d tame in the devastated
fields around Nanking that natives speared them in the grass; while
the official said that in the almost deserted Black Dragon river
district these birds were so little afraid of man that on his approach
they would conceal only their heads in the grass, when it was possible
to capture them by the tail with the hand. Although personally unable
to guarantee either of these accounts, still, judging from the manner
in which they were narrated, I am inclined to believe both.

The first essential for shooting-trips up the Yangtse is a good
house-boat or light draft yacht of from ten to fifteen tons, into
which you pack every requisite, and which is in reality your floating
shooting-box for the time being. You have only to choose your field of
operations, sail there, and enjoy yourself to your heart's content in
luxury, fine bracing air, grand scenery and jovial company. What can
one wish for more!

Having decided on a trip you tell your boy in the morning that you
will leave that afternoon for so many days, and at the appointed time
step on board to find everything in readiness--guns, dogs, provisions,
and a good fire in the saloon. You give the lowdah his orders, and in
less than a minute are under way. All bother is at an end and you
make yourself comfortable, have afternoon tea, read, smoke, dine, chat
with your friend over the fire, and after spending the evening as
comfortably as if in your own house, retire to rest, awaking next
morning to find yourself on the scene of action and very possibly to
hear the pheasants crow while still in bed. A good beefsteak breakfast
and you are ready for the fray. After your day's sport you come back
to a hot bath and the comfort of a cosy cabin. Should you desire to
try fresh ground on the morrow, the lowdah will get the boat there,
either by sailing or tracking during the night, while you are enjoying
your well-earned sleep.

[Illustration: HOUSE-BOAT ON THE YANGTSE.
_To face page 50._]

Pheasants afford the principal sport and are identical with the
white-ringed English birds, only, if any thing, bigger, stronger in
flight and much more wily.

A hundred miles up the Yangtse and then along the Grand Canal, in
districts that were overrun by Taiping rebels, fine sport with
pointers may be had over what were formerly cultivated fields but are
now still lying waste, with here and there the ruins of a village
destroyed forty years ago, the inhabitants