GEHfcRAL

UHIVE«S«Y Of

Jf~ Aa*? *i£?0 6*€^. c.f-i^Jjfc±-c^e.4(_ c* ^»-*.<^ ££.a£- *JA*~ /icit t^_
S^i^+a^, 3/*~?-~ C- tCi. t^tn— l~j c*a *-*f-/±e*i~«, t-i/t-. /cu^ 7<^7>v /w^t

/in*£~c£<»^* jiA.ii*.£~, *^~^- *rK**r CA^t^yj 4<jA-a-c£- 4c-£&*e-rH4^-

PrcUc, /;J*~tC a^^7 *~ X-^- 4 J/- x ^^~ ~*

to ljo.1 in inrfia.

' Pleasant is the fisher's life
By the waters streaming."

• O laborum dnlee lenimen."

' Dulce est desipere in loco."

* * " neque semper areum
tendit Apollo.''

Ill R

ROD IN INDIA:

BEING

HINTS HOW TO OBTAIN SPORT,

WITH

Remarks on the Natural History of Fish, their Culture, and Value;

AND

ILLUSTRATIONS OF FISH AND TACKLE.

HENRY SULLIVAN THOMAS.

ii

MADRAS CIVIL SERVK 1
F.L.S., VND F.Z.S.

?rronO (?Dttion.

LONDON :

HAMILTON. ADAMS & Co.,

32, Paternoster Row.

1881.

[A// rights rest''. (J ]

LONDON :

BABBISON AND SONS, PBINTBES IS ORDIXAHY TO IIEI1 MAJ!
45 & 46, ST. martin's lane.

PREFACE

To the Second Edition.

Tins Second Edition is nearly half of it a new book.

In my First Edition I sought the co-operation of
brother anglers. Kindly have they responded, some
direct to myself, some through the medium of the Press
Many told me things that I had learnt myself in the
interim: such matter is introduced afresh in this edition
as my own, as it none the less is ; but I thank corre-
spondents all the same. Some told me things I did not
know : such matter, wherever it appears, is honestly
acknowledged by name or initial, both that the reader
may know who is the authority for it, where I am at
liberty to quote the full name, and also that he may
recognize the advantage of the kindliness.

All such communications as have been made direct to
myself, and consequently appear for the first time in
print, have been printed in the same type as my own
matter. Such communications as have come to me
through the Press, even though it may be kindly stated
in them that they were penned in answer to my invita-
tion, are, as extracts, printed in smaller type; partly to
distinguish them from what is quite new, and partly to
my book from becoming unwieldy, not in any way to
imply less value.

Of these last communications I have had to clip some
not a little because they repeated what was to be found
elsewhere in the book. I trust I may be forgiven by the
writi

M846856

TT PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

I have enlarged the page, bo as to be able to present

better plates, but I have not enlarged the type to suit.
It* I have sinned against printing rules in this matter it is
that I may keep my book from being too bulky to be still
an angler's companion.

I have admitted in the contributions of others though,
as promised in the earlier preface, I have excluded from
nij- own matter, narrative of sport achieved, because I
thought it likely to prove interesting, and an incentive to
take to Indian fishing. And this it is hoped the Chapter
mi Fishing Localities will help my readers to find their
way to, as the rest of the book may aid them to accom-
plish.

If old hands, nevertheless, find nothing new in these
pages, will they kindly consider that it is mainly their own
fault for knowing too much. But why should I apologize
to such, 1'ir really good fishermen will not expect to learn,
and if they concur, even in part, they are sure to be
friendly.

It only remains to cordially wish you the good sport
which this book aims at helping you to obtain.

H. S. THOMAS.
Guernsey, July, 1881.

PREFACE.

I" the Angler.

I promise thai yen shall not he wearied by long yams
about the fish that I have caught ; the object is to set
your rod bending, and your heart leaping.

Do Dot be afraid of the natural history. There is not
more of it than a good fisherman ought to know, and
as it is expressed simply I trust it is not very uninterest-
ing.

To the Non-Fisherman lover of Natural History and

Pisciculture.

As you may not care to wade through the whole book
for the bits likely to interest you, and as those bits are
necessarily scattered where they are applicable, a special
Appendix will enable you to pick them out without trouble
or waste of time.

You must kindly excuse the unscientific language used
for the sake of fishermen pure and simple, who will
probably be my chief readers. 1 plead and follow herein,
the example of that distinguished and pleasant naturalist,
Charles Waterton, who hail both the courage and the
position to be able to say he had " confined himself to a
"few simple words in preference to a scientific jaw-
'' breaking description ;" so that young naturalists might
understand him at once, which was all he aimed at.

Ye giants in natural history, for whom this simple little
book i- scarcely fitting fodder, but who roaj yei dallywith
it for half an hour for the sake of the few crumbs to be

Vltr PREFAl E.

gathered here and there, bear with rue if in my little effort
to follow, longo intervallo, the style of such a naturalist as
Waterton, I timidly shelter myself under another quota-
tion from his Essays on Natural History ; it will serve to
explain my reasons for taking him for my model. :' I
" verily believe that if an unfortunate criminal just now
" were defended by a sergeant-at-law, without his
" professional wig and gown, and then condemmed to
" death by my lord judge in plain clothes, the people
" would exclaim 'that poor devil has not had a fair trial.'
'■' So it is with natural history. Divest a book on birds,
" for example, of its unintelligible nomenclature, together
" with its perplexing display of new divisions, and then it
" will soon be declared deficient in the main points, mid
" be condemned to slumber on the dusty shelf. If in this
" little treatise on monkeys I shall succeed in imparting a
'' love for natural history into the minds of my young
" readers, and at the same time convince them how much
" is gained in the field, and how little in the closet, my
" time and labour will he well repaid. I will introduce
" no harsh words to confound them, nor recommend to
" them systems, which at best, are unsatisfactory inven-
" tions. All that I have got to sa}r shall lie placed before
" them in so clear a point of view, that every reader, be
" his education light or solid, will be able to comprehend
" my meaning, and nothing more than this can be
" required." Like my model, my aim in this respect is to
impart a love of natural history to fishermen, and to gain
amongst them more friends and coadjutors for pisciculture
in India. In my Official Reports to Government also, all
the members of which are not necessarilv pisciculturists, I
have ever studiously excluded all hard words from the
text, and have pushed them unceremoniously into the
margin ; so also in this little book any phraseology of
science will he found condemned to a foot-note, or to the

PREFACE. IX

close company of a plain Saxon synonym. Thus disposed

no exception can well lie taken to its presence, especially
in the names of fish where, without such accuracy of
expression, it would be hard to know for certain which fish
it was that was being Bpoken of.

But lest this Beeming rudeness to natural history
should scare away some that might otherwise do me (he
bonour of at least a cursory reading, I think I had hetter
present my letter of introduction. The following letter
and the handsome accompanying Medal, which I had the
unexpected honour of receiving from the Acclimatization
Society of Paris, is the best evidence that, though in a
bumble way, I have still given some painstaking attention
to the suhject on which I write : — " J'ai l'honneurde vous
" informer que la Socidtc d'Acclimatation, sur la proposi-
'" tion de sa Commission des recompenses, vous a decerne
" une medaille de lcrc' classe pour vos travaux de pisci-
" culture dans l'lnde."

To the Critic.
- Spare the Rod !!"

Acknowledgments.

For two of my plates,' the Mahseer and the Murrel,
I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Bidie, Curator of the
Government Museum in Madras, who very kindly afforded
every facility to my draughtsman. The Barilius Bakeri
has been copied by permission from Dr. Day's " Fishes
of Malabar."

II. s. THOMAS.

MangcUore, April, 1873.

I m p] ttea have nut been need in the pn -■

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEfi I

INTRODTJI H)RY.

The objects of this book

As good fishing to be bad in India as in England

Author's apologies for himself ami his subject..

Fishermen the best friends of Pisciculture

Repetition of former works on general fishing avoided, and remarks confined

to purely Indian fishing
Continued co-operation of anglers sought
Contributions and assistance acknowledged
Anglers in India are comparatively few

Page

1

CHAPTER II

THE M AII-U .1:

A sport ing fish

7

Shows better sport than the salmon

8

The necessity for being prepared for its sudden rush

8, 9

Advantages of a pliable rod. .

