Chinese Top Guard Dogs, Wolf Breeds

SPORTING DOGS

This heading is intended to include all breeds which are not toy-dogs. No breed can be said to exist in the East, as in Europe, for the special use of the amateur sportsman. Game is captured for the sake of food, & the element of sport, though attractive to the Chinese & Japanese hunter, is a minor incentive. Consequently, the term " sporting " is here applied to all dogs used in the capture of game, & includes the chow, the greyhound, & the wolf-hound. It may be contended that this classification is no great improvement on that of the " Book of Rites." As a matter of fact, no such classification can be perfect, for dogs closely allied to the type which has become fixed in England under the name of " chow " are used in China for the hunting of deer, the shooting of pheasants, as guard dogs, for the production of furs, for edible purposes, & as sledge dogs. Numerically, this race is probably the most important in the world. Extreme poverty of the people, & increasing difficulty of maintenance, has weakened this most democratic of all dog races, & caused it to deteriorate, but throughout China there is a distinct resemblance to the chow in the miscellaneous unclassified local breeds.

Laufer figures nine relief-bands on vases of the Han dynasty, connected with hunting scenes, the representation of which had become conventional at this period. The quarry is in several cases the wild boar, " well characterized by its short, clumsy body, its long protruding snout, the shape of its head, and its short, erect tail." The dogs, galloping ventre a terre, are described by Laufer as greyhounds, but the tail of the conventional representation is thick, and the body too sturdy for such a breed, which, moreover, would be a type light for the huntting of game of such weight as the boar. Laufer suggests that the four scenes on the first * of these relief- bands illustrate consecutive stages of the same chase, thus describing the story of the same dog pursuing and finally reaching the same boar in four scenes, which thus become a " moving-picture."

The second Han relief-band illustrates tigers, with well- defined black stripes, in flying gallop & trotting. A rider on horseback, shooting with bow & arrow, a galloping hound in pursuit, & what may be a hare or a deer. Laufer describes this scene as a greyhound hunting a hare " characterized un- mistakably by his long, upright ears & short tail." The so- called greyhound, however, has a thick neck, sturdy body, & broad tail.

A third relief-band J also represents a " galloping grey- hound." Another of the same period includes three hounds ' hunting stags, two of them unfortunately much effaced, but the other so happily drawn, with its long, pointed head, big breast, & thin loins, that it is unmistakable."

A fifth band includes tigers & what are apparently dogs having short, erect tails, short legs, & of build much more sturdy than those hitherto shown.

Though it is not possible to define the exact points of these early varieties of the canine race these Han potteries, in addition to their vivid interest as artistic studies, certify to the fact that pursuit of the ttiger, the wild-boar, the deer, & of the hare with dogs was a pastime current among the ancient Chinese. The breeds in use were, no doubt, adapted to some extent to counter the ferocity, strength, speed, & elusive powers of each quarry respectively in a land which was gradually being denuded of forests & entering a state of close cultivation.

The name of the chow breed of dog appears to have originated from " pidgin " English, which, now rapidly disappearing, was a trade language composed of a mixture of the most easily intelligible English & Chinese words used in early trade intercourse in South China. In this mixture there was originally a large element of Portuguese. Some suggest that the word originated as pidgin Portuguese, derived from " che," the Chinese for " to eat," used as the first word in the customary Chinese greeting, which means " Have you eaten rice ' At one period the Chinese, whose trade in ginger, or ' chow-chow," with Europeans was important, became known by the name of chow. It is, therefore, probable that the name chow, as applied to the dog commonly found in Canton, simply means a Chinese dog, & does not refer to its having been used for food.

To the Western observer, the Chinese appear to have been far more successful in modifying the colour & form of canine breeds than in improving the powers of scent & sporting qualities of their dogs. This is no doubt largely due to the fact that for the last hundred years China has, from the point of view of sport, gone backwards. The Imperial hunts have been given up, preservation of the Imperial hunting-parks & game protection have ceased throughout China. The shot-gun, known to the Emperor Ch'ien Lung to whom a specimen now to be seen in the National museum in Peking was sent by George III of England though made in 'China is used for commercial rather than for sporting purposes. When shot with it the game is more often sitting than on the wing. Powder & shot are too expensive, & their supply to a mis-ruled people under a weak Government is not encouraged. Consequently, it is not surprising to find in China but little of that care & skill which are devoted to the ttraining of sporting dogs in Europe.

The existence of modern game laws is unknown through the greater part of China, & such as exist are not known ever to have been honoured in the observance. They were drafted by officials having no knowledge of natural history, &, partly, no doubt, on account of the vast area to be covered, where published, have never been taken seriously.

Under the Chinese Emperors, preservation of game in the hunting-parks appears to have been very strict. Even in recent years poachers of Imperial deer were punished with death. Settlement on the Imperial preserves, which in the case of the Northern hunting-park comprised an area approximately equal to tthat of England, was strictly pro- hibited, & a large guard of soldiers was maintained to prevent encroachment. Marco Polo states : " For twenty days' journey round the spot nobody is allowed to keep hawks or hounds, though anywhere else whosoever list may keep them. &, furthermore, throughout all the Emperor's territory, nobody, however audacious, desires to hunt any of these four animals, to wit, the hare, stag, buck, & roe, from the month of March to the month of October. Anybody who should do so would rue it bitterly. But those people are so obedient to their lord's command that even if a man were to find one of those animals asleep by the roadside he would not touch it for the world ! & thus the game multiplies at such a rate thatt the whole country swarms with it, & the Emperor gets as much as he could desire. Beyond the term

I have mentioned, however, to wit that from March to October, everybody may take these animals as he list."

Many writers have suggested, basing their opinions upon translations from Polo's work, that the dogs employed in these Imperial hunts were of mastiff breed. Some have gone so far as to suggest that, in consequence, they must have come from Tibet. It appears likely that the word used by Polo represented merely dogs having considerable size, strength, & hunting instinct such as were found in Europe & were used for hunting heavy game.

