198 Sporting Notes in the Far East. 



skirts of the town, three or four miserable beings, lying down by 

 the principal road sides, and literally dying of starvation. These food- 

 pinched creatures have apparently possessed just enough strength 

 to drag themselves in from the country, in the hopes of procuring a 

 pittance of alms, to prolong for a little their miserable existence. 

 But these expectations appear to have been built on broken reeds ; 

 for as I stood and watched, the greater number of wayfarers would 

 pass by without even turning their heads (let alone giving money), 

 towards the heart-rending moans for succour that proceeded. 



These scenes to me, were fitting illustrations of the well-known 

 callousness of the stoic heathen Chinee, to either human or animal 

 suffering. 



BANGKOK. 



As chance would have it, we were not at Bangkok during the 

 shooting season, which extends from September to January ; but 

 by all accounts, the snipe slaying here, during the winter months, 

 is beyond comparison ; the birds being in such numbers, that they 

 are constantly killed in the compounds of the European dwellings. 



There are also a few teal to be shot at the mouth of the river 

 beyond Paknam : and on the island of Kohkram forty miles dis- 

 tant from the bar, there is some capital deer shooting. 



The best means of getting to this island, is to make up a large 

 party, hire or borrow a steam launch, and go away for two or 

 three days. 



