DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



and well trained, which are got in the mountains of the 

 country." * 



In the Province of Yunnan the musk and barking-deer, 

 which are small beasts of 40-50 Ibs. in maximum weight, 

 are hunted with chow dogs of somewhat larger size and 

 weight. Both deer inhabit mountain forests where thin 

 undergrowth and plenty of rocks obtain. They feed upon 

 grass, and in the case of the musk-deer upon moss and lichen. 

 They are very active and sure-footed, traversing rocks and 

 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, and the use of a large 

 heavy dog in its capture is natural .f Yule notes, "Mr. 

 Cooper at Ta-ts'ien lu, mentions a pack of dogs of another 

 breed (than the large Tibetan dog), tan and 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. The 



* W. Yule, " The Book of Ser Marco Polo," third edition by H. Cordier, London, 

 1903, vol. ii, p. 52. 



f In the Mongol text of the " Yuan ch'ao pi shi " (Pallad. Trans. 148) in one case, 

 the valour and fierceness of the Mongols are compared with those qualities in the 

 dogs of Tubot. 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 and Castabaleans 

 maintained certain squadrons of mastiue dogs for their war service." The forms 

 masty, mastie also occur. 



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