0

Winch friction

10

;r fish

11

Continuity of pressure

11

Manner of pressure

18

Landing

15

Edibility of Mai -

16

lant necessary

16

1 IIAITKI; III
IT IK N \ I I'KAI. BISTORT I'K un-

its 11.1

Its description by Dr. Day

different sort- of Mi iseer
Manner of drawing M

MAIM. 1. 1:

18
18
80

XII

CONTENTS.

Manner of colouring Mahseer

It is not confined to Bengal

Etymology of the name Mahseer

Its size

A rare buffalo

Calculating size by length of Mahseer

The migratory habits of the Mahseer

Not spent and unwholesome after spawning, because of peculiarity

spawning
How to judge of time of spawning
Reason for the peculiarity in spawning
Inventory of the contents of Mahseer's stomach
Conclusion therefrom that the Mahseer is a bottom feeder
The same conclusion from the formation of the outside of mouth. .
Power of sucking up Molluscs, etc., from the bottom
Power of pharyngeal or throat teeth
Are they shed periodically ..
Power of jaw also

of

Page
23
24
2i
24, i:,
26
26
26

27
27
28
29
31
31
31
32
32
32

CHAPTER IV.

CIRCUMVENTINQ TIIE MAHSEER.

Not to be caught by the same rules as English fish
The clearest water the best for fishiiig

Except with live bait

The Mahseer a fish-eater though a carp

Extraordinary power of jaw

Hooks crushed by it

Importance of Inuring in mind the Mahseer's bottom feeding habits

Artificial ily as a bait for Mahseer

Advantages and disadvantages thereof

Less killing than spinning ..

Should always be available in addition to spinning

Special necessity for keeping out of sight

33
33
31
35
35
36
37
37
38

sa

38

CHAPTER V.

SPINNING FOR MAHSEER.

I in' bail versus dead bait ..
Importance of keeping out of sight ..

\\ eight, si/e, and advantages of spoon bait

tfagic ..
Phantom minnow..

Spinning with dead fi&h

A pliable rod advocated

in
II
u
49
1 1
ll
15

CONTES l>.

XIII

Stiff Mahseer rod depri .. .. .. 16

SCodee of baiting with dead flah .. .. .. .. .. 17

Pine taokle desirable .. .. .. .. .. .. 61

Sort of fish for bait .. .. .. .. .. .. 52

Best site for bait .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 53

Large flab deter amall flah from anticipating theoo .. .. .. 54

1 1 1 fisherman generally kills better Bah than an indifferent fisherman . . 54

Bah wary . . .. . . . . . . 55

Ki-h able to communicate ideas to each other . . .. .. .. 56

Fish think and hare brai .. .. .. .. .. 57

Examples of birds, beasts, and insects """""""irating ideas, and the analogy

to be drawn therefrom in favour of fial .. .. .. 58

Gregarious fish communicate .. .. .. .. .. 64

Salt preferred to spirits for preservation of bail .. .. .. 66

CHAPTEE VI.

HOW, WHEN, AND WHERE TO FISH FOR MAIISEER.

Spinning against and across stream

Habits of small fish

Velocity at which to spin

Object of bait revolving on its own axis

Manner in which big ti-li surprise their food

And sometimes chase it

Educated fish

Prey chiefly on sick fish

Short-sighteiln--:- of fish through water

How to spin when bait is being followed

Imperative necessity for keeping out of sight

Refraction in water

Stalk yonr fish

Manner of spinning with a fly top

B -cason of the year for fishing

Best hours of the day for fishing

Rivers in which to fish

The parts of a river to be fished

Pool fishing

Fishing deep

Tyranny among flah

67
68
69
69
70
70
72
73
7:t
75
77
78
7'.'
80
82
83
83
85
86
87
88

CHAPTEE VII.

FLY FISHING FOR MAHSKKK

Fishing with a Salmon fly
The rationale
n of flies

'.HI
!<1

98

XIV CONTENTS.

Page

Sizes of Hies

94

Sizes of hooks

94

The Blackamoor fly

96

Sizes of flies

'.'7

Hooks drawing in India

97

.Miinner of fly fishing

97

Fish slowly

98

Striking a fish

98

Position of the rod

99

CHAITEII VIII.

GEAM FISHING FOR MAHSEER,

Previous ground baiting

101

Size of hook

102

Manner of baiting hook

102

Manner of fishing . .

102

Place and season for fishing

108

Concealment unnecessary

103

Size of fish caught by gram. .

103

Other grain tried unsuccessfully

103

W. F. F.'s method

lot

.). A. B.'s suggestions

1 09

Bottom fishing

109

A night line

110

CHAPTER IX.

LIVE BAIT FISHING FOR MAIISKKU

Colonel Parson's method of fishing in coloured water

Size of live bait

Method of baiting. .

December and January blank months

Peculiar-eyed hooks

Eyed-hooks rusting gut

Usefulness of eyed-hooks

Sizes of eyed and ringed hooks

Method of preparing -h 1

A 70-lb. iisli

The bag made by this method

Ophiocephahix gachua unsuited to this sort of fishing

111
111
113
118
113
118
114
111
115
116
in;

117

CHAlTEi: X.

I HE CARNAT1C CARP.

Has a smaller mouth than Mahseer ..
The weight of Carnatio Carp

lis
118

CON!

XV

Is something like t Chub

Tin" Indian i-.ir.i

Qot il in bis bones "
The first lesson
The plaoee to lish . .
Throwing again in tbe simc plaeo
Climatic Carp congregate and wander like Dace
Paddy bird's wisdom
Playing tbe fish

Keep to u swim, without over-working it
Ki-li reassured
Monkeys attract Bah
Taking a rapid

The rod. line, and taekle used
Different baits 1 1
Fishing alternate pools
How to make a coracle comfortable . .
Edibility of the Carnatic Carp
Its manner of taking the flv
Fish blowing out the fly
I - mouth is his hand ..

Striking a Salmon, a Mahseer, a Trout, a Dace
Fishing on natural history basis
Striking fine

Characteristics of salmon and trout rods
Importance of selecting the right style of rod
Distribution of Carnatic Carp
Soon for fishing
Don't fish fasting . .

Dr. Day's description of the Carnatic Carp
Difficult; of ascertaining native names

a Carnat

ie Carp,

etc.

Page

11:1
ISO
121
1 _• 1
121
122
122
12i)
123
124
124
124
125
126
128
120
129
181
131
131
132
133
131
135
135
13fi
137
137
137
138
138

CHAPTER XI.

SMALL FLV-TAKKRS

Small fish more accessible than Mahseer

140

Simple English names will be assigned to lisli .
The Ckela argen*ea
Other Chclas

140
141
141

They will thrive in ponds
Their size

1 11
141

The flies for them. .

141

Require .pii.k striking
The hours to fish

142
142

The places

142

fan he taken with float

142

XVI

CONTENTS.

Vernacular names of Chela . .

Frogs rising to flies

Dr. Day's description of Chela

The Black Spot, or Burbus jilamentosus and

Their localities

Their manner of taking a fly

Require the finest fishing . .

Are very shy

Swim in shoals

Thrive in ponds

Taking hours

Dr. Day's description

Barbus Chrysopoma, or Olive Carp

The lesser Barils

Their colours and size and localities

They are game little fly-takers

The flies for them

Indian entomology

They are shy

Fishing up-stream. .

Knots

Dr. Day's description of Barils

The Indian trout or Barilius bola

Colonel Parson's paper on it

OreitHlS, wrongly called a trout

The colour and size of the Indian trout

The baits for it and the time for fishing

The places to fish in

The; are a favourite bait for the Mahseer

Native fisherman's manner of noosing them

Remarks on Limerick hooks .*

More places to lish lor I udian trout . .

Thej leap into the air

Dr. Day's description of it ..

Mahecola

Page

1 12
113
1 IS
144
1+4
] 15
115
145
146
146
148
146
146
147
147
147
148

1 IN

149
150
150
153
164
154
151
155
155
1 :,:,
156
156
156
156
157
157

i WAITER XII.

HOTTOM FISHING FOR I U'.F.os

Float fishing not without charms

The l.nlu'us, their sorts and sizes

Their varieties

Several bags made in ponds. .

Native manner of fishing

I tbeos used for stocking ponds

l he rod and tackle suited tor them

\\ sighting the line

Ground bait and plumb the depth

158
150
159
169
L60
161
161
161
162

I 0NTENT8.

