“A native of Germany was travelling one evening on foot through Holland, accompanied by a large Dog. Walking on a high bank, which formed one side of a dyke, his foot slipped, and he was precipitated into the water; and, being unable to swim, soon became senseless. When he recovered his recollection, he found himself in a cottage on the contrary side of the dyke, surrounded by peasants, who had been using the means for the recovery of drowned persons. The account given by one of them was that, returning home from his labour, he observed at a considerable distance a large Dog in the water, swimming and dragging, and sometimes pushing along, something that he seemed to have great difficulty in supporting, but which he at length succeeded in getting into a small creek on the opposite side. When the animal had pulled what he had hitherto supported as far out of the water as he was able, the peasant discovered that it was the body of a man, whose face and hands the Dog was industriously licking. The peasant hastened to a bridge across the dyke, and, having obtained assistance, the body was conveyed to a neighbouring house, where proper means soon restored the drowned man to life. Two very considerable bruises, with the marks of teeth, appeared, one on his shoulder, and the other on his poll; hence it was presumed that the faithful beast had first seized his master by the shoulder, and swum with him in this manner for some time, but that his sagacity had prompted him to quit his hold, and to shift it to the nape of the neck, by which he had been enabled to support the head out of water; and in this way he had conveyed him nearly a quarter of a mile before he had brought him to the creek, where the banks were low and accessible.”[115] THE SHEEP DOG. This is not only the most important of all our domestic breeds, but it is second to none for intelligence and devotion. It is quite a rare thing to find a Shepherd’s Dog who will offer the slightest violence to the animals under its care; and it can often be trusted almost with the entire management of the flock, driving them from place to place, gathering them together to be counted, and making altogether a far more valuable assistant to the shepherd than any human being could possibly be. The Dog is wholly devoted to the work, and his obedience and skill are perfect, penning the Sheep from field after field, for his owner, who foots it slowly after him, and finds the flock ready to his hand. It used to be credibly reported to us in our boyhood, that some of these Dogs would lay themselves down by a Sheep that had got _cast_ (_i.e._, was weltering, back downwards, in the clayey furrow, and, loaded with wet and heavy wool, had lost power to rise); these Dogs, it was said, would push their arched spine against the helpless Sheep, and give them sufficient leverage to enable them to rise.