164 Sporting Notes in the Far East. 



CHINGKIANG. 



The shooting close around Chingkiang is not much ; there are 

 certainly a fair sprinkling of snipe, as well as a few pheasants and 

 duck, to be found on the north bank of the river, but I should 

 imagine that forty couple is the outside limit of snipe that are ever 

 yielded by this place during a season, and the pheasants and duck 

 by themselves are not worth going for. 



The best ground for pheasants, within easy range of Chingkiang, 

 is a village and district called Singfonga, situated on the Grand 

 Canal, distant from the port fifteen miles. 



A party composed of two or three guns is quite large enough ; and 

 to do it economically (without sacrificing comfort), hire a small 

 houseboat (damage one yen per diem) ; provide your own food and 

 liquor, and if possible a boat's copper, and take also a Chinese 

 servant, or a handy marine to do the cooking ; and be quite certain 

 before starting on your travels, that there is a stove of some sort or 

 other in the boat, for the most necessary purposes, of drying wet 

 clothes and providing warmth, as the nights at this period of the 

 year are excessively chilly and disagreeable. 



Directions Go down the river for about five miles from 

 Chingkiang, until a village called Tantu is reached ; there is a 

 little pheasant shooting around here, but it is hardly good enough 

 to compensate for the time wasted in landing ; it is therefore better 

 to turn into the Canal, and go straight on to Singfonga. The 



