Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-23
GIFT TO THE PRESIDENT.
A Nondescript Brute From Morocco That
Never Renched the White House.

A Nondescript Brute From Morocco That
Never Renched the White House.
A good story is told of the United States
Governments experiment in importing a
herd Of camels from the Barbary coast in
1856. for the army on the plains. The
camels, says writer in the Kansas City
Star, had all been loaded on board the
storeship Supply, and, one day, while the
ship was lying off the coast of Morocco,
native vessel rounded to and brought, as
present from the Emperor of the country
to the President of the United States, non
de script sort of an animal, said to be part
dog, part hyena, part wolf and mixture,
as 1t was alleged, of dozen other terocious
beasts of the genus canus, whose habitat
was the Mountains of the Moon, in Africa.
The awful looking brute was confined in
sort of crate, in which he was hoisted on
board and put down in the hold. He was
very tall, long, huge and powerfully built,
and he had mass of grey hair running from
his head to the end OF his body, which, when
ever he was angry, would stand up the whole
length of his body as stiff as a hogs bristles
AS he never was in mild mood, his hair was
always in state of rigid erection. He had
not been on board half an hour before he had
destroyed his cage, and only after great
deal of trouble was he confined in another
and stronger one The way he was fed was
by lowering buckets to him, as no one dared
to approach the brute, and when they de-
sired to clean out his pen the ships hose was
turned on and the place flooded. He was
an unmitigated nuisance, and how to get rid
of the monster was serious problem.
At last the Supply anchored of Constan-
tinople, where dogs are the only city scaven-
gers. These are wild and ferocious having,
or rather acknowledging no master, and
each particular pack has its own range or
quarter of the city, which they never leave.
The moment q strange cur makes his ap-
pearance among them they kill him.
Lieutenant Porter had made many abortive
attempts to give the animal away. The
Consul suggested the idea of landing the
ugly beast on Seraglio Point, where the
largest of the packs OF the wild and owner
less scavenger dogs of Constantinople
roamed. So one Saturday afternoon they
proceeded to land the royal cur, and after
great deal of trouble succeeded in
getting rope around him where he
stood in his cage down in the hold;
then they tied his legs together and
put q canvas hood over his head. He was
then hoisted. He made a break for the
shore, the canvas hood slipping off imme-
diately, as it had been so fixed thatit would.
Reaching the beach he rolled in the sand
two or three times, then stood up and took
an observation. The sleeping pack of
native dogs were still curled up in their
favorite spots perfectly oblivious of his
presence He saw them at once, and in an
instant he was in their midst and the fight
commenced. The pack flew at him, but he
had Killed half dozen bcfOro thcy had got
the best of him. The air was black with
dust and dogs, and for more than half an
hour the thing was kept up. Then the
place assumed its normal quiet. and the
Constantinople ours again resumed their
siesta, while nothing was left of the Em-
peror's gift.