Also these brutes were the executioners of the land, for to them all murderers and other criminals were thrown, and with them, as we had seen, the Khan hunted any who had incurred his displeasure.

Moreover, they were used for a more innocent purpose, the chasing of certain great bucks which were preserved in woods and swamps of reeds.

Thus it came about that they were a terror to the country, since no man knew but what in the end he might be devoured by them.

"Going to the dogs" is a term full of meaning in any land, but in Kaloon it had a significance that was terrible.
After we had looked at the hounds, not without a prophetic shudder, we rode round the walls of the town, which were laid out as a kind of boulevard, where the inhabitants walked and took their pleasure in the evenings.

On these, however, there was not much to see except the river beneath and the plain beyond, moreover, though they were thick and high there were places in them that must be passed carefully, for, like everything else with which the effete ruling class had to do, they had been allowed to fall into disrepair.
The town itself was an uninteresting place also, for the most part peopled by hangers-on of the Court.