coated Thor, who has done so much towards building up the kennels of rough-coated St. Bernards here, and from whom are descended almost all the best of the variety, was very deficient in the most important properties, and on the bench was altogether a failure, even amongst the dogs that existed when he was alive. Furthermore, we have it on the best authority that short-coated St. Bernards are more highly prized than rough-coated at the Hospice of St. Bernard, and, moreover, are thought more of throughout Switzerland, the land of their birth, where there are at least a dozen good smooths to one rough. From these facts the conclusion may be arrived at that the rough-coated St. Bernard of to-day is purely a manufactured animal, whilst the smooth is a reproduction of the original St. Bernard, altered only in a slight degree as regards the texture of the coat.

"From the first the rough-coated St. Bernard has been the more popular in England, notwithstanding that it is looked upon more or less as a mongrel in Switzerland; but it must be remembered that here usefulness has not been a consideration, and it has been the object of breeders to produce the most ornamental animal. The result is, that in this connection some magnificent specimens of the rough type have been bred, and there is now

no necessity to seek for reinforcements from the home of the breed. Not so, however, with the smooth, which until recently have been more neglected, and only came into special favour when a powerful contingent was a few years ago sent over from Switzerland, from which almost all the best that we now possess have been produced. It is a notable fact that, although many first-class smooth-coated St. Bernards have been imported to this country, there is not a single instance of a rough specimen of really high quality ever having been purchased from breeders on the Continent.

"Notwithstanding the giant strides that have been made in the improvement of the rough-coated St. Bernard, as far as height is concerned it is a debateable point whether it has not been obtained at the expense of other more desirable properties. Great height without proportionate massiveness of build is generally accompanied by a weak constitution. To this may be attributed the number of "cripples" that are to be seen on the show bench; the very tall dogs are all, without exception, narrow and weak in their hind quarters. It is a point in favour of a horse to go well from you, which means that it has wide hips and well let-down quarters; the same applies to St. Bernards, and, until they can be bred with all points in proportion, the extreme height is

a disadvantage rather than not, and accounts for so many prize dogs not being able, as it were, 'to carry their own weight.' Plinlimmon and Sir Bedivere stood over Hector, who was the star of his day fifteen or twenty years ago, quite two inches; but Hector was at least three inches wider in hips and quarters, and so much better and stronger in the hind quarters."

During the present summer (1893) Mr. J. F. Smith, of Norfolk Lodge, Sheffield, who still owns, and has owned, some of our very best St. Bernards, took a tour into Switzerland in order to see his favourite dogs as they are in their native country. With the greatest kindness Mr. Smith put into pen and ink what he saw of the dogs there, and his impressions thereon, handing me the result for publication. I need scarcely say that this communication is by far the most complete, interesting, and practical account of the St. Bernard in Switzerland that has yet been printed. Let Mr. Smith tell the story of his pleasant tour in his own words:

"For the last fifteen years it has been my wish to visit Switzerland and the North of Italy with the view of seeing for myself the home of the St. Bernard dog, a breed which I have kept and taken great interest in for many years. However, something or other continually turned up to prevent my

taking the tour till this year, when, to my delight, I was able to start for the land of the Switzers on the 15th of June, 1893.

"Leaving home on the 15th June, I travelled viá Calais and Paris to Lausanne, where I saw several St. Bernards, both rough and smooth coated, most of them very poor specimens.

"On the 19th I went to Berne, and the first visit I paid there was to M. H. Schumacher's. I found him at home, and he took me to see the only two St. Bernards he had, a smooth dog and a rough bitch; the former was a very tall animal, fully 34 inches high at the shoulder, symmetrical in shape, fair in bone, but sadly weak in muzzle. The rough bitch was only ten months old, handsome in colour and markings, though too small and weedy. M. Schumacher informed me that they had lost a great many of their best dogs during the last twelve months from influenza, but he said I should find a very good dog at Worb, a village about nine miles from Berne.

"After dinner at the hotel, I started for Worb at seven p.m. My driver, quite a jolly fellow, spoke English well, and enlivened the journey by giving. me some interesting accounts of the villages we passed through. It was nearly dark when we arrived at Worb (Worb is supposed to be the

richest village in Switzerland), and found the owner of the dog in question (M. Fritz Lienhardt) was not at home, but he returned before we left. Mme. Lienhardt was kind enough to show me the dogs, or rather a smooth dog and a bitch. The dog, who had taken premier prize at Berne, is four years old, handsomely marked, patched very dark orange and white, with black shadings, tall, good in bone, fair in head, but hardly deep enough in muzzle. The bitch we saw here was typical in colour, orange and white patched, good in head, but she was too small. We reached Berne about 11.15 p.m.

"The following morning, June 25th, was the market day in Berne, and our driver of the previous day came to the hotel shortly after breakfast and said he should be glad to show me round the town. I was very glad of his service, as he knew most of the country people. We saw a great number of St. Bernards, both rough and smooth, in the market place lying down beside the carts which they had drawn to the market (the carts contained vegetables, fruit, flowers, cheese, butter, eggs, &c.). Some of the vehicles were drawn by a couple of dogs with a man or woman between them to guide the shafts and prevent a spill or turnover. Other carts were drawn by only one dog. These dogs were a mixed lot, most of them St. Bernards; many were