146 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. IX. 
which it is quite impossible for him to extricate himself, 
and he is either drowned or becomes an easy prey to the 
Chinese. These pits are most dangerous traps to persons 
unacquainted with the localities in which they are placed. 
I had several narrow escapes ; and once in particular, 
when coming out of a dense mass of brushwood, I stepped 
unawares on the treacherous mouth of one of them, and 
felt the ground under my feet actually giving way ; but, 
managing to throw my arms forward, I caught hold of a 
small twig which was growing near, and by this means 
supported myself until I was able to scramble on to 
firmer ground. On turning back to examine the place, 
I found that the loose rubbish had sunk in, and a deep 
pit, half full of water, was exposed to my view. The pit 
was made narrow at the mouth and widening inside like 
a great China vase, being constructed in this manner to 
prevent the boar from scrambling out when once fairly 
in it. Had I fallen in, it would have been next to impos- 
sible to have extricated myself without assistance ; and 
as the pits are generally dug in the most retired and 
wild part of the mountains, my chance would have been 
a bad one. 
The other method of protecting the young bamboos 
from the ravages of the wild boar is an ingenious one. 
A piece of bamboo wood, about eight or ten feet long, 
and rather thicker than a man's arm, is split up the 
middle to within a fourth of its length. This is made 
fast to a tree in the bamboo thicket, and at an angle of 
about forty-five degrees, the split part being left loose ; 
a cord, also made of bamboo, is fastened to it by one 
end, and the other is led to some convenient place out of 
