The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1866-09-18 00:00:00

CELEBRATED HUNTING DOG&

"In the course of my hunting canner I have had
many of the most extraordinary hounds in my possession,
wl.os...temlinesa and sagacity were almost beyond bell. f,
awl l'sr beyond the knowl,elge of any sop.*
trial observer. Thus, among the hot-bounds with
which I hunted stags while I Wel at Cranford, were
Blunder and Itallytnan, and among those I had in Bed
fordshire, Stamford, and the renowned narrowest*,
who-e descendants, under my former servant, George
Cart.-r, benefited the kennels of the late Duke of
Grafton, and the lat. Mr. Asabeton Smith. The last
of my hunting hounds was the bloodhound Druid, who
unaided chsved the New Forest deer, and became so
Cottons as to bring o'er from F. mice Monsieur le Vioonte
d'Sncbald. one of the louptiers. or wolf-killers usder
tits Crown, in order that he might see, and learn to
'mita,, if ho c.tuld, what could be done by • etnel.
hound, as I have draady narrated.
01 all tie anima un tilts spent... I ever knew, Druid
possessed the most varied perfections. His method of
nestling him. If of the wind when having to draw
large wood. *Line, needed no suggestion from me • and
the wonderful tendeniess of his nose, as well as know-
ledge, in testing the twigs and leaves when the turf and
gum would not serve him, for the passage by, or
browsing of a deer on the previous night, formed •
perfect study.
His knowledge too by eye, when the slot of a deer
was pointed out to him, and the way he would test tie
date of it, if the first •pnlisation of his nose was of no
avail, by tenderly disturbtog the crust or edges of the
mould around the slot with his paw, and then again
putting down his nose, was perhaps the most eunous
pieoe of hound craft ever seen. From s single imnres-
oion of the foot of a deer in • cart-rut, which served
him in no way until he had thus disturbed the mould
or dried mud with his paw, he has led me more than •
Intle up to the lair of the deer that bad mad. it, and
we have killed her.
. . .

So well did he understand wt at my man George
Broomfield said, that we were obliged more than once
to change our phraseology, not to disturb his me-
thodical and painstaking research for a deer on • very
stale line. We knew by • peculiar but slight wave of
his fine, long. lashing tapering stern, and his extramdi.
nary pauses of mental oonsideratioa, if he bad come up
to the whereabont of a deer or his lair, who perhaps
being down wind of him, he could not rouse. If there
was a furs, brake, or cover of any kind between no,
and we called aloud, "took out, there lea deer not far
off!" this backing by us of his own suspicions would so
excite him, is to get his head up and make him dash
about looking for a find with his eves instead of his
noon, and it took some little time to calm him down
again. We therefore left off those words and adopted
some Imis known notice.
. . ,

-----
In stoutness, nose, indefatigable industry, sagacity,
and resolution, Druid bad no equal, end I, es his grate-
ful master and admiring huntsman, can safely affirm I
ne'er shall look upon his like again. In temper be was
irascibly and uncertain, and to me alone did be legions,-
ledge obedience; I was even obliged to be resolutely but
kindly on iny guard, when removing him from the body
of a dead deer... _ .

Poor dear old Drool! The sseceerioo of years of
brilliant sport •fforded by you, my faithful friend, in
the royal New Forest will be forgotten by me. I
deeply regretted being obliged to leave your ashes in
their little unpretending tomb beneath the old elm. in
the garden at Winkton, ones our Lome, but now per.
chased over my heed, and your grave in the possession
d the stranger. I heard dear Druid find his first deer
in the New Forest, I cheered him after his work
there, over the desert plains In the Far Weet, and I
heard his weak, low moaning melancholy. voioe in the
kennel at Winkton, when death, in April, 1860, claimed
that indomitable spirit. At Beacon Lodge, and at
Winktoo, then up to this date (Ha), lie the last of the
door companions of my leisure hours ; the first are left
at Crinfont and others at Harrold, in Bedfordshire.
Beneath the wall in a garden at Pavenbam. in that
county, there lie the bones of the iniehtiest gaze-hound
and most beautiful dog of the sort ever known to me,
the well-known Bmoaker, whose full-length portrait
was hung, and tat will hang, on the walls of my dining
room, wherever that may be. As I write this work,
there still yet live to be my loved companions, and to
delight my leisure hoer-', my favourite old red setter
dm, Chance, and my black retriever. Brutus, these alone
are left of those who crowed the Atlantic with me, and
roamed the desert plains of the far West Chant* is as
gentle and as perfect in the parlour as bole docile In the
let,!, and Brutus knows all that a dog can know—in
truth. • vast deal more than many • man. In parlour
as in field, in water Rion land, Lois perfection.
From living so much with me he knows every look
and sign, and, indeed, every word! say. He will watch
over and protect young game of all kinds on the lawn,
and when anything goes wrong he has • peculiar bay for
each circumstance. Thus in the desert, as I have said,
his bark could give me at once to know whether It was
a mule cant in her tether or picket rope, or the presence
of an Indian savage that *rowed him; and by the voice
of Brutus I well knew for which event I was to prepare.
—Life and Recolketions of (Aa Ho+. Grande, F.
Berkeey,

