April 29, 1896:]
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concisely supplied. Then we come to “Odd | yarns on Indian sport" and Odd yarns on Somali Land sport," which afford rather ex- citing reading. Some of the stories, Surgeon- Captain Edye says, read now even to him a trifle "tall," but there is not one exaggerated. His experience with his first tiger was rather peculiar :-
46
The beaters came on, and were not more than fifty yards to my rear. I thought the beat over and descended the bank to the nullah, standing by the grassy gutter, awaiting the beaters and Shikari to come and arrange the next beat, when I heard the latter from his elevated position call out in Hindi, Tell the Sahib to look out, there is a tiger in the grass. I nipped up that bank in double quick time and got behind a big tree. I was not a moment too soon, for the next instant I saw the head and shoulders of a huge tiger push the grass of the gutter aside, and there he stood, languidly turning to look up and down the nullah. I hit him through the fleshy part of the forearm, high up; and from being a heavy, sleepy-looking great brate, he became a fiend incarnate. With one bound he cleared the whole nullah and landed on the opposite sloping bank. There, standing up on his hind legs, he roared, and swayed to and fro six or eight times, tearing off leaves and branches I cannot tell you and tossing them about. why I did not fire again; I was not a bit frightened. The whole scene, I fancy, appalled and mesmerised me, and had he seen and charged me I don't believe I should have moved. It was practically the first tiger I had seen, and there I was, not ten yards off,
the a tree, and and only behind perfect fury and uproar going on in front of me.
He dropped into the nullah, gave a couple of bounds down it, and then got up the side he had just attempted, at a less precipitous place, and rushed for the line of beaters, every one of whom was now up a tree. They after- wards told me that he lay down with his head between his paws, roaring. I could not see him then on account of the bushes. He then sprang to his feet, and I got a glimpse of him for the hundredth part of a second as he galloped off roaring. One by one my coolies descended, but I only saw eleven again, the others having bolted. The next beat failed to find him."
most
Another tiger adventure is as follows :— "I heard the beaters shouting nearly a mile off. I was sitting on the ground, close to
up a heap of wild vine, when I heard crunch, crunch, in the dead leaves and just had time, while raising the rifle, to think Well, it's more than one animal' and it's not like sambhur coming along,' when through the vine I saw standing a huge tiger, not four feet from me.
could have shoved the muzzle of the rifle right against his side, and pulled both triggers. I nearly did so, when he stalked sleepily along. I shrunk up to the vine, mak- ing myself as small as I could, passed the sights of the rifle to behind the ear, waited till he had gone about three paces farther on and was descending slightly, when my eye caught sight of No. 2 abreast of No. 1, and about twenty yards off. Before I pressed the trigger they both simultaneously halted, and very dreamily and slowly turned their heads and gazed at me. The 'bead'
was drawn between No. 1's eyes at about three yards from the muzzle, and at the moment I fired they both bounded like a flash down the incline. I heard a growl and jumped to my feet and was behind a bamboo clump in an instant, but as nothing showed up I slipped in another cartridge and waited. "After a few minutes the Shikari and some coolies come up, and giving the former the Paradox' loaded we advanced to reconnoitre and saw a tiger lying on his side. As he did not move to stones shied at him we walked up, to find him dead; but my bullet never reached his head or even his neck, so rapid was his bound; it caught him behind his shoulder and wounded the heart. I at once beat for No. 2, but it was 4 p.m., and the coolies were very frightened and would not form a line, so I had to give it up. They were both full-grown tigers, and as it was December they were in their winter coats.
In Somali Land the author seems to have had an altogether "good time." After giving the ac-
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
count of his adventures in detail he sums up by saying:
357
hard, but I did not think of that. I ran over the slippery plough-land, but could not get It was an exciting Christmas, 1893. On within shot, when to my delight they suddenly the 24th of December I shot the two lionesses stopped and looked to right and left, and I and lost the lion after wounding him; on rightly concluded that they had been checked Christmas Day we were after a lioness we by a creek. I ran in a parallel line and came lost, and that night sat out in zerebas and to a cross creek. The porkers now turned heard lions roaring in the distance frequently, towards me. Beyond a small bush about a couple and on the 26th we shot the lion, out of a of feet high there was no cover, but I made troupe. of three which jumped up from under myself as small as possible behind it as the a tree twenty yards from us; on the 28th we animals approached. I was so excited that I shot the broken tooth lioness in the English was literally running down with perspiration, orchard.'"
and I thought they must have heard me blowing, There are twenty-three illustrations, repro-as on they came in single file. I quite remem- duced from photos taken with a kodak by the ber shutting my eyes for fear they should see author and his companion during their sporting me. They must have been about 30 yards off Kelly & Walsh, Limited, or Messrs. Walter W. pigs tambled into the creek, one lay dying, tours. The book may be obtained from Messrs. when I stood up and bang, bang, bang. Three
and the fifth rushed past me. And there was I, two miles from the boat, with no cartridges. In about ten minutes I was surrounded by about a hundred natives; they seemed to come from everywhere. The fourth pig, after several attempts to scramble up the creek bank, at last succeeded, and ran off as if he had not been
Brewer & Co.
With Boat and Gun in the Yangtze Valley. Edited by H. T. WADE. Shanghai: Shang. hai Mercury Office.
