34 Naturalist at Large 



snipe shooting: snipe were plentiful in the rice fields and 

 the sport was excellent. 



Comfortable and reasonably rapid express steamers car- 

 ried the mails from Mandalay to the head of navigation 

 on the Irrawaddy, and on these most of the few visitors 

 desiring to take the trip usually traveled. We, however, 

 to our great good fortune, found that the Irrawaddy Flotilla 

 Company was planning to send a bazaar boat up the river 

 in a few days and that this would offer a comfortable and 

 leisurely way to see this long stretch of water. My wife 

 has never had much inclination to explore, so that this was a 

 compromise proposition. Because I have had few trips of 

 this sort, this pleasant river trip probably looms larger in 

 my memory than it would have done otherwise. Never- 

 theless, since no American will take it again for many a 

 long day, some of the high lights may be worth setting 

 forth. 



The boat on which we traveled was like a gigantic 

 pumpkin seed with a great stern wheel. She had a fine 

 upper deck giving forward, an airy dining room and quite 

 comfortable cabins, with the beds well screened. She was 

 built to draw very little water because the river Is shallow 

 and the bars shift constantly. Lashed alongside was an even 

 larger flatboat or scow, roofed over but with open sides. 

 On this great barge space was rented out to merchants who 

 sold almost everything. This meant that we traveled slowly, 

 did not run at night, and tied up at innumerable little vil- 

 lages where the people on shore would come piling down 

 to bargain and chaffer with the merchants on board the 

 flat. We had time for many pleasant walks In the woods, 

 for opportunities to observe birds and animals, and even 



