192 WITH BOAT AND GUN IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



As regards cultivation it was evident that rice received the most attention, but corn 

 and beans in limited quantities were grown about the place. As for the products of the 

 place they consisted principally of timber. Rafts quite 500 yards long were no unusual 

 sight on this stream. Charcoal and bamboo are also traded in to some extent, and a brisk 

 business passes in baskets and straw matting. The native food seemed to be of very poor 

 quality, the rice being both small and very hard in the grain. Eggs were difficult to get, 

 while mutton is an almost unknown article. Goat's flesh they will not sell. Pork and 

 fish, however, were generally obtainable. Bridges are conspicuous by their absence, but 

 ferry boats ply across the stream at frequent points. A railway bridge crosses the " clear 

 water river " about 4 // above Wanchih. 



The water of this river is really beautifully clear, and in many places the bottom 

 many feet below the surface may easily be seen. The Chinese name Ching-I-Chiang ( jH ij; CC) 

 curiously enough may bear the translation " clear black river." 



There is no shadow of a doubt but that there is really an abundance of game on both 

 sides of the river all the way from Hwangchih to Mat'ou, and naturally enough behind and 

 beyond, but the trouble is to spring it. The shooter must have beaters, and good strong and 

 intelligent ones at that, and he will be wise to hold up his dogs for retrieving only. Our 

 bag, two guns, was not a heavy one, 463 head in 25 days, easy working, but it was delightful 

 in its variety, made up as it was with pheasants, partridges, woodcock, duck, teal, geese, 

 snipe, quail, deer and hare. 



The country beyond Mat'ou is well worth exploring, and the enthusiast who would 

 make it a serious business to penetrate it would, doubtless, find himself amply rewarded, and 

 possibly what he had to tell would excite a livelier interest in the great unbeaten track 

 watered by the Clear Water River. 



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