XVII

Bait for . .

How to strike for . .

I - "tn-kim; bail up from thi

i ■ - Bgfal stubbornly

Their Tentacular rami's and distribution

Tin- White Carp, or Cirrhina cirrhosa

Tort.

Pr. Day's description of Labeos

And of Cirrh inn cirrhosa . .

P ■
l B

tea

168
164

164
164
168
165

16(5

CHAPTER XIII.

FBESHWi i i:i; SB LRKS

Three sorts introduced

Not sporting, but large fish. .

Foul feeders

Their distribution and the waters they affect ..

Baits for Wa&ago altu

It is cautious and shortsighted

Roams in search of food

Bat/anus Yarrellii, its size, etc.

Silumiia Gnngelica, its size, etc.

'runs
Dr. Day's descriptions
Mr. Welcome's Siluroids and other Assam fish

167
167

It', 7
168
168

169

169
170

171
171
171

( HAITF.i: XIV

THE MTJRE LL.

Nomenclature

Similarity to a Pike

Habits ..

How, when, and where to fish for it . .

Shooting it

Tackle for Murral

Lire-bail fishing for

Different ways of lire-baiting

The lil.re of the Sago Palm

Dapping with a dead frog

Baiting with a live frog

The Asiatic trimmer

The life of ■ frog . .

Frogs eating frogs . .

Its power of living out of water

Breathes air

Buries itself alive

171
171
17.-.
175
176
176
177
177
178
178
178
17'J
181
182
182
1 J
188

XVIII

CONTENTS.

Thrives in ponds and wells ..
Exhibits parental affection . .
Seropes' story
Dr. Day's description of Ophiocepludida

CHAPTEE XV.

EELS.

Good eating

Size

Setting night -lines for

Gorge hook preferred

chaitki; xvr.

FISHING ON THE NEILGHERRIES.

Unfortunately misdirected energies ..
Judicious netting desirable
Tench versus Labeos
Lochleven Trout in the Pykara stream
They should be transferred to the Lake
\ stream not necessary t<> the breeding of Trout
Indian Pike introduced among the Trout
C'arnatic Carp introduced by Dr. Day, and flourishing . .
Other fish in the Billikal hike

The Lakes might be stocked with sporting fish of good sorts
1 low to fish for Carp and Tench

CHAPTEE XVII.

FISHING IN ESTUARIES.

Page
1S3
183
183
185

187
187
188
188

189

100

190

190

191

191

193

193

194

194

195

Estuary fishing dependent on the tides

196

Small li-h ascend by backwater

197

Polynemus tetradactylus or Ba-»iin ..

198

Colonel W. Osborn's paper on it

199

The water in which they are to be found

21X1

They feed on the grey mullet fry

2(10

The best time in the tide discussed ..

800

The rod preferred. .

201

The line and tackle

201

Flight of hooks

202

Halts

202

The best way to fish

203

The best side of the bridge ..

203

Manoeuvring in face of the enemy

204

Fishing localities

205

Sporting season

205

CONTENTS. Xi\

I-

The flah nokaoed bj putrid smelling water .. .. .. .. 206

Strength and sue of Polynamui .. .. .. .. .. 205

Strikr .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 806

The Ha-m)n Committee .. .. .. .. .. 206

M.'s experiences .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 206

Pambcn Salmon .. .. .. .. .. .. 208

Unnecessary strength of natite taoUe .. .. ■. •• 209

Dr. Di ption of Pofgrntrntm . . .. .. .. .. 2ln

The Ooek-Up or Nair fish (Lutes va/rarifer) .. .. .. .. 210

Vernacular names of .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 In

Siieof .. .. .. .. 210

Season and water for .. .. .. .. 210

Tackle and bait for .. .. .. .. .. .. 211

Kims out much line ■■ .. .. .. .. 211

Maimer of spinning for .. .. .. 211

Of taking bait . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Playing .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 212

Time for fishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Dr. Day's description .. .. .. .. .. .. 213

The Red Perch (Lutianus roxeits) .. .. .. .. .. 21 :i

Other estuary fish. . .. .. .. .. .. .. 211

The Seer (Cybium) .. .. .. .. .. .. 2U

Trailing spinning bait from sailing boat .. .. .. .. 215

Punctuality of sea fish may be taken advantage of .. .. .. 216

Bottom fishing in the sea .. .. .. .. .. 217

Chanos salmoneus or Hyder's fish .. .. .. .. .. 217

The peculiarities of its capture .. .. .. .. 218

Acclimatization of sea fish to fresh water .. .. .. .. 219

CHAPTEB XVIII.

ROD AND TACKLE.

Rough and ready arrangement < disapproved .. .. .. .. 220

Mahseer hooks

Tackle shops mentioned

Hints to tackle makers

Phantoms

Spoons

Split rings

Convenient loop-knot

Soaking trut

Rust-eaten gut

Swivels

Hooks drawing

Winch ..

Running line

220

221

222

228
228

824
226
226
226
227
223
228

b 2

XX

CONTENTS.

Page

Out

232

Rod

234

Sinkers . .

239

Whipping

240

Flight of hooks

240

Preserving tackle . .

242

Wax

843

Lead wire

244

Copper wire

214

Whipping cord

2H

Bait kettle

211

Ottei

215

Guide to ordering tackle

249

Harking Jour gear

252

CHAPTER XIX.

FISHING GEAR AND OTHER SMALL BEER.

Water-proof wading stockings not recommended

254

Short-tailed coat

254

Broad-soled ankle-boots

255

Greasing them

255

Braces

255

Thick socks

255

Leech gaiters

255

White clothes objectionable. .

256

Ad\an(ages of wading

256

Crocodiles not to be feared

256

CHAPTEB XX.

THE TAME OTi'Eli.

Its habit of feeding

It- B6DB6 of smell under water

Origin of its name. .

Ii- similarity to the dog

Ii - r:iM domes! icatiou . . ..

1 1 capacity for showing

It- utility as d means of catching fish

Its destructiveness in a wild Btate

bout otters
lis scientific nomenclature and description
Peculiar formation and uso of its tail
Other remarks on it
Manner of rearing them
Their end

S69

259
260
260
860
261
861
262
868
865
266
267
267
268

CONTENTS.

\M

CHAPTER XXI.

SPAWNING.

AmnVial bree ling io 1'

Yt\ in rice IK 1 U ..

Different ways of spawning..

Fish ora in the rivers and iu the sea . .

The rivers in tin

Their recognition u means of tracing migratory fish in i

How sea-fish know theii

Suspending vitality of ova iu sun-dried miro

269
270

270

-71
272
-7:i
27:)
^7:1

CHAPTEE XXII

STOCKING PONDS.

Sport might bo had by it . .

The Vallum pond experiment
Labeos breeding in ponds
I ion of speoi

Dry and cultivate your pond

Sooroe of « considered

Snail breeding

The weed to put in

The fish to put in . .

The (louranii, Uxphromenus olfax

Its introduction ..

ible Bah to prop i
I :.'s for doing so in the Government Central Museum

And the People's Park
Net poaching by night
Gourami bear transport well
Overflow..
I ireed more rapidly in Iudia than in En l;1 ml

275
275
276
277
277
277
277
278
279
279
278
279
280
881
282
282
883
283

CHAPTEE XXIII

SOS0BLLANE01 S.

Amadavats going to bed

ilea
ring „ ..
Differ. i crocodile and all

CrocodU.s have th

a porpoise and a whale ..
Simple means of making a well in a boat for h

285
286
286
287
889
288
888

XXII

CONTENTS.

Oxygenating water for keeping live bait

A fish upside down rendered powerless

Fish renewing their scales

The lateral line . .

Sea-fish acclimatized to fresh water . .

Muddy fish improved in spring water

Fish's sense of knowing where the water is

The pain given by anglers

Do fish sleep ? . .

A fish's manner of swimming

Habits of Kingfishers

A paper scent

White ants

Elephants1 hair

The size of the river affects the size of the- fir.]

Growth and feeding of fish .

Stuffing fish

Ki'. i | iea for arsenical soap ..

Injurious to teeth

Corrosive sublimate

Preserving specimens in spirits

Page

288

289

289

289

289

289

289

290 also 327

292

292

295

295

296

29C

296

297

297

897

298

299

300

CHAPTEK XXIV.

FISHING LOCALITIES.

