This method is frequently put in praftice on the river Ganges,
ufing the earthen vefiels of the Gentoos inftead of the calalafhes:
thefe vefiels are what the Gentoos boil their rice in, and are called
Kutcharee pots (they likewife make adilh for their tables in them,
which goes by the fame name) : after thefe are once ufed they
look upon them as defiled, and in courfe throw them into the
river as ufelefs ; and the Duck-takers find them convenient for
their purpofe, as the Ducks, from conftantly feeing the vefiels
float down the ftream, look upon them as objeAs of full as
little regard as a calabafh. The above, or fome fuch method, is
alfo praAifed in China*, as well as India-, alfo in the ifland of
Ceylon f . By the fame means they are faid to take Wild Geefe in
South America J. Some authors fay that a hollow wooden vefjel
is ufed to place over the head, with holes to fee through ||.
The Chineje make great ufe of Ducks, but do not prefer the wild
fort, being in general extremely fond of tame ones: and it is faid
that the major part of thefe are hatched by artificial heat -, the eggs,
being laid in boxes of fand, are placed on a brick hearth, to
which is given a proper heat during the required time for hatching.
The Ducklings are fed with little craw-fifhes and crabs,
boiled and cut fmall, and afterwards mixed with boiled rice-,
and in about a fortnight fhift for themfelves, when the Chinefe
* Du Halde Hiß. China, vol. ii. p. 142. pi. in p. 162.
f MS. in Britifh Mufeum, 3324.
t At Carthagena, to the eaß of Monte de la Pofa, in a large lake called Cienega
de Tefcos, the Wild Geefe coming there of an evening in vaft flights.— Ulloa's
Voy. i. p. 53.
il Sympfon Voy. to the Eaß Indies.—See Naval Chron. vol. ii. p. 473, with a
plate of the fame.— See alfo Ind. Zool. p. 12.— Zool. Ind. p. 21.— Pococke mentions
the circnmltance, but does not feem to credit it. Trav. vol. i. p. 2to.
8 ' provide
provide them an old fiep-mother, who leads them where they are
to find provender for themfelves; being firfi put on board afam-
pane or boat, which is deftined for their habitation, and from
which the whole flock, often to the amount of three or four
hundred, go out to feed, and return at command. This method
is ufed nine months out of'the twelve (for in the colder months
it does not fucceed), and is fo far from a novelty, that it may be
every where feen; but more efpecially about the time of cutting
the rice and gleaning the crop, when the mailers of the Duck
fampanes row up and down the river according to the opportunity
of procuring food, which is found in plenty, at the tide of
ebb, on the rice plantations, as they are overflowed at high water.
It is curious to fee how the Ducks obey their mailer; for fome
thoufands, belonging to different boats, will feed at large on the
fame fpot, and on a fignal given will follow their leader to their
refpeAive fampanes, without a flranger being found among them *.
This is ftill more extraordinary, if we confider the number of inhabited
fampanes + on the Tigris, fuppofed to be no lefs than
forty thoufand, which are moored in rows clofe to each other,
with a narrow paflfage at intervals for boats, to pafs up and down
the river. The Tigris, at Canton, is fomewhat wider than the
Thames at London, and the whole river is there covered in this
manner for the extent of at leaft a mile J.
* This I have heard feveral affirm. It is likewife mentioned by many authors,
among which fee OJb. Voy. i. p. 194.— Torten Voy. ii. p. 255.
■ f Sampans is the common name for a boat; the inhabited ones contain each a
feparate family, of which it is the only dwelling ; and very many of the Chinefe
pafs almoft their whole lives on the water.
I Cook', laß Voy. vol. iii. p. 435.
We