Turning to the southern parts of the New World, Columbus found two kinds of
dogs in the West Indies; and Fernandez[20] describes three in Mexico: some
of these native dogs were dumb--that is, did not bark. In Guiana it has
been known since the time of Buffon that the natives cross their dogs with
an aboriginal species, apparently the _Canis cancrivorus_. Sir R.
Schomburgk, who has so carefully explored these regions, writes to me, "I
have been repeatedly told by the Arawaak Indians, who reside near the
coast, that they cross their dogs with a wild species to improve the breed,
and individual dogs have been shown to me which certainly resembled the _C.
cancrivorus_ much more than the common breed. It is but seldom that the
Indians keep the _C. cancrivorus_ for domestic purposes, nor is the Ai,
another species of wild dog, and which I consider to be identical with the
_Dusicyon silvestris_ of H. Smith, now much used by the Arecunas for the
purpose of hunting. The dogs of the Taruma Indians are quite distinct, and
resemble Buffon's St. Domingo greyhound." It thus appears that the natives
of Guiana have partially domesticated two aboriginal species, and still
cross their dogs with them; these two species belong to a quite different
type from the North American and European wolves. A careful observer,
Rengger,[21] gives reasons for believing that a hairless dog was
domesticated when America was first visited by Europeans: some of these
dogs in Paraguay are still dumb, and Tschudi[22] states that they suffer
from cold in the Cordillera. This naked dog is, however, quite distinct
from that found preserved in the ancient Peruvian burial-places, and
described by Tschudi, under the name of _Canis Ingæ_, as withstanding cold
well and as barking. It is not known whether these two distinct kinds of
dog are the descendants of native species, and it might be argued that when
man first migrated into America he brought with him from the Asiatic
continent dogs {24} which had not learned to bark; but this view does not
seem probable, as the natives along the line of their march from the north
reclaimed, as we have seen, at least two N. American species of Canidæ.
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