“ required time for hatching. The ducklings are fed with little
“ -craw-fifhes and crabs* boiled and cut final], and afterwards
*| mixed with boiled rice, and in about a fortnight ihift for
“ themfelves, when the Chinefe provide them an old ftep-mother,
“ who leads them where they are to find provender for them-
“ felves, being firft put on board a Sampane, 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 o f the twelve (for in the colder months it does not fuc-
“ ceed) and is fo far from a novelty, that it may be every
“ where feen ; but more efpecially about the time o f cutting the
“ rice and gleaning the crop, when the mailers o f the duck
“ Sampanes row up and down the river, according to the oppor-
H tunity o f procuring food, which is found in plenty at the tide
“ o f ebb on the rice plantations, as they are overflowed at high
<{ water. It is curious to fee how the ducks obey their matter;
“ for fome thoufands, belonging to different boats, will feed at
“ large on the fame fpot, and on a iignal given will follow their
“ leader to their refpedtive Sampanes, without a ftranger being
“ found among them. This is ftill more extraordinary i f we
“ confider the number o f inhabited Sampanes on the Tigris,
“ fuppofed to be no lefs than forty thoufand, which are moored
“ in rows clofe to each other, with a narrow paflage 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.”
T h e
T he manner o f taking the wild ducks in this country is W i l d D u c k s ,
HOW TAKEN.
Angular. The performers put theirheads into the lhells o f large
gourds, with holes made in them to fee and breathe through;
then going naked into the water, they walk of fwim fo low,
that nothing appears but the gourds. The ducks, being ac-
cuftomed to fee gourds floating on the furface, and to play about
them, approach without fear ; when the duck-hunter, taking
them by the'feet, pulls them under water to prevent their making
a noife, wrings their necks, and fattens them to his girdle, pur-
fuirtg his exercife till he has procured a great number.
I m a y mention here that moft elegant o f ducks, the Chinefe ■ C h i n e s e T e a l .
Teal*\ but words are almoft wanting to exprefs the beauty o f the
coloring, and the fpecific oddity of the fine feathers o f the wings,
eredting themfelves in a curved manner when the wings are
clofed. Mr. Edwards's reprefentation f may ferve to give the
idea. Thefe are a fcarce fpecies, and kept for fale at Canton,
and fold at the rate of fix or even ten dollars the pair.
No country abounds with fiihes equal to China, yet we have F is h e s .
been very unfortunate by the inattention paid to that branch of
its natural hiftory. OJbeck and Sparman, both boafted difciples
of Linnaeus, have given us but a very meagre catalogue. From
thefe, and a few other fources, I ihall give all that I can colledt;
let me obferve that the moft numerous genera of freih water
are the carp and the perch. Du Halde mentions fome curious
fpecies of fiihes, but his defcriptions want the perfpicuity o f a
naturalift, fo are unintelligible.
Dd Halde ii. p. 316. gives us two very curious methods of
* Latham, Ornith, Vol. iii. 548. t Tab. 102.
S a , filhing,