AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 15 



Fresh pork forms the staple meat food of the Chinese popula- 

 tion, and great numbers of pigs are reared in every village com- 

 munity. The Yunnan pig is black and grows to a large size. They 

 are fed on paddy mashes, beans and the waste product of oil mills, 

 kitchens, etc., but they are also allowed to scour about the fields 

 and villages, where they act as scavengers and devour any refuse 

 they can find. Large numbers of hams used to be exported through 

 Meng-tza and Teng-yueh. They can be obtained in Bhamo, where 

 a ready and profitable sale is available. The two famous localities 

 for Yunnan hams are Ho-chiug and Hsiian-wei Chou. Pig bristles 

 are exported from Ssu-ch'uan in large quantities to foreign countries, 

 and there is little doubt that a similar trade could be started in 

 Yunnan. 



Poultry including hens, ducks, geese and turkeys are reared 

 by the Yunnanese for domestic consumption. Duck feathers form 

 a profitable export from Ssu-ch'uan and a market could be found 

 for them from Yunnan. 



The highlands of Yunnanese Tibet are the home of numerous 

 fur-bearing mammals, which are hunted for the sake of their skins. 

 Skins of foxes, lynx, wolf, civet, wild sheep, and goat are brought 

 to Ta-li Fu and after passing through the hands of the furriers are 

 placed on the market there. Southern Yunnan supplies the skins 

 of tigers, leopards, wild cats and monkeys while the ordinary goat 

 and sheep skins are also prepared for sale. 



As long ago as the 16th century the musk of Yunnan was sought 

 for on the South China coasts not only by native merchants but 

 by Portuguese and others from Europe as well. At this time it 

 was carried down as a rule through Tongking. and after sale to 

 Cantonese merchants was then taken to Macao to be retailed. The 

 musk deer {Moschus moschatus). the abdominal glandular pouch 

 of the male of which furnishes the secretion, is known to the Chinese 

 as " tchai tee," and used to be found in the mountains of Upper 

 and Central Yunnan, in Kuei-chou, in northern Ssu-ch'uan and 

 in Tibet, but for all practical purposes the deer is now practically 

 exterminated, except in Tibet, from which country large quantities 

 of musk are still sent into Ssu-ch'uan via Ta-chien-lu and Sung- 

 pan, and smaller quantities into Yunnan via Ba-t'ang and A-tun- 

 tzu. Animals from five to six years of age are said to yield the 

 best qualities of musk, and as the material readily lends itself to 

 adulteration, great care is needed in buying it. As it is so easily 



