the tail would almost appear to be the reason why they are not found to be such good stock as European sheep. As the Chinese themselves never use milk, cows are only met with near Canton, or Macao, of a peculiarly small breed; perhaps the very smallest of the ox tribe, as they sometimes do not exceed the dimensions of an ass; being at the same time of a clean and symmetrical shape, and without the hump common to the kine of India. The buffalo used in ploughing up rice-fields is also a very small species, not so large as our English cattle, with a skin of dark slate-colour, thinly covered with hairs. It has all the sluggish habits of the species, and in summer seeks refuge from the flies that torment its hairless hide, by plunging up to the nose in muddy tanks, where it rolls in the ooze and covers itself with a coating of soil. These ugly animals are rendered very tractable by those who use them in agriculture, and may generally be seen driven by a young boy, who will occasionally fall asleep upon the beast's back. It is probably in consequence of the derivation of the Budhist religion from India that most Chinese have a prejudice against eating beef of any kind, though they kill it freely for the use of foreign ships.

The domestic pig of China is well known in this country, where it has been introduced into our farm-yards, from being found an excellent and thriving stock on the homeward voyage. Pork is the only flesh-food that a Chinese of the lower ranks ever consumes; and even this is commonly substituted by salt-fish, as a cheaper aliment to mix with rice. The wild boar may be found in the halfreclaimed countries on the western borders, but not in Central China, or on the east coast, where tillage and population have arrived at their present height. Of the other wild pachydermatous tribes, the elephant is not at

present an inhabitant of China, unless it be in Yun-nân, nor is he used in that empire for purposes of either peace or war. The emperor has a few at Peking, but they are sent as tribute from Siam or elsewhere, and merely kept for curiosity and state. The one-horned rhinoceros of Asia is found in the forests of the extreme west and south. The horn is sometimes converted, by carving and polishing, into a sort of cup, the root or point of junction with the nose being hollowed out, while the summit of the horn serves as the pedestal or handle. The notion of its being a charm against poison was imported probably by the Mongols from India.*

Of rodent animals, the common rat attains sometimes to an immense size, and is well known to be eaten by the lowest orders of the Chinese. These creatures inhabit hollows in the banks of rivers and canals, and are taken at night by means of a lantern, which, being held to the mouths of their holes, causes the inmates to approach the entrance to reconnoitre; when the light dazzles their eyes

There is a curious notice of the Siberian mammoth in Sir George Staunton's translation of the Chinese Embassy to the Tourgouths. "In the very coldest parts of this northern country," says the writer of the narrative, 66 a species of animal is found, which burrows under the earth, and which dies if it is at all exposed at any time to the sun and air. It is of great size, and weighs 10,000 kin. Its bones are very white and shining, like ivory. It is not by nature a powerful animal, and is not therefore very dangerous or ferocious. It is found generally in the mud upon the banks of rivers. The Russians collect the bones of this animal, in order to make cups, saucers, combs, and other small articles. The flesh of the animal is of a very refrigerating quality, and is eaten as a remedy in fevers." This account of the popular notions prevalent among the natives corresponds, as the translator observes, nearly with that given by Mr. Bell. He indeed qualifies it by adding that he gives it only as the report of the superstitious and ignorant ; and he says nothing of the flesh having been actually eaten. More recent discoveries, however, have confirmed the truth of a portion of these relations; for not only bones, but the flesh of the entire Siberian elephant has been found undecayed amidst the ice and snows.

