WILD-FOWL SHOOTING OUTSIDE WOOSUNG. 39 



Having so far pointed out where the birds may be found, it will be well to explain 

 how they can be got at. With this intent, the sportsman may charter a tug-boat or large 

 steam-launch ; or he may go out in a pilot-boat, or hire a Ningpo papico, taking the precaution 

 of having the hold of the latter thoroughly washed out and deodorised, and fitted up as 

 decent quarters. The ballasting of these boats should be carefully attended to, as otherwise 

 they are apt to capsize. The best kind of boat for the purpose was the large two-masted, 

 lorcha-rigged house-boat of 30 years ago. These boats were of good build, ample accom- 

 modation and safe sea-going qualities, and were used by the foreign merchants to 

 communicate with the sailing-vessels which had to anchor outside Woosung. This 

 particular class is now extinct, though there is a kind of Chinese pilot-boat in use in the 

 river, generally painted white, which will afford an idea of what the boats were like. 

 One of Ah-sing's or Cheap-Jack & Co.'s "outside " bum-boats would suit the purpose 

 admirably, if submitted to the cleansing process before suggested. The writer goes 

 out in the Clutha, a centre-board cutter, built specially for the purpose ; she is of 44 

 tons, Thames measurement; length, 49' 8"; breadth, 16' 2"; depth, 4' 5"; draught, 4 

 feet, with centre-board up. In summer she is a yacht with a sail area of 3,634 feet and 7 

 tons of lead ballast outside. In winter the good sails are stored away and a smaller 

 suit of cruising sails bent, and then she becomes a wild-fowler's quarters. The 

 raised house in the centre of the boat permits of a saloon 10' x 10' x 61'. ; cook-house and 

 pantry, 6'x6'x6'6"; lavatory and dressing-room of same dimensions. Two comfortable little 

 cabins open off the saloon aft, and there is ample accommodation for the crew in the 

 forecastle. The cookpit aft can be closed in by awnings and curtains, and, with a carpet 

 on the deck and a bright lamp burning, hung from the awning-poles, forms a comfortable 

 smoking-room, even on a cold night. When the Clutha is safely moored in a sheltered 

 creek or close under the weather bank, with two anchors on shore and one in the stream, 

 and the owner and his friends have had a comfortable dinner after cruising round all day 

 in an open boat. 



" The storm without may roar and rustle, 

 We dinna mind the storm a whustle." 

 Besides the boats above-mentioned, there may be hired at Woosung craft used as 

 ferry-boats or for. carrying cargo to the islands. They are very much like the ordinary 

 Shanghai cargo-sampan, but fitted with a mast and sail and lee-boards : 32' x 8' x 3' to 4' ; 

 keelless, almost flat bottomed, with only a slight spring on the floor fore and aft, and 

 slightly round amidships; timbers, knees and beams massive (about 3" x 6"); planking of 

 China pine, 2" thick ; draught of water, 15 in. to 18 in. ; square, low, and the usual Chinese 

 stern. They are divided by transverse bulk-heads into four water-tight compartments; the 

 two forward and the after one (where the crew's quarters are) covered by hatches, leaving a 

 well amidships about 7' x 7'. The boats are fitted with broad rudders which drop about 3 

 feet under the bottom when sailing. A 30-foot mast without stays supports a Chinese lug- 

 sail, tanned ; a yuloh (large oar for sculling over the stern), a couple of bamboo boat-hooks, 

 a mop, anchor and chain ; a gipsy tent (sometimes) to cover the well ; a small clay stove 

 and cooking-pan, and a Chinese dinner-service complete the outfit. The crew consists of a 

 man and a boy, or two men — trained and hardy hands, well acquainted with the navigation 

 and tides, and always willing to make a passage if possible. One or two of these boats we 



