[ 187 ] 



CHAPTER XXII— Continued. 



YANGTZE NOTES. 



WUHU. 



Vl/UHU, lying on the right bank of the river 243 miles from Woosung, justly merits the 

 ^ ' proud distinction of being the finest game district yet known in the Yangtze valley. For 

 the past quarter of a century the bags made there have quite put into the shade those reported 

 from any other quarter, and although the ubiquitous native gunner has already made his 

 unwelcome presence felt in certain parts of the locality, yet it, presumably, will be a long 

 and difficult task for him to make any serious impression upon the vast number of pheasants 

 which find food in the rich grain fields and security in the immense reed-beds which are 

 such distinctive features of this celebrated shooting country. The high embankments running 

 in all directions, which serve to restrain the waterways from flooding the adjacent fields, 

 are another characteristic of the district. For the most part these dykes are topped by clear, 

 broad footpaths in unaccountably good condition, considering the infrequent traffic that 

 passes over them. The reed-beds, grass and paddy-fields are generally intersected by long, 

 narrow, straight-cut creeks, a frequent cause of disappointment to the gun who cannot get 

 across them. To do real justice to the sport this well-watered district affords one should 

 always have at hand either a collapsible punt or a light but broad dinghy which could be 

 carried, when necessary, without much difficulty by a couple of coolies. 



Wuhu is not distinguished by any great amount of woodland, though at certain places 

 such as Kucheng, Tungmentu and Siaohochang there are copses of good size. 



The shooting generally is nearly all that could be desired and of almost infinite 

 variety — geese, ducks, and several kinds of teal, woodcocks, snipes, quail, plover, deer and 

 hares, and, last but really first, pheasants in any number, to say nothing of a sprinkling of 

 extras. That the wild-pig is to be found if carefully worked for admits of no doubt, but the 

 natives do not report it to exist in any great numbers, and rarely has one fallen to a 

 foreign sportsman's gun ; but large herds of its domestic congener live in undisturbed 

 happiness on the hillsides revelling on acorns and luscious roots in unlimited supply. 



To see wildfowl is one thing, to get them is quite another, but it is hoped that the 

 practical directions on an earlier page may lead some enthusiast to be a pioneer in the 

 systematic pursuit of the wary fowl. The Wuhu swamps literally swarm with wildfowl. 

 At times the air is thick with skeins of geese and teams of duck and teal, at others the 

 lakes, lagoons and creeks are simply black with fowl of every description. In the winter 



