n the grounds of another man will probably result in legal
proceedings, where keepers flourish and wax fat on contributions
levied on the friends of mine host, where hand-raised game is driven
into the jaws of death, and where the sportsman's friend and delight,
his dog, is practically banished. No, I mean where one can look on the
whole empire of China and say, "Here is my ground, here I can take my
gun and my dogs and go just wherever, and do whatever, I please,
without let or hindrance; shoot what I will, stay as long as I like
without asking anyone's leave, and where keepers and game licences are
unknown."

Throughout China, pheasants, deer, quail, wildfowl and snipe abound,
but woodcock, partridges and hares are less numerous and less evenly
distributed. Bustards, plover and many other migratory birds appear
only in winter, while for hunters of big game, tigers, leopards,
horned deer and wild boar are found in certain localities.

Northern China offers the best opportunities, and while from Mongolia
to Ningpo game is plentiful enough, the mighty River Yangtse is _par
excellence_ the sportsman's elysium. Of course, one must have good
dogs and know the country, or go with someone who does, otherwise the
most ardent spirit would soon be cooled to freezing point and disgust
instead of delight would be the result of his endeavours. Along the
banks of this noble river, from the sea for hundreds of miles into the
interior, I have enjoyed as good sport as lies within reach of only
the very rich in western countries.

The Chinese are not often sportsmen, and away from foreign influence
but rarely molest wild animals of any kind.

Owing, however, to the increasing European colony at Shanghai and the
numerous mail steamers which daily arrive there, a profitable market
for game has sprung up during the past few years, to supply which
there are now a number of native gunners who, as a means of
livelihood, scour the country with foreign breech-loaders in search of
pheasants, wildfowl, etc., so that, being capital shots, within a
considerable distance of this port the shooting is not so good as
formerly, although in all other parts of the Empire it still remains
practically untouched until the advent of Europeans.

That there are not more aboriginal sportsmen is partly due to a law
which forbids the people to possess firearms, though this law has not
been rigidly enforced, and partly due to the primitive construction
and co