Co-operation of anglers solicited and acknowledged .. .. .. 302

The best maps to procure .. .. .. .. .. .. 302

Madbas Pbesidency :

Bellary District. — W.A.'s futile trip in it. — Possible locality .. 303

South Canara District. — Holds Mahsccr, &c. — Charmildy. — Neriya. —

Karkal. — Kirebag. — Sampaje. — Siradi .. .. .. 30-1

Uppinangady. — Subramaai. — The Comardari. — The S'ennakal-holle

Wbndae.— Fever .. .. .. .. .. 305

Jadkal. — Mala. — Cooloor. — Xagawadi.— Biranthadaka. — Dharma-

stala — Mangalore.— Cicili . — Cundapoor. — Mudradi .. .. 306

('iiIMBATOBK DlSTRIl I :

Metapolliam. — Nellatorai. — Tokampatti. — Puthur. — Chengal. —

Shittuguni .. .. .. .. .. .. 307

Pillur. — Kadukai. — Virali. — Perali.— Taimalai .. .. .. 308

Attapadi. Shennangondi. — Gopaueri. — Kilramadi. — Sirumugi. —

Kanayampoliam, — Animalais .. .. .. .. 809

Maduba Distbict :

Pamben.—Periar.—Pulney Hills .. .. .. .. 309

INTENTS. XXIII

M U \uar District :

Tnlupnnnbu. — Billipatam. — Chupurapadu. — Surukundapuram. —

Kn.'i-ni — EtoooUT. — Iratti. — Ki>hur. — Gniuoth. — Anjeraeoondv.

i 100th. — Mulic. — Pur.ikudu. — Cootyaddy, Bey] \

-Edda. — Mumnmh. — Maumhat .. .. .. 310

Nellamhur. — Eddaimumah. — Yeddakura. — Tirrangadj . — Malla-
pur.mi. — Ifanjairy. -Angadipuram. — Alanalur. — Pandikad. —
Palgat. — Cudnlloor. — ( Sottampally.— Wurracunchairy. — Colon-
p,„li. — The Cubbany. — The Noogoo. — The Moyaur, M.maii-
v. — Bawally. — Cauk&nootta. Gunnapaddyrattam. — Sultan's-
battery. — Oudnlur. — Munaur. — Attapadi .. .. .. 311

- oaagondi — Gopaneri. — Eddawarra. — Nadghany. — Mahe . . 312

Nellore District :

The Muri— Kistnapatam . . . . . . . . 312

Salem District :

Hoginknl. — Pennagaram .. .. .. .. .. 312

Sholapadi .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 313

Taxjobe District :

No Mahseer, but other fish. — Tanjore town. — Negapatam. . .. 313

Tinxevelly District :

Courtallum.— Pulliary Pass .. .. .. .. .. 313

Paupanassam. — Arienkavu. — Tlie Tamberapoorny . . . . 314

Tratascohe State :

iicoorchi. — Toracadu .. .. .. .. 314

Tbichixofoly District :

Trichinopoly anicut . . . . . . . . . . 314

Mysore Territory :

Very much plied with nets, cruives, and poison. — Tirthahalli. —
Malur. — Mandagadde. — Sacrabyle. — Shimoga. — Balehammr. —
Calasa. — Honsoor . . . . . . . . . . 315

Chunehineuttay. — Mandagherry. — The HeraaTatty. llunsogec. —
Ramnailipoor. — Haggadavencottah. — Caukencottah. — Manan-
toddy . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

COOEG :

Verajendrapet .. .. .. .. .. 316

Wottakuli. — Manzerabad. — Maranhally . . . . . . 317

Bombay Presidency
North Caxaba District :

Qairsoppa .. -. •• •• •• 317

XXIV

CONTEXTS.

Bengal and Noeth-YVest Peotikcbs, Ac.
Extract from —

" K.'s " letter to the " Field," 9th October, 1869.— The Poonch.— The

Jhelum . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Sport. — Fly recommended by " K." .. .. .. .. 320

Size of his spoon . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

" Doon's " letter to the " Asian," 2nd September, 1879. — Mirzapore.

— Rewah . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Buroundah. — Yellow fly. — Dark blue fly. — Indian trout. — Allahabad

District .. .. .. .. .. .. 327

Pathurpore. — Koolsara. — Endorses the Blackamoor fly. — Sohra. —

Khurkha. — Mai. — Kohrai. — Sirsa. — Grey fly . . . . 328

" Doon's " letter to the "Asian," 14th October, 1879.— Jhansi.— The

Pahooj. — The Barbaric. — The Bctwa. — The Dessaun. — Trout

in the Barbarie . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Ooreha. — Orange fly and dark yellow fly. — Black and red fly. — Bed

spinner. — The black spinner . . . . . . . . 329

Nowgong. — Mow. — Raneepore. — Chirgaon. — Goolara. — Dhunna. —

Lullutpore . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

" Doon's " letter to the " Asian," 28th October, 1879.— The Ganges.

— The Song. — Tho Sooswa.— Dehra. — Kalapani — Kansaras. —

Jamun Kliatta. — Tuppobun. — Rickco Ehasee. — Hurdwar. —

My apore Bridge .. .. .. .. .. 331

Kuukhnl. — Asufgurh. — " Koolies." — Bypore. — Mccrut. — Spearing

fish. — Roorkce. — Puthri. — Fategarh. — Cawnpore .. .. 332

" L. J's. " lctler to the " Asian," 23rd December, 1879. — Laour. — A

grand bag . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

"Pale Face's" letter to the "Asian," 25th May, 1880.— Bata.— His

flies .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 331

The Arson. — The Luswa. — 5-lb. trout. — A night line. — Rikhikase . . 335

Nagul Ghat. — The Ramgunga. — The Kosi. — Ramnagur . . . . 336

Sialkot— Poonah.— Dar .. .. .. .. .. 337

"F. M. M.'s" letter to tho "Asian," 25th November, ls79.—

Roorkee . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Hurdwar. — Mirepoor .. .. .. .. .. 388

"Poonghee's" letter to the "Madras Times," 29th July, 1878.—

Bnrmah. — Assam. — Sylhel
Afghanistan. — Kurrum .. .. .. .. .. 31 i

C. S. Kirkpatriok'B (? Colonel, Dr., or Mr.) letter . . . . 844

Rivers of Carnnra. .
Poisoning of rivers
Fry in rivers

CHAPTEE XXV.

A PLEA FOR RIVER FISHEKII IS.

346

3iJ

: EJTTS.

XXV

Fry iii rioe fields .
I for frj .

Fry in j

pools
i season

9

ming
Ffl
Molluscs..
Sea fisheries

SS 1

3.V,

..

359

800

862

..

362

866

3G7

370

371

i ii.vriT.i; XXVI.

A PLICA FOB BE i FISHERIES.

A proposal for mating Indian Fisheries a means of alleviating Indian

Famines .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 373

Fifteen propositio .. .. .. .. .. .. :i7">

Waters that are reliable in famine .. .. .. .. .. 375

Fertility of the sea .. .. .. .. .. .. 376

Indian seas as fertile as English seas . . .. .. .. .. 380

Value of Indian seas calculated in tons of food .. .. .. 383

Comparison of fish and rioe as food .. .. .. .. .. 385

Hindu- IMi . . . . . . . . . .. . . :;stl

Effect of famine on fishermen . . . . . . . . . . 391

Fish oil and fish manure. — Indian sailors .. .. .. .. 395

Profitableness of fisheries .. .. .. .. .. .. 396

The action advocated .. .. .. .. .. .. 397

< iiaitki: XXVII.

the Naturalist and Pisciculturist
INDEX

Plat.

LITHOGRAPHS.

1.

Biirlus lot (coloured)

11.

.. (coloun

III.

,. (coloured)

IV

....

V

.. .... . •

VI.

Spinning baits for ICahseer

VII.

at treble 1 1>» . .

VIII.

of Limerick liu"k«

a

Live bail for Ifahseer

\

Barbu* Carnaticits . .

405

I"''

■ page

21

-'1

21

21

22

17

43

94

118

lis

XXVI

: r.NTS.

To face page

XI.

Cliela argentea (coloured)

141

„ Ml.

Barlus jil (coloured)

111

„ XIII.

linrhus chrysopoma . .

146

„ xiv.

Barilius Canaren-tis (coloured)

117

„ XT.

Barilius iol

131

„ XVI.