SPORTSMEN
who have the opportunity of going over the country described in Mr. Wade's pages will have reason to thank that gentleman and his collaborators for the valuable information and useful hints afforded. The editor himself is responsible for the greater part of the book, but he has had able assistance on special topics. We may quote from the prefice his acknowledgments::--
touched--I aftor him. How I crossed the On coming to a creek I don't quite know. lagoon the poor beast, frightened by the un earthly yelling, took to the water without hesitation, but he could not swim across it on account of the ice. There he was, a fine big boar, swimming round and round, unable to proceed. My fellows were so excited that In conclusion, I beg to offer my sympathy to the bereaved husband of the graceful scholar although they knew I wanted a cartridge they who compiled the Vocabulary, and to express from the boat.
did nothing but yell to each other to get some At last, to my relief, I saw my my warmest thanks to my many contributors for the readiness with which they came forward house-boy coming across country with my with their support: Mr. and Mrs. Deighton-Winchester, loaded (which he presented by the way straight at my middle), and with it I gave Braysher for their bright Trip to the Hills; the poor pig a bullet in the head. But the to Mrs. Maitland for her useful Cookery Notes;
The natives claimed to the Right Rev. Bishop Moule and the Rev. nasty part was to come. Dr. Du Bose for their articles on the ‘
the dead pig! and there were about 200 of them. ⚫ Cities unler Heaven; to Mr. Geo. Jamieson, H.B.Ms-natives not pig. Things were looking nasty, when an old man took me aside and offered for Vice-Consul General, for his authoritative
five dollars to take all the spoil to the boat. Of article as to What to do in Case of Trouble
course I closed with the offer at once, and then with the Natives,' as well as for many valuable
sat down on the snow to cool. A welcome sight suggestions; to Dr. Henderson for his Medical contribution; to Mr. A. E. Jones for his Yacht from the boat with a parcel which I fondly now caught my eye, my wife running to me ing and Mr. Duncan Glass for his Wild-fowl imagined to be whisky, but which when un- Notes; to Messrs. Croal, Roberts, and Ashley folded turned out to be--what do you think? a for their expert papers on 'The House-Boat;'
pair of breeks!!! The natives stole one pig as to Mr. Carles, H.B.M.'s Consul at Chinkiang, it was being carried back to the boat. The and Messrs. H. P. Wadman, E. A. Aldridge, A. L. Robertson, A. R. Greaves, H. R. Hearson, other three I took down to Shanghai.' Four and O. G. Ready for their respective Notes; to pigs in five shots is a circumstance worth
recording." Mr. Kun Ayen, who enjoys the unique position of being the first native of the Celestial Empire who bas written in Eng lish
sport; to Mr. Geo. Burgoyne for his artistic Frontispiece; and to many other friends for welcome advice. I am under a great obligation to Mr. Styan for his valuable scientific papers; and to my friend, Mr. J. L. Brown, who cheerfully undertook the thankless task of reading the proofs and seeing these pages through the press.'
*
an article
On
ever
No topic of interest to sportsmen in this special field appears to have been forgotten and With Boat and Gun "will in future be an indispensable article in the equipment of shoot- ing parties on the Yangtsze. Chapter XXVI. contains memorabilia collected by the editor, in which a number of record bags are mentioned. The Ewo party in 1889, composed of Messrs. J. J. Bell-Irving, C. J. Ashley, Turner, J. F. Holliday, Douglas Jones, and Major Barker, in twenty-three shooting days, accounted for 2,049 head made up as follows-1,801 pheasants, 90 teal, 42 ducks, 68 woodcocks, 29 har. 11 deer, geese, 1 partridge, 1 wild boar, and 1 wild cat. We extract the following note from the
5
memorabilia :-
In the winter of 1883 Mr. and Mrs. Henry A Morris were up-country on pig intent. fruitless week of really hard work (for on one occasion they did not return to the boat until 10 o'clock at night, in the hill country near Chin kiang) so disheartened them that they had given up in despair all hopes of even seeing a pig, and gave orders to the lowdah to move on. Early next morning the dog-boy awakened his master with the welcome cry of Yah-chu. Here is Mr. Morriss's graphic account of what then happened: I jumped up, and on looking out I saw five wild boar close to the boat. I slipped on my boots, seized four cartridges and my Maynard, and bolted out. It was snowing
In the chapter by Mr. Kum Ayen on "Some Chinese methods of shooting and trapping game" a good deal of curious information is given in a very brief space.
K
As regards the abundance of game," Mr. Wade Suys in his preface, "different Some aver that | views naturally obtain.
others, is a growing scarceness; there again, hold that, harassed by both foreign and native guns in the neighbourhood of the more frequented waterways, the pheasants have only betaken themselves to places where they are less disturbed. This theory is reasonable enough: take the Grand Canal from Wusieh to Tanyang as a case in point. In that district birds are usually fairly plentiful until the middle of November; after that it is somewhat difficult to find them, and it is not improbable that they have but taken the short flight necessary to reach the sanctuary offered by the limitless reed beds which fringe the Yangtsze banks. Anyhow, they seem to get beyond the foreign sportsman's beat, though the native shooter is still able to supply the Shanghai market with larger quantities of game than ever, as is evidenced by the following figures. Mr. Geo. Camerou. the Municipal Inspector of Markets, ascertained for me in 1891 the number of pheasants sold between October and March. I find the figures alarming,' he writes, 25,000 brace, as shown by the dealers' books. 18,000 brace were exported to Japan and the southern ports, Hongkong being the greatest market; and I am safe in saying that some mail boats take away as many as 1,000 brace at a time.' Now this quantity is seasonable game; add to it the tons of spoilt birds which arrive here in July, August, and September, and some faint idea may be formed of the vastness of the game supply, which is ever on the increase. The 2,500 brace of birds, then, which fall in a lucky