("That paragon of retrievers, Brutus," "that good
old doe,"
"In life the firmest mend
The find to welcome, foremost to defend."

died about the :)th of last month, Nino. the Hon.
°motley F. Berkeley had written the foregoing scooting
of his splendid dogs. His beautiful better, Chance,
also fell • victim to • disease prevalent amongst dogs
during the past summer, so that none of the dogs
now remain that Mr. Berkeley took with him to Ame-
rica. Brutus, with his fine loving eyes, his bright
'etelligent face, his true devotion to one of the kindest
'- the world, has pawed away, and nothing
• the memory, but it la • glade%
--n a world-wide repots-
‘•44 sportsmen
-"wle

musters is.
This OOmpleted the CYO for the prosecution.
is left to us bia.
Kr. Joni& addressed the Bench for the defence, and tneaor of a dcw thit big
stated there was no evidence against the Prisoners except
Brutus belonged I. cue of the
....
that of the aeonnielioe, and they mould not doubt that "°4*
that man Pqmen stood in thet relation to them, if they England can boast of, and his aPlendid training
had anything to do with the gr.. The question tunnel hint an invaluable and well appreciated help to ble I
entirely on the credibility ef the aitooniplioe, who had ter.

A TALE Of THE SEA..

ss
Rarely have the horrors of die and wreck at sea been
Illustrated in colours more startling than in the narrative
published of the privations of the crew of the burned
ship Horne). Tee ship was • do:lasted miles Lyon the
and opeaaede ef double that datawe (rem
the rienderich group, when aloe *as berried and lei: a
• ruin among UM billows. Thirty-one men escap..l in
three boots, with compass. ...tent, tplitormit.e tratamal
enemas', and chronometers. They had of bread 100.1'.,
of tole/too. 10011 h, of pork, 31./lb., of oyster., and putted
meets, 211 b., of butter, 411)., of waver, 16 gallons, of
brandy, 3 bottles, of potatoes. 6 bucket., nearly all
iottee, • bus eil raisins. and • few pipes iti.l matches—
no medicine's. Thu. provided they went afloat —thirty
sunOfl for forty •three days. At a unmet...le comput p
lion they might have eaten the entire itupply is a week,
aed columned the spints and water in Leif that Owe.
They had, lieweves, six weeks to bold out, aud meet
was b league red garrison put to sorer etreits. Bet the
tenacity of our nature, when eimple 'miasmas is at
stoke, almost approaches the miraculous. 'These follows
were alone in a world of waves; their craft, the mono,
specks upon tha• tremendous rolling surfacer, were
t int a thousand miles trim arty inhabited laud ; aid
th.ir course, under the most lairoueahle induenca,
could not be very direct. Like wise men they began to
practise economy at ono.. Lech had on the list day
alter quittiug the veriest • little bit of pu.k or Fare of a
potato, with once ounce of biteuit and a tabw•spounful
of water, every eight beam That was 'near, compared
with the privetioue which followed. The ram-showers
enable] the m afterwards, for • time, to enjoy the Mary
of quenching their thirst from maturated canvas; bus
alters for teight even this insult. in tee ocean wilier-
fleas matted or fall, and they had to bottle sootiest two of
the worst conceivable of physical &Simkins at 0400.
HOMO'S to any, there were Wawa all mimed them, at
no citreous remoteness, not one of which they sighted,
but where they might at least Late Idled their barrels.
So long ea the rains listed they were provident enough
to fill their very beats. TIIM eupply lasted two Weeks,
wle n the metal pain of thirst was added to
the torment uf euittional hunger. Tobacco might alley
the one; but it rather aggravated than relieved
the other. Of course, to tutenaity this seffering, nearly
all the provisions were either eat, or no dry as to pro-
duce a similar effect. Titus for seven days the boat.
sad, don in abodute silence. The men could not talk
together. They sat and worked by turns, and stared
sue at another. They were always menials for the nest
meal, always straining their eyes for • ghinies et coast,
always looking out piteously for a awl. Nothing in the
shape of hops was 'rube. in the nights, whieh were
very dark, they had no laden', ouulu not see the com-
post, and could not steer by the stars. So their they
guided a little by the feel of the wind and the
heave of the sea. Now and then the north atar peeped
out from behind the clouds, sod they lit a match to
ascertain whether their canine was correct. Weeu eery
neer euteatiou, on the fifth day, they caught a thslowie,
lii. flesh of which, barely emoted, was gratesully
eaten. Then, another, and their exultation over that
MC. of raw, tourer, sea-found food ungot lave taught
• lesson to luxury need. Then a third, and a fourth,
I and they thought themselves aldermen ; but the waters
yielded no snore abundance, and they plunged on their
terrible way, once won sta. ring. For the Orel meal of
the day • quarter of a biscuit, an ounce ef haw, • gill
water;of fur dinner the same bread and water ration,
with lour oysters; for topper, water and bread agent,
and twelve or fourteen raisins. This for into looms
tier as the Yuri& in an open boat for very tile. Every
twenty-tour hour. one teaspoonful of brandy 1 Had an
• isle of the blessed broken at that dine the line of the
horizon it could hardly have awakened the hearta of
these poor outawey mariners to a deeper joy then when
