Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-09-09
HUNTING IN CHINA
DIR. EDWORDS DESCRIBES A HUNTING
DAY In PENNU CREEK.
Pheasant Shooting Great Sport, But Hard
Work for the Uninitiated. Birds Grow
TO an Enormous Size.

Soochow, China, August 30:-We
spent the dav in the hunting grounds
of Pennu creek which is celebrated all
over China as being great hunting
country. We reached the creek in the
early morning, and two OF US got
ashore and walked along the opposite
banks while the house boat went on
ahead. 1 had no sooner got we'll
ashore when a big cock pheasant
flushed and went whirring off. He
dropped nicely and the hunting
continued until noon, when we went
aboard with fifteen pheasants. nine
quail and two rabbits. Pheasant
shooting is not like any hunting
have ever found in America. AL
though the birds are much the same
as our prairie chicken and grouse.
they are seldom found in coveys.
generally being in pairs. and some-
times there will be two cocks and
hen together. The largest covey that
have seen was five. The cock when
full grown is marvel in colors,
while the hen is very Insignificant,
being much like ruffed grouse of the
northern part of the United States.
The novice in the sport of pheasant
shooting quickly finds difficulties
when lie finds the birds. When flushed
the birds rise with a terrible roar of
/ . nrf ~ fhn nm
initiated going like trip hammer.
The bird usually rises straight up for
fifty yards before taking line away.
He then takes a long, slanting down.
ward flight. and in order TO bag him
it is necessary to aim little lower
than he is The pheasant grows to an
astonishing size, one being reported as
being six feet from tip of beak to end
of tail.
A pronounced characteristic of the
common pheasant which abounds here
is its liking for domestic fowl, and
the pheasant cock will frequently be
found feeding with chickens in the
dooryards OF the houses. l was stand
ing in hut when one of my coolies
touched me on the shoulder and
pointed to a flock of hens near the
door. In their midst was beautiful
cock pheasant feeding in most un-
concerned manner. The hens seemed
3 to take his presence as matter OF
course. There was an old rooster.
10 tho uicitnr
from the wilds, and he was rutf1ing
his feathers in q most pugnacious
manner. I was in hopes of seeing
fight, as the natives say the pheasant
is a vigorous fighter and generally
9 kills the domestic cock. The return
d of the housewife from the paddy field,
however, caused the pheasant to take
: mis- way leisurely to the other side OF
the field, where l followed him and
q bagged him.
q The grand canal of China, into
which the Pennu creek runs, Is .
wonderful waterway. it being the bed
of the old Yangtse river, improved
d and dyked until it is now perfect
K canal. This great canal has hundreds
80 of smaller canals running into it IT. IA
all directions, and they intersect the
country to such an extent that one can
r travel all over China in houseboat.
N The canals are crossed by numerous
- bridges, generally built so steep and
20 high that it is impossible to cross
them with animals and vehicles.
le Many places boast of ferries but
generally the people living along the
20 canals have their own boats. Thous-
y ands upon thousands of house boats in
IL which the natives live, are to be
1t found all along these canals. The
s boathou population OF China will
., number we'll up into the millions. 1t
has been estimated there are more peo-
10 ple in China who live in boats than
Ct the entire population of the United
le States. When one travels along these
a canals and rivers, and Dotices the vast
~ numbers of boa.ghouses that line their
es banks, and watch are congregated
IN about the cities, he can readily be-
pr lieve what is told him. These boat
, houses are as filthy and as dirty as the
houses ashore, and in addition to this
70 filth they swim in mass OF NTH,
a especially about the cities. and to
which the Chinese pay no attention at
all.
), AS passed out of Soochow toward
the grand canal the surface of the
90 water was covered with a noisome,
q greasy, stinking slime, evidently
or sewage from the city, and dead pigs
m and cows, fioated about, humping
against the boat, but the boatmen
at Maid no attention TO them whatever.
D What their lives must be amid such
surroundings one can hardly imagine.
That they are not all swept off by
iii eidemic OF fearful disease is wonder
to that can be accounted for only ON the
supposition that long generations OF
- such experience have rendered them
III immune. Cholera does come at times
n and sweep off hundreds of thousands,
but with a population of nearly three
hundred aud fifty million China car
he spare lot and still have too many
90 peole. Starvation. misery and want
stalks abroad in the land. and in my
u next letter shall tell of a visit to {
nd camp of famine-stricken people.
Clarence E. Edwords.