Labeo calbasu (coloured)

158

„ XVII.

Wallago attit

1G8

...Will.

Bagarin.i Varrellii ..

170

„ XIX.

Ophiocephalus stri

171

„ XX.

Potynemus fe/radai/yliis

198

„ XXI.

Bates calearifer

210

„ XXII.

Lulianus roseus (coloured)

213

„XXIII.

Megah >ides

211

.. XXIV.

Osphromenus olfax ..

270

„ XXV.

Knots

22 1

WOODCUTS.

of li>li towards the surface
E i I k and man

0 tund Lake

i h i rfloti I r i iy ..
Motions of li-li in swimming

88
170
192
283
293

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Apologia pro libro meo.

Not a few lovers of the gentle art are condemned by then calling to
pass the best Tears of their existence in India, sighing, amongst
other things, for the banks of Tweed, or Usk, or Bush, looking
forward to the too far distant time when furlough, or other
favouring circumstance, shall take them home to the land where
they may again beguile the speckled beauties from the stream,
or once more do battle with the lordly salmon. To such it may
be a comfort to know that they need not wait so long for the
"good time corning," that then' is as good fishing to be had
in India as in England; and to minister such comfort to exiled
anglers is my present philanthropic object.

I fancy there are not a few fishermen in India, good tishermen
too, who know well how to fill a basket in England, who are
nevertheless entirely at a discount in India Indeed I have met
such, and do not mind confessing that I am myself a lamentable
instance of that distressed class, for whether or not I knew how to
circumvent a trout in England, I certainly could make nothing
of the Mahseer in India, and lost all too much time iu learning
the manners and customs of thai oriental gentleman. Sad indeed
is the retrospect of golden opportunities lost! What would I not
have given to any one who would then have put me in the way of
seizing them ! To give this helping hand, the benefit of my little
experience, to brother anglers is my object in writing. It is not
that I have the assurance to think I am the right man to under-
take the task. On the contrary, I know that there are many who
have enjoyed much better opportunities of sporl in Indian waters,
and who have consequently n <rienee, as well as better

leisure. They are the men wl ight to write a book on the

subject, but they do not, and it is not my fault that they do not.

THB BOD IX INDIA. U

'2 Introductory. CHAPT. I.

It is not that I have nothing better to beguile the tedium of a
P. and 0. Steamer voyage back to India, though that may be my
opportunity for scribbling. It is that I have an idea it is a sort of
thing some fellow ought to do out of purely philanthropic motives
for his brother anglers ; and as nobody else will do it, I suppose
I must. It seems so selfish to have discovered that there is right
good fishing to be had, and then to keep it to oneself. In short, I
cannot do it ; so " here goes."

There may be some six hundred books or thereabouts on
fishing in general, but there i3 not one that I know of on fishing
in India. The subject is scarcely overwritten, therefore, in spite
of the six hundred books aforesaid.

Englishmen have few relaxations indeed in this land of their
exile. Very, very differently situated in this respect is the Public
Servant in India and his congener in England. " All work and
no play makes Jack a dull boy," but I venture to say from expe-
rience that an energetic Mahseer telegraphs such an enlivening
thrill of pleasurable excitement up the line, down the rod, and
through the wrist and arm, to the very heart of the man who has
got well fixed, that it makes his pulse beat quicker, and is
altogether as good as a tonic to him. Be he ever so cool in the
management of a heavy fish, even the old hand cannot but expe-
rience a certain amount of exhilaration.

" The stern joy which warriors feci
In foeman worthy of their steel."

I maintain that a few such electric currents before breakfast do
a man good, and send him into his daily work much mi ire wide-awake
and cheerful. Pulvennacher is nothing to it. Considering the
amount of refreshing good it does a fellow, it is a wonder an en-
lightened Government does not keep a man in rod and tackle, and
allow treble hooks to be included in the annual " Sadirwarid."*

Furthermore a successful fisherman is calculated to take more
interest than his neighbours in a matter which has grown to be
acknowledged in England, in Europe, in Australia, in New Zea-
land, in Canada, in America, in Japan, as of national importance,
to wit, pisciculture, or in other words, the means of increasing the

* An annual indent for pen*, pencils, knives, scissors, needles, thread, audsuch-
like miscellaneous articles

Chapt. I. mltwre indebted to Any

supply of animal food yielded by fishes. A really good fisherman
is a dose observer of piscine nature, and not (infrequently of
insert nature too, and is therefore Likely to bring more experience
than others to the furtherance of the object. If in mj ofl
report on Pisciculture in South Canara [have been able to give
an] information about the habits uf the Mahseer, its food, its time,
manner, ami place of spawning, ami the consequent ilangers to
which its fry are exposed, ami the protection that can he afforded
them, it must honestly be confessed that it is entirely to my
fishing rod that I owe it. These fish live in such deep and strong
waters, among so many rocks and snags, that they arc not
approachable by the net till the rivers have subsided in the dry
season, till the fish, formerly spread all over the river, have con-
gregated into the fewer remaining pools. It is obvious, therefore,
that if net-caught specimens had been the only ones available,

lusions on their habits would necessarily have been formed
on data very much limited as regards both locality and time ;
limited, in fact, to places and periods which my rod proved would
have given no information at all, for the net-caught fish would
have been only those ea] >ti!icd in the lower waters and in the dry
season, whereas my rod showed that it was in the high waters
that they spawned, and that they had completed that operation
before the dry season. By the friendly aid of my rod only wa I
able to take Mahseer at intervals over several months, and in both
the upper and lower waters of the rivers. The native anglers are
poor hands at catching the Mahseer, and I should have leaned
on a broken reed indeed had I been dependent on them, for they
were very few specimens that I got by that means, not half a
dozen -in all, whereas by the aid of my own rod I was enabled to
examine the ovaries and the stomachs of between seventy and
eighty Mahseer, and to gather therefrom reliable evidence of the
state of advancement of the former at different times and places,
a- well as the most satisfactory proof of what the fish was in the
habit of feeding upon. I say this not from any conceit with

icnce to my own individual fishing, but in common fairness
to rods in general, in acknowledgment of how greatly pisciculture
is dependent on the aid of angler sportsmen, as well as by way of
encouragement to observant fishermen, and in explanation of one
of my motives in writing on fishing, lor my idea is that il 1 can

TIIK KOI) IX INMA. I! -

4 Introductory. CHAPT. I.

do any thing towards making a man a successful fisherman, I have
advanced one step towards making him, if not a pisciculturist, at any
rate an aider in acquiring knowledge on the subject, and thus an
advancer of its progress.

Very much has been done at home for the advancement of the
science of pisciculture by the newspaper communications of
sportsmen, and though the matter thus obtained is considered and
arranged and utilized by the pisciculturist, it is to the intelligent
angler that he is after all indebted for most of his facts. In this
respect the Indian pisciculturist labours under peculiar disadvan-
tages, for he not only has to work through the medium of foreign
languages, but also without the aid, as in England, of a thousand
intelligent observers, all ready to communicate freely through the
medium of special papers like " The Field " or " Land and Water."
I write, therefore, also in the hope that anglers may be induced to
lend their kindly aid from time to time towards increasing the
knowledge of the habits of the fishes found in Indian waters, and
as a consequence to forward the efforts of those seeking the best
means of increasing the supply of this sort of food.

Still I write primarily for fishermen. In doing this, however,
it is a little difficult to know how to write. Though there are
many good fishermen in India there are also many who, from early
absence from England, know practically very little about it,
although they are ready enough to take to it, if they can only see
their way to getting sport. I have therefore two opposite courses to
follow simultaneously. I have to make myself intelligible to the
novice, and at the same time to endeavour not to weary the fisher-
man by re-writing what he has already read in different shape in
some half dozen of the six hundred books already alluded to. By
way of getting safely through this Scylla and Caribdis I must com-
mence by presuming my readers' knowledge of books such as,
" A Book on Angling," by Francis Francis, Publishers Longmans,
< 1 1 ri n &Co.j Paternoster Bow, London, in one volume octavo, price
15 Shdlings, cloth; "The Sua Fisherman," by J. C. Wilcocks, Pub-
lishers Longmans, Green and Co., London; and if he has not read
these books yet, I can only recommend him to do so, as it would
be idle for me to go again over ground already so well and so
pleasantly described. It is better that I should confine myself
as closely as possible to the Indian side of the subject, and

Chapt. I. Co-operation of Anglers sought. 5

endeavour to give my reader only what he cannot get better else-
where. Still it is impossible to do so altogether, and yel be in-
telligible tn the tyro; when I am more than ordinarily tedious
therefore to the practised fisherman, I can only hope that In- will
give me all he can spare of that commodity of which he is generally
believed to have such a plentiful supply, to wit, patience.

