DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION 



other. But the more ordinary sort of people will feed upon 

 any carrion, either of a horse, mule, ass, dogs, or any 

 creatures." * 



The Spanish priest Navarette, writing about twenty years 

 later, reflects the point of view, in matters canine, of the 

 European at a period when dog-fighting and bull-baiting were 

 ordinary pastimes. " The Officer that carry 'd me to the 

 Metropolis assur'd me (and I had it from others before) that 

 he eat for his Breakfast every morning 30 Eggs, and a Dog's 

 Leg, and drank two Quartillos (it is about a pint and a half) of 

 hot Wine. The good old man looked so fat and fair, it did a 

 man good to see him. Infinite number of Dogs are eaten in 

 China, they count their flesh delicate and nourishing, and have 

 Butchers and Shambles where it is sold ; but more in the 

 Northern Provinces than in the Southern. It is comical to 

 see what a multitude of dogs pursue these Butchers as they 

 go along the Streets ; I suppose the smell of the Dogs' flesh 

 they carry about them provokes the other Dogs. When they 

 go loaded with half a dozen or more Dogs to the Shambles, the 

 sport is still better ; for the noise those so carry'd make, 

 brings out all the Dogs in the Town to take their parts, and 

 attack their mortal enemy's. They also eat Horse-flesh, 

 Buffalo, Cats, and Mice ; and other sorts. I myself eat of a 

 Horse, Dogs, and Mice, and in truth I lik'd them very well." f 



The Mongolian tribes living in the Far North of ancient 

 China ate dogs'-flesh, and as a means of trial by ordeal had a 

 practice of drinking dogs' blood. Ysbrants Ides,J a Russian 

 Ambassador who travelled to China in 1692, remarks in- 

 cidentally, " While in Peking I observed, at the door of a 

 considerable Mandaryn, and a Great Officer, some persons 



* John Ogilby's translation of Nieuhoff's " Embassy from the East India Com- 

 pany," 1655, p. 172. 



f " An Account of the Emperor of China," Navarette, p. 65. 



I " Three Years' Travels from Moscow to China," by Ysbrants Ides, 1706, p. 45. 



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