patient and faithful, rapid in their paces, skilful and courageous when hunting, carry burdens, and are very good tempered. They form a close attachment to their masters; and one which had been kept in confinement in Edinburgh, being let loose, entered the kitchen door, found his way through his owner's house, and, leaping on his bed, gave every sign of affection. At another time, as his master was walking in Princes Street Gardens, his foot slipped, and he fell, upon which the dog tried to lift him up by his coat. He was very cunning, and when he ate, strewed his meat around him, to entice fowls and rats. He then laid himself down, and pretended to be asleep; no sooner, however, did they come, than he pounced upon and killed them.