DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



father,' the analogue for the female being ' old maid.' The 

 pay given to the eunuchs for upkeep of each cat is according 

 to its rank. So noisy are the cats that all the Emperor's sons 

 and daughters at childhood are continually brought to sick- 

 ness, even unto death ; and who is there that dares to com- 

 plain ? If there had been some places near the dwelling-house 

 in which the cats could have been confined it would have 

 been a good thing. We have heard that, because their sons 

 and grandsons grew up in the palace under nurses, and 

 loving only one wife, do not realize the importance of the 

 rearing of children and of obtaining sons, the Imperial ances- 

 tors bred cats and pigeons. Over the doors also they hung 

 snake characters, pictures of 1000 boys and the hundred sons, so 

 that when the Emperor should see the inscriptions and the rear- 

 ing of the cats and pigeons there might be brought to his atten- 

 tion the importance of the rearing of numerous children." * 



Dr. Macgowan, arguing from the facts that cats are not 

 included among the six domestic animals recorded by the 

 early Chinese nor among the zodiacal constellations, suggests 

 that the cat was domesticated at a late period in China. 

 Yuen-chuang, the pilgrim monk who in the seventh century 

 A.D. returned after sixteen years' wandering in India, brought 

 cats with him to protect his collection of Sanskrit Buddhist 

 books from rat-gnawing. That account, supposedly of the first 

 introduction of cats, is, however, somewhat undermined by the 

 following anecdote of Confucius : " Tseng ShenandMinTzu, 

 canonized disciples of the Sage, were listening outside to the 

 music of the Master, who, as was his wont, was soothing 

 himself by the lute that he loved so well, when suddenly the 

 strain was changed. On entering and inquiring what the 

 change meant they were told by Confucius that he had 

 seen a cat making for a rat, and that he had struck up 



* Ming Kung Shih, " Palace Affairs of the Ming Dynasty," vol. ii. 

 136 



