Langshan^. a' 
153 
differing^ in type, etc.; had been known to us much longer. Changes of surroundings and conditions of life 
set their mark in a more pronounced manner, or in a shorter space of time, on fowls, than they do on animals 
or men, on account of the early maturity and frequent breeding, and not requiring the same lapse of time to 
fix a variation, or difference of structure or habit. 
" To return to Miss Croad's work, she states that the first lot of Langshan's were received by the late 
Major Croad on the 14th February, 1872, just twenty-six years ago ; and on the i6th, two days after such a 
journey, the hens commenced to lay. Speaking of the Langshan district, she says that in English the word 
means ' Two Hills,' and that the fine breed was first noticed by the officers and crew of the Lightship ii) 
1862, who, as occasion offered, would send them to their friends in Shanghai as presents. Also note the 
following extract :— ' Anyone who studies the chart of the Langshan Crossing, about 50 miles above 
Woosung, the entrance of the Hwampoo River (a tributary of the Yang-tze and dislrict), will be at no loss to 
discern why, before the placing of the Lightship, Langshan was a sort of terra incognita to the European 
inhabitants of Shanghai, although the distance by that route is comparatively insignificant. There is another 
long and circuitous route of some hundreds of miles, and we think it probable that stray Langshans may have 
been brought down to the coast by this route, even in the olden time, but that Cochins were ever taken up tp 
the district is in the highest degree improbable.' The great value of Miss Croad's work is that, up to the date 
of publication, nearly everything that has been written for and against the breed since its introduction is 
presented to the reader, and shows to what extent jealousy and ignorance will lead people. Miss Croad 
asserts that the birds she now breeds are similar in type, habit, etc., to those first imported by the Major, 
and yet Mr. Lewis Wright has endeavoured to prove that the present medium-legged bird is the result of his 
influence. 
" All the authorities Miss Croad mentions seem unanimous in agreeing that the Langshan is an anginal 
and distinct breed of marked characteristics and prepotency— so much so, that several of them saw first 
crosses which did not appear to them to differ from the pure breed. That they were largely used in 
manufacturing the Black Cochin is also asserted. Mr. Lewis Wright, in saying that the Black Cochin 
breeders introduced fres-h blood, did; not distinguish between the two breeds. If this sort of thing was in 
vogue, no wonder the dividing line was slight between a half-bred Cochin in the Langshan class, or vice versa, 
as it is apparent that as the breed became popular Langshans were manufactured. This has been done in 
South Australia to my knowledge. The Langshan is considered to be the chief factor in several American 
breeds, such as the Black Java, etc. and perhaps, as Miss Croad states, the reason of the Plymouth Rock 
being so good is the Langshan blood derived from the Black Java. The Java is said to be made from three 
breeds — the Gueldre Fowl, Black Dominique, and a third unknown. Miss Croad says (page 14) : 'We heard 
several Langshan breeders remark on the pretty little Java exhibited at the Dairy Show, 1888, and one and 
all gave it as their opinion that the Langshan had, without doubt, contributed the mysterious. No. 3.' One 
interesting result— the outcome of the great Langshan-Cochin controversy— seems only dawning on the 
average mind, that is, the strong probability that instead of the Langshan being, as has often been stated, 
merely an offshoot of the Cochin tribe, z'/ zls- really the progenitor of that class of Asiatics ; and the fact that 
it is, and from all accounts always has been, bred to one particular type, marks its strong individuality to 
such an extent as to warrant this supposition. When first introduced into Southern China it is said to have 
much impressed the natives, being so different to the fowls found there. It is worth while for a moment to 
consider that the Cochin tribe exist under an alias. This breed never came from Cochin China at all ; it 
came from the South of China proper, and was originally known as the Shanghai, from the name of the port 
the first specimens were received from. 
" I feel no uncertainty in my own mind about the fact of the great antiquity of the- Langshan, and 
consider that the Cochin tribe is nothing less than crosses between the Langshan of North China and some 
of the Jungle fowl that inhabited the southern portions ; when, and under what circumstances, this original 
inter-breeding took place is a matter of pure conjecture. It must be remembered that the colours of the 
Cochin, as we now see them, not to mention shape, type, etc., are mostly different to those of the birds 
