CHINESE PONY 451 



neck as the head of a hammer is fixed on its handle. His 

 body is clumsy, and his hair rough. The mane is thick, 

 and the long, bushy tail is curly and carried close. His 

 legs show neither bone nor sinew, and his feet look flat, 

 though I have seen few lame ones. He is ungainly to a 

 degree, and far removed from the Burmah pattern, which, 

 while partaking of all the points that ponies exhibit all 

 over the world, is neat turned, and boasts a good crest 

 and well-carried tail. The fact is that the Himalaya pony 

 will not wander far from his hills and retain his identity. 

 The same thing has happened in China that has happened 

 in India, but in a greater degree ; and in neither case has 

 man tried to breed for a good stock. 



The Chinese pony may have endurance ; but no animal 

 so meanly constructed by ^Nature can possess the grit of 

 the finer-made creature. Blood will tell. Kot but what 

 he will respond to good treatment. Some foreign resi- 

 dents manage to improve his looks, and, no doubt, to a 

 certain degree, his qualities. But whenever you see a 

 good one he is apt to be an imported pony. 



I have met Europeans who speak well of the Chinese 

 pony. The best specimens come from Mongolia, where, 

 they say, a few Arabians which were brought to China 

 by the English army in the fifties eventually turned up 

 and gave a good impress to the native stock. This state- 

 ment does not accord with the French experience in Ton- 

 quin, nor does the Arabian blood show here in the remot- 

 est degree — though it invariably does elsewhere, at once 

 and permanently. 



The Chinese pony is brought in herds to Hong-Kong 

 and Shanghai from Mongolia, and is sold for from ten to 

 fifty ^Mexican dollars. A good one can be got for sixty, 

 and from that upwards. Why, en jpassant^ can Mexico 

 manage to palm off her dollars on the entire distant East, 



