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CHAPTER XXI. 



NINGPO NOTES. 



By H. p. Wadman. 



NINGPO is situated about II miles up the river Yung (^ ft.) and is reached in a night 

 from Shanghai, to and from which port there is daily steamer communication. 



SHOOTING. 



There is very fair shooting to be had at various spots round Ningpo, all easily 

 accessible and within a night's journey of the port, but it is hardly a hunting-ground a 

 sportsman, whose chief aim was to make a big bag and who had plenty of time at his 

 disposal, would choose, as, although there is plenty of game, the cover is too thick to work 

 with much success with dogs. Five or six brace of pheasants in a day by a resident well 

 acquainted with the country and a good shot is considered an exceptionally good bag. 

 The charm of the shooting is the variety of game obtainable and the lovely country in 

 which it is found, which is hilly and in most places very thickly wooded. A certain 

 number of the hills are covered with scrub oak and dwarf fir trees amongst which the best 

 pheasant shooting is to be had. 



Pheasants, partridges, deer and wild-pig, &c., are all to be found in the adjacent 

 hills, but the two latter are not often seen on account of the density of the cover which 

 they frequent. 



All the favourite shooting spots are within 20 to 30 miles of the port, and a common 

 experience is that beyond 30 or 35 miles away the shooting gets worse instead of better. 



The following are a few of the best known spots : — 



THE LAKES. 

 There are two large lakes, divided by a barrier, called San-li-dong (HS^) and 

 Ing-li-dong (5El H 1^), about 15 miles' journey from Ningpo, three miles of which are 

 performed by river and the rest by canal. To get from the river into the canal and from the 

 canal into the lake the house-boat has to be hauled over a mud "haul-over," for which a 

 charge of 100 cash is made. The lakes are more frequented than any other shooting place 

 by the Ningpo residents. They are surrounded by hills where there are plenty of pheasant 

 and deer, but the cover is thick and the shooting therefore difficult. In cold weather the 

 lakes teem with wildfowl of nearly every description but, owing to the regularity with 

 which the birds are fired at throughout the winter by both foreign and native sportsmen 

 alike, they are difficult of approach, and it is a hopeless task to attempt to secure a good 

 bag without the aid of a duck-gun. 



