CANINE FIDELITY AND SAGACITY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 47, 15 June 1876, Page 2

CANINE FIDELITY AND SAGACITY.

MELANCHOLY NAILRATIVE FKOM STEWFOUXD- 5 IAND. j

About half an hour before dawn 011 tie 11 24th of January, a father and three soiuMf set out on a wood-chopping expedition H from the town of Placentia, Newfoundland, § which lies west of St. Johns. Such ex-| peditions are made with Esquimaux dogs,! which are securely harnessed to rudeg sleds, called ''catamarans," on account of | their resemblance to the rafts which the | South Sea islanders use and call by that | name. When the men left their cabin it I was less frosty than it had been for several 1 da 3's before, and in every way it seemed | favourable for the wood-cutters, but be-1 fore eight o'clock a terrific snow stonn was raging throughout Placentia Bay, and at noon great banlin of snow-drift had blocked the roads in many directions. In such circumstances there is extreme aiixiety in vegard to those who are absent cutting wood in the forests, as the gloomy records tell of skeletons found beneath tho snow in spring time—of men who had left their cabins in fail- weather several months before, and were overtaken by great snow storms, When Monday evening came and the woodsmen did not return, the wife and mother of the absent men grew very soli- j citous for their safety. They should have been home, no matter how bad the road' or heavy their loatia, at six or seven o'clock on Monday evening, had nothing happened. But the wild snow storm was still sweeping over tli&3 r bay, and there was every reason to fear that the worst had befallen them. About dawn next morning Mrs. Partridge and her daughter were aroused by the howling of dogs, who pawed the threshold and pounced upon the door in a vehement manner. Mrs. Partridge at first rejoiced, believing that her husband and sons had arrived. When the door was opened the dogs would not enter, but continued to whine and paw the ground impatiently, The old woimp then went to the woodyard to call her husband and boys, but the onfy answer given was the piteous whining and yelping of the dogs. After a while many of the neighbours»gathered around the cabin, and most of them knew too well the harrowing story that the poor brutes could tell had they the

' "nlfv of .MiM.'wch. Tlu; »log» were itnphv ,!,.; ueith'jr food tun 1 caresses woeld <>TU ' l "'- 1 ' 1 ushtniiau said lit* '',"'•,' l f.cnt tln> animals by moving in the ''>ci.;<>n of tin! woods. He had no sooner ''. U |i|..l'tlu.'in and started itt that direction •ilu'i'i tlii'y bounded past iiiui an.l fed the ".,'■'• imikiir; baek every fyw paucs totuakv heVas following. Four yotmg iii,|u!riii"ii tilu-Mi- volunteered to follow thw ( |i„ (1)( ami were led to thw part of thw ! v ',,uiis where the rueu lay buried in the . ~iv. Prodigious banks of snow piled on road made the way to. thy fatal .'„,(: mouitoiis and diitkult. Ort the side mountain of drifted snow four dogs ',vi.n: t"uu<lyelping dismally and digging J; ]( . sM „w with their paws. The v»trtutetrs . n .|if, k<> work, arid after two hours' search , V !l!i snow shovels recovered the bodies *>f ~li tin: men, hut too laty to rtsuscitat« y,,,,,',. This remarkable of saga,,t.v and fidelity in the trained draught | (l i<sof Newfoundland is not without pry.,.(U:iit. About four years ago a young i„i,u left Heart's f .V.utenf without: dog and , oiiMiiiia-ran for tiio woods. It was a \imly <i;i-y, !>nd the man was killed by the yiiiii,'"f"a tree which he had bueu chopiiii!'.' 'l'ho dog being unharnessed, as all Irmiu'lit ilo'.;s are on reaching the woods,.; i;i | m riioiiu': at ni'artif-, refused food:, and ,'.,(■(. tin 1 usual dismal warnings such as ',|,,iiig inid pawing the ground. This ■ni,,,;,! also led the way to the spot whert lis muster's corpse by resting.