Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-09-02
MORE ABOUT SOOCHOW
ANOTHER LETTER FROM DR.. EDwORDS
DESCRIBING S0OCHOw. CHINA.

Noted for Its Tea Houses and Sinfinf
Girls. Gives an Interesting Descrip.
tion Of Their Hunting Methods.
Soochow, China. August "a. 1908:
-Soochow is no'ed for its beauty and
for the many wonderful and peculiar
temples, and for its variety of tea
houses and singing girls. There is
little or no opposition to the presence
of foreigners here as this is an open
port and does much trading with the
outside world. have just returned
from q hunting expedition up the
river in our house boat. and find so
much Of interest that shall not de.
vote space to the city. We left early
in the morning. passing through the
filthy canals to the clear waters Of
the river. Everywhere are evidences
Of the coming Of the reform move
ment. which has for its object the
awakening Of China to the advantages
of modern civilization. but the coun-
try through which we were passing
soon changed and we found nothing
but the ancient people and the ancient
ways.
Passing along we came upon an in
dividual fairly out of antiquity. and
as he like ourselves was hunter. We
invited him aboard in order to get
closer acquainted with him. He
offered to sell us duck, hare and
hen pheasant One of our party asked
him if there was plenty Of duck about
and he replied that the market was
full of them in Soochow. He wanted
to exchange his game for powder. We
did not want his game but by giving
him little powder we induced him
to show US his gun. and to t0aexplain the
use of it. and also how he worked his
different plans of catching ducks. He
came alongside in fantan. about the
size of an ordinary row boat, the cen.
trail portion being rooted over with
straw mating. In this limited space
he dwelt with a wife. two children. q
dog and cat.
He produced the most primative
fowling piece have ever seen. I
tried hard to purchase it from him.
tbut although I offered him enough "a
buy fine breech loader. he would
not sell. It was home made, the bar
rel being forged out Of wrought iron,
and was about four feet long. A pis-
tol-shaped piece OF pine served for
the stock. and the firing apparatus
was like those on the old muskets
used in the time Of Oliver Cromwell.
The hammer and pan were evidently
the work of some village blacksmith,
and both were covered with rust and
were uncouth in the extreme. We
asked him to show us how he used
the gun. He did so by holding the
gun against the right elbow, inserting
the lighted end of small rope which
he carried coiled about his right
arm, in the groove in the hammer.
and taking aim, not from the shoulder
but from the elbow. he pressed the
trigger. The sound was like that Of
ripping cloth. but the gun carried
we'll and the shot punched in tie
water we'll together.
The contents of the powder flask
and shot pouch were even more sur
prising. The shot had been made by
the most primative method. He had
poured molten iron from a spoon into
| water, and result was small rounded
PARTICLES Of iron. ragning in size from
double B to dust shot. His powder
was also home made, IL being as black
rs fine. The power was good, as was
shown bv the sending of the shot
some distance at the discharge.
He explained to Us the methods OF
taking duck and other aquatic birds,
which although fraught with exposure
and great hardship are sure of Sc ccess.
One means is to cover the head with
rushes and enter the water near where
flock is feeding. The rest is easy
provided one does not mind q cold
bath with the mercury we'll down.
The hunter stealthily approaches the
birds, which do not become alarmed
at the floating rushes. for there are
many such lunches in the river. The
hunter selects the fattest and plump
est bird and grasps its feet under the
water, draws it under and fastens it
to his belt. There is no comm0tion
and the other ducks do not suspect
trouble bat continue feeding until-the
whole flock is taken, provided the
hunter can carry them all. Another
scheme, and one that involves quite
as much exposure. is for the hunter to
rest his gun on a raft made Of bam-
boo, covered with rushes. He wades
into the water, pushing this raft
along in frone of him, and swims be-
hind it until he gets close to flock
of feeding ducks. He can now wait
until he gets the birds in bunch and
get dozen or SO at one pot shot.
We gave our market hunter big
cup Of whisky for his trouble, and he
took it down as il he were accustomed
to it. Had either of us taken as much
at one drink we could not have seen
the side of the boat. but he walked
o0 .v;<h xy;thout chnuiuo ho