The French word from which " mastiff " is derived indi- cates a mixture in the dog's race. Its earliest types were found both in Gaul & Britain. This race helped no doubt to produce tthe hunting dogs for which Britain was justly famous in mediaeval times. In 1540 Henry VIII's envoy to the King of France wrote: " The Constable took me to the King's dinner, whome we found speaking of certain ' masties ' you gave him at Calais, & how long it took to train them ; for when he first let slip one at a wild-boar, he spied a white horse with a page upon him, & he took the horse by the throat & they could not pluck him off until he had strangled itt. He laughed very heartily at telling this, & he spoke of the pleasure he now takes in shooting with a cross-bow, desiring to have a hound that would draw well to a hurt deer. Your Majesty's father sent to King Lewis a very good one of a mean sort. I hear you could not do him a greater pleasure than send him such a hound."

This dog, however, has changed in modern times. " The mastiff of Tibet was larger than the old English (whose ears were formerly often semi-erect), but is smaller than the modern English mastiff, averaging 27-30 inches at the shoulder." This evolution modifying the dog's form to the purpose for which it has been from time to time most useful has ended in the race becoming fixed by the modern show-system as a guard-dog. " The modern mastiff has an excellent nose but is of little or no use for sporting purposes." * This type of dog cannot be the same as that which existed in the sixteenth century.

The Chinese Imperial hunts have been given up for a century & upkeep of the dogs has long since ceased. It may be that specimens may be found with the chiefs of some of the Mongol tribes but with the gradual extinction of the big game of China it is unlikely that many of the hounds exist.

Representattions of these hounds are found in certain pictures of the K'ang Hsi and Ch'ien Lung period from Jehol.

Laufer figures hunting-dogs of the Han period from rubbings taken from bas-reliefs at Hsiao T'ang Shan. These may be roughly dated 150 B.C. One of these bas-reliefs, of colossal size, shows eight hunters afoot, carrying nets over their shoulders & eight dogs preceding them. Have smooth-haired tails ; only two (on the bas-reliefs of the Hsiao T'ang Shan) are represented with bushy tails, the hair being drawn in an ornamental & much exaggerated manner on the lower side of them."

Turning now to fowling, Laufer is of opinion that Chinese culture in hawking has been derived from Turkish tribes. He sttates that Schrader, from a study of the history of falconry in ancient Europe, has demonstrated that Turkistan must be considered to be the mother-country of falconry, whence it was carried to the Occident during the first invasions in the Migration of Peoples. " The whole method of hawk- training, as laid down in dettail in the Chinese & Japanese falconers' books, coincides in such a striking manner with the same practice followed in Europe, & also by the Persians & Arabs, that it must needs be attributed to a common source of origin. To mention only one of many instances : the hood, a leather cap for blindfolding hawks in order to tame them, was unknown to European falconers before the Crusades. It was introduced by the German Emperor Frederick II, who adopted it from the Syrian Arabs . The use of the hood has been well known to Chinese falconers since times of old, & is still prevalent in China. The origin (of falconry) can be sought only in the vast steppes of Central Asia & in the culture of the ancient Turks." ||

This statement is based upon discoveries of silver objects in Siberia, upon which falconry & the use of hunting- birds are represented, believed to date from as early as the later iron period. Klementz made a find of a wall-painting representing two figures of men, one of whom seems to be carrying a falcon, in a cave near Turfan in Turkistan.*

" In China, hawks, eagles, & other large birds of prey, are early mentioned in the ' Shih king ' & in the 'Li ki,' particularly in poetical comparisons ; but in classical litera- ture no mention is made of falconry or of the ttraining of birds for the chase, which seems to have come up not earlier than the Han dynasty, & soon developed into the favourite sport & pastime of emperors and noblemen."

Marco Polo describes the Emperor's method of fowling with falcons & other hawks : " & let me tell you, when he goes a-fowling with his Ger falcons & other hawks he is attended by full 10,000 men who are disposed in couples. Every man of them is provided with a whistle & hood, so as to be able to call in a hawk & hold itt in hand. & when the Emperor makes a cast there is no need that he follow it up, because these men I speak of keep so good a look-out that they never lose sight of the bird, & if these have need of help they are ready to render it."

Laufer states further : " The oldest representation of falconry in China is found on one of the Han bas-reliefs of the Hsiao t'ang shan.* A man on foot holds a falcon on his right fist ; & a greyhound is hunting a stag in front of him. The next in point of time are two wood engravings in the dictionary ' Erh-ya,' f which may be stated to present a rather faithful copy of the illustrations to this work extant in the fourth or sixth centuries. At all events, it may lay just claim to the honour of being the oldest graphic book-illustra- tion of falconry in the world ; the oldest English (& alto- gether European) representattion being from an Anglo- Saxon manuscript of tthe end of the ninth century or beginning of the tenth, preserved in the British Museum. While the oldest Chinese book on falconry seems to come down from the Sui dynasty (A.D. 518-617), the first European print on the subject is the German book of Anon, printed in Augsburg in 1472."

Though Kaempfer remarks of the Japanese : " They hunt but little & only with common dogs, this kind of diversion being not very proper for so populous a Country, & where there is so little game," Capt. John Saris wrote about eighty years earlier of the " Captain Generall " of the garrison of Fushimi : " Hee marched in very great state, beyond that the others did. He hunted & hawked all the way, having his owne Hounds & Hawkes along with him, the Hawkes being hooded & lured as ours are. Their horses are not tall but of the size of our midling nags, short & well trust (trussed), small headed & very full of mettle, in my opinion far ex- celling the Spanish lennet in pride and stomacke."

