Many of the besieged owned ponies or mules, which were also placed under a committee, consisting of Messrs. Dering, Allardyce, and Brazier. One or two of these animals have been killed each day, and each person (foreigner) has been allowed to draw half a pound of meat. Many at first could not be persuaded to even taste horse-meat or mule-meat; but after several weeks of siege-life there were very few who did not daily go to the butchery for their supply. The meat has been inspected every day by a physician, and a certificate of healthy flesh given to the butcher before the meat was allowed to be dispensed. One of the British marines, William Betts, of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, had been a butcher previous to enlistment, and his services have been most valuable to the entire community. The Chinese coolies are fed with soup made from the bones, the head, and cleaned entrails. Not an ounce of the flesh has been wasted. [Illustration: A PEKING BELLE Perhaps, after looking at this picture, there will not be so much wonder that occasionally a Caucasian selects a Chinese girl for a wife. That there are very attractive Chinese girls this picture evidences. The clothing, the ornaments, and the surroundings are all typical.] Many of the ponies that took part in the Peking spring meeting as racers, last May, have since served us with juicy steaks or toothsome sausages. The mule-meat is considered to be better, on the whole, than horse-meat, and in this opinion I fully concur. As we have only one donkey in the compound, none of us has as yet tried donkey-flesh; but the Chinese assure us it is even better than the larger animals. Several days since one of the two cows in the compound, having gone dry, was killed for food, and a notice was placed on the bulletin board at the bell-tower that applications for portions of the meat would be received from all women and children, but that only such men as were wounded or ill could, upon a physician’s certificate, receive a portion. Every one wanted some, expecting to highly enjoy a taste of fresh beef and a change from horse. The result was most disappointing. The cow was old and tough, and her flesh infinitely inferior to the regular ration of horse or mule. The Chinese Christians, supported by us in the Su Wang Fu, having been for weeks upon nothing but cracked wheat or “hao liang” gruel, were longing for some animal food, and begged they might be given some of the dogs that continued to come from all over the city to feed each night upon the refuse in the moat between the Su Wang Fu and the British legation. A few foreigners with shotguns, therefore, sallied forth yesterday and killed eight good-sized specimens of the canine race, that were forthwith handed over to the hungry converts for their consumption. Dog-hunting as a food supply will not be neglected in the future.