OUTLINE SKETCH OP THE SHOOTING IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



Discarding the Ningpo district and the country watered by the Chientang river many 

 will be surprised to learn that the area contained in the pentagon formed by drawing straight 

 lines connecting Shanghai, Hangchow, Wuhu, Chinkiang, Kiangyin and Shanghai, the 

 latitude and longitude of whose positions have been taken from the most recent Admiralty 

 Charts, is almost exactly ll,000 square miles, or 7,040,000 square acres. Were one, then, 

 to consider that if every 25 square acres held but one pheasant — a contingency neither 

 improbable or impossible — there would be a stock of 281,600 birds, which fact in itself should 

 satisfy those who sometimes thoughtlessly declare that the country is " shot out." 



And now that the railway is a thing established and its network of lines ever 

 increasing, many fine shooting districts, hitherto unsuspected, may possibly be brought to 

 light and made easily accessible ; but though the " New Departure " with all its attractions 

 and fascinations and novelty may be followed by many, yet there will ever remain those 

 who will cherish the recollection that it was the houseboat that first made known to them 

 the indescribable pleasures attaching to an outing after game. 



For where is the man, or woman, too, if it come to that, who will ever forget the 

 thrill born of a first shooting trip ? Who is he or she who once having tasted its sweets 

 does not look for its early repetition } Not only is shooting in China possibly the best 

 tonic for a jaded system, which alone would make its pursuit worth the following, but it 

 possesses pleasures only known to those who have spent happy days with boat and gun — 

 the pleasure of anticipation, which brooks no interference, the pleasure of realization 

 which is beyond common expression, and the sweet pleasure of memory always to fall 

 back upon which will last as long as life. 



" I care not, Fortune, what you me deny : 



You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace : 



You cannot shut the windows of the sky 



Through which Aurora shows her brightening face ; 



You cannot bar my constant feet to trace 



The woods and lawns. 



Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace." 



—Thomson. 



