| The Thibet Dog
Mr. Bennett, in his scientific and amusing description of the Zoological
Gardens, gave the best account we have of this noble dog, and our
portrait is a most faithful likeness of him. He is bred in the
table-land of the Himalaya mountains bordering on Thibet. The Bhoteas,
by whom many of them are carefully reared, come down to the low
countries at certain seasons of the year to sell their borax and musk.
The women remain at home, and they and the flocks are most sedulously
guarded by these dogs. They are the defenders of almost every
considerable mansion in Thibet. In an account of an embassy to the court
of the Teshoo Llama in Thibet, the author says, that he had to pass by a
row of wooden cages containing a number of large dogs, fierce, strong,
and noisy. They were natives of Thibet, and, whether savage by nature or
soured by confinement, they were so impetuously furious that it was
unsafe even to approach their dens. Every writer who describes these
dogs, speaks of their noble size, and their ferocity, and antipathy to
strangers. 
It is said, however, that the Thibet dog rapidly degenerates when
removed from its native country, and certainly the specimens which have
reached the Zoological Gardens exhibited nothing of ferocity. The one
that was in that menagerie had a noble and commanding appearance; but he
never attempted to do any injury.
The colour of the Thibet dog is of a deep black, slightly clouded on the
sides, his feet alone and a spot over each eye being of a full tawny or
bright brown hue. He has the broad short truncated muzzle of the
mastiff, and the lips are still more deeply pendulous. There is also a
singular general looseness of the skin on every part of him.
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