242 WILD LIFE IN CHINA. 



on the road, we observed a large wolf suddenly start out of 

 a side valley, where several labourers were at work, and 

 lope up the hillside behind; whereupon being observed by 

 the men, three dogs were at once dispatched in pursuit. 

 Unfortunately one of them easily outstripped the other two 

 and the wolf as well, and cutting across so as to intercept 

 him, must inevitably have stopped him and made him give 

 battle, whilst a minute's delay would have been ample to 

 allow the other two dogs to come up and join in. But just 

 as the attack seemed imminent, the wolf turned, and with a 

 snarl bared his teeth; the pursuer at once became the fugitive, 

 and after that there was no possibility of the dogs' doing 

 anything. The wolf now trotted slowly over the hill with 

 his tail between his legs, and the dogs thenceforth kept 

 discreetly in the reTar, trying to appear brave and ready for 

 the combat, whilst showing the white feather as soon as he 

 made even a feint at turning on them. Eventually he stopped 

 on the brow of the hill, sat on his haunches facing his 

 tormentors, and contemplated his escape for a few minutes 

 before disappearing; but even now the dogs were much too 

 scared to rush in together, though the wolf would have stood 

 little chance against the three of them. We saw the whole 

 scene very plainly, for we were within fifty yards of the wolf 

 when he first got up. We put up three other wolves on 

 various occasions, and in each case singly. In some parts 

 every district seems to be saddled with its old man of the 

 sea in the shape of its own local wolf, of which the inhabitants 

 are prodigiously afraid. The common wolf varies con- 

 siderably even in the same regionsof itsextensivedistribution, 

 and a variety of five skins may be bought in the interior for 

 from three to five taels each. They are tawny in their general 

 ground colour, never grey, frequently with black ears. 



Four days' march west of Sian we struck a pass over 

 the Sin-ling, and after climbing all day, found ourselves in 

 the heart of the mountains again, the country here being 

 particularly wild, the mountain tops thinly forested. The 

 trail had been very narrow in many places, passing between 

 high rocks and fallen boulders, and frequently rendered very 

 treacherous where streams had come down across the trail 

 and frozen to solid ice slopes ; it was Boxing Day, and the 

 weather had turned bitterly cold. However the mountains 

 looked splendid for big game, and at the end of a weary day 

 we were congratulating ourselves, when news was brought 

 that the mules had turned back to the starting point, having 

 found the route impassable. This was not cheerful, and we 

 struggled back in five hours, darkness falling long before we 

 reached the inn, cold and bruised from many a tumble on the 

 icy trail. However there was nothing for it and we took to the 



