Sporting Notes in the Far East. 93 



POSSIETTE BAY. 



This Bay is divided into two smaller bays called respectively 

 Novgorod and Expedition Bays, the former anchorage is the best 

 for snipe and duck, and the latter for pheasants. When at 

 Novgorod (and without a steam boat, to take you to the pheasant 

 grounds in the other bay) go in for snipe ; the primary marsh being 

 well up the harbour, and on the Northern side it can be distinguished 

 from the others, by a long strip of corn field running between it 

 and the sea ; the high end of this marsh is the best. Almost every 

 little inlet of Novgorod Bay has a small marsh at its head, and 

 they all more or less, hold a snipe or two. 



There are both quail and a few pheasants, on the hills dividing 

 the valleys ; and in the creeks in the big high reedy marshes that 

 surround the river (which runs about two and a half miles inland) 

 there are undisputably plenty of duck ; but the difficulty is to get a 

 shot at them, such a noise do you make going through the thick 

 rushes and stuff, and when they do get up, the reeds are then too 

 high to see to shoot. By this, it will be seen that trying to 

 approach them on foot is a matter of impossibility, but I expect 

 one would have great fun in either a canoe, or collapsible boat 

 paddling quietly up these winding creeks, catching the ducks before 

 they swim round the next corner. 



The pheasant ground in Expedition Bay, lies all along the 

 southern shore. Keep out of the valleys and long reeds, and work 



