166 
TIGER-SKINS. 
In the province of Lian-tung they appear to be 
tolerably abundant, the skins we purchased in the 
Liao-ho being cheap. The Manchu Tartars in 
this region dig a deej) wide ditch, of a circular 
form, leaving a little island, as it were, in the 
centre, on which a man takes up his position. The 
ditch is then covered over artfully with light 
brushwood, and the Tiger, spying the man in the 
middle, makes a spring, and falling short, is speared 
or shot by hunters on the look-out. In the Korea, 
the skins seem to be much valued, being reserved 
for the chiefs. We frequently observed them in the 
boats of the great men who came alongside. 
