gend. There was, it is
true, a St. Bernard named Barry, now exhibited in a stuffed state in
the Berne Museum, which accomplished wonders in the way of saving
life, but this was an exception, and the reputation of this animal has
extended to all others of its kind. These latter are simply watch dogs
kept by the monks for their own safety, and which do not go at all by
themselves alone to search for travelers that have lost their way in
the snow.

The Newfoundland dog, which differs from the preceding in its wholly
black or black and white coat, was, it appears, also of mountain
origin. According to certain authors, it is indigenous to Norway, and
was carried to Newfoundland by the Norwegian explorers who discovered
the island. Adapted to their new existence, they have become excellent
water dogs, good swimmers, and better life savers by far than the
majority of their congeners.

Is it from descending to the plain that the mountain dogs have lost
their long hair and have become short haired dogs like the English dog
or mastiff and the German or large Danish dogs? It is very probable.
At all events, it is by this character of having short hair that
mastiffs are distinguished from the mountain dogs. Again, the large
breed of dogs are distinguished from each other by the following
characters: The mastiff is not very high at the shoulders (30 inches),
but he is very heavy and thick set, with powerful limbs, large head,
short and wide muzzle and of a yellowish or cafe-au-lait color
accompanying a black face; that is to say, the ears, the circumference
of the eyes and the muzzle are of a very dark color. The German or
large Danish dogs constitute but one breed, but of three varieties,
according to the coat: (1) those whose coat is of a uniform color, say
a slaty gray or isobelline of varying depth, without any white spots;
(2) those having a fawn colored coat striped transversely with black
like the zebra, but much less distinctly; (3) those having a spotted
coat, that is to say, a coat with a white ground strewed with
irregular black spots of varying size. These, like those of the first
variety are generally small-eyed. Whatever be the variety to which
they belong, the German or large Danish dogs are slimmer than, and not
so heavy as, the mastiffs. Some, even, are so light that it might be
supposed that they had some heavier blood in their veins. They have
also a longer muzzle, although square, and are quicker in gait and
m