Rache

When this had been done, the huntsman reported back to his lord, who then brought the pack of raches to chase it down on its hot scent when it had been unharboured, 'rowsed' or 'upreared'.

Hector Boece (1536) describes the rache in Scotland as a versatile scenthound, able to find flesh, fowl, or even fish among the rocks, by smelling.

The picture below, though it did not appear in Boece's original, was first published to illustrate his account when it was summarised in Conrad Gessner's Historiae Animalium (Zurich 1554, in Latin).

In the picture above from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1410) the raches are not all of the same breed.

It is apparent that in the 16th and 17th centuries there was a good deal of regional variation in sizes and types of scenthound, from which the prospective Master of Hounds could mix and match to form his pack.