SNIPE-SHOOTING. 383 



mencement of our sport, yet our bag contained fifty-three 

 couple of snipes. We returned to the bank of the river, 

 hailed our boat, which was sailing about in the offing, and 

 continued our coasting voyage some distance farther; again 

 landed, and repeated the same mode of operations with nearly 

 the same success. Upon returning to the same fields we had 

 beat at first, the birds had come back to their original feed- 

 ing ground, and we finished our day's sport with a sum total 

 of one hundred and thirty- six couple of snipe, nearly all full 



ones, and in fine fat condition. Mr. A killed three 



solitary snipe (scolopax maximus) during the morning, but I 

 was not fortunate enough to get a shot at one. We also 

 killed several couple of golden plover, exactly similar to the 

 same species in England. 



After spending some weeks in this most hospitable and 

 agreeable settlement, and visiting the old city, and most of 

 the objects of interest in the immediate neighbourhood, I 

 was delighted to accept the invitation of an English merchant 

 at Shanghai, at whose house I was residing, to accompany 

 him on a short tour into the interior of China, as far as the 

 Tai-hou, or Great Lake. Our mode of travelling was to be 

 entirely in two boats propelled by sculling, towing, and some- 

 times even sailing through the different canals that intersect 

 the country in every direction. These were flat-bottomed 

 and very commodious, each containing two cabins, with 

 accommodation in the stern for servants, boatmen, cooking 

 apparatus, &c. ; and as the Chinese have a remarkable facility 

 for stowing themselves into a small space, it was astonishing 

 how many individuals composed our equipage. 



Everything that could conduce to our comfort, and every 

 necessary, and even luxury that money could purchase, was 

 amply supplied by my friend. Hampers of champagne, 

 claret, and pale ale were stowed away in every available 

 corner, and lumps of ice, enveloped in flannel, occupied the 