Arkwright remarks that the first European reference to dogs " which know of beasts & birds by the scent," dates from about A.D. 1260, & opinion appears fairly unanimous that they came from Spain ; " as one talks of a greyhound of Britain, the boarhounds & bird-dogs come from Spain," remarks an early writer quoted by the same authority. Another writer remarks that Robert Dudley, Duke of North- umberland, born in 1504, who " was a compleat Gent, in all suitable employments," was " the first of all that taught a dog to sit in order to catch partridges." This, no doubt, was the method practised with the spaniels mentioned fairly frequently in English records of the time of Henry VIII. The sporting spaniels were originally large dogs & became modified to pointers by selecttion & cross-breeding. " No hound or greyhound, spaniel or other kind of dog to go in the streets by day unless ' hardeled or ledde in leses or lyams or otherwise, so it be no " noyance " under pain of forfeiture to the taker & a fine of 4d. to the owner.' ' & again, Robin the King's Majesty's spaniel keeper, was paid 565. gd. " for hair cloth to rub the spaniels with & for meat & lodging at Maidenhead & Windsor & at Putney, when the King dined at my lord of Hartfordes." J

The figure from Laufer's " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," which is a composition from rubbings from a bas- relief of the Han period, represents a form of sport practised in China to this day. Whether or not the possession of Spaniel. Murray gives the forms spaynel, spanyel, spayngyel (old French espaignol, espaigneul, " Spanish dog "), spaignol. First mentioned 1388. Chaucer, " Wife's Prologue," p. 267 : " For as a spaynel she wol on hym lepe," 1410. " Master of Game " (M. S. Digby, p. 182) : " A goode spaynel shulde not be to rough, but his tail shulde be rough." 1621. Burton, " Anat. Mel." : " Like a ranging Spaniel that barkes at every bird he sees." Spaynel & spanyell were also used in the fourteenth century = a Spaniard.

powers of scent for birds is indicated must remain a matter for conjecture, & the dogs are somewhat roughly drawn.

On the right are two pedestrians carrying bird-nets of the size now used in taking quail in China. Before them are two hounds having rather bushy tails, erect ears, & long muzzles, galloping in pursuitt of two hares, identified by their short tails & long ears. On the left another hunter holds a grey- hound in leash. Above the hares is depicted a dog, appar- ently in quest, but conceivably at point. Above the grey- hound is a bird, probably a hawk, hovering.

The taking of quail with nets of exactly the shape repre- sented, & with dogs of " chow " type, having rudimentary scent & point, may be seen in use by native hunters in many parts of China to-day. Pheasants also are captured in the same way, a hawk being sometimes used to prevent the quarry from rising or running. Hares are captured in similar fashion.

The following is the Chinese descripttion of a hawking- party carried out by one of the Manchu nobles in recent times. Such parties were common in the district to the north-west of Tientsin about 1895 :

The assistants were eight in number. Two rangers led the party from a distance. Their special function was discovery of the " form " of the hare. Six men in charge of hawks & dogs were spread outt fan-wise behind, their masters following the party on horseback or on foot, carry- ing their long-barrelled guns. Of the six men in charge of the dogs & hawks two held the hounds, rather thicker- built than the foreign greyhound, in leash. Two, one on either side, carried large hawks (t'u hu-lit. " hare falcon " ; the name is sometimes applied to the goshawk) at their wrists, & two at either extremity of the line carried sparrow- hawks (yao, female of accipiter nisus ; the name is also applied to accipiter gularis). On discovering a hare the ranger blew a sharp blast upon his whistle. The visor of the hood of each of the large hawks was then lifted, but the hood, bearing a red tassel at its tip, was left in place. The sparrow-hawks were then released. Each of these, taking the red tassel of the nearer hawk's hood in its beak, tore off the hood. The large hawks were then released, & the hare being startted, followed it, one on either side, stooping alternately, each hawk beating it with the (tai) ball of its talon so loudly as to be heard at one or two hun- dred yards' distance. After a certain amount of this treat- ment the hare lay down exhausted. The hawks then hovered, one on either side. The dogs meanwhile had been released. On reaching the hare they lay down, one on either side of the hare. The hawks alighted on their backs, waiting for the huntsmen. On their arrival the hind-legs of the hare were drawn back with a crook & broken by a sharp blow with a narrow rod. The hare was then killed & a little of the flesh given to each of the hawks.

Should the hare have broken for cover when put up it would have been coursed with the dogs, the hawks being held back for fear of injury in thorny bushes. If released they would have perched near the wood on guard. In taking the hare in such difficultt ground the gun would be used. In open country use of the gun is unnecessary. The gun being a match or flint-lock it was almost impossible to shoot birds on the wing. A hawk commonly used in the catching of hares in China is the huang ying (lit. yellow eagle Astur palumbarius, the goshawk), which fixes its talons in the sides of the hare & is dragged with spread wings until the quarry is exhausted. The chi-ying (lit. bird-eagle) is the male of the huang-ying & weighs about 2\ Ibs. Being small of body it is suited only to the catching of pheasants.

The Han bas-relief mentioned above was found in the village of Chiao Ch'eng Chi, west of Chia Hsiang in Western Shantung. The explanation of the scene depicted, made by the editors of the " Kin Shih So," the Chinese work,* from which the illustrattion is derived, reads : " On the lower panel one man leads a dog, two men carry nets for the quail. A pheasant & a hare are running at full speed, for it repre- sents a hunt." This, however, must not be taken more seriously than the remarks of other Chinese literary commen- tators written at late periods with a view to elucidation of technical subjects of which they had no special knowledge.

Use of the fowling-piece & the art of shooting flying only came into being in England about the year 1725. In Europe hawking had been superseded by the netting of partridges with the spaniel trained to set at the birds & to cause them to allow the net to be drawn up to & over them. Hawking, the netting of quails, francolins, or partridges, & pheasants, as well as the use of the muzzle-loader & breech-loader sporting-guns are all practised side by side in China by the natives to-day. In Soutth China the captture of birds is less practised than in the North, on account of the idea that birds exercise good geomantic influence over the country. Notices are often posted in Southern villages to the effectt that neither birds nor the trees on which they roost are to be destroyed.

