DOUBLE-HANDED FOWLING-PUNT. 473 



(page 471), through the openings to his right or left 

 hand (see fig. i, Plate 15, page 472) as the wind or 

 tide require. He can close one opening by its 

 movable shutter, and paddle through the other. 



The paddle-blade should be worked entirely 

 under water, and feathered forward, without the 

 least splash or rippling noise after every stroke. 



If the puntsman meets a shallow, he can, without 

 altering his position, push with the paddle, and, after 

 a little practice, he will be able to direct and turn 

 the punt to an inch to suit the gunner, who will not 

 then require a rudder. 



A double punt by this last method can, under all 

 conditions of wind and water, be urged forward to 

 fowl with more control, speed, and silence than if 

 sculled with an oar, or even when pushed with a 

 set-pole. 



At other times the punt can be rowed by one 

 man with sculls, or pulled by two, stem or stern 

 first as thought best ; and one man can send her 

 quietly along with the large paddle, both fowlers on 

 the look-out for birds meanwhile, or hurry her up to 

 cripples, as he sits on the after-deck. (See position 

 of puntsman in Frontispiece.)* 



* These terribly tedious dimensions and directions pertaining to 

 wildfowl punts are at last completed. I have not been near as concise 

 as I at first intended, but hope I have made matters plainer thereby. 

 It must be remembered that few fowlers agree on the subject of punts, 

 the sole reason of this dissension being that the crafts suitable in 

 one estuary are not so in another. For example, the owners of the 

 1 8ft. long, 2ft. wide racers of Norfolk and Lincoln would laugh at the 

 broad, short, I5ft. tubs of Poole, in Dorset. Equally the men of 

 Essex, Kent, and Suffolk deride the double punts of Holland, Ireland, 

 and even those of the Solent. But one and all kill fowl, each to his 

 own ; and that is the main point ! 



