THE NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.

THE strength, docility, and sagacity of this tribe of dogs render them peculiarly serviceable to the settlers in Newfoundland, whence they were originally brought into Europe. They are generally employed in bringing down wood, on sledges, from the interior parts of the country to the sea-coast. Four of them yoked to a sledge will draw three hundred weight of wood, with apparent facility, for several miles: and they frequently perform these services without a driver. When relieved of their load at the proper place, they return in the same order to the woods whence they were dispatched; where their labours are usually rewarded with a meal of dried fish. They are web-footed; and can swim extremely fast, and with great ease. Hence they have often been known to render the most important services to mankind; as will appear from the following anecdotes.

Some time since, a gentleman on a party of pleasure in the vicinity of the romantic scenes of Cumberland, retired to bathe in one of the rivers with which that country abounds; a fine Newfoundland dog accompanied him. Being an excellent swimmer, he stripped on the delightful hank, and plunged into the water; but about the middle of the stream he was seized with an excruciating cramp; in consequence of which he cried out with pain, and, being utterly unable to exert himself, was about to sink, when his faithful dog, who had watched him with the greatest degree of anxiety and agitation, rushed forward, and cautiously seizing his arm, rescued him from his perilous situation.

In the summer of 1792, a gentleman went to Portsmouth for the benefit of sea-bathing. He was conducted in one of the machines into the water; but being unacquainted with the steepness of the shore, and no swimmer, he found himself, the instant he quitted the machine, nearly out of his depth. The state of alarm into which he was thrown, increased his danger; and, unnoticed by the person who attended the machine, he would inevitably have been drowned, had not a large Newfoundland dog,, which was standing on the shore and observed his distress, plunged in to his assistance. The animal seized him by the hair, and conducted him safely to the shore; but it was some time before he recovered. The gentleman afterwards purchased the dog at a high price; and preserved him as a treasure of equal value with his whole fortune. [ source note ]

During a severe storm, in the winter of 1789, a ship belonging to Newcastle was lost near Yarmouth; and a Newfoundland dog alone escaped to shore, bringing in his mouth the captain's pocket-book. He landed amidst a number of people, several of whom in vain, attempted to take from him his prize. The sagacious animal, as if sensible of the importance of the charge, which, in all probability, was delivered to him by his perishing master, at length leaped fawningly against the breast of a man who had attracted his notice among the crowd, and delivered the book to him. He then returned to the place where he had landed; and watched with great attention for all the things that came from the wrecked vessel, seizing them, and endeavoring to bring them to land.

In the month of December 1805, as a gentleman was going along the path that leads from Kennington Common to Camberwell, and which stands between two ditches, he observed several children playing at a distance, and almost at the same instant perceived one of them fall into the ditch; he hastened to the spot, accompanied by a very large Newfoundland dog he had with him; the sagacious animal no sooner perceived the child struggling in the water, than he plunged in, and seizing her by the hair of her head, brought her with some difficulty to the side of the foot-path, when, with the assistance of his master, she was hoisted upon terra firma, without sustaining any other injury than a violent retching, occasioned by the stagnant water she had swallowed, and which was of so foul a nature, that it would have caused almost immediate suffocation. The gentleman saw the child safe home to its parents, who lived near at hand, and gave them a proper caution against sending their children out from home in so dangerous a situation.

Early in the year 1804, a medical gentleman, who was returning from the theatre, seeing a crowd about St. Martin's watch-house, ventured in, to see what was passing there: he found that some gentlemen, who had been sacrificing to Bacchus, had got into a riot, and recognised among them the face of an old friend, whom he had not seen for some years: the latter requested his card, which the medical gentleman gave him from his pocket-book. This pocket-book contained bank-notes to the amount of five hundred pounds, which he had been so incautious as to carry with him to the. theatre. On leaving the watch-house, two men followed him. He had scarcely left the steps, before he felt something touch his hand, and, on looking round, discovered a large Newfoundland dog, which immediately leaped on him, and continued to follow him. On reaching Grosvenor square, the two men attacked him, and seizing him by the collar, demanded his pocket-book. The dog instantly flew at them both, one of whom he severely bit by the leg, and they both made their escape. The faithful guardian then attended the gentleman to his house in Park-Lane, and waited at the door till the servant opened it. The gentleman endeavoured to coax the animal in, but without fail he refused all their entreaties to enter, and they were compelled to shut the door. On opening it a few minutes after, they found he had taken his departure.

Mr. Bewick relates, in his interesting History of Quadrupeds, that a gentleman, walking by the side of the River Tyne, observed, on the opposite side, that a child had fallen into the water; he pointed out the object to his dog, which immediately jumped in, swam over, and, catching hold of the child with his mouth, landed it safely on the shore. (II: 109 – 113)