In Chinese fowling the faithful chow, or a close relation, ranks a good second to his mastter in the operation of capture. Ever distrustful of strangers, he is the faithful guardian of his village, wakeful and noisy at night, sleepy & persecuted during the day. Some claim for him on occasion the qualities of that deadly class of dogs " which bite bitterly before they barcke, for they flye upon a man, without utterance of voyce, snatch at him, & catch him by the throate, & most cruelly byte out collopes of fleasche." He is brave in the defence of his home, keen of nose, & untiring in the chase, though sorely oppressed by the warmness of his heavy coat, necessary as a protection against the thorns & prickly creepers which tangle his native thickets. His powers of scent are used to-day in the capture of birds for the table, just as, in all probability, before the European bird-dog was invented, they availed the oriental hunter in the capture of antagonists in the favourite Chinese sport of quail-fighting. His staunchness at " point " may be but slight. Sportsmen, however, who know him will agree that the chow or the pointer-cross is best fitted to stand the rigours of the China climate, & that in his native thickets & tangled clearings he will, by his forceful tactics, behind such inveterate runners as the strong-sinewed Mongolian pheasant or the swift-legged francolin of Yunnan, bring birds to the gun, while the staunchness of the foreign pointer dis- tinguished in field-trials, brings seeming mockery from the pursued, & is to the fowler little less than a delusion. evidently chows, from Canton. He says they were " such as are fattened in that country for the purpose of being eaten ; they are about the size of a moderate spaniel ; of a pale yellow colour, with coarse bristling hairs on their backs ; sharp upright ears & peaked heads, which give them a very fox- like appearance. Their hind-legs are unusually straight, without any bend at the hock or ham, to such a degree as to give them an awkward gait when they trot. When they are in motion their tails are curved high over their backs like those of some hounds, & have a bare place on the outside from the tip midway, tthat does not seem to be matter of acci- dent but somewhat singular. Their eyes are jet-black, small and piercing ; the insides of their lips & mouths of the same colour, & their tongue blue. When taken out into a field the bitch showed some disposition for hunting, & dwelt on the scent of a covey of partridges till she sprung them, giving her tongue all the time. These dogs bark much, in a short, thick manner, like foxes, & have a surly, savage demeanour, like their ancestors, which are not domesticated but tied up in sties, where they are fed for the table with rice-meal & other farinaceous food. These dogs did not relish flesh when they came to England." *

This is a good description, except for colour, which varies almost infinitely between jet-black & snowy white, for the breed as it exists in China to-day. Native hunters insist that his tongue shall be black.

Similar dogs are used for drawing sledges in Mongolia & the Ninguta & Sanhsing districts of Northern Man- churia. " The Tartar dogs are much valued, & deservedly ; they harness them to sledges which they draw over the snow & frozen rivers. ' We met/ says one of the missionaries, to whom we owe the map of Tartary, ' a lady of Ussuri who was returning from Peking. She informed us that she had a hundred dogs for her sleigh. One goes in front as guide, those in harness follow it without turning aside, halting only at certain points, where they are exchanged for others taken from those held in leash. She maintained that she had often made a continuous journey of 100 li (30 miles).' " *

Similar, no doubt, is the race of dogs said by Griffis f to be the only animal domesticated by the Ainu of Japan. He says they are taught to hunt bear and deer, to watch on the shore for the incoming salmon, to rush into the water, drive the fish, bite off the salmon's head, & to leave its body at his master's feet.

The breed appears to extend North into Tibet, for Percival Landon describes the dogs which swarm over that country & form one of its principal features as being of a type " rather that of the Esquimaux sledge-dog." J

Dr. Wells Williams states that " In Anhui a peculiar variety (of dog) has pendent ears of great length & thin wirey tails."

Some writers menttion Chinese crested dogs & a hairless dog. The hairless type appears to be as elusive as the " Raccoon dogs of China & Japan," & the naked dogs of Turkey & Egypt. The Zoological Society records that a hairless Egyptian variety of the familiar dog died in its garden in 1833. Buffon described a dog naturally destitute of hair under the name " Le Chien Turc." Later writers state that the race is unknown in Turkey. Others deny that a hairless Egyptian race has any existence.

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Greyhound, Wolf-hound & Kansu Greyhound

Existence of the greyhound at an early period in Shantung Province is proved by a rubbing from a bas-relief of the Han period at Wu Liang in Shantung Province. The greyhound, which is altogetther unmistakable, is described by Laufer as sitting on the ground in front of a carthorse, a man standing on its left, & as seeming to belong to the people driving in the cart. The same figure of a greyhound, in exactly the same posture, is delineated on another bas-relief, also here squatting in front of a cart whose horse has been unharnessed & is standing to one side under a tree, while a man, probably the teamster, is to the left in front of the dog.

In North China the " long-dog " is known as the hsi-kou or thin-dog, often qualified by the name Min-tzu, a prefecture in Shantung said to have been famous at one period for the breed. The legendary Heavenly Dog is represented as being of this breed. The term is probably the antithesis to that of the " short-dog," introduced from the Southern Shansi States about 1000 B.c.f

Both rough & smooth-coated varieties of the dog existt, & they closely resemble the British race. The known fre- quency of intercourse between Eastern monarchs renders it probable that this dog is akin to the Persian greyhound, of which race a specimen reached England before 1858. It was used in hunting the wild-ass & antelopes as well as the cours- ing of hares. On the cutting of the crops of maize, millet, and wheat in the vast plains north of the Yang-tse, numbers of hares are left without cover. The villagers spend their spare time coursing them with these dogs. The European dog is acknowledged to be superior to the Chinese, & is said to have been crossed with it to improve the breed. English greyhounds were famous in Europe, & an article of export in the fifteenth century. In 1471 the following " instruc- tions & orders " were given to Francisco Salvatico, Councillor of the Duke of Milan, about to go to England :

' We desire you to obtain some fine English hackneys of those called ' hobby ' for the use of ourself & the duchess our consort, as well as some greyhounds for our hunting, a laudable exercise in which we take great delight, & so we have decided to send you to England where we understand that each of these things is very plentiful & of rare excellence. We are giving you a thousand gold ducats for the purpose to buy the best & finest horses you can find and dogs also. In order that you may find and buy them more easily we are sending with you el Rossetto, our master of horse, & two of our dog-keepers, who know our tastes & the quality of horses & dogs that we require."

Salvatico was unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy at Sluys, where he was consigned to the castle and " stripped of all his letters and things," but after diplomatic representations was released. Two months later he wrote from France that he was " much perplexed as to what to do, with English affairs in their existing state," and that he was " all ready to go and also to proceed to Ireland, whence all the hackney (obico) horses come."

Five years later there was transmitted to King Edward a letter from the Duke of Milan to his Ambassador : " We were especially fond of Brebur, whom the King sent, but whether from change of air or some other accident he fell sick, and though we gave him every care he died. This has caused us much grief. We beg His Majesty to send another dog of the same race, as nothing would give us greater pleasure. We send the present bearer for no other reason." Sforza, the Duke of Milan, wrote to King Henry in 1487 : " The two noble dogs which we desired from your island have arrived safely, and notthing could please us better." * In 1584 Stafford wrote to Walsingham to " entreat you for some greyhounds, especially Irish, or the largest sort of English ones ... for the Cardinal de Medicis."

