HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE 



names and qualities of each particular dog. There was also 

 tied about the neck of each dog a yellow silk cord drawn 

 through a hole in a little bit of wood which hung from the 

 dog's neck as a mark of its belonging to the court. The 

 Chinese in general are very fond of little harlequin dogs that 

 play monkey tricks. A servant of ours had one of that kind 

 which he sold for an hundred ounces of silver." * 



K'ang Hsi allowed the Jesuit missionaries to build their 

 cathedral near the palace in Peking, and this appears to be 

 the most likely period for introduction of the Peking races of 

 dogs to Europe from China or Japan, for specimens must 

 have been procurable in the Chinese capital and provincial 

 cities. 



In speaking of the local products in Peking, a book of the 

 Ch'ien Lung period (1736-1796) says that the city is noted 

 for its Persian cats, which are of great size, and for its Fu 

 Ling dogs, which are extremely small .f Peking and the 

 province of Chili did not cease to be famous for their cats 

 with this period, for the Abbe Grosier states in 1819, " The 

 cat, in China as in Europe, is the tender object of predilection 

 and the favourite of the gentler sex. Those of the Province 

 of Pechili have obtained preference over all their rivals by 

 their pretty ways and by their fine coats. The Chinese 

 ladies never allow them to leave their apartments, where the 

 most delicate of nourishment and the tenderest of care are 

 lavished upon them. These cats are of a pure white, their 

 coat is very long, the hairs fine and silky. Their ears are 

 pendent. They do not catch mice, and leave this ignoble 

 chase to the cats of vulgar race with which, be it noted, China 

 is abundantly supplied." J 



* Pinkerton's" Voyages," vol. vii, p. 381 ; Bell's " Travels in Asia "; Ismayloffs 

 " Embassy to Kamhi," 1719. 

 f " Jih Hsia Chin Wen K'ao." 

 j Grosier " De la Chine," vol. iv, p. 2 and 5. 



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