198 WILD LIFE IX CHINA. 



of Wei, half in sorrow, half in scorn, laments the pett}' services 

 required of him, although as he says, "A tiger's strength I 

 have." Of the celebrated archer, Shuh-twan it is said: 

 "A tiger fierce his nervous hands 

 Grapple and soon subdue." 



But, asks another poet, "Who dares unarmed the tiger 

 face?" Such references might be added to, and others relat- 

 ing to the tiger's skin and its use for mats, for bow-cases, etc. 

 are to be found. 



Notes of my own, collected during the reading of years 

 contain the following references: — 



In January, 1875, there was killed near Ningpo, within 

 five miles of the city gate a tiger which had caused the death 

 of two men. Mr. Forrest, then British Consul there, gave 

 some details of its measurements. Its length was 8ft. 2in., 

 girth, 4ft. 4in., and its canine teeth were 3 inches^ long. 

 Archdeacon Moule in his chapter in Mr. Wade's book, "'With 

 Boat and Gun," says, "Three times within my memory have 

 royal tigers visited the immediate vicinity of Ningpo, though 

 their chief home is amongst the mountains of Taichow." I 

 once spent a month wandering amongst the hilly country 

 known best as the Snowy Valley and Ta-lan Shan districts 

 some 40 miles inland from Ningpo, biit it was not my good 

 fortune to meet with anything more remarkable than 

 numbers of beautiful birds. 



In 1880, there was a tiger killed near Hangchow. It was 

 brought to bay by an arrow shot, and afterwards took shelter 

 in a cave. It is said to have weighed 300 catties, and was sold 

 for SI40, the natives having the strongest belief in the efficacy 

 of certain portions of the carcase if eaten or taken as medicine. 

 The fierce nature of the beast is supposed to be reproduced 

 in the bravery of the consumer, and this, of course, is 

 particularly desired by military officers and the like. 



I have a note respecting a tiger which leaped into a yard 

 in Newchwang and seized a pig, which it dropped when firedat. 

 In some parts of Manchuria there are saidtobe simple minded 

 country people who believe the story that tigers refrain from 

 attacking human beings, " because the Emperor has issued an 

 Edict forbidding such a thing," However true that may be of 

 the tigers of Manchuria, there is a different tale to tell in the 

 Canton delta, where tigers are quite plentiful wherever they 

 can find suitable cover, for there in one year, in about two 

 months, no fewer than 20 people fell victims to man-eaters. 



Tigers are also common in the neighbourhood of Fu- 

 chow. One was killed close to the west gate in 1894. It also 

 was a man-eater, and had carried a man to its den one day. 

 Next day, it was tempted out by the bait of a live goat and 

 shot. At Kuliang, the beautiful summer resort for Fuchow 



