DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



the early part of the seventeenth century refer to these sham 

 embassies, and state that " the Chinese themselves are quite 

 aware of the imposture, but they allow their Emperor to be 

 befooled in this manner as if to persuade him that the whole 

 world is tributary to the Chinese Empire." * 



There is said to be a record in the Peking palace archives 

 to the effect that during the reign of K'ang Hsi (1662-1723) 

 or Ch'ien Lung, a high official named Fu sent a " Chin Mao 

 Shih Tzu " (golden-coated lion-dog) to the Emperor. Kircher, 

 writing about 1667, figures the monarch of the " China- 

 Tartarian Empire," who must have been K'ang Hsi, and a 

 short-coated dog of spaniel size having a long nose and 

 straight legs. The dog wears a collar with bells, and has a 

 ring, with a bell attached, through its ear.f 



Forty-two years later Peter the Great sent an embassy to 

 the court of the Emperor K'ang Hsi. It w r as received with 

 greater honour than has been shown to any other embassy 

 before or since. In its records we read that on its arrival, by 

 the land route, at Peking an envoy was sent by the Chinese 

 Emperor to welcome the Ambassador. ' The aleggada 

 remained for the space of three hours, talking on different 

 subjects. The minister, it seems, was a great sportsman. 

 He asked to see the ambassador's dogs, which were a few 

 greyhounds and some French buckhounds. He was desired 

 to receive, in a present, any of them which pleased him best^, 

 but he would accept only a couple of greyhounds." 



November 29. " The ambassador at the same time delivered 

 to the Mandarin, as a present from himself to the Emperor, 

 several toys of value, a fine managed horse, some greyhounds 

 and large buckhounds. 



" Everything was entered in a book very exactly, even the 



" Cathay and the Way Thither," vol. iv, p. 243. 



Figured in both John Ogilby's and the French translations. 



140 



