colour. They are most extraordinary creatures, if
all the stories the monks tell of them are true. They are used for the
purpose of searching for travellers who may be buried in the snow; and
many persons are rescued annually from death by their means. During
the last winter, a traveller arrived at the convent in the midst of a
snow-storm, having been compelled to leave his wife, who was unable to
proceed further, at about a quarter of a mile's distance. A party of
the monks immediately set out to her assistance, and found her
completely buried under the snow. The sagacity of the dogs alone was
the cause of her deliverance, for there was no visible trace, and it
is difficult to understand how the scent can be conveyed through a
deep covering of snow.

"It is stated that the monks themselves, when out upon search for
travellers, have frequently owed their preservation to their dogs, in
a manner which would seem to show that the dogs are endued with a
presentiment of danger.

"Many stories of this kind have been told, and I was anxious to
ascertain their truth. The monks stated two or three cases where the
dogs had actually prevented them from returning to the convent by
their accustomed route, when it afterwards turned out, that if they
had not followed the guidance of their dog in his deviation, they
would have been overwhelmed by an avalanche. Whether the dog may be
endued with an intuitive foreboding of danger, or whether he may have
the faculty of detecting symptoms not perceptible to our duller
senses, must be determined by philosophers."

That dogs and other animals, especially elephants, have this faculty,
cannot be doubted. There is an instance on record of a dog having, by
his importunity and peculiar gestures, induced his mistress to quit a
washhouse in which she was at work, the roof of which fell in almost
immediately afterwards. Dogs have been known to give the alarm of
fire, by howling and other signs, before it was perceived by any of
the inmates of the house. Their apprehension of danger is indeed very
acute and very extraordinary, and may serve to account for and prove
the accuracy of what has been stated respecting the instinct of the
St. Bernard dogs.

These dogs, however, do not always escape being overwhelmed by a
sudden avalanche, which falls, as is most usual, in the spring of the
year. Two of the domestics of the convent, with two or three dogs,
were escorting some travellers, and were lost i