DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



were imported into Peking. After nearly a century of 

 peace and prosperity, the inhabitants of the capital had become 

 rich, food stood at less than a quarter of its present prices, and 

 the cost of living was extraordinarily low. It was possibly 

 at this period, if not at the time of Lord Macartney's visit to 

 Ch'ien Lung in 1795, that England first heard of Chinese 

 " sleeve-dogs," and of the curious custom connected with 

 their name a name, by the way, which is now unknown to 

 dog-fanciers in Peking. Dogs do not appear to have been 

 carried in the sleeves in Peking within the last seventy years, 

 for the late Empress Dowager objected to the artificial 

 dwarfing of such small dogs, which are always in the nature 

 of freaks. Broad sleeves have been out of fashion in Peking 

 since 1900. 



It does not, however, appear at all certain that the custom of 

 carrying dogs in their sleeves originated among the Chinese. * 

 Of the shock or comforter (now called Maltese) dogs Dauben- 

 ton, a commentator on BufTon's " Histoire Naturelle," 

 remarks : " These dogs were very fashionable a few years ago, 



" The following are average measurements of this kind of dog : 



Length of body 7-8 in. 



Height of body . . . . . . 3.5 or 1.8 in. 



Length of leg i .6 or i .8 in. 



(Measurements converted from the Chinese.) 



Tail, together with fringe about 3 in. 



Coat : Same as the Pekingese (' Pa-Erh Kou *). 



Long-coated and short-coated. 



Head : Upper part rectangular and under part round. 

 The forehead is high ; mouth very short ; bridge of the nose pressed 

 inward ; tip of the nose tilted upwards ; panther eye ; ear like the 

 leaf of the apricot. The head may be generally described as a 

 ' lion head.' 



" From the above it appears that there is practically no difference between these 

 dogs and the Peking ' Pa-Erh ' dog. 



" This kind of dog produces only one or two in each litter. In the city of Kirin 

 itself there are many long-mouthed large ' Pa-Erh * dogs. It is unknown whether small 

 specimens of this breed of dog exist there." 



* James Watson's " The Dog Book." 