in such a manner as to lead to their easy capture. Mr. Reeves discovered a glirine animal, nearly allied to the bamboo-rat of Sumatra, with which it has been associated under the name of rhizomys. Mr. Gray describes it as a new genus, "in teeth and general appearance most nearly allied to spalax; from which it differs in its tail of moderate length, its exposed eyes and ears, and the more complex character of its molar teeth. It moreover lives upon, and not under, the ground, being found about bamboohedges, on the roots of which it principally subsists." To Mr. Reeves also we are indebted for the knowledge of two small carnivorous quadrupeds, new in zoology, and distinguished, since the arrival of the specimens, by the names Helictis and Paguma. The first is described by Mr. Gray as possessing a dentition resembling that of gulo or mustela, but differing from both those genera in some particulars of the upper carnivorous teeth. The entire length of the animal is twenty-three and a half inches, of which the tail measures eight, and it smells strongly of musk. The second animal is allied, in respect to its teeth, with the genus viverra ; from which it is distinguished by the shape and inferior size of its skull, the space between the eyes being broader, and the nose both broader and shorter. The skin has the odour of civet.*

The ornithology of China is distinguished by some splendid varieties of gallinaceous birds, as the gold and silver pheasants, to which have been lately added the Reeves's pheasant, deserving of a particular description from Mr. Bennett. The longest tail-feathers approach the extraordinary dimensions of six feet, and, even in the spacious aviary of Mr. Beale, already described, it was found that the ends of these magnificent trains were broken by the bird's movements. As they come quite from the * Proceedings of Zoological Society, 1831,

p. 95.

north, it has proved extremely difficult to procure specimens, nor has the hen-bird been ever obtained. Four cocks were brought to Canton in 1830, and purchased for a hundred and thirty dollars, or about thirty pounds sterling. These furnished the specimens brought home by Mr. Reeves; the difficulty of procuring the females being attributed either to a determination on the part of the sellers to prevent the birds being bred, or to their imagining that the inferior plumage of the hens might render them less attractive to purchasers. This obstacle is the more to be regretted, as the high latitude from which the species are procured renders it likely that they might be propagated here in a natural state. Another description is called by Mr. Bennett the medallion pheasant, from a beautiful membrane of resplendent colours, which is displayed or contracted according as the animal is more or less roused. The brilliant hues are chiefly purple, with bright red and green spots, which vary in intensity according to the degree of excitement, and become developed during the early spring months, or pairing season of the year.

The country abounds in wild-fowl of all kinds, among which the immense flocks of geese, which during the winter months cover the Canton river, always excite the notice of strangers. They migrate to the north during the summer, and are distinguished, like all the tribe, by their gregarious habits; but the Chinese, without any apparent foundation in fact, make use of them as emblems of connubial attachment, and as such they are always carried in wedding processions. There is much more ground for this character in the instance of the Yuen-yâng, a teal of splendid plumage, usually called the "mandarinduck," whose name is, with reference to the same conjugal quality, applied figuratively to two species of fine black

tea, which are generally put up in the same box, and used together; these are pekoe, and a superior kind of souchong. Mr. Beale's aviary afforded a singular corroboration of the fidelity of the birds in question. Of a pair in that gentleman's possession, the drake being one night purloined by some thieves, the unfortunate duck displayed the strongest marks of despair at her bereavement, retiring into a corner, and altogether neglecting food and drink, as well as the care of her person. In this condition she was courted by a drake who had lost his mate, but who met with no encouragement to his addresses from the widow. On the stolen drake being subsequently recovered, and restored to the aviary, the most extravagant demonstrations of joy were displayed by the fond couple.* But this was not all, for, as if informed by his feathered Penelope of the gallant proposals made to her shortly before his arrival, the drake attacked the luckless bird who would have supplanted him, beat out his eyes, and inflicted so many injuries as to cause his death. Specimens of these curious and handsome ducks have been brought to this country, and some that were placed in the Zoological Gardens have been successfully bred. The plumage of the female is as plain as that of the drake is ornamented; but the male, during four summer months, changes his feathers, and becomes as plain as his mate. This teal, unlike the rest of the palmipedes, generally roosts in high situations, upon trees or rocks, and his favourite position was over the windows of Mr. Beale's aviary.

Wild ducks are as numerous near Canton, during the winter months, as the geese. They abound especially in the interior, on those extensive shallow lakes through which the canal is carried; and the ingenious mode of catching them is very characteristic of the Chinese. Large * Mr. Bennett's 'Wanderings,' vol. ii. p. 62.