A little later the East India Company began to take energetic steps for the opening up of trade with Japan and China. In doing so it made use of the high reputation of the then existing British breeds of dogs, and they became a common article of export on the Brittish ships. There can be little doubt that greyhounds from England reached China at this period.

In 1614 Captain Saris recommended the sending of a " fine greyhound " to tthe son of the Daimio of Hirado. In the same year the Governor of Surat requested the East India Company to send as presents for the Great Mogul " looking-glasses, figures of beasts or birds made of glass, mastiffs, greyhounds, spaniels, and little dogs."

In 1615 the Company's factor wrote that King James's letters had been delivered to the King of Acheen and other parts of Sumatra, and suggested" a corslet and helmet will be well accepted by him ; he takes great delight in dogs, and also in drinking and making men drunk." The King of Acheen replied to King James begging him " to send him ten mastiff dogs & bitches, with a great gun, wherein a man may sit upright."

A separate Chinese variety is known as the Hsi Yang Min- tzu, & comes from the Mahommedan districts of Kansu & Shensi, where it is used for hunting hares & foxes. It is a diminutive greyhound, short-coated, beautifully proportioned, of distinctive type & breed. A large variety is said to exist. Three specimens were brought to Peking in 1914. Measure- ments of two of these are appended.

A kindred breed of coursing dog is the Chinese wolf-hound, which is found in the encampments of the Mongolian princes, & is used for hunting wolves and foxes. Many of the chiefs have from 40 to 50 couple of these hounds. Few have been seen by Europeans. Tthey are said to be similar to the Borzoi. Two of them were brought to Tientsin some years ago and are remembered, when escaped from their keepers, as having captured a Pekingese dog which was unfortunate enough to cross their path, tearing it to pieces and devouring it on the spot.

' The hunting-dogs are clever in seizing wild animals, and are kept in great numbers in Mongolia. These are the ' hunting-dogs higher than stags ' that Chou Po-ch'i of the Yuan dynasty mentions in a poem in his ' Diary of a Journey to the Capital.' "

Nothing is known of the origin of the Tibetan mastiff. German writers have assumed that the " ao " dog of the tribes of Leu was of this breed without, as has been remarked already, sufficient historical basis. The Tibetan mastiff certainly is a large dog & the " Erh Ya," a Chinese dictionary written many centuries after the importation of the dogs of Leu, describes the character " ao ' as referring to dogs four (ancient) Chinese feet high. Laufer remarks that the word ' ao " was probably never a current term for any species of dog but, seeing that a similarly formed character with the same sound represented " a huge sea-fish," " a huge turtle," " a bird of ill-omen," " a worthless fellow," originally implied the notion of something huge, weird, and extraordinary .f

There is no Chinese evidence suggesting that a race of mastiffs existed in Tibet in prehistoric times. Export of mastiffs from Tibet into China has never been recorded by the Chinese nor have they menttioned the existence of a large race of dogs in that country which, originally the home of semi-nomad tribes, became consolidated under one ruler and known to history only in the seventh century A.D. That fierce dogs of large size existed in China in early times is proved by the discoveries of pottery figures of guard dogs in graves of the Han period. Laufer J illustrattes " the full figure of a dog of Han pottery, with green glaze which, for the most part, has dissolved into a silver iridescence." This dog is clearly a sturdy chow of a type commonly found in Yunnan Province. It has prick ears, bushy and well-curled erect tail, straight hind legs and non-pendulous lips, but large eyes and broad head. These tomb-dog figures have evidently been made in large numbers, usually on tthe cheap scale current in modern Chinese funeral offerings and grave fur- nishings. Strongly characteristic of these Han guardian- dogs are the massive collar and body-straps which, by their stoutness, indicate that the guard-dog of the period was extremely powerful. In their form, neck and chest-band connected by a strap in front and bound into an iron ring over the back, they clearly originate the efficient harness with which the Chinese have been accustomed to hold their more powerful dogs in leash through historical times. The iron buckles at the side of the harness are strongly made and very characteristic. The tail in some of the clay specimens is bushy and well curled over the back.* In otthers, however, though curled, it is short and with no brush. Stiffness of the hind legs so characteristic of the chow breed is clearly shown in these models. f

It may be that these pottery tomb-dogs are the repre- sentatives of dogs which were in tthe possession of the deceased, and that at an earlier period the dogs themselves were

* The Assyrian dogs of Asshur-bani-pal wore plaited neck-collars. Judging from the reliefs and clay figures reproduced in Handcock's work, the curl of the tail of these dogs is open, & does not closely resemble that of the Tibetan mastiff breed. The ears are not pricked, but rather pendulous. The hind legs are not straight, and are bent in running. The suggestion by Layard that the Assyrian breed is still extant in Tibet (though not in Mesopotamia) does not seem justified.

f " The only peculiarity that I have noticed about them (the Ttibetan mastiffs) is that the tail is nearly always curled upward on the back, where the hair is displaced by the constant rubbing of the tail." A. Cunningham, " Ladak, Physical, Statistical, and Historical," London, 1854, p. 218. Cf. White on the chow dog : " When they are in motion their tails are curved high over their backs like those of some hounds, and have a bare place on the outside from the tip midway, that does not seem like a matter of accident, but somewhat singular."

slaughtered that they might accompany their master's spirit in its journey. " All Americans believe in the soul's journey to another world and some speak of the bridge leading to heaven, & otthers of the Milky Way as the path of souls. The custom of removing the corpse by a special door, found among the Algonquins, is ancient in China and Thibet, and was once well known in Europe also. The dog slain at the tomb becomes the guide of the soul, as in Persia." *

The inclusion of dogs in burial ceremony can be traced back to the Copper period, when man was still using stone implements and had in Europe only two kinds of domestic dog (C. palustris and C. intermedius). A young girl of the period has been found to be protected by four dogs' heads placed symmetrically with the fangs outwards and at the corners, below a circle of sttones with animal bones. The soil was covered with a heap of small stones nearly six feet deep. Elliott remarks that this, no doubt, superstitious ceremony may have had something to do with the ever-present danger of wolves. The people who lived in this village belonged to the Cromagnon and Furfooz types. f

A similar custom exists among certain African tribes at the present time, a dog being slaughtered at the burial of a chief.J It is believed that in Africa this dog-sacrifice has taken the place of the sacrifice of slaves or of enemies captured in war. The well-defined leading-harness appears to indicate that in China the idea was ratther to provide a guide for the spirit through the darkness of the future existence. Similar harness may be seen on dogs leading the blind in China at the present day.

