DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



cipient's representative was first to take the leading-rope, 

 and then to ask the dog's name. 



As this procedure regulated the gift of house-dogs and 

 hunting-dogs only, it is implied that gifts of edible dogs are 

 not to be presented by hand, but must simply be sent to the 

 kitchen, their points being judged, not by visual examination, 

 but by the more searching test of the palate. 



It may be mentioned, as an interesting trait in the Oriental 

 character, that the early Chinese in their writings imagined 

 themselves so much superior to foreigners that they alone 

 could claim descent from human ancestors. They assigned 

 canine origin to all neighbours except those of the South, to 

 whom ophidian parentage was ascribed. Consequently, 

 canine names were given to the peoples of the North, East, and 

 West, and it was only in 1858 that Lord Elgin was able, by the 

 cumbrous procedure of diplomacy, to obtain, as one of the 

 stipulations of the Tientsin Treaty, " that henceforward the 

 character ' I ' (having both in writing and by its verbal 

 usage the significance of canine ancestry) shall not be applied 

 to the Government or Subjects of Great Britain." Similar 

 privileges are not enjoyed by the wild tribes of Western China, 

 and the result is that they suffer under such dog-names as 

 T'ung, Yao, and Lolo to this day. 



Kaempfer, who visited Japan in 1691 on behalf of the 

 Dutch East India Company, remarks : " Since the now 

 reigning Emperor (Kinsen, 1687) came to the throne, there 

 are more dogs bred in Japan than, perhaps, in any one 

 country whatever, and than there were before even in this 

 Empire. They have their Masters, indeed, but lie about the 

 streets and are very troublesome to passengers and travellers. 

 Every street must by special command of the Emperor keep 

 a certain number of these Animals and provide them with 

 victuals. There are Huts built in every street, where they 

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