40 



WITH BOAT AND GUK IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



always hire at Woosung and take with us to act as tenders, if we are using the duck-punts, 

 or for landing-boats or following up the fowl at sea. Yet another and common mode of 

 getting to the shooting ground is to go by house-boat to the Woosung Creek, leave the boat 

 there, hire one of the Woosung boats just described and proceed out in her. Or, the 

 cheapest way is to proceed direct from Shanghai in one of the Woosung boats : but this you 

 can only do if you are young and strong and do not mind roughing it. The hire is $l per 

 day per boat, and it is not advisable to spoil the market by paying more. On the other 

 hand do not squeeze the boatmen. If you are over the day you must pay for it. 



So far, we have pointed out where the fowl are and how to get there. If the reader 

 should wish to know how to become an expert wild-fowler he may study The Fowler in 

 Ireland (by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, Bart.), — one of the standard works on the subject, 

 written by a man who knew what he was writing about, and a most instructive and 

 entertaining book it is. 



Let us now proceed on an imaginary cruise of two days' duration. Say we want to 

 leave Shanghai immediately after tiffin. If ebb tide, we may proceed in our house-boat to 

 the Woosung Creek and tie up for the night. If flood tide, it will be advisable to send the 

 boat down to Woosung in the forenoon and drive there later by the old railway road, 

 instructing the lowdah (head man) to hire the necessary number of Woosung boats, and 

 make arrangements for an early start on the morrow, so as to get out to Tsungming 

 before sunrise. It is well to see that the boat has a good anchor and chain, about a foot of 

 clean straw in the well, and is provided with a canvas cover for the latter. In addition to 

 plenty of warm clothing and a change of boots and stockings at least, the sportsman 

 should take : — 



Food and drink according to taste. 



Tobacco and matches, flint and steel. 



Dollars and cash. 



Passport. 



House-boat's dinghy. 



Guns and ammunition. 



Ammunition box. 



Cartridge bag. 



Cartridge extractor and cork-screw. 



Cleaning-rod, oiled rags and gear. 



Hunting-knife, paper, string. 



White over-all and cap-cover. 



Long wading-boots. 



Sticking-plaster and lint. 



Compass. 



Field-glasses. 



Admiralty Chart l602 — known as the 



" Magpie " C\i?irt. 

 House-boat coolie to act as interpreter 



and attendant ; and 

 The Fowler in Ireland. 



I purposely refrain from saying anything about fowling-punts and punt guns, as the 

 sportsman will find all the information necessary in the above-mentioned book. The 

 writer's gun is a 2-inch breech-loader by Holland & Holland ; but, as a rule, the water is so 

 "jobbly" that it is but seldom that the punt can be used; in this case the sportsman may 

 mount the guns in the bow of the China boat and cruise around after the fowl in the 

 tideways. Often with those light-draught boats he may get close to a gaggle of geese on 

 the shore or floating together on the tide, and so many of these boats are continually passing 

 in and out with passengers and goods that the fowl are to a certain extent used to them, and 

 sometimes allow the boat to get closer to them than is consistent with their own safety. 