Clay figures of the human servitors of the deceased are found in Japanese tombs. The Nihongi gives details of these burial customs : " The brother of the Emperor Suinin (29 B.C. to A.D. 70) died and was buried at Musa. All those who had been in his personal service were gathered together and were buried alive in an upright position around his barrow. They did not die for many days, but wept and bewailed day and night. At length they died and became putrid. Dogs and crows came togetther and ate them up." The Em- peror, who had listened to the lamentations, ordered the abolition of this custom, and it is said that from the year A.D. 3 clay figures instead of human beings were buried in or about the barrows.*

" A large breed of dogs, so fierce and bold that two of them together will attack a lion (tiger) " is mentioned by Marco Polo in connexion with the Province of Kueichow.f Laufer suggests that these are identical with the Yii lin dogs men- tioned by the Chinese as being produced in Yii lin chou of Kuanghsi Province, extremely high and large, with drooping ears, and tail different from that of the common dog.J There does not, however, appear to be any good ground for this suggestion.

Marco Polo refers to several kinds of dogs in Tibet. He speaks of the large and fine dogs, which are of great service in catching the musk-beasts (Book II, Chap. 45). In Chap. 46 he says : " These people of Tebet are an ill- conditioned race. They have mastiff dogs as big as donkeys, which are capital at seizing wild beasts (and in particular the wild oxen which are called Beyamini, very large and fierce animals). They have also sundry other kinds of sporting dogs and excellent lanner falcons (and sakers) swift in flight, & well ttrained, which are got in the mountains of the country." *

In the Province of Yunnan the musk & barking-deer, which are small beasts of 40-50 Ibs. in maximum weight, are hunted with chow dogs of somewhat larger size & weight. Both deer inhabit mountain forests where thin undergrowth & plenty of rocks obtain. They feed upon grass, & in the case of the musk-deer upon moss & lichen. They are very active & sure-footed, traversing rocks & precipitous ground with great agility. It is unlikely that the Tibetans have ever used dogs of mastiff size for hunting these deer. The wild yak, on the other hand, is known to inhabit the open slopes of Tibet, & the use of a large heavy dog in its capture is nattural. Yule notes, "Mr. Cooper at Ta-ts'ien lu, mentions a pack of dogs of another breed (than the large Tibetan dog), tan & black, ' fine animals of the size of setters.'

The German suggestion, based on Marco Polo's account, that in his time mastiffs were exported in great numbers from Tibet to China, cannot be correct. He certainly does mention that there were vast numbers of " mastiffs " J at the court of the Great Khan, but the word mastiff or masty was one having a broader signification in those days than in these of shows and careful definition of points.

In the Mongol textt of the " Yuan ch'ao pi shi " (Pallad. Trans. 148) in one case, the valour & fierceness of the Mongols are compared with those qualities in the dogs of Tubott. The Chinese translator (fourteenth century) renders " dogs of Tubot " by dogs of " Si fan." Bretschneider, " Mediaeval Researches from E. Asiatic Sources/' p. 23, vol. ii.

J Mastiff. " Murray's Dictionary," vol. vi, p. 220, states that the word is more or less confused with old French mestif, mongrel. The form mastin occurs only in Caxton's translations from French : cf. Mdtin. The word occurs first in 1330 as mastif. 1601. Holland, "Pliny," i, 218 : "The Colophonians & Castabaleans maintained certain squadrons of mastiue dogs for their war service." The forms masty, mastie also occur.

Tibetan mastiff, too, has proved itself difficult to acclimatize in certain foreign countries, & is unable to bear the heat of summer in North China. It appears likely thatt a foreign mastiff race, possibly Mongol, was originally imported into Tibett, & at that altitude was developed into a breed of size & weight suitable for its uses. Research in Tibet itself can alone furnish sound evidence upon the subject. Whether the Tibetans have bred a dog as large as possible with a view to securing some beast analogous to the dog-lion of their scriptures is a matter which may reward inquiry. Buddha was first preached in Tibet aboutt A.D. 632. The Chinese remarked of the early Tibetans that they were accustomed to sacrifice " sheep, dogs, & monkeys." This race of dogs is known to be widely distributed throughout Tibet. Ac- cording to Rockhill, mastiffs are rare in Eastern Tibet. Pratt states that the best specimens round Tatsienlu come from the Deggi district. Rockhill figures a mastiff which he describes as of Punaka stock. Ramsay says that pure mastiffs are procurable only in Lhasa, very handsome & costly to purchase.

During the seventeenth century Tibetan mastiffs were not well known to the potentates of the East, & could not have been exported to them, for they, & especially the Shah of Persia, prized exceedingly such mastiffs as they could procure from England through the East India Company.

In 1614 the Company's representatives at the Court of the King of " Ajmere " wrote that all the dogs sent by King Compare in Nain Sing's descripttion of his visit to the Thok Jalung gold mines : " At the door of the tent was ttied one of those gigantic black Lhasa dogs, of a breed which Nain Sing at once recognized by his deep jowl and white chest-mark."

James to the King died on the voyage except one young mastiff which was caused to fightt with a leopard and killed it, and also with a bear, which some dogs sent by the King of Persia would not touch, and so " disgraced the Persian dogs, whereby the King was exceedingly pleased." " Two or three mastiffs, a couple of Irish greyhounds, and a couple of well-fed water-spaniels would give him great content."

