Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-13
CHINESE CATS AND DOGS
Sometimes Used as Food, but More Gem
orally as Pets
Felines With Big Tails and Others
Without Any - Characterize
tics of the Chow.
From Our Animal Friends.

From Our Animal Friends
That the Chinese do sometimes eat cats
and dogs is quite true. But. nevertheless.
they make great pets of them, and if
kali" they call cat. be stolen or
lost that is considered omen of misfor
tune In Pekin the native ladies are very
fond of breed of cats much like the An
CORA; having similar long. soft fur and
dropping ears. These cats also boast of re-
markedly long bushy tails. which they
wave about great deal and use to ex-
press many emotions. Indeed they have
good reason to feel proud of the ornament,
for their cousins in the south of China
have no tail at all A very stumpy stump
does duty instead. and until one gets used
to these pusses, they have a most forlorn
cut-or-short sort of a look. However, their
fur, though short. Is fine, and they are Of
ten beautifully marked. While not quite
so demonstrative as the Picking beauties,
they are intelligent and make nice friends.
/ must not forget to tell you that in China
'kia-lis' often fill the place of clocks. In
deed. your own domestic cat may be used
for the same purpose; and with practice
you can soon learn. with her help to make
close guess at the time. Watch her eyes,
and you Will see that every morning the
Pupil gets narrower and narrower until
noon. Then 1t Is reduced to a line fine as
hair, and after II 1t again widens. No
uce the width of the line at every hour
anu iilen IN lew days aStonlSh your playy
mates by new accomplishment.
Among the different kinds of Chinese
dogs those most highly priced and admired
by the natives the famous Sleeve
dogs. They are SO named because a man
DARN as an official is called, often carries
one of the little treasures slowed away in
the hanging sleeve of his coat There are
two sorts Of sleeve dogs one of which is
much like an English pug, only not bigger
than rat. The other and prettier kind
q N fhar mt al
Both species are very valuable and sell for
as much as $500 or 500 apiece. A number
or them have been sent at different times
10 Europe as presents to crowned heads,
out they are delicate mites, and l believe
not one has long survived the change The
Pekin pugs, closely resembling the Japan
ese pugs now often seen in this country
are also much petted both by the natives
and by the foreign residents of China
My own favorfte is the less aristocratic
chow dog; useful, businesslike animal,
who guards 1ocks and houses and is an
excellent protector in lonely walks in the
country. Within the last two or three years
many of these dogs have been exported
to England and they must be astonished to
ma that there they now the dogs Of
the DAY. The writer of an article published
IN an EnglAsh magazine wonders why"
ana speaks OF them as savage ill-tempered,
dlsobedient. etc. Now, I am quite sure the
man who wrote that had never the luck to
be on good terms with one
OF myself having had a number of
CHOW friends, have always found them
most loving, faithful and obedfent Ii is
tue. they are rather Chinese In character
conservative and not at all promiscuously
social IN their manners and way. One must
win, and think it may be added must de-
serve their good opinion. / have seen
hungry chow refuse food from the hand
OF a man ne did not like, and even after
II mad been thrown on the ground it was
sun looked at with disdan and declined
without thanks. elbows, it must be con-
1essed, are apt 10 fight with imported dogs
as large as themselves or larger But TO
little wee bow-wows they are always kind
ana allow them all sorts of liberties They
nave real Chinese memories and one of
them Will remember an old master or mis-
tress from whom he has been parted for
years.
have not yet told you what these Chi
nese friends of mine look like elbows"
are about two feet long by one foot in
helght. Their color either yellow or black
Is always uniform. the head long and point
eo' ears peaked and upright, eyes black
ana bright. The inside of the lips and
mouth, also the tongue, Is blush black.
ana the blacker the tongue the better the
doS; but the most striking characteristic Of
d cnoW Is the manner in which he carries
ms rather bushy tail. So straight does II
rise from its insertion, and so tightly is II
turned over the back. that they lift the
h:no legs with the tail; and the expression
OF the tail. combined with funny habit of
running about with one hind leg raised
reaoliy suggests the idea that IL is difficult
iof ehoWs' to keep both hind legs down