THE PEKINESE 289 



respectable'old age at Goodwood that so many of the breed 

 now in England trace their descent. 



Many years ago Mr. Alfred de Rothschild tried, through his 

 agents in China, to secure a specimen of the Palace dog for the 

 writer, in order to carry on the Goodwood strain, but without 

 success, even after a correspondence with Pekin which lasted 

 more than two years ; but we succeeded in obtaining con- 

 firmation of what we had always understood : namely, that 

 the Palace dogs are rigidly guarded, and that their theft is 

 punishable by death. At the time of the Boxer Rebellion 

 only Spaniels, Pugs, and Poodles were found in the Imperial 

 Palace when it was occupied by the Allied Forces, the little 

 dogs having once more preceded the court in the flight to 

 Si-gnanfu. 



The Duchess of Richmond occasionally gave away a dog 

 to intimate friends, such as the Dowager Lady Wharncliffe, 

 Lady Dorothy Nevill, and others, but in those days the Pekinese 

 was practically an unknown quantity, and it can therefore be 

 more readily understood what interest was aroused about 

 eleven years ago by the appearance of a small dog, similar in 

 size, colour, and general type to those so carefully cherished 

 at Goodwood. This proved to be none other than the since 

 well-known sire Ah Cum, owned by Mrs. Douglas Murray, 

 whose husband, having extensive interests in China, had 

 managed after many years to secure a true Palace dog, 

 smuggled in a box of hay, placed inside a crate which 

 contained Japanese deer ! 



Ah Cum was mated without delay to two Goodwood bitches, 

 the result being, in the first litters, Ch. Goodwood Lo and 

 Goodwood Put-Sing. To these three sires, some of the bluest 

 Pekinese blood is traceable, vide Ch. Goodwood Chum, Ch. 

 Chu-Erh of Alderbourne, Ch. Gia-Gia, Manchu Tao-Tai, 

 Goodwood Ming, Marland Myth, and others. 



It must, however, be clearly admitted that since the popu- 

 larity of the breed has become established we unluckily see 

 scores of Pekinese in the show-ring who have lost all 

 T 



