teeth-marks deeply imbedded in
the metal plainly told the guilty tale.

At Peking, when studying Chinese, my teacher would often come after
dinner during the long winter evenings, when seated by a roaring fire
we discussed for practice in talking any subjects of interest. Amongst
many curious things which I thus heard the following has always
puzzled me with the conjecture, "Can there possibly be any truth in
it?"

I had that day purchased some fur rugs of no particular value, and not
being sure whether they were of dog-skin or goat-skin, asked the
teacher his opinion. What his reply was I do not remember, but the
conversation having turned on the subject of furs in general, he told
me that some rare wolf-skins were exceedingly costly from the fact
that the wolves, after being caught by Mongol hunters, had been
skinned alive and the skins dressed in a particular manner. Rugs made
of these, he declared, on the approach to the house of wild animals,
robbers or of any threatening danger, would bristle up as if still on
the back of the live animal when angered, and so give timely warning
to the inmates; for which reason they were so highly valued.

I have never seen what purposed to be such a skin, but repeat the
story if only for its Oriental weirdness.

Water buffaloes are a striking feature in Chinese rural life, more
especially in the central and southern provinces. With a carcase almost
as large and devoid of hair as that of an elephant, they have very
short legs, and are consequently but little taller than the ordinary
ox. Carrying on their heavy skulls enormous, semi-circular horns, they
have a ferocious aspect, but strangely enough are exceedingly timid and
docile. In summer, for the sake of coolness and to avoid mosquitoes,
they plunge into streams or mud-holes, and lie there for hours with
only their muzzles and eyes above water. It is rather a pleasing sight
to see one of these unwieldy, dangerous-looking brutes being led
quietly along, by means of a thin string attached to its nose, by a wee
native girl, who, when tired of walking, stops the animal, draws its
head down by the string, places her tiny foot on the massive horn and
is slowly raised from the ground by the buffalo and placed gently on
his back, which is so broad that she can kneel and play about on it
while her charge is grazing. These buffaloes are chiefly employed in
the cultivation of rice, and as the flesh of oxen is but rarely eaten
by the C