12 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



papers for His Hig]iness' approval, I was about 

 to return home, when I was invited by the Meer 

 to remain as a spectator of the wild fowl shoot- 

 ing. His Highness and his yomigest son took 

 the field together in a mauffa^ a sort of open 

 palankeen, the pattern of which must have fur- 

 nislied the idea of that litter, or call, it what 

 you will, wherein the Inca makes his appearance 

 in Pizarro, as represented at the Princess' The- 

 atre. His Highness and Meer Khan Mahomed, 

 having been thus carried through the swamp, 

 seated themselves on a raft composed of a dozen 

 large pots lashed to a frame covered with reeds, 

 very suitable for such sport, which was pushed 

 throuoii the water towards the ducks and other 

 wild fowl ; and these were at first so little 

 alarmed that they allowed the raft to approach 

 within forty yards ere they took wing. Great 

 was the destruction by the first few shots, 

 till the continued firing caused them to become 

 more wary; but even then the bii'ds wheeled 

 round and round within easy shot of the princes, 

 till at length the ducks and larger fowl appeared 

 each time to increase the length of their flights, 

 and after some hundred shots had been fired 

 they abandoned the lake for some more secure 



