The sun., 1909-01-31

ding. dong. ding, and so on ad infintum
until you marvelled at the strength Of
I that arm and wished its owner far, far
/ way where there is no cold and Ice.
This gong seems to be quite usual in the
smaller villages, as brigaadage is prev
a.ent and the sound Of the gong ~
supposed to inform any marauding ban I
of the strict watch kept,
We turned out with the sun, had break
fast, and started out with two coolies
for a marsh about two miles back. The
snipe shooting was excellent and We
started to return about 8 o clock, as rain
was threatening.
The coolies instead of stringing the
birds had taken of their large rain hats
inverted them. and were using them for
trays. One Of us happening TO drop
behind for moment. picked up bird
from the pathway, then another and
another until we had four or five. The
rascally coolies had been dropping the
| birds to tighten their loads
When about half mile from the boat
we heard an alteration in the court
yard Of one of the outlying houses. and
noticing a crowd Of coolies we stopped
| in to see the excitement Much TO our
surprise, we found old Foo with his hands
full he had bargained for a young
goose and some eggs; the goose under
his arm and the eggs in his basket. he
tried to cut down the prices. Much to
his disgust. the farmer had called in
few friends and Foo would have got
a well deserved thra shing had We not
paid the farmers bill.
Upon being questioned as to his reason
for buying poultry, as we expected to
have plenty OF game, he wisely replied:
-Kiu kau (snipe); no can eat this side;
belong ship side make one great big show
time we go back" He hadn't lived with
Anglo-Saxo xons for nothing
For three days we moved slowly up
the river, stopping at likely looking
marshes for snipe and ducks Though
we enjoyed fair shooting the continued
rains had driven the snipe from the nearer
marshes and we had to fall back on wild
pigeon shooting. This, however. was
ex cellent, and our bags began to assume
quite a respectable appearance.
After long days tramp we would
return to the boat and always find Foo
ready with the orange peel and hot water
on deck the Joss sticks burning before
the idol and the charcoal lighted in the
brazier. We always brought him some
OF the shaik pokes Qarge wading birds)
marshes. He insisted that their flesh
when dried was excellent for cough and
carried about two dozen OF the birds TO
his mother in Canton.
We were very pleasantly surprised to
find the farmer coolies most courteous
anQ ODuRnR DeVause tnere fhu Dceh
missionary murdered by pirates only
few months before and the river was even
then being patrolled by English gun
boats. One instance in particular made
us peculiarly grateful.
Two of us had wandered far inland. so
absorbed in the pigeon shooting over the
fields that we did not notice how low the
sun was sinking until che brief twilight
was on US We started back in the direc-
ton OF the boat, but after An hour spent
in stumbling into bitches and wading rice
paddles up To our hips in mud we stopped
at a village TO get a guide.
We OF course could speak very little
Chinese and the farmers no English at all,
but we finally made an old fellow under
stand what we wanted. and securing sew
eral torches of reeds he undertook to
guide us home. We stumbled along
after him. passing around several villages
whose barred gates were evidence of the
prevalence Of lawlessness in that section
Of the country.
We heard frequent reports which
sounded like gunshots but which turned
out to be the giant firecraokers fired TO the
heavy rains which were delaying the
DROPS. When some distance from the
boat we heard our call letter (the W Winning
ton's) S-2i2. OF the wigwag code, two
reports, then one, then two again. We
The other member Of our party, growing
anxious. had fired the signal 10 learn our
whereabouts.
We gave our guide some money. chow
and big drink Of the white mans burs