DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



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 and 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 mentioned 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 illustrates " the full 

 figure of a dog of Han pottery, with green glaze which, for 



* " Annals of Ch'eng te fu," Jehol, Book 29, p. 250. 



f " Pottery of the Han Dynasty," p. 255. J Ibid., Laufer, plate Ixiv. 



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