[ 199 J 



CHAPTER XXll— Continued. 



YANGTZE NOTES. 



HANKOW 1910. 



By E. G. Byrne. 



i^REAT changes have taken place in the immediate neighbourhood of Hankow and 

 ^-* Wuchang since the preceding notes were written. The construction of the Peking- 

 Hankow Railway embankment behind Hankow, and another embankment extending from 

 the Han River to the Seven Mile Creek while they have served their purpose in keeping out 

 the summer floods have also brought about the ploughing up of considerable areas of 

 grass lands, and so limiting the snipe grounds. And owing to the characteristic failure of the 

 native authorities to provide pumps or adequate sluices, the enclosure now affords less scope 

 for riding or shooting than previously, as the rainfall has no outlet and practically half the 

 area is permanently under water, while the remainder is an almost unrideable clay plough. 

 The same scheme of embankment construction has cut off the country behind Wuchang to 

 houseboats, which can no longer enter the Lakes there. The gun has now to go further 

 afield, but it is fortunate that the number of launches in the port gives many facilities for 

 doing so. 



KiNKOU (^ P) — 18 miles up river on the right bank continues to be the mainstay of 

 pheasant shooting, fair bags, i.e. for Hankow, being made early in the season. The best 

 in recent years has been 19 brace of pheasants, 2 hares and some sundries, by two guns in 

 two days, but this is exceptional. The river was unusually high for the time of the year — 

 October, 1903— and the bean crop heavy. The birds were therefore concentrated in the 

 higher fields, being cut off from the alluvial ground. As a rule, however, a man is lucky if 

 he gets 2 or 3 brace in a day early in the season. Later the number of week-end parties 

 visiting the district has the inevitable result, much frightening and some thinning of the 

 birds. 



The Bluffs — or Chiin Shan — 7 miles down river is worth a few trips before the grass is 

 entirely cut, that is by the end of November. I have never seen a native gunner there, which 

 may account for the impression that some shooters have that the country is " shot out." 

 A couple of brace in an hour one afternoon not so long ago and several fair bags that 

 have been made known since prove that this is not the case. 



Another spot worth visiting in October and November is White Tiger Hill, about 

 25 miles down river, but the area of the shooting ground is very limited. Two to three trips 

 would clean it out for the season. 