by a surprise, they caught • mull greeu turtle, and for I
once forgetting the future, devoured it in can:tulip
apt.ltsed proportions forthwith. Think of thirty-one
: sailors at such a banquet, only slightly warmed, and
who had a Claildhell evraing of it on the «wen The
eighteenth day b.ought it• peculiar sorrow. The boats
parted company. one to try for the Clarion Islands, and
afteroarda to make for Califoinis ; the others to steer
—Heaven knows whither, for after one casual gleece
they were IMller more *eon. Ti,. cnimain'• crelt kept
ateadily on the way his hopes rusticate,' ; but the tor-
tures of hunger and thirst were now becoming put all
' eudurence. Two bird., about as big as dunks. We dearly
all bones an feather., mere caught, torn into UAW'. IS, and
swallowed wholcule—the Meat being equal to that on
• ociple of pigeons, wheu twenty of t aUlid birds would
have turnielied only • Illatlty meal. The weenier iiad
now risen so roughly teat it bad become impustible
to kindle a fire, an there was another comfort woo.
Hardly could the Walt light their pipes. nidU, no
murmurs, nu despair, 110 .111114•116 from the de•perate
giapple with daiiger. It is, indeed, • nee 'Active Hist
we are contemplating—a scene that mekes us think of
tie oldest and boldest of our uevigaturs is, the early
days. Three weeks more were to elapse before that
weary crew were to set foot on soil. They turned
themselves to the Sandwich Archipelago, and trusted
themselvesto the winds. Even' day the week-hetet.*
oi their situation wee increased. Yet that 'olive wan,
the old captain, endeavoured to seem cheerful, and
make his famine stricken mariners laugh. He broke
up their &deuce • he talked about good dinners until his
pruphecies inspi;ed them with new county) ; he said
that bread and butter would IMMer for himeelf all the
rest a hi. life • he sketched for them, however the
daintiest bill afore • they took heart of hope, and' still
worked their little barque with • wit. Honorer/mewed
to sleep, hut they Ul4, and dreamed of hanger and of
• sting. Then they woke, mud foetid it was all I..neh-
ne,s and otarvation. But they peered on, until, at the
close of the fourth week, each wan lived through the
Icy on two teupoontula of bread co mob., an ex of ham,
and • gill of water not entomb mi the narrator says,
for a kitten. Four little dying 6.0 hew tutu the tmaL
They made an extra meet for Mese persons.. ii,.
next afternoon soother was entrapped and diridel into
fifteen portions—a creature of the eaa that is just M.
inches lung. A third being uptured, it was offered to
ohe c•ptain, but he insisted upon having only his equal
share, until the men compelled him to acquiesce. Now,
there were dye day. left—s pound and • half of hem,
Anil • *canary tin of thickened soup. That gave to
each two 000001., tot toe uding bone, which they ate
for supper. Next utorniug they begun to cite,/ the
leather of their boots, poundel wet rage into pulp and
devou-e4 thee, longed for b ices id pills Hist they
might swallow theon--anythaug to stay the acrid inn-
eour of their stomachs and keep the teetotal machinery
at work. Among their last n sources were
pieces of soaked canvass, the states of the
oaken butter-tub, the shell of the turtle, and at
length a hint appears of • dreadful thought which, it is
noopeted entered the mind, of some—cannibalism ; but
they do not appear to have conversed about at. They
only thought of casting lots and killing one of their
number as a possibility; but even while they were
eating rep, and bones, and boots, and shell, and hard
oak wood, they seemed to have *till had • notion that
at was remote. They felt that sonic one of the com-
pany must di* woo—which oue they well knew; and
dense the last three or four days of their terrible voyage
they were witted, but hungrily vatting for him. The
subject of theme anticipations must have known it—he
must have felt it. They had never calculated bow long
he eou'd last; they sail to themselves, bet not to each
other, I think they mid, 'He will die Saterday, and
then? At eleven o'clock, on the 15th of June alter
suffering all that men may suffer and live for 43 days in
an OPSU boat, o's • scorching tropical sea, one of the men
feebly shouted the glad tidings, ' Land Lo !' The
' watch below' were lying in the bottom of the boat.
What do you suppose they did? They said they bad
been cruelly disapiointed over and over again, and they
dreaded to risk another experience of the kind—they
could not bear it —they lay still where they were. They
said they would not trust to an appearance that might
not be land after all. They would wait. Shortly it ems
proved beyond question that they were almost at land.
Then there was joy in the party. Ooe men is maid to
have swooned away. Another mid the sight of the
green bills was better to him than • day's rations •
strange figure for • man to use wLo Lad been fasting
forty days and forty nights. This touching history com-
mands end enchains our attention. That gallant coin-
pauy field 'adeptly together; no quarrel., recrimina-
tions, or jealousies disturbed it; the captain never lost
his command over the men • each individual accepted
hie fair sham of labour and endurance, and all were re-
warded by coming to • safe haven, after an agony of
trial which, in the history of human suffering, can
scarcely ever have been iturpaascaL