§6 WITH BOAT AND GUN IN THE YANGTZE! VALLEY. 



for cartridges have a happy knack of slipping out of the clips of a belt and moreover 

 are very difficult to replace, especially if one be in a hurry. 



Far better than any bag or belt is the shooting waistcoat. A vest of Chinese cloth 

 with 8 pockets, 4 on each side, and each pocket divided into two so as to prevent undue 

 wear on the garment and also the falling out of the cartridge when bending over, will carry 

 with ease 64 cartridges, and so nicely will the weight be distributed that the shooter will 

 scarcely be aware that he is carrying any weight at all though that number of cartridges 

 would approximately weigh 6 lbs. Such a waistcoat not only renders the shooter 

 independent of the coolie with the cartridge bag, but carries much more ammunition than 

 would be expended in any but a quite exceptional day's shooting, as for instance when 

 snipes were thick. Game bags, the relics of good, old happy days, are fast disappearing, 

 though a few survivors are sometimes requisitioned for the conveyance of tiffin requisities. 

 A Japanese wicker basket, properly fitted, is infinitely preferable. For carrying game, which 

 should be exposed to the air and as little soiled as possible, nothing has yet been found to 

 equal the handy split bamboo carried on the coolie's shoulder. 



In respect of shooting boots, especially when the nature of the shooting compels the 

 negotiation of cut reeds, the best undoubtedly are London make, but they are expensive, 

 costing as they do from $25 to $30 a pair. For the last named figure a good native maker 

 will turn out 4 pairs of light, easy, durable, well made boots which will satisfy all 

 requirements. 



Nearly every shooter has some special recipe for rendering his shooting-boots what is 

 euphemistically called waterproof. Snow, however, is an element which will not be denied, 

 and lightly laughs at all specifics. Porpoise oil dubbin is as good a dressing as any, soft 

 soap is known to preserve the leather and keep it soft and pliable in a wonderful manner; 

 and Paraffin wax in benzine is well worth trial. 



A word here will certainly be in place as regards the cleaning, care and handling of 

 guns. Curling in his useful little book on the Handlittg of Guns makes the statement that 

 the man who takes no pride in his gun is no sportsman. At the outset this would appear 

 to be a very sweeping assertion, but examined by the context it would seem merely to imply 

 that it is characteristic of the true sportsman to take care that nothing that contributes to his 

 success, and therefore to his pleasure, should be allowed to suffer from inattention. Gun 

 cleaning in China, simple and cleanly as it is in these days of breech-loaders compared 

 with the dirty operation of pumping out the old muzzle-loader, is at the best but performed 

 in the most perfunctory manner. In nine cases out of ten at the close of a long day's work 

 the weapon is relegated to the " boy," who more sinensi usually considers " a lick and a 

 promise " ample enough fulfilment of his duty. But the tenth case does occur sometimes, 

 and was well exemplified in the thorough and religious manner in which the most ardent and 

 successful sportsman in Shanghai during the last twenty years, Mr. E. O. Arbuthnot, went 

 through the operation. No one ever touched his guns but himself. 



There is an old saying that " if you want a thing done, get somebody to do it for 

 you; but that if you want it done well, do it yourself." To few matters is this advice more 

 relevant than to gun cleaning. However the majority of men not only never clean their 

 guns themselves but never even personally superintend the operation. There is great risk in 