If brother anglers reading these pages feel inclined to give me
the benefit of their farther experiences, I shall hope to embody or
quote them in some possible future edition. The collected wisdom
of all anglers in all parts of India might thus grow into a very

complete 1 k, sufficient to show the best means of securing the

best sport available in different localities in India.

This invitation, thrown out in my first edition, has been very
kindly responded to by anglers. \.,t a few have written tome
direct, and others have contributed papers to the " Field," and to
the " Asian," sume professedly in answer to this invitation, others
in the same spirit of helping fellow fishermen to sport. For myself
I beg to tender cordial acknowledgments to all who have thus
helped in what I must call the kindliest manner. I am confirmed
in the conviction, always fixed in my mind, that it is very rare for
a good fisherman not to be a good fellow. For others, readers of
this little volume, the result is happy, for they will not be confined
to my ideas only, but will have the opinions and the experience of
others also. Believing that my readers will he glad to have the
views of others, as well as my own, and recognizing that India is
too large a field for any one person to cover unaided, I have
endeavoured to bring together in this volume all the information
kindly afforded by others. That contained in newspaper con-
tributions will he found in Chapter XXIY, on Fishing Localities,

the source and the nam ,/,• phi me being always given. Some of my
reader-, may find double interest in, and attach increased weight to,
these contributions, from recognizing under a nam dt plvm
friend well known by them to be a master in the art.

Besides the contributions of unknown writers, I am able to
give my readers two interesting communications, one from the

pen of Colonel J. Parsons, and the other by <v>] -1 W Osliorn,

Commanding 9th M.X.I. Sportsmen will find them both valuable.

The further experience- had since 1873 has also enabled me to
introduce not n little additional mattei of my own.

b' Introductory. Chait. i.

If sportsmen think that the above imitation has resulted in
any advantage to themselves, perhaps they will allow me to renew
it in this edition. Though I cannot be sanguine that this book
will live to a third edition, still stranger things have happened,
and it is just possible that it may again come to pass that anglers,
who have put themselves to the kindly trouble of co-operating
through the press or direct, may find that, in the total of experiences
put together, they get more than any one of them could individually
contribute.

Anglers are in England a numerous class, whereas in India
they form a very small minority of the lovers of sport. Whether
for love, or for money, shooting of any sort, and more particularly
heavy game shooting, is so much more difficult to obtain in
England than in India, that many who in England perforce
content themselves with the rod, would in India be seduced by
the ruder attractions of the boar-spear, the rifle, and the gun.
For myself I can well remember a day in camp, " marked evermore
with white," when rising at dawn I heard over my early cup of
coffee the trumpeting of elephants, knew that there was a fair
chance also of Bison, Sarabre, and Spotted-deer, knew also thai
there was a Mahseer river in the valley. In one corner of the
camp hut was the battery, in the other were the rods and tackle.
Which shall it be ? I may get up to those elephants in a quarter
of an hour, I may trudge ten miles and not get a shot. I know
that I can make a certainty of the Mahseer. I chose the latter.
and brought home six fine fish before breakfast, and never regretted
my choice. But I think there are not a few who, in like circum-
stances, would unhesitatingly have preferred the rifle to the rod.
And thus it comes about that anglers are in India comparatively
few. They are all too few to help each other adequately with
information over so wide an area as India; all too few to make it
worth while to write a book on the subject, except for the love of
the thing, therefore there is all the more reason why they should
continue to help each other as much as they can.

C1IAPTER II.

THE MAHSEER.

"By sports like these are all their can's beguiled." —

Goldsmith.

Of the fish to be oaught in Indian waters the best is, in my opinion,
the Mahseer, the best, I mean, as regards sport, and we may as well
begin with the best. Its size depends much on the size of tlie
river in which it is found, as will be seen in chapter III.

In my own opinion, and in that of others whom I have met,
the Mahseer shows more sport for its size than a salmon. The
essence of sport, or in other words of the enjoyment of any pursuit
lies, I take it, in the exhibition of superiority therein, whether of
skill or courage, not the exihition for others to see, but the difficult
attainment of it for our own satisfaction. It would be a tame affair
to be pork butcher to a village pig, but to spear the " mighty
boar" is quite another thing. Why? Where lies the difference ?
Simply in the fact that —

"Youth's vigour, manhood's fire,
Firm hand, and eagle eye,
Must lie possess
Who would aspire
To see the prej boar die."

Entering more or less into all sports, even into such peaceable
pursuits as chess, whist, or billiards, there are a thousand different
gradations of " the stern joy which warriors feel in foeman worth] ,
whether mentally or physically, "of their steel." It is the love of
conquest, Whal is wanted is not conquered worlds, but "more
" worlds to conquer." Who cares to pull out a dead pike o
night line? The pot-hunter, not the sportsman. To battle with
a heavy Balmon, or kill a good game troul on a very Light Line, is
quite another matter. Prom this point of view it is that I say a
Mahseer shows more sport than a salmon. Not that you can kill

8 The Mahseer. Chapt. ii.

more of them, which you may also do, but that each individual
Mahseer makes a better fight than a sahuon of the same size. I am
prepared to expect that on this point, as on most others not capable
of being proved to demonstration, some 'will disagree with me.
Qtwt homines tot sentential. For my own part I can only say that
my prejudices were all in favour of the salmon, both as being a
salmon, a sort of lion of the waters, whom I had grown up looking
on with respect from my childhood, and as being a fellow-country-
man. But the Mahseer compelled me to believe in and honour
him in spite of my prejudgment to the contrary. I came to the
conclusion that though he might not make so long a fight of it as
a salmon, he yet made a much more difficult one, because his
attack was more impetuously vehement, Ids first rush more
violent, all his energies being concentrated in making it effective,
though his efforts were not, and from that very cause, could not be,
so long sustained. Trying to account for this I had the curiosity
to measure and compare the size of his tad and fins with that of
his body, and I found that the superficial area of Ins propelling
and directing power amounted together to as much as the
superficial area of the whole of the rest of his body. The
proportion which the tail and tins of a salmon bear to the rest
of Ins body is very much smaller. The Mahseer having then so
much greater means of putting on steam, and having also the
habit of always putting it on at once energetically and unsparingly,
it is readily intelligible that his first rush is a mighty one, and
that, that made, his strength is comparatively soon exhausted.
Other rushes he will make, but Ids first is the dangerous one.
Then it is that the final issue of the campaign is practically
decided. Be one too many for him then, and you may be grimly
satisfied that all else he can do will not avail him ; you may count
on making him your own. Then it is that you must wait upon
him diligently. If you have not got all free, the connection
between you and your new friend will be severed within a
moment of your making each other's acquaintance. If you have
carelessly allowed the line to get a turn round the ti]i of the rod,
or let any slai b near the hand become kinked ever so little, or
twisted over the butt, or hitched in the reel or a button, then it is
that not a moment's law is given you for the re-adjustment of this
little matter: there ie a violent tug and an immediate smash ;

i'ii w-r. ii. The Mahserts first nuh. 0

The waters wild

Go o'er your ohild,

And yon nn- left lamenting.

You must tisli in a state of constant and careful preparedness for
this sudden and impetuous rush ; for there is no use in hooking a
fish if he is to break yon immediately. Even yonr very reel must
be looked to that it runs easily, that it is not fouled and clogged
by use, that do treacherous Band has got in from laying down your
rod and reel by the river side, for when a heavy fish goes off with
racehorse speed, he will take no denial, and woe betide you if you
cannot promptly oblige him with the line he wants. If be
cannot get it fast enough to please him, he will break it. All this
may be true of the salmon too, but it is pre-eminently so with
reference to the Mahseer. and more than ordinary attention should
be paid to it accordingly.

