the sides of the steep hill. Inside the city walls are several other temples, 

 Confucian and Buddhist, whilst in the cliff near the northern gate is another 

 cave similar to the one across the river, but in a sad state of disrepair. 



From the sportsman's point of view, Yen-an Fu affords winter quarters 

 hard to beat. Several large valleys meet at this point, and in these the 

 numerous patches of thorn-scrub shelter great numbers of hares and 

 pheasants. The rocky sides of the valleys form the homes of large coveys 

 of red-legged partridges, and at no great distance from the town roe-deer and 

 wild pig are abundant ; the former having been seen even within a mile of the 

 town walls. Wild fowl, chiefly mallard and teal, may be shot on the Yen 

 Shui, where they are often to be found disporting themselves in the open 

 spaces of an otherwise ice-bound river. They afforded a very welcome 

 addition to our bill of fare ; in fact during our stay we may be said to have 

 lived almost entirely on the spoils of the chase ; deer, hare, pheasant, 

 partridge, pigeon, mallard, or teal always contributing to our table. 



It was a great disappointment to find that Josephine, who had come with 

 us from T'ai-yiian and had the looks of a good setter, was useless in the field. 

 The birds would lie low till the guns were right on top of them, when they 

 would break cover with a terrific thundering of wings, flying in every 

 direction. The result was disconcerting in the extreme. On being disturbed 

 they would always make for the hills, when long tiring scrambles would 

 become necessary, if more birds were to be secured. Needless to say that 

 shooting under these conditions was often erratic, whilst the bags were never 

 very large in spite of the abundance of game. However, hot corners were 

 frequent, where the sportsman could have managed very well with two or 

 three loaders. Even as things were, it was often possible to load two, three, 

 or even four times before the last bird rose from the surrounding scrub. On 

 Christmas Day, Clark and Sowerby had a particularly good day's pheasant 

 shooting. The latter on his specimen-trapping excursions had obtained a 

 good idea of the spots where pheasants were most likely to be found in large 

 numbers. Riding out at about lo a.m. with their guns and a mounted 

 attendant, they made for a large patch of thorn-scrub some distance from the 

 Yen Shui valley. It was their intention to work back slowly from here to the 

 city, and then up another valley till daylight failed. The sport commenced 

 with a hot corner, where the guns got right into the thick of a large flock of 

 pheasants, bringing down six birds with the first few shots. From that spot 

 onwards the place seemed to be alive with birds, and throughout the day the 

 party never once drew blank. Here a bouquet yielded its quota of fine fat 



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