CHINESE SPORTSMAN AND WEAPONS 213 



a landing net, and gently propels his 

 boat into the lake, some distance from 

 the shore, where the wild fowl are expected 

 to come. After thus being stationed he 

 conceals himself and keeps a lookout for 

 the expected game, and when all is ready 

 the gingal is fired off with a slow match, 

 and the dead ducks or geese are picked up 

 with the landing net and put into the after 

 part of the punt. The kill is sometimes 

 quite large, but the Chinese are not 

 ambitious to make big bags, and thus at 

 least they have one idea of true sportsman- 

 ship. In Kwei-chow there are many of 

 the sportsmen who will not shoot at a bird 

 while it is on the ground. They shoot 

 their game on the wing, an act not so easy 

 to accomplish with a matchlock as it is 

 with a modern breech loader. 



The Miaotzu sportsman generally makes 

 or helps to make such a gun as he wishes 

 to use, not only the lock, stock and barrel, 

 but his ammunition as well. He first 

 provides the necessary quantity of good 

 scrap iron and charcoal, builds a forge near 

 his house and erects a light shed of mats or 

 branches over it, and then invites some 

 famous smith of the district to come and 



