CHAPTER XL 



NOTES BY AN OLD SPORTSMAN. 



As I was anxious to conclude these papers 

 with a reminiscence of the early years when 

 the westerner shot in China I turned to my 

 friend H, T. Wade, who was an early day 

 sportsman and one of the best informed on 

 the subject, for the information desired, and 

 he has very kindly given me the following 

 interesting notes : 



The looking up of old sporting records 

 is at best but a sad and sorry occupation for 

 so many of the participators in the sporting 

 incidents of earlier years have long since 

 passed over into the dark, lone land. Yet 

 a few notes from a diary kept with some 

 regularity for the past forty years may, 

 perchance, still possess some little interest 

 for the enthusiast of to-day. 



I remember my first shooting trip in 

 China as clearly and distinctly as if it were 

 but an event of yesterday. It was in 

 December 1866, a few days after my arrival 

 in Shanghai. Our party consisted of three 

 guns, and our houseboat, comfortable, nay 

 even luxurious as we considered in those 



