SPORT NEAR ICHANG 159 
characters of the late Sir Harry Parkes. Upon calling 
upon the lowban for an explanation he smiled and in- 
formed me that it was a ‘No. 1 piecee flag,’ and for him 
no doubt it was so, for he had made use of its protection 
to smuggle a quantity of various kinds of excisable 
articles, such as salt, musk, and medicines, past the lekin 
stations, the Customs authorities not interfering with a 
Minister’s boat. I had noticed at Kia-ting-fu that the 
crew were busy shipping a lot of salt—so much, in fact, 
that I had to put a stop to it, as we were getting too 
deep in the water—but that it was all to be smuggled 
under a false flag never dawned upon me. I certainly 
noticed with some pride that at places the boat attracted 
a good deal of attention, the people firing crackers, &c. ; 
but I put it down to her smart appearance or to the 
presence of a mandarin whose boat I had not observed. 
I was now very busy drying, packing, and sending 
off the collections I had got together, and after all were 
despatched I spent the time in shooting at different places 
on the banks of the river that I visited in my boat. 
There is very fair sport to be obtained, wildfowl being 
plentiful, but difficult to approach. Pheasants abound 
in places where there is sufficient cover, and a few deer 
are to be found. The weather generally was fine but 
cold, and the river in the winter had run down to its 
lowest level. 
On November 15 a leopard suddenly appeared on 
