TIBETAN DOGS 143 



He was much put out before leaving because some of 

 liis men had not come in, though he had been nearly 

 three weeks, I think, waiting for them. Among the 

 things that they were bringing were two Tibetan dogs, 

 one of which he made a present to me, if they should ever 

 arrive. Seven days after he left the men came in with 

 a long tale of misfortunes to relate. The lamas, they 

 said, had treated them very badly. They refused to 

 supply them with fodder for their horses, and conse- 

 quently they had lost some from starvation. They 

 were then bound hand and foot for ten days, while the 

 lamas sent to Cheng-tu for orders about them. When 

 their messenger returned he brought directions for 

 their liberation. All this trouble was caused by their 

 travelling without passports. They brought the dogs 

 safely, however, and I much regret that I was unable 

 to bring either home, the female dying at Hankow and 

 the male in the Mediterranean. The latter was an 

 enormous beast, the largest dog I have ever seen, with 

 a black shaggy coat and tan-coloured legs. He had a 

 broad muzzle, and was very powerful and fierce. This 

 breed is peculiar to a province or district called Deggi, 

 and even the local king at Ta-tsien-lu has to send there 

 for them if he wants them pure. The female was 

 smaller, with a smooth coat, but of the same colour, 

 black and tan. She was a Sifan doi?, and not so savage 



