DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



generally of a suspicious and cowardly nature." * Bonvalot 

 mentions " two splendid black dogs with red paws, enormous 

 beasts with heads like bears." He also describes the Tibetan 

 hunting-dogs. " Now and again we meet with hunters carry- 

 ing matchlocks, forks, and lances, with powerful dogs in 

 leash, long-haired like our shepherds' dogs, and with broad 

 heads shaped like that of a bear. Many of these dogs are 

 black, with reddish-brown spots, this latter being generally 

 the colour of their chests and paws as it is that of the hares to 

 the south of the higher tablelands.f 

 It is likelv that travellers have been mistaken to a con- 



p 



siderable degree in describing the Tibetan dogs as of 

 enormous size. They are large and powerful, but the 

 appearance of vast size is, no doubt, largely due to their 

 very thick and long coat. The size of the black-tongued 

 chow dogs used in hunting deer in Yunnan Province 

 is very deceptive, as is immediately apparent when they 

 become thoroughly wetjted. These dogs, too, are of a sus- 

 picious nature, surly and hostile to the white man. They 

 are not, however, cowardly in the chase. Travellers in Thibet 

 cite cases of considerable courage on the part of these dogs 

 such as one in which a dog attacked a wolf without support 

 of any kind. 



In 1867, Dr. W. Lockhart wrote that from Mongolia " a 

 noble black dog, as large as a full-sized Newfoundland, is 

 brought to Peking. He is used as a sheep-dog." J His 

 function, however, was rather protection than that of the 

 English sheep-dog, for, as Dr. Caius remarks : ' It is not in 

 Englande, as it is in France, as it is in Flanders, as it is in 

 Syria, as it is in Tartaria, where the sheepe follow the 

 shepherd." 



* " Across Tibet," Bower, 1894, p. 16. 



f " Across Tibet," G. Bonvalot, Pitman's translation, vol. ii, p. 96. 



J Proc. Zoo/. Soc., 1867. Abraham Fleming's translation, 1576. 



