The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-09-23
ORIGIN OF AMERICAS DOGS.
Notes on the Eskimo, Newfoundland.
and Mexicau Varieties.

from wild species distinct from The
wolf may be well founded. but il
America the evidence tends to prove
that the Eskimo and other domestic
varieties of dogs were domesticate6
by the aborigines and used by them
long anterior 20 the discovery of the
continent by the Europeans, the va
rieties in question originating from
the gray wolf or prairie wolf. First,
as to the Eskimo dog. From the
following extract from Frobisher il
appears evident that the Eskimo had
the present breed of domestic dogs
long anterior to the year 1877. Fro
bisher's account OF the Eskimos
themselves is so far as we know, the
first extant, and is full and charac-
teristic. Alter describing the natives
he goes on to say: "They frank or
keepe certaine dogs not much vuilke
woules, which they yoke togither, as
We do oxen and horses, to sled or
traile; and so carry their necessaries
aver the yce and snow from place
to place as the captive whom we
haue, made perfect signes. And
when those dogs are not apt for the
same vse; or when with hunger they
are constrained for lack of other Wit
uals, they cate them so that they
are as needful for them in respect OF
their bigness as our oxen are for VS..
Confirmatory of the theory of the
pre-Columbian origin of
THE INDIAN DOG
may be cited the following extract
from Hakluyt's Voyages regarding
the Indian dogs then on Cape Bre-
ton Island. page 1893: Here d.
vers of our men on land upon the
very cape, where at their arrival
they found the spittes OF Oke of the
savages which had roasted meate a
little before. And as they viewed
the couutrey they save divers bestes
and foules, as blacke foxes, deere,
otters, great foules with red legges,
pengwyns and certain others.
Thereupon nine or tenne OF his fel-
lows running right vp over the bush
es with great agilite and swiftness,
came toward VS. with white statues
in their hands like halle pixies, and
their dogges. of colour blacke, not
so bigge as a greyhounde, followed
them at the heeles but wee retired
vnto our boate without any hurt at
all received"
1t is probably this variety the
bones of which have been found by
DIR. ]. Wyman, in the shell heaps Of
Casco Bay, Maine. THE presence
of the bones of the dog might be ac-
counted for on the score of its being
a domesticated animal. but the fact
that they were not only found min
gled with those of the edible kinds.
but like them were broken up, sug-
gests the probability of their having
been used as food. We have not
seen it mentioned. however, by any
of the earlier writers, that such was
the case along the coast, though it
appears to have been otherwise with
regard to some of the interior tribes,
as the Hurons.- With them, game
being scarce, venison was luxury
found only at feasts, and dog flesh
was in high esteem.
1t is possible that
TIE NEWFOUNDLAND DOG
was Indigenous on that island, and
also an offshoot of the gray wolf, al
lied to the Eskimo. In their New
foundland," Messrs. Hatton Il Har-
vey say that there are a few fine
specimens of the world-renowned
Newfoundland dog" to be met with
now in the island from which it de-
rived Its name. "The origin of this
fine breed is lost in obstnrity. 1t is
doubtful whether the aborigines pos
sessed the dog at all and it is high
ly improbable that the Newfound.
land dog is Indigenous. Some hap
py crossing of breeds may have pro-
duced it here. The old settlers say
that the ancient genuine breed con-
sisted of a dog about twenty-six
inches high with black ticked body,
gray muzzle, and gray or white
stockinged legs, with deer claws be-
hind" "It is now generally admit
ted that there are two distinct types
of the Newfoundland dog, one con-
siderably larger than the other and
reckoned as the true breed the 9TH
er being named the Labrador or ST.
Johns, or Lesser Newfoundland.
The latter is chiefly found in Labra-
dor, and specimens are also to be
me. with in Newfoundland" !"
Regarding the dogs of the Mexi- !
can Indians, Nadaillac says in his |
Prehistoric America :" The Euro |
pean dog, our faithful companion, |
also appears to have been strangers
to them. His place was very made
quately filled by the coyote, or prai- |
RE wolf, which they kept in captiv- |
ity and has succeeded in tanning to
a certain extent"
In recent visit to Mexico, not
only along the railroads. but in the
course of stage ride of about 500
miles through provincial Mexico,
from Saltillo to San Melguel, We
were struck by the
RESEMBLANCE OF THE Dogs To THE
COYOTE.
There can be little doubt but that
they are the descendants Of a race
which sprang from the partly tanned
coyote of the ancient Mexican In
dians. At one village (Montezuma)
we saw hairless or Carib dog, as
we supposed it to be.
Finally that the domestic dog and
gray as well as the prairie wolf will
hybridize has been well established.
We then were much struck by the
wolf-like appearance of the dogs
about an encampment of Crow In
dians, as well as the fort they were I
Of the size and color of the coyote, 4
but less hairy and with a less bushy
tail. They were much like those
lately observed in Mexico, and l i,
have never seen such dogs elsewhere.
Their color was a whitish tavny,
ike that of
THE ESKIMO DOG.