A single turn of the line round the top of the rod does not
always catch the eye at once, and is much more likely to occur
while spinning than when fly fishing. It is well therefore to test from
time to tine' whether or not all is free. This can easily be done
by taking a pull at the line close to the winch. If it runs freely
through the top, well, but if it does not, get vein- bait out of the
water as quickly as possible, to avoid accidents. Out with it at all
costs without a moment's hesitation. Never think of risking it, for
it is not a mere risk but a certainty that if you have the misfortune
to get a run in that plight you will also get a smash somewhere,
and not improbably of your rod. If you are too lazy to remedy
the evil immediately let me venture to suggest that it would be
better that you should retire from business.

A pliable rod is in my opinion a matter of great moment in
Mahseer fishing. The rush is so sudden and so violent that the
hand, be it ever so light, cannot answer to it sufficiently quickly.
and with a stiff rod the mischief is done in the very first tug
Whereas if yon have a pliable rod it yields instantaneously to the

tug, it yields before you have felt the tug down at tl fcher end of

the rod in your hand, and the first thing yon are aware of is the
noise of the revolving check winch, [fyon have a stiff rod yon will
require to strengthen your tackle, that is, you will be at the dis-
advantage of not being aide to fish so fine.

It is friction that yon get rid of in a pliable rod; or. to speafc

10 Tlic Mahseer. Chajt. ii.

more correctly, you get rid of undue friction, and have a greater
command of the friction which you utilize. The friction caused by
two or three turns round a capstan or about a belaying pin
amounts abnost to a dead lock, and so, in a less degree, the friction
caused by a single right angle is considerable. The latter is about
the friction caused by the line at the point of a stiff rod. In a
pliable rod the point yields quickly, reduces the angle, and so
reduces the friction, till you raise the point and renew and increase
the friction at your discretion.

The friction of the winch or reel is another item not to be left
out of your calculations in considering the amount of tension that
your bne will bear. If you want to realise this, take your winch
off the rod, and, holding it in your hand, satisfy yourself that it
runs quite easily. Then tie the end of the line to a post or
anything firm, and holding the reel in one hand run away as if you
were a fish, only run as fast as a fish swims, and you will find that
the friction of the reel, which seemed to be next to nil, will, when
multipbed by the velocity, amount to such a tension that it alone
will break any but a strong line. Consider, again, the wonderful
velocity with which a fish swims. So quickly does a trout dart
away that you can scarcely see it pass you. "When you hook a fish
it is frightened at the restraint, and exerts itself to flee therefrom
at its utmost speed. Nothing prevents its fleeing at that speed
except the resistance of your tension ; and if the fish is so big that
the resistance makes no sensible difference to it at first, as a man's
weight does not much reduce the speed of a horse, the velocity witli
which the line runs out will, with a heavy Mahseer, he very uriv;it
indeed, and the tension from winch friction alone will become very
serious. When the pace is reduced you may fall back on the rod
for additional friction, but till it is you will, in the case of a very
heavy fish on which you can make no impression, find that you
instinctively let the rod be pulled down to the angle of about r>
or 50° from the water, ami that neverthless yon still have to use
very strong tackle for large Mahseer.

Still vnu should also lie " hard" on your fish, keeping the line
as stiff as a wire from the fish to the point of the rod, so as to
avoid slack line, a state of affairs which not only facilitates a hook
dropping out, but also gives opportunities for a "foul" round a
rock. Hold the point well up so as to keep the fish free of any

Chapt. ii. Playing a Miahset 11

- at the bottom. You will find that in deep water a Manseer
will, like a ( rrayling, always bore down to the bottom. It' U
depth of 20 01 30 feel of water down ho will go t" the bottom, your
whole collar will disappear below water, and when al length you
again catch Bight of the knot that unites the '"liar to tin' running
line, you may commence "chortling in your joy," tor he is giving in,
j our strain is telling on him. as he will ae\ ei come up willingly, ho
will never spring into the air after the manner of the Salmonidn.
The moment he eomes upwards jmll him tow aids tin' shore.
in your claim for being the conqueror.

Well, all being ready for paj ing out line at any required pace at
a moment's notice, and it not being supposed that it is to be given
gratis, tar from it ; how is full toll to bo exacted for every inch?
This is usually done by raising the point of the rod more or
less according to circumstances, and thus compelling the fish to
bend it before he can get the line to run, and to head it more and
more as you feel you can steadily raise the point still further, till
eventually you " show him the butt," a contemplation that must lie
anything but pleasant to him.

Different men kill their fish differently, some taking twice as
much time about it as others. My ] 'reference is for having my
fish out of the water as soon as safely may be. Brute force is of
course out of the question, hut short of that 1 am for putting on all
the strain the rod and tackle is calculated to hear, and it is a
matter of some little nicety to know exactly how much your rod
will bear. But, above all, I am for keeping on the strain unremit-
tingly without a momenta respite. Do not give the fish an instant
to think, or it may occur to him to take up a position in which lie
can sulk at the bottom, and that is dreadfully slow work. You
must then tn ;dl the remedies usually prescribed for a sulking
salmon, but it is a tedious business at the best, and it is losing
time while you might he trying for anothei fish, My faith is that
l'V sutlicient j,r,ti,ii'litn>I,- you can prevent his ever taking to
untiring at all. The very moment he ceases rushing, comn
winding np, and wind away as vigorously as you dare without
a second's hesitation. Po not wait for him to shape the course of
events, but Bhape it yourself Bely a good deal on the force of
" pure cussedness " in a fish. Whatever you do his first idea i> i"
do the exact opposite. He is afraid of your restraint, whicl

12 The Mahseer. Chatt. n.

novel to him, and his first impulse is to break away from it.
Subsequent yearnings he may possibly have, and doubtless has,
when he comes to think of it, for the shelter of some deep corner
where he is used to solace himself, his own fireside. But it is a
novel experience to him this restraint, and it is no new work to
you, and you may pre-occupy his mind, and occupy his tail, not a
little, if you show prompt generalship. The master mind may come
in here as well as in the fall of empires, and it is surely a
pleasure to find you have that commodity somewhere about you.
Of course you have it. We all knew you had it. And now it is
proved ! The very instant the fish hesitates wind him in. It is
not impossible you may land him at once, getting him on shore
before he has well made up his mind what to do. But the proba-
bilities are that as he finds himself nearing the shore, and gets a
clearer view of the great big trowsered biped that is bothering him,
he will summon up all his strength for another rush. All right.
that is just what you want ; you only want to make him keep on
exerting himself unremittingly, and he must soon be yours. Is
there no music in that whir whir whir of the check reel, the rod
bending bravely all the while ! Surely it was of this that the
sporting poet Shakspeare said some hard tilings with reference to

" The man who hath no music in liimself
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds."

Fire away, Mr. Mahseer, discourse sweet music on the long-
stringed winch. The more the fish fights the better, the better for
sport, the better for speedily killing him : any respite is Recovery
of strength, and a good sidk makes him almost as bad tokdl as a
new fish.

The ground on which 1 lay such stress on continuity of pressure,
more even than on the strength of the pressure, is simple enough
when it is considered. Under any extraordinary exertion the mm
call on the blood, and the blood on the lungs, for speedy renewal of
speedy waste, and the result is being what is railed out of breath,
and the muscles, though by no means tired out, can do nothing till
the breath is regained, shall we say till the blood has been re-
orj genated. Never give a moment's grat e then for this re-oxygen-
ating of the blood, and you may kill a large fish in a very short
time. The average time for killing a big fish with b salmon rod is

chut. n. Playing a Mahmr. 13

a pound a minute. A twenty pound fish Bbould bo jrom own in
twenty minutes or thereabouts, according to the water in which you

have to ti<„'ht him. By continuity of pressure, unremitting strain
without one moment's respite, you keep the fish out of breath, ami
thereby neutralize the latent muscular power which a little
breathing space would Boon renew, ami give you all your work t"
do over again. This is how it is that Borne people play an ordinary
salmon for long hours, and think they have a mosl extraordinarily
game fish on. It is the same principle on which " the mighty b
is speared. Press him to his very utmost sjieeil from the first, ami
keep him at it, and you will soon overhaul him, but let him go at
his own pace, a pace that will not distress him, and he will keep
you at an English hunting gallop tiH he walks away from you, the
horse giving in before the boar, that is, if he is at all a traa

