St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-31
THE GAUNT MAsTIFF

probability that it. has already at
tanned the limit of it's development.
THE GAUNT MASTIFF.
The other extreme may be found
among the gaunt mastiffs that guard
the cabins of the Thibetan mountain
GERS, and are described as stout enough
to Kill wolves in single combat and
overpower a half-grown bear though
the long claws of a leopard might turn
the scales in rough-and-t tumble fight
The Afagon bloodhounds that assisted
the Spaniards in depopulating the West
Indian islands could dispatch an In
dian as a bulldog would kill rabbit.
The manslaughtering abilities of Leo
nfclco, Balboa'S four-footed adjutant.
were estimated as equal to those of
three Spanish troopers, and on the
march that ogre was carried on horse
pack, to economic his valuable
strength when in the course of years
he increased in experience, but also in
weight. That weight may have ex-
ceeded 200 pounds, judging from mod
ern representatives of the breed, and
the enormous hounds that pull down
buck kangaroos cold men," as the
colonists call them) on the plains of
iIclot SI II <AuSlIdlld. "A prize brute OF
that breed exhibited in Melbourne a
year ago weighed 215 pounds. and
looked stout enough to carry a small
boy. In height those hounds must
yield to the freaks of nature which
every now and then grow up In the
hide of a Newfoundlander. One of
these giants in the possession of Capt.
Wallwosk, of Kent county, Kentucky.
ever he appears on the street, but is
said to be overtopped by a rival in
Southern Missouri
The difference in the weight of ca
nine dwarfs and giants, or even dwarf
and giant breeds, has already reached
the proportion of l to 100, and it might
seem puzzle why horsebreeders and
pigeon fanciers have not been able to
develop anything approaching a sim
liar contrast. The solution NAV he
found in the circumstance that the
process of selection known as 'in-
breeding has it's difficulties when the
choice of individuals for pairing has
once been reduced to a highly special-
lied variety. The results of such I'M
ions are apt to be as discouraging as
those of consanguinous marriages, but
~
breeds of dogs has largely removed a
difficulty which would prevent horse
fanc1ers from adding to the size of a
Norman draft horse or diminishing
the weight of Shetland pony.
PERSEVERANCE IN SELECTION.
Stih, persistence in such experiments
has led to remarkable results In Jesse.
the north island of the japanese archi-
pelago, the rigor of the winter climate
has stunted horses into frowsy little
ponies; but those pigmies just suit the
rustlcS In the country where fodder is
scarce, and they have continued to Sc
lect the smallest and Wooliest cob till
their perseverance has been rewarded
by the development of veritable para
CONS of ugliness, hort-tailed-like
brutes as shaggy as mountain goats
and about the size of a yearling calf
With occasional exceptions, they are
much too weak to carry a full-grown
man, but they can pull truck wagon
or Japanese pillow, and are hardly
enough to weather the winter in the
open air on a diet of gully brambles.
In an American horse show a single
specimen of that breed would probably
lands of Jesse are alive with the homeIy
imps, and it would be a good idea to
import them for the sage brush regions
of the great West, where they might
multiply like English rabbits in the
New Zealand, fernbrakes. At all events,
they would be able to make living
where Shetland pony would role over
and die without thinking it worth
while to argue the point. Where there
is trace of vegetables they keep fat,
and in the absence of heritage can shift
for a few months with bark and roots.
The wild ancestors of our domestic
COWS still roam the hills of Java and
rarely attain a weight of more than 700
pounds, while a Friesian bull of 5000
pounds could hardly compete for the
championship of heavyweights; at
least not in the neighborhood of the