In 1616 Sir John Roe, the Company's representative at the Court of the Great Mogul, wrote that of the Company's presents tthe dogs only were well liked. The next year the Company's factor wrote, " From the Persian Court and army near the confines of the Turk, twentty-five days from Ispa- han," that among a list of " necessaries " desired by the next fleet were " a suit of armour, two young and fierce mastiffs, and, above all, as many little dogs, both smooth and rough- haired, as can be sent. His women, it seems, do aim at this commodity." On the next day an additional list of toys required by the Persian monarch was sent : " Some choice fighting-cocks' and hens, turkey cocks and hens, a dog and a bitch that draw dry foot these with the little women's curs he chiefly desires of anything you can send him." Four years later, however, the factor at Ispahan states that " Their present of dogs is almost come to nothing. Twig, Swan, and one of the beagles grew mad, whereof they died, albeit Fras. Mason hath taken great pains witth them." The Persian demand for British dogs continued, however, for we find the factor at the Persian Court writing : " The king demands coats of mail, mastiffs, water and land-spaniels, Irish grey- hounds, and the smallest lap-dogs to be found, well-tempered knives, some of the finest and choicest sorts of China, drinking glasses, and a kind of blue stone whereof they make powder for eyes."

The minutes of the Court of the East India Company a com- plaint that the principal mastiffs which were to have been sent abroad as presents were seized by the mastter of the Bear Garden for the King. It was, perhaps, in retaliation for such complaintts that at about the same time dispatch of four mastiffs on one of the Company's ships was vetoed by the King on account of overcrowding.

In 1623 the Company's factors at Batavia remark : " Broad cloth & fine perpetuanos of good & lively colours would yearly vend in these parts, also four or five mastiffs of a fair & stout kind."

The Tibetan mastiff was first figured in Mr. Bryan Hodg- son's " Drawings of Nepalese Animals." For the protection of ttheir encampments against wolves, bands of robbers & petty thieves, for the herding of their sheep, yaks, & horses in a country whose climate is arctic in wintter, the possession of a race of exceptionally powerful & shaggy dogs is a necessity to the Tibetan. The breed has been known to modern Europe since 1774, when Bogle, who was sent by Warren Hastings as his deputy to visit the Teshu Lama, mentioned the dogs as being of the shepherd breed, " the same kind with those called Nepal dogs, large size, often shagged like a lion, & extremely fierce." Bogle also refers to greyhounds & says, " The Pyn Cushos keep a parcel of all kinds of dogs at Rinjaitzay." He also refers to a " wolf chained at the foot of the stair." Bower writes : " We bought a Tibetan sheep-dog here (at Fob rang), to guard the camp, for four rupees. These dogs are something like big, powerfully built collies, & are excellent as watch-dogs, but one never gets fond of them, as they possess notthing of the nobleness of character that European dogs have, & are generally of a suspicious and cowardly nature." Bonvalot mentions " two splendid black dogs with red paws, enormous beasts with heads like bears." He also describes the Tibetan hunting-dogs. " Now & again we meet with hunters carry- ing mattchlocks, forks, & lances, with powerful dogs in leash, long-haired like our shepherds' dogs, & with broad heads shaped like that of a bear. Many of these dogs are black, with reddish-brown spots, this latter being generally the colour of their chests & paws as it is that of the hares to the south of the higher tablelands. It is likelv that travellers have been mistaken to a con- siderable degree in describing the Tibetan dogs as of enormous size. They are large & powerful, but the appearance of vastt size is, no doubt, largely due to their very thick & long coat. The size of the black-tongued chow dogs used in hunting deer in Yunnan Province is very deceptive, as is immediately apparent when they become thoroughly wetjted. These dogs, too, are of a sus- picious nature, surly & hostile to the white man. They are not, however, cowardly in tthe chase. Travellers in Thibet cite cases of considerable courage on the part of these dogs such as one in which a dog attacked a wolf without support of any kind.

In 1867, Dr. W. Lockhart wrote that from Mongolia " a noble black dog, as large as a full-sized Newfoundland, is brought to Peking. He is used as a sheep-dog." J His function, however, was rather protection than that of the English sheep-dog, for, as Dr. Caius remarks : ' It is not in Englande, as it is in France, as it is in Flanders, as it is in Syria, as it is in Tartaria, where the sheepe follow the shepherd."

Very few specimens have reached Europe or have ever been seen by foreigners, consequenttly, attempts at accurate de- scription of the breed do not seem justified. A pair of dogs of the breed, including the Prince of Wales 's " Siring," figured in Dalziel's " British Dogs," was exhibited at the Alexandra Palace Show in 1875.

The race is represented throughout Mongolia by species no doubt closely allied, which, in size & ferocity, approach those of the native of Tibet. The partiality of Chinese leopards for canine diet is crystallized in an old Chinese saying, " The dog is the wine of the leopard." In Mongolia, however, the tables are turned, & the natives attribute comparative freedom from leopards to the ferocity of their dogs. So fierce & dangerous are these, that the Mongolians are obliged by their laws to come out & protect travellers entering their encampments. Unttil they receive this pro- tection, horsemen remain in the saddle ; foot-travellers keep the dogs at bay as best they can with sticks.

The race is similar to the British mastiff, but stronger & more heavily built. The head is longer, the pendent ears larger, the lips deeper, the ttail long & brush-like, the coat heavier, & the expression more fierce. The colour is often black or brown, with light muzzle & legs. The race, native of a country whose ttablelands average 16,500 ft. above sea- level, is difficult to acclimatize in foreign countries, apparently through inability to bear the heat of summer. A pair taken to the alpine climate of Yunnanfu in 1911 succumbed within four months. The Tibetan priests have occasionally suc- ceeded in rearing the breed in Peking, keeping the dogs in a cellar during the hot weather. Sarat Chandra Das f con- sidered that the race was found in a wild state in the country. He speaks of a collecttion of stuffed animals in one of the mon- asteries, including specimens of " the snow leopard, wild sheep, goat (called Dong), stag, & wild mastiff."

