Big Game of Mongolia and Tibet 



which he usually shot with arrows, though he 

 also had hawks and greyhounds with him. 



I find no mention of the use of firearms in 

 these imperial hunts, nor do I believe that 

 it has ever been considered, by the Tartars 

 and Mongols, sportsmanlike to use them. 



Coursing and hawking were probably in- 

 troduced into China and Mongolia after the 

 Mongol conquest of Western Asia, where 

 those royal sports had then been in vogue 

 for a long time. At present the Manchus 

 keep great numbers of hawks, caught for the 

 most part in the northern portion of the prov- 

 ince of Shan-hsi, and with them they take 

 hares and cranes. Greyhounds are no longer 

 numerous in Mongolia and China, though they 

 are much prized, and I have seen some among 

 the Ordos Mongols and in Manchu garrisons. 

 They were short-haired, of a clear tan color 

 with black points, and showed good blood in 

 their small tails and depth of chest. 



Besides the great annual hunts on the 

 steppes — which, leaving aside the sport and 

 incidental invigorating influence on the cour- 

 tiers, helped, by the vast numbers of troops 

 which took part in them, to keep quiet the 

 then turbulent Mongol tribes — the emperors 



257 



