254 WILD LIFE IN CHINA. 



literally), a name which, coming from a people who profess to 

 see a resemblance between a civet-cat and a donkey, conveys 

 little reliable information as to its true relationship; and 

 what the animal is in more exact terms we failed to elicit. 

 We found the spoor of the mountain-?heep (or goat^ of these 

 parts on several occasions, and two of these animals were 

 actually seen in the thickets, though we failed to come up 

 with them. The King of Kia-la, one of the tribal potentates 

 of Tatsienlu, kept three compartively tame ma-lo at his 

 summer palace, a few miles out of the city, and he also had 

 the skull of a Budorca on view, so that it is reasonable to 

 suppose, indeed the natives informed us, that this animal was 

 found locally or not above two days' travel distant. It was 

 said to be piebald, hovever, the male and female being easilj- 

 distinguished, whereas our Shensi species were uniformly 

 tawny the male and female being similar, except in point 

 of size. The private autocrat referred to above kept a 

 regular menagerie and dogs' home; beside the ma-lo he 

 had between twenty and thirty dogs, several birds, a 

 monkey, and one or two other creatures which combined to 

 make a visit to his place quite an exhilarating entertain- 

 ment. Did one go systematically through all the skins which 

 are on view in Tatsienlu, most of which come from the 

 mountains lying between this city and Batang, one 

 would doubtless come across some curiosities as well as 

 some rarities — the snow-leopard for example, to mention 

 only one. 



Not far from Ya-chow, in south-western Szechwan, 

 is a most curious table-mountain which we unfortunately- 

 had no time to visit, though we obtained a good view of it 

 from the summit of Omi-san, thirty or forty miles to the 

 east. Wa-wa-san, as it is called, is well forested, and is said 

 to be a great place for big Budorcas, hog deer, leopard and 

 other animals. Mr. Weiss, German Consul at Chengtu, had, 

 I believe, visited it, with highly successful results. Omi- 

 san itself boasts big game — I found any number of hog 

 tracks amongst the bush, at any rate, and leopards are 

 comparatively common in these regions. The sacred Omi 

 itself however, is probably too much in the public eye to be 

 very popular with such shy animals, and two peaks beyond, 

 known respectively as the second and third Omi, are more 

 likely hunting grounds. Tigers, though extremely rare, are 

 certainly to be found in western Szechwan, and we saw one 

 fine skin in the capital. Unfortunately, when one of these 

 beasts does appear, he attracts so much attention that 

 he becomes a marked animal from that time on ; 

 and though his greatest asset is the prodigious fear he 

 excites in the native mind, he is hunted down sooner or 



