188 WITH BOAT AND GUN IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



of 1893, about 14 // west of Shuiyang (;^|^) the writer and his companion, Mr. Walter Phipps, 

 counted no less than 73 long strings of geese pass over the boat in the short space of 

 half-an-hour, all apparently wending their way in the direction of the Great South Lake. 



Sportsmen on arrival at Wuhu make for the Kucheng ("^ i^) district by way of the 

 Wuhu Creek when practicable, which it may be in the months of October and November, 

 but later than this the falling river frequently drains the creek to such an extent as to put 

 an end to all navigation by that route, except, perhaps, for a small boat of the very lightest 

 draught. Early in the season the country immediately round Wuhu holds a large quantity 

 of game, a fact duly appreciated by the foreign residents there whose favourite outing is 

 Hwangchi, about 40 // away. In December and later the deeply laden houseboats from 

 Shanghai can seldom get to the good grounds other than by way of the long and circuitous 

 Taiping river. After cutting through the great swamp which commences halfway between 

 Wuchiating and the solitary hill called Wusan, this river divides into two streams, the north- 

 western one leading to the Kucheng Lake and the southern to Shuiyang and on to Ning- 

 kwofu. Most sportsmen have hitherto confined themselves to the western route where 

 excellent sport has been obtained all the way from Kaoshun (^ ^) to the town of Kucheng, 

 and thence on to the upper barrier, the Shangpa. The southern branch leads to the town of 

 Shuiyang, the centre of a capital shooting country. A couple of miles south of the town a 

 branch creek abruptly breaks off to the northward, and leads into the Kucheng Lake. 30 // 

 south of Shuiyang is Siaohochang (<!> M $), a small town on either side of the creek which 

 divides two low hill ranges. The copses here are large and the waterways wide and 

 bridgeless. Great reed-beds extend to and skirt the south-west margin of the Great South 

 Lake. This lake is reported to be 80 // in width from east to west, and its extreme length 

 from north to south about 30 It. Its upper portion is bisected to a certain extent by a 

 promontory ID // or 12 // in length and from I // to 3 // in breadth, running in an east-north- 

 easterly direction. There are three, if not more, entrances to the lake from the Ningkwofu 

 Creek — one by a small, straight, narrow cutting through the reed-beds, not 20 feet in width, 

 but with plenty of water, which may be entered quite close to Siaohochang ; a second by 

 the creek 6 // to the south, and a third at Yushihkong (^ "^ tC), 20 // south by way of the 

 Songyu Creek. There are possibly other entrances to the lake but a sandbank across the 

 main or Ningkwofu Creek {^ S J^), some 15 // from Ningkwofu itself, precluded the writer's 

 further observation. 



Opposite Taipingf u is Wade Island : the northern end is now highly cultivated and offers 

 but little cover for game, and the reed swamp to the south formerly the home of pheasants 

 and deer in numbers is rapidly disappearing. Good dogs, especially pointers, are invaluable 

 in the grass lands, uplands and hillsides in the Wuhu country, but they are at a discount in 

 the wet reed-beds, where the undergrowth is too thick to permit of other than almost useless 

 work. A really properly organized beat of these reed covers is what is required, but the 

 coolies have yet to be born who will do any serious work when out of sight of the guns. 



Big individual bags are occasionally made, but a couple of guns might well be content 

 if their joint daily average did not fall below 30 head. To do Wuhu properly a whole 

 month's holiday is a necessity, which is a longer time than most people can spare, while the 

 expenses incidental to such a trip, economize as one will, are, to say the least, very heavy. It 



