great feature of sport in Shanghai is
paperchasing on horseback.

The meets are usually held on Saturday afternoons, when business
offices are closed, and a field of seventy or eighty is no uncommon
sight.

Two members of the club lay the scent, but while free to choose any
line of country, they must not lead the trail over jumps or obstacles
which their own ponies have failed to negotiate.

At the hour advertised the Master gives a signal and the hunt is away.

Through wades and creeks, over water-jumps and graves, across gardens
and paddy fields, the gay throng sweeps on at high speed, until a
welcome check brings relief to man and beast and allows the stragglers
to close up. After a short delay the trail is again hit off and the
field streams away, but in ever-decreasing numbers, until a mere
handful sight the flags which mark the finish, and ride their hardest
at the final jump, the first light-weight and the first welter to
cross which are thereafter entitled to sport pink and gain the honour
of laying scent for the succeeding hunt. The sport is extremely good
though very rough, which is mainly owing to the marshy nature of the
soil and the fact that as the Chinese do not here raise banks or
hedges between their fields the jumping is mostly over water and dry
ditches of considerable width and depth, which accounts for a goodly
number of nasty spills. Although compensation for damage to crops is
awarded by the hunt club, considerable care must be taken to guard
against traps wilfully laid by the natives, who frequently remove the
trail from its proper course and lay it over almost impossible jumps,
which they further render extremely dangerous by digging holes in the
opposite banks and covering them with leaves and rubbish, after doing
which they take up safe positions of vantage to enjoy the fun.

In autumn, when the waters of the Yangtse commence to fall and the
inundated districts along its banks become dry, the plain at Hankow
affords excellent riding, where for miles one can swing along at a
hand-gallop without once having to draw rein. In spring, when covered
with fresh, green grass, it possesses an additional charm, and until
rising waters once more confine riding to the race-course and the
river bank, there are few places in China where such magnificent
gallops can be obtained.

When summer floods at Kiukiang drove our ponies from their mat stables
on the other side of the creek to the higher ground o