into the ship by a cabin boy, presented the stately figure of a man nearly six feet high.

THE SHEPHERD'S DOG.

THE following account of this useful animal, is given by one who had the opportunity of a personal observation; and has given the result with great fidelity and ability. "The animal I am about to describe was, beyond all comparison, the best dog I ever saw. He was of a surly, unsociable temper, disdaining all flattery, and refused to be caressed; but his attention to his master's commands and interests, will never again be equalled by any of the canine race. The first time I saw him, a drover was leading him in a rope; he was hungry and lean, and far from being a beautiful cur, for he was almost all over black, and had a grim face, striped with dark brown. The man had bought him of a boy for three shillings somewhere on the border, and doubtless had fed him very ill on his journey. I thought I discovered a sort of sullen intelligence in his face, notwithstanding his dejected and forlorn situation; so I gave the drover a guinea for him, and, I believe, there never was a guinea so well laid out; at least I am satisfied that I never laid out one to so good a purpose. He was scarcely then a year old, and knew so little of herding, that he never turned sheep in his life; but as soon as he discovered that it was his duty to do so, and that it obliged me, I can never forget with what anxiety and eagerness he learned his different evolutions. He would try every way deliberately till he found out what I wanted him to

do; and when once I made him to understand a direc tion, he never forgot or mistook it again. Well as I

knew him, he often astonished me, for when hard pressed in accomplishing the task that he was put to, he had expedients of the moment that bespoke a great share of the reasoning faculty."

Mr. Hogg goes on to narrate the following among other remarkable exploits in illustration of the sagacity of Sirrah, this was the dog's name. About seven hundred lambs, which were once under his care at weaning time, broke up at midnight, and scampered off in three divisions across the hills, in spite of all that the shepherd and an assistant lad could do to keep them together. "Sirrab," cried the shepherd in great affliction, "my man, they're a' awa." The night was so dark, that he did not see Sirrah; but the faithful animal had heard his master's words-words such as of all others were sure to set him most on the alert; and without more ado, he silently set off in quest of the recreant flock. Meanwhile the shepherd and his companion did not fail to do all that was in their own power to recover their lost charge; they spent the whole night in scouring the hills for miles around, but of neither the lambs nor Sirrah could they obtain the slightest trace. "It was the most extraordinary circumstance," says the shepherd, "that had ever occurred in the annals of the pastoral life. We had nothing for it (day having dawned,) but to return to our master, and inform him that we had lost his whole flock of lambs, and knew not what was become of one of them. On our way home, however, we discovered a body of lambs at the bottom of a deep ravine, called the Flesh Clench, and the indefatigable Sirrah standing

in front of them, looking all around for some relief, but still standing true to his charge. The sun was then up; and when we first came in view of them, we concluded that it was one of the divisions of the lambs which Sirrah had been unable to manage, until he came to that commanding situation. But what was our astonishment, when we discovered by degrees that not one lamb of the whole flock was wanting! How he had got all the divisions collected in the dark, is beyond my comprehension. The charge was left entirely to himself, from midnight until the rising of the sun; and if all the shepherds in the forest had been there to assist him, they could not have effected it with greater propriety. All that I can further say is, that I never felt so grateful to any creature below the sun, as I did to my honest Sirrah that morning."

FRIEND IN NEED.

As a gentleman of the name of Irvine was walking across the Dee when it was frozen, the ice gave way in the middle of the river, and down he sunk, but kept himself from being carried away in the current by grasping his gun, which had fallen across the opening. A dog who attended him, after many fruitless attempts to rescue his master, ran to a neighbouring village, and took hold of the coat of the first person he met. The man was alarmed, and would have disengaged himself; but the dog regarded him with a look so kind and significant, and endeavoured to pull him along with so gentle a violence, that he began to think there might be something extraordinary in the case, and suffered himself te

be conducted by the animal, who brought him to his master just in time to save his life.

A SLY COUPLE.

A GENTLEMAN in the county of Stirling kept a grayhound and a pointer, and being fond of coursing, the pointer was accustomed to find the hares, and the grayhound to catch them. When the season was over, it was found that the dogs were in the habit of going out by themselves, and killing hares for their own amusement. To prevent this, a large iron ring was fastened to the pointer's neck by a leather collar, and hung down so as to prevent the dog from running, or jumping over dikes, &c. The animals, however, continued to stroll out to the fields together; and one day the gentleman suspecting that all was not right, resolved to watch them, and to his surprise, found that the moment when they thought that they were unobserved, the grayhound took up the iron ring in his mouth, and carrying it, they set off to the hills, and began to search for hares as usual. They were followed, and it was observed, that whenever the pointer scented the hare, the ring was dropped, and the grayhound stood ready to pounce upon poor puss the moment the other drove her from her form, but that he uniformly returned to assist his companion after he had caught his

prey.

NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.

ONE of the magistrates in Harbour Grace, in Newfoundland, had an old dog of the regular web-footed

species peculiar to this island, who was in the habit of carrying a lantern before his master at night, as steadily as the most attentive servant could do, stopping short when his master made a stop, and proceeding when he saw him disposed to follow. If his master was absent from home, on the lantern being fixed to his mouth, and the command given, "Go fetch thy master," he would immediately set off, and proceed directly to the town, which lay at the distance of more than a mile from the place of his master's residence he would then stop at the door of every house which he knew his master was in the habit of frequenting, and laying down his lantern, growl and strike the door, making all the noise in his power until it was opened; if his master was not there, he would proceed farther in the same manner, until he had found him. If he had accompanied him only once into a house, this was sufficient to induce him to take that house in his round.

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CHILD SAVED.

A SHEPHERD who inhabited one of those valleys or glens which intersect the Grampian mountains, in Scotland, in one of his excursions to look after his flock, happened to carry along with him one of his children, an infant of three years old. This is not an unusual practice among the Highlanders, who accustom their children from their earliest infancy to endure the rigours of the climate. After traversing his pastures for some time, attended by his dog, the shepherd found himself under the necessity of ascending a summit at some distance, to have a more extensive view of his range. As the ascent was too fatiguing for the