Strong and hardy as the Blood-Hound seems to be, it is unable, apparently, to encounter a low temperature. Mr. Lloyd, in his ' Field Sports,' relates that one presented to him by Mr. Otway Cave was entirely paralysed by the piercing cold of the northern regions which were the scene of his exploits.
Cuban Blood-Ileund.---The reputation which this variety has obtained for sagacity and fierceness, and the share that the terror of its name had in extinguishing the last Maroon war in Jamaica, render it an object of some interest. In 1733 these Maroons hind become very troublesome, and the Assembly, among other plena for suppressing them, appointed garrisons, from whose barracks excursions were from time to time made against the innurgents. " Every barrack," says Bryan Edwards, "was also furnished with a rack of dogs, provided by the churchwardens of the respective partakes, it being foreseen that these animals would !crave extremely serviceable, not only in guarding against surprises in the night but in tracking the enemy." The tiresome war went on however, till nt last articles of pacification with the Maroons of Trelawney town were concluded ou the let of March, 1738. This alliance continued, not without frequent complaints of the conduct of the 31aroons, till July, 1795, when two of these people from Trelawney town, having been found guilty by a jury of stealing some pigs, were sentenced to receive thirty-nine lashes each, and the sentence executed. On their return to Trelawney town their account drove the Maroons into open revolt, and a bloody and success ful war was waged by these savages against the whole force that the government could direct against them.
At last the Assembly, in the month of September, remembering the expedient of employing dogs previous to the treaty of 1738, resolved to send to the island of Cuba for 100 blood-hounds, and to engage a sufficient number of Spanish huntsmen to direct their operations. The employment, according to Edwards, to which these dogs are generally put by the Spaniards is the pursuit of wild bullocks, which they slaughter for the hides ; and the great use of the dogs is to drive the cattle from such heights and recesses in the mountainous parts of the country as are least accessible to the hunters. This determination of the Assembly was not made without some opposition. After much discussion it was determined to send for the dogs, and at last after several delays the commissioner, who had been dispatched to the Havaura, arrived at Montego Bay on the 14th of December with forty chassenrs, or Spanish hunters, chiefly people of colour, and about 100 Spanish dogs.
Dallas, in his 'History of the Maroons,' gives the following account of the first appearance of these dogs before the commander-in-chief : —" Anxious to review the chasseurs, General Walpole left head quarters the morning after they were landed before day-break, and arrived in a post-chaise at Seven Rivers, accompanied by Colonel Skinner, whom he appointed to conduct the intended attack. Notice of his coming having preceded him, a parade of the chaaseure was ordered ; and they were taken to a distance from the house, in order to be advanced when the general alighted. On his arrival the commis sioner having paid his respects was desired to parade them. The Spaniards soon appeared at the end of a gentle acclivity, drawn out in a lino containing upwards of forty men, with their dogs in front unmuzzled, and held by cotton ropes. On receiving the command ' fire,' they discharged their fusils and advanced as upon a real attack. This was intended to ascertain what effect would be produced on the dogs if engaged under a fire of the Maroons. The volley was no sooner discharged than the dogs rushed forward with the greatest fury, amid the shouts of the Spaniards, who were dragged on by them with irre sistible force. Some of the dogs maddened by the about of attack, while held back by the ropes, seized on the stocks of the guns in the bands of their keepers and tore pieces out of them. Their impetuosity was so great that they were with difficulty stopped before they reached the general, who found it necessary to get expeditiously into the chaise from which be bad alighted ; and if the most strenuous exertions had not been made to stop them, they would most certainly have seized upon his horses." Thie scene was well got up, and it had its effect. General Walpole was ordered to advance on the 14th of January following, with his Spanish dogs in the rear. Their fame however had reached tho Maroons, and the general had penetrated but a short way into the woods when is supplication for mercy was brought from the enemy, and 200 of them soon afterwards surrendered on no other condition than a promise of their lives.