cocks ; there a couple of hens, driven up by the groom, were neatly bapfged 

 as they headed for the hillside. At last a long patch of scrub was reached, 

 from which it seemed impossible to drive the birds away. They flew out and 

 back again ; a bird or two being secured each time they rose. A couple of 

 hares breaking cover were bowled over before they had gone a dozen yards. 

 Then as the day drew to a close and the pheasants had all gone away to roost 

 up the deep ravines, the sportsmen, tired and hungry but in high spirits, 

 returned homewards with a bag of twenty-five pheasants and two hares. A 

 certain amount of rivalry had only sufficed to make both men more keen, and 

 the day's shooting ended in Clark's favour, with two hares and three birds to 

 the good. As usual, several wounded birds got away into the thick scrub, and 

 were lost. In some places the shooting was so hot and the birds rose in such 

 numbers that it was impossible to mark every bird that was hit. The groom 

 who was holding the ponies was able, by watching the proceeedings carefully, 

 to point out many lost birds, but a good many escaped even his hawk-like 

 eyes. 



The absence of reliable dogs is certainly to be regretted, but they are 

 very difficult to obtain in the interior ; Josephine, in fact, had only been lent 

 to us by a friend in T'ai-yiian. Later on, when Clark visited Shanghai, he 

 brought back two good pointers, but the season was by that time rather far 

 advanced, and the expedition came to an end before we could get the full 

 benefit of their services. The natives occasionally use dogs — half pariah and 

 half wolf — for hunting pig, but they are not of much use. No doubt if good 

 boar-hounds were procurable, a fine old-fashioned form of sport could be 

 enjoyed : the hounds bringing the boar to bay, and the hunter using the spear 

 on foot. The native dog of the hilly and mountainous country is a fine 

 looking animal, closely resembling a wolf in appearance, and capable of 

 enduring extremes of both heat and cold, but so far as is known he has not 

 been trained to the chase. 



Hazrat Ali was a shikari of a very high order. His object, however, was 

 not sport, but rather to make sure of a good bag. With this intent he might 

 be seen creeping cat-like upon a covey of unsuspecting birds, and when he 

 fired two or three brace were often the result. He prided himself that the 

 number of birds killed usually exceeded the number of cartidges expended. 

 He kept careful tally of both, and could give a good account of each cartridge 

 he used. A ludicrous incident occurred, in which this quiet but deadly fowler 

 drew down upon himself vials of wrath from the rest of the guns. The whole 

 party was on its way to take observations from a peak to the north of the city, 



31 



