The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-11-13


 as the western sportsman with his modern breechloader and ejector cart ridges.
 As we proceeded there was defer ence in the manner of my new compan- ion, which plainly meant for me to avail myself of the first chance for a shot, for he walked in the rear and pointed out the directions for me to take. It was not long ere my dog found large cock pheasant, and, as he winged his flight inside of a circle of thirty years, felt confident ot pagglng the beautiful bird, But after firing at him with both barrels, he continued his flight as unconcerned as if l was firing a salute, for after flying a few hundred yards he stopped apparently to finish his morning feeding. Anxious to redeem myself, followed quickly and missed again under circumstances more favorable than were at hrst ot- fered. From the look of my Chinese companion, concluded that he would not have given a copper cash for for- eign gun, and that he felt no apprehen- sion of me as a sporting rival. l wished to account for the unsklltul shooting he had witnessed by saylng that my sleep had not been good the previous night; but I made no impress sion in that direction, and he suggested that we should take different route, but with the same objective point Tor meeting. He evidently wanted me to have the first chance in the sport; but 1 he doubtless had the opinion that 1T any game was bagged he would have to shoot it, and the opinion appeared to be well founded, for soon after he left me a deer got up and trotted off about twenty-five yards in front of me and if I missed also Later during the day. 1 however, my eye was quicker and my aim steadier, and when I returned to the houseboat I bAgged one deer and several pheasants. My friend was
 waiting for me, but said that he had not fired off his gun at all. think the | bag I could show partially restored me in his regard as a moderately good sportsman. I rather suspect that when he touches the end of his match rope to the Schultze's powder in the pan of his matchlock, the ignition will not be so quick as black powder, and 1t may be that he will experience g diff ferent sensation in the recoil of his gun, if he rams hard the Sschultze' s powder.
 The dress of a Chinese sportsman is as primitive as his gun. Usually a pair of straw sandals and the poorest of
 clothes are all that are worn, l could not see that the sandals were any pro-
 lection against the scrub oak briars which grow on the hillsides; but there
 was a lightness and noiselessness in
 the step, which showed that the heavy
 boot of the foreigner would not suit
 him so we'll The clothes were no pro-
 lection against the chilly winds that
 swept the low lying plains between tht . hills and the shores of the river. A lChinaman seldom shoots over a dog
 Occasionally a sportsman of the high
 est class will be accompanied witt
 beaters, but oftener his noiseless steI and quick eye find the game and bag
 it. When I was boy it was the habi : to sight the gun with one eye closed
 but now the fashion is to keep botf
 eyes open on the bird and let the gur
 follow the eyes. This fashion was long known to the Chinese sportsman before the westerner knew there was such al instrument as gun Sometimes 2 Chinese sportsman simply presses the
 hreech of the gun against his side ant
 confides to his hands the office of di
 recting the position of the barrel in ac- c5rdance with the accuracy of his eyes
 I have seen them shoot with the mos
 apparent indifference as to how thu gun was held, but at the same time tht eyes did not fall, for invariably, thu snipe or pheasant would fall at the dis charge of the gun. The Chinese alsf knew that hard shot were more suita lble for a gun built smaller at the mug
 gle than at the breech before the pro cess of chilling shot was known in thu west. They prefer shot made of iron l and will cut nails and pieces of wirt , into small square slugs and shoot witl such preference to the best grade O chilled shot. The shot of native man - ufacture are very irregular, and ar made of iron. When the iron is melted the liquid metal is poured from { height on to stone laid in a tub 0 water, and when coal the pellets ar collected and sorted according to size but not passed through sieves, as i : the foreign custom, a process whicl causes the pellets to be very irregula | in size and shape,-Forest and Stream