222 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 
punt and carriage and thus reduces the chances of shoving the 
boat off her carriage in case a wheel suddenly sinks in 
a hole, or catches a stone. Wheels fixed to a through, or 
what is known as a “‘live” axle are useless to mount a punt 
carriage upon. It is of importance that the wheels should be 
loose on their pins, for unless this is so, they cannot differentiate. 
A carriage with wheels not able to turn in opposite directions 
to each other is very unwieldy and unmanageable. The wood- 
work of the carriage body should be through-bolted, the bolts 
having square plate washers. Thisensures strength. Screws, 
and even coach screws, are scarcely strong enough—at least, 
they draw out of the wood. 
We might say there are two ways of touring on a real wild- 
fowling expedition, viz. by land or by water. The first means 
transit of the punt, gun, and all gear by rail or road, the 
second by sailing or power craft. This latter we intend to 
refer to later. At present we have to deal with the transit of 
wildfowling gear by land. To those persons who are continu- 
ally visiting new wildfowling quarters or who only pay a few 
days’ visit each season to a certain ground, and who usually 
take and return with them all their gear, a punt-wagon is 
a very useful vehicle indeed. It saves a lot of unloading and 
loading up of the punt at railway stations, and by this the 
welfare of the punt is better protected. Nothing shortens the 
time a punt will last more than rough or careless handling 
(which at a railway station it is pretty sure to sooner or later 
receive) by persons who do not understand what a punt is; or 
the shaking and straining it gets when loaded and travelled 
over bad roads upon vehicles unsuitable for its conveyance. 
Punters who do not change their quarters, or, if so, not often, 
would find a punt-wagon of little or no service, so seldom 
would it be required. A punt-wagon is an expensive article 
in the punter’s outfit ; but to those who have the money and 
can afford to travel and enjoy wildfowling in a proper manner, 
