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90 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
Koria five dogs, amongst them two handsome greyhounds.
These I called Mashka and Taigun, and from the first day
they were my declared favourites. Both were tall, and
had thick coats of short white hair, and for this reason they
were fond of being by the fire in winter. Then I had felt
bags made for them, in which they slept at night inside my
tent. It was very comical to see how quickly they learned
to creep inside their bags, and how they sighed with con-
tentment when I tucked them in. But on the warpath they
were invincible ; all the dogs in the neighbourhood went in
terror of them. They waged war in a very cunning way
did Mashka and Taigun, for they manoeuvred round their
opponent, until they were able to seize hold of him by one
of his hind legs, and then swung him round and round until
the poor beggar tumbled head over heels, whereupon they
would let him go, and off he would run, howling and limping
on three legs. When we threw food out to the dogs, none
of the others dared look at a piece of meat until Mashka
and Taigun had done eating. After their arrival in the
camp, Yoldash, whilst not exactly falling into disfavour,
withdrew himself from my company, and never dared to
peep into my kamish hut when the two newcomers were
there. One attempt which he made to do so proved disas-
trous ; it was vain for me to intervene between them, for
I have found that dogs have their own ways of settling such
affairs. But Yoldash still continued to sleep faithfully
outside my hut, and I often delighted him by stepping out
and patting and caressing him.
Yolbars, or the Tiger, was a gigantic black-brown animal,
a son of the jungle, with the blood of the wolf in his veins,
a perfect terror of a watch-dog ; I called him " the knight
of the murderous fangs." He was usually kept fastened
to an iron chain, and nobody except myself and a couple of
the men durst go within reach of him. He was the terror
of thieves, for he was always loose at night. During the
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