WOLF RAVAGES 89 



Smith told me it was possible to come across them 

 any morning among the rocks of the river bed. 

 At a place called San-yen, one day's march from 

 Sian-fu, wolves had been doing a good deal of 

 damage in 1902. The villagers found three cubs 

 one day and, fearing to destroy them for super- 

 stitious reasons, put out their eyes and left them. 

 The mother, on finding them in this condition, went 

 mad with rage and killed a number of children 

 before she was destroyed. In times of famine they 

 are particularly bold, and I have heard of twenty 

 children being taken in a month from one village. 

 One old hunter, who had been crippled by a wolf 

 in his youth, made a practice of sitting up at night 

 in a tree. He had made a peculiar whistle which 

 never failed to attract the animals which he hated 

 with such vehemence, and he would sometimes kill 

 as many as three in a night. 



We went for a walk one evening on the city wall 

 and saw two dogs eating something in a beaten- 

 down maize field. This turned out to be a poor 

 little baby which they had disinterred. Babies, at 

 least females, are not often buried in China, but 

 wrapped up in a bundle and left in the streets. Even 

 in so large a town as Tay-in-fu the doctor found 

 one. They are usually devoured by the morning. 



Mr. and Mrs. Steevens were both very popular 

 with the Chinese. Old ladies collected from all 

 sides on Sunday mornings to get Mrs. Steevens's 

 advice, and brought the most intricate domestic 

 troubles for her to solve. One such difficulty, she 

 told the applicant, was beyond her, and remarked, 

 " No, no, we can't interfere in this way ; it would 

 be against all reason." 



