186 WILD LIFE IN' CHINA. 



within reach of his weapon, and so be transferred to 

 his bag if he is entirely afoot, or to the little "hold" of 

 his tiny punt if he have one. That depends on the nature 

 of the country he is in. I have sometimes allowed fancy 

 to place this tj'pe of man somewhat apart from the 

 ordinary countryman. At times he looks as if his pedigree 

 would, if one could only trace it, show him to be of different 

 stock. It would be a most interesting thing if somebody, 

 well versed in the language, well acquainted with wild life, 

 and equally keen in sport, could make a study of the life 

 history of the professional purveyor of Chinese game. It 

 would not surprise me in the least if it were discovered that 

 in many instances these men have a strain of aboriginal 

 blood in them. There is quite an un-Chinese cast of counten- 

 ance to be seen amongst them at times, and their wiry frames, 

 hard as nails and tireless as those of wolves, suggest some- 

 thing different even from the villager. The eyes are keen, 

 the aspect alert, and the impression conveyed to the observer 

 is something different from that of the stereotyped character 

 of the ordinary rustic. The nearest western type I can think 

 of is a gipsy given to poaching in a quiet sort of way. 



Moreover, this man can shoot. It is a never-ending 

 source of wonder how he does it — but he does. His weapon 

 is an iron barrel, with no pretensions to finish, fitted to a 

 moderately thick, roughly cut stock bent something like the 

 handle of a walking stick, or a block-letter L. It varies in 

 length, but I do not remember seeing any less than about 

 six feet. As a rule there is no nipple, and breech-loading is, 

 of course, a thing unknown. Consequently there must be 

 the old-fashioned "pan" for powder outside the "touch" 

 hole. This is let off by means of a slow burning match of 

 vegetable fibre attached to the stock. Army gingals some- 

 times attain a length of fourteen feet, and need three men 

 for their manipulation. Some of them have been modernized, 

 with nipples, and even breech-loading attachments in some 

 cases. But, of course, the sporting gingal is a one man 

 weapon, muzzle-loading, and fired either from a rest on 

 the ground, or from the hip standing. An old friend of 

 mine, a keen sportsman, and a fair shot, now alas gone over 

 to the majority, used to delight in telling his experiences 

 with native sportsmen whom he had met during his many 

 up-country excursions. Sometimes when both foreigner and 

 native were in the humour, they would work together, the 

 foreigner keen to see the methods employed by his native 

 companion, the latter full of admiration for the finish, the 

 handiness, and the easy manipulation of the foreign weapon. 

 When results came to be compared, however, my friend said 

 that the gingal quite held its own, even if it did not emerge 