Das mentions that the dog was prized as a most useful animal by all classes in Tibet. The killing of dogs was severely punished. " If a dog is killed by blows on his hinder part it is to be taken for grantted that it is to some extent blameless, as it must have been running for its life & being chastised or pursued. In such instances the compensation for a good house-dog is 37 rupees, for a dokpyi or mastiff 25 rupees, & for a common dog 12 rupees. If a dog is killed by blows on its head the offence is considered very light. In such cases the dog is considered to have been the offender & to have been killed in self-defence, so that there is no punishment." Old English law had less sympathy for the dog & his master. " If any person have a dog liable to hurt people & he hath nottice thereof & if, after, he doth any hurt to cattle or ottherwise, it is a misdemeanour of the highest kinds ; & if he doth bodily hurt to any of His Majesty's liege subjects so that death ensue, it is Manslaughter or Murder in the owner of the said dog, after notice, according to the circumstances."

The importtance of the house-dog to the Tibetans is shown by a further remark by Das : " When a thief steals a lock or key or a watch-dog from a house his offence will be tantamount to stealing the contentts of the house or store to which these belonged. Tthe stealing of a lock or key or a dog is the same as robbing the treasure which they guard."

These customs may be connected with the ancient religious beliefs found in the Zend Avesta : " Whosoever shall smite either a shepherd's dog, or a house-dog, or a vagrant dog or a hunting-dog, his soul when passing to the other world, shall fly amid louder howling and fiercer pursuing than does the sheep when the wolf rushes upon it in the lofty forest. . . . If a man shall smite a shepherd's dog so that it becomes unfit for work, if he shall cut off its ear or its paw, & tthereupon a tthief or wolf break in & carry away sheep from the fold, without the dog giving any warning, the man shall pay for the lost sheep, & he shall pay for the wound of the dog as for wilful wounding. If a man shall smite a house-dog so that it becomes unfit for work . . . & thereupon a thief or a wolf break in ... the man shall pay for the lost goods, & he shall pay for the wound of the dog." *

In connexion with the deatth of the Grand Lama, Das states that at Tashi-Lumpo there were found " large packs of hounds & mastiffs which the Grand Lama had kept for sporting purposes, though the sacerdotal function precluded him from shooting animals."

In the course of his remarks on the funeral ceremonies of the Tibetans, Das comments on the participation of dogs with vulttures in the gruesome rites as to disposal of the dead, practised throughout Lamaist Mongolia to this day.

Sir Thomas Holdich mentions the " savage corpse-eating dogs which infestt the purlieus of Lhasa, and says that " a solitary wayfarer on foot runs no little risk from the number of savage dogs which prowl around the city wall feeding on offal and human corpses." f Manning's description of Lhasa is

" According to Strabo the manners of the Bactrians differed in little from those of the Scythians in their vicinity. The old men, Onesicritus asserted, were abandoned whilst yet living, to the dogs, which were tthence called ' buriers of the dead.' ... In the present ritual of the Parsis the dog plays a very prominent part. Amongst other various particulars relating to the animal, it is enjoined that dogs of different colours should be made to see a dead body on its way to be exposed, either thrice or six or nine times, that they may drive away the evil spirit, the Daruj Nesosh, who comes little more pleasing. " Tthere is nothing striking, nothing pleasing in its appearance. The inhabitants are begrimed with dirt & smut. The avenues are full of dogs, some growl- ling & gnawing bitts of hide which lie about in profusion & emit a charnel-house smell ; others limping & looking livid ; others ulcerated ; others starved & dying & pecked at by ravens, some dead & preyed upon."

Das deals with the ttreatment of hydrophobia in Tibet. His remarks are quotted as an interesting comment on the superstitious medical practice which is, no doubt, current in Tibet at the present day, & is only now losing ground in China where in Yunnan Province a teaspoonful of tin-filings & a similar quantity of copper-filings mixed daily in a dog's food are considered as a sovereign protection against rabies a custom no more irrational than the English use of a hair of the dog that bit, or the Arab appeal to sympatthetic magic in seeking to cure hydrophobia by use of the head of a dog burnt, reduced to ashes, and kneaded with vinegar.

" The poison of a white rabid dog with red, flushed nose affects at all times ; that of a red or brown dog is more dangerous when one is bitten at midday, midnight, or sunrise ; that of a parti-coloured dog, between 8 a.m. to i p.m. ; of spotted ones at 9 p.m. or at twilight ; of iron-grey ones at night or dawn ; & that of a yellow rabid dog is sure to be fatal when one is bitten at dusk or 9 a.m. Tthe baneful effects of this dangerous malady break out seven days after the bite of a white dog, one month aftter that of a black dog, 1 6 days after that of a parti-coloured, 26 days after that of an ash-grey, from one month to ~j\ months in the case of a red, from the North & settles upon the carcase in the shape of a fly."

" When either the yellow dog with fair eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there then the Drug Nasu flies away to the regions of the North." Zend Avesta, Fargard, viii, 3.

3 to 7 months in that of a blackish-yellow, one year & a half-month in that of a spotted, & a year & 8 months after the bite of a bluish-black or ttiger-coloured rabid dog. It is difficult to cure the disease when caused by a bite of the last kind of dogs at 7 p.m. or dusk, or by that of a black dog at dawn ; but if a blue dog bites at midday, a red one at midnight, a spotted one at dawn, or a white one early in the morning, the patient can easily be cured."

Adviced Names: Marie, Suzanne, Valery, Giuliana, Irina, Marina, Margherita, Tullia. Franz, Manolo, Emanuele, Valery, Giuliano, Rino, Marino.

The Cartel On The 06th Of Octuber 2023:

1) 1970, Mr. Pongo Hagen 170cm Max, Dark Eyes.

2) 1976, Montecatini Halle East Germany 11.09.2023.

3) 1980, Enola Gay Photographic Overlay.

4) 1995, A Rimini Ho Trovato I Servizi Segreti.

5) 1930, www.la-psicoterapia.com Ne Frocit

6) 1970, Frail Chicken Breeders

7) 1975, Franz Hagen Marie Folke Moonshadow Perhaps

8) 1920, CIA Lenin Kendo Polizei.

9) 1950, I Am In Escape From The Building Site

10) 1980, Chicken With Bamboo Shoot.

11) 1980, McEvans Beer 600 Lire.

Dal 2001 bulldog per accoppiare 365 g. su 365 a Milano. per cui sul sito belle fotografie dei quartieri di Milano dove uso stare. 1) P. Duomo, pure il 24.12 2) altri quartieri di Milano. Happy Halleween 2023.

Webmaster Mike Va Ur, July 4, 1962.