DOGS IN WAR.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") Sna—We have lately been reading of the use of dogs in the present conflict, and it strikes me that it may be of interest to state that this is not the first occasion on which these animals were employed in the fields of battle. I am sure that many instances could be given of such employment in the past, but, anyway, I would like to point out that dogs were looked on as combataats In the Spanish conquest in America. The dogs of the conquista- dores were of a race of large mastiffs. One of them, called Bercerrillo, was of enormous size; he was so much appreciated for his ferocity that he got double rations, and his master received a salary for his services. Another hound named Leoncico, which belonged to Balboa, the discoverer of the South Sea, always fought at the side of his master, who drew an officer's pay for the services of the animal. When Jime'nez de Quesada came from Spain to conquer the empire of the Chibchas (to-day Colombia), he brought with him a large dog; but the most murderous and savage pack of canine conquistadores was that brought from Spain by Federmann, one of the Germans who followed Charles V. to the Peninsula. The animals of this last-mentioned lot were of the most savage breed, so much so that, according to a modern Colombian writer, the unfortunate natives feared them more than a regiment of harquebusiers. All these dogs wore armour (a coverlet lined with cotton) to preserve them against the poisoned arms of the natives.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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