CHINESE FIELD SPORTS. 191 



the ancestors of those noble little beasts which do such 

 wonders in Shanghai paper hunts, he had in other portions 

 of his territory to be not less effective as a climber. Northern 

 Manchuria is a Manchu Switzerland, It is true it has no 

 peaks equal to Mt. Blanc, but it has mountains of quite re- 

 spectable height, and is provided with wooded cover of vast 

 extent. The traveller along the Vladivostok-Harbin section 

 of the Siberian line is delighted with the ever changing vista 

 of hill scenery presented as the road winds its way round 

 the foot or along the slopes of these hills. It was here, 

 doubtless, that much of the marvellous Manchu archery 

 which was destined to be one of the main causes of the 

 overthrow of the Chinese armies, had its birth. Hunting 

 would alternate with war, and both combined would natur- 

 ally provide just the type of hardy, fearless, well-trained, 

 skilful soldier who would think nothing of meeting the com- 

 paratively effeminate Chinese in a disproportion of ten to 

 one. There is no question but that at his best the Manchu 

 must have been a fine fellow, as indeed some have been 

 within our own recollection. San-ko-lin-sin, the Manchu 

 general, was one. He was beloved of the British "Tommy" 

 in 1860 because it was firmly believed that he was no Man- 

 chu at all, but a Sam Collinson who, as a renegade, had by 

 his innate qualities risen to be Commander in Chief of the 

 Huangti's troops. Jung Lu was another still of pur own 

 times. His attitude during the Boxer madness was just the 

 attitude; that we should have expected a Roberts or a 

 Kitchener to have adopted under like circumstances. 



But Manchu sport is not the only type of sport known 

 within the wide range of the Celestial Empire. We have seen 

 how the native markets are supplied with game. We might 

 extend this portion of our enquiry to include the capture of 

 waterfowl, but we have already referred the reader to "With 

 Boat and Gun" for information under this head. There 

 is, however, not a little wild hunting amongst the slopes 

 on the roof of the world, in Tibet. If favoured by ordinary 

 good luck the sportsman may come across troops of the wild 

 horse or ass, Equtis hemioniis, made famous by Pallas. 

 This animal is about the build of a moderate-size pony, 

 and may be considered a link between the horse and the ass, 

 the tail being more nearly like that of the latter. "Kyang" 

 as they are called have been found in troops of from twenty 

 to a hundred. Mountain sheep and goats, ibex, bears, wolves, 

 foxes, etc. are found amongst the lofty solitudes of the 

 northern slopes of the mighty Himalayas. In Lord Ronald- 

 shay's "Sport and Politics under an Eastern Sky," we find 

 illustrations of heads of the Nyan, a mountain sheep with fine 

 curving horns, the Goa, or Tibetan gazelle with a pair of 