Pig-

I have a theory that if the strain on the fish is kept as much
as possible at right angles to the current, it has a greater effect on
him than any other strain. If the fish is down stream playing
lazily about, not vigorously, perhaps meditating sulks, it is obvious
that he is at a great advantage, he has the whole weight of the
stream in his favour, and you distress him very little in comparison
to the pull on your rod. He is practically resting and recruiting.
But get the pull to bear at right angles to the force of the current
and he cannot help exerting himself to keep his nose straight to
the stream. If he allows himself to be pulled out of his position,
and gets ever so slightly side on to the stream, in he comes towards
shore immediately, is frightened at the prospect, and dashes off
again just as you would have him. 'rims you keep him at it, and
very soon tire him out. In deep water, however, you may be
equally satisfied you are wasting no power by pulling the fish
upwards, for the specific gravity of a fish being very little gri
than that of water, he gains next to nothing by his weight while in
the water, and he must keep on exerting himself to swim down-
wards, with his head down and tail up, to resist your upward
strain, and as in that direction he can never swim beyond the
bottom, you are ensured againsl any violent rush A friend wrote
to me of a fish boring at first, and then making a free fight with
a good deal of spluttering on the surface. I do not look upon this
spluttering on the surface as fighting, but as an indication that the

14 Tkt Maliseer. CiiArT.ii.

fight was over, the fish was beaten, and had no longer the power
to bore down to the bottom. As soon as ever a fish begins to
splutter, the pulling upwards should cease, the point of the rod
should be lowered and pulled sideways, not upwards, so as to bring
the fish to shore without having its head out of water. Spluttering
is dangerous and to be discouraged, for direct communication
through the air means the absence of the yielding cushion which
the water supplies in easing off each jerk on the line ; it means, also,
that the fish gains the advantage of his specific gravity being
greater in the air than in the water. It is an ugly time when a
jack shakes his jaws in the air, and never is a trout so likely to get
off as when springing into the air. With fish that have not
such vices naturally it is a great mistake to help them to being
troublesome. No Mahseer, indeed none of the Indian carp, are up
to those little tricks, so never bring them to the actual surface, but
play them short of that till you land them.

Briefly, then, my idea is be heavy on your fish, and be unremit-
ting, be prompt, scan your battle-field, and choose your ground, and
shape the course of events as much as you can yourself; in a
stream pull generally at right angles to it, in deep water pull
upwards, get your fish on terra forma as soon as possible, it is the
safest place for him.

An extra reason for having the line as taut and straight from the
fish to the top of your rod as possible is that you may lesson the
chances of the fish folding it round a rock and cutting you. So
try and keep well over him till he is beaten.

I do not believe in running down the bank. I think it is
resorted to much too readily, the result being that the command
over the line is more than half lost the while, and not nearly
enough steady pressure is maintained. Hold your ground and
hold on to your fish, and the odds are you will have him. If he
keeps going, and your line is coming towards the end, follow the
fish only at such a pace as leaves you ^t ill full master of the rod
and the pressure, and do not move any faster till close on the last
extremity. To endeavour to race your fish on a practically loose
line is equivalent to racing an express train.

When the fish is tired you fee] each struggle as yon feel the
strides in a tired-out horse. Every heat of the tail is telegraphed
up the line. Before the fish was tired you seemed to have on a

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16 Tlw Maliseer. Ciia.pt. ii.

fish tastes like. To my mind that is a very secondary matter. It
is, moreover, a matter on wliich it is well knoM'n that people are
not calculated to agree, so much so that " de gustibus nan est di-yn-
tiiiidniH " is an axiom. Is it fair, then, that I should be called
upon to say whether or not the Mahseer is good eating ? All I can
say is that I have tasted Mahseer in such high condition that they
were excellent, they were so rich that one could not eat any
melted butter or other sauce with them, and so well flavoured that
they seemed to me to stand between the salmon and the trout for
the table. Such a fish must be one that has not even commenced
partially spawning, much less one that has completed that opera-
tion. The best size for flavour is in my opinion about 6 lbs. or
7 lbs., say from 2 to 10 lbs. When less than 2 lbs. they are too
bony, when much larger than 10 lbs. they are apt to be too gross
and oily for European tastes ; but they are always thought
thoroughly edible by your camp. Natives, whom I have supplied
with more than they could eat fresh, said it salted well, but
I never tried, and tastes differ, though rich fish do as a rule salt
well.

You will want one attendant with you to land your fish and
carry them, as well as to cany and prepare bait, as we shall see
hereafter, and to relieve you of your heavy salmon rod between
whiles when clambering over rocks from one good place to another ;
in short to take off your hands all the drudgery of fishing and to
leave you only the sport. Pick out one or more likely fellows
therefore, and train them.

But I have been rather putting the cart before the horse,
indulging in the sport given by a Mahseer before saying how to
hook him, seemingly forgetting the wise saw " First catch your
hare." Perhaps it was by way of offering some inducement to
anglers to accompany me out fishing in the next chapter but one,
for they can skip the intermediate short chapter or not, according
as they care or do not care to know anything about the natural
history of the Mahseer.

CHAPTE I! III.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MAHSEER.

" I in those Bowery meads would be;
These oryBta] streams should solace me;
To whose harmonious bubbling noise
I with my angle would rejoice." —

Izaak Walton.

11 avit\Kvaa \pvtreov i\9vv
irarra roi \pvaif irnrvicaoftivov." — TnEOC. It). XXI.

" I landed him, a fish compact with gold." —

Chapman's Translation.

It may be interesting to some thai a few words should here be
Introduced on the natural history of the Mahseer. Tito Mahseer
is a carp, though, as we shall sec hereafter, very different in size,
flavour, strength, activity, and so forth, from his ignoble name-
sake in England, or rather from the fish that we have been

accustomed from our boyh 1 t^> call tJu carp, as if there was not

a very large family of them. So if you like it better, you can call
him a barbel His genealogy maj lie given as follows: —

Amiualia.
Vertebrnta.
Class. Pisces.

Sub-class. Teleostii.
Order. Physostomi.
Family. Cvprinida?.
Sub-family. Cyprininir.
Genus. Barbus.

Sub-genus. Barbodes.
Species. Barbus (liarbodes) tor.
or Species. Barbus tor.

Those who have read my first edition may perhaps notice that

Teleostii. Greek, teleos, perfect ; osteon, bone.

Physostomi. Greek, phi/sa, a bladder ; stoma, a mouth ; the swimming bladder
communicates with the digestive canal by a duet.
C'i prinidse. Latin, ri/jirinus, a carp.
Barbus. Latin, barba, a beard.
TUB HOD IX IXDIA. C

18 The Natural History of the Mahseer. Ciiai-t. nr.

this classification is different from that adopted hefore; the former
one, though correct at the time it was used, being out of date now.
They may notice also that oui mutual friend the Mahseer is no
longer Barbus mosal as then, but is now Barbus tor. In 1873 we
had more names than one given us by Cuvier and Valenciennes,
by Dr. Hamilton Buchanan, and continued by Dr. Day in Ins
monograph of Indian Cyprinidse.

But in Dr. Day's more recent work " The Fishes of India,"
published in 1878, the two names Barbus mosal and Barbus tor
are clubbed under one, to wit, Barbus tor. I therefore follow the
nomenclature of the latest authority on the subject, and subjoin
the following complete quotation of Dr. Day's remarks under the
species Barbus tor, together with his foot-note, because it serves to
show the dubious that we are talking of the same fish.

15. Barbus tor, Plate exxxvi., fig. 5 ; and cxl., fig. 1*.

Cijprinus, tor, mosal, and putitora? Ham. Bach. Fish. Gang.,
pp. 303, 306, 388; Gray and Hard. Iud. Zool. ; McClelland, Ind.
Cyp., pp. 271, 303, 337, 388, pi. xli, f. 3; Cuv. and Val. xvi., p. 197 j
Jerdon M. J. L. and S. 1819, p. 311.

Lalieobarbus mucrolrpis, Ileckel, Fisehe an.s Kashmir, p. 60, t.x.
f. 2 ; Bleeker, Beng. p. 60.

Barbus progeneius and megalepis, McClelland, Ind. Cyp., pp. 270,
271, 334, 337 ; Jerdon, M. J. L. and Sc. 1819, p. 311.

Barbus macrocephalus, McCIcll. Ind. Cyp. pp. 270, 335, pi. 55, fig. 2;
Cuv. and Val. xvi, p. 201; Bleeker, Beng., p. 60; Giinther, Cat. vii,
p. 131 ; Day, Proc. Z. S., 1869, p. 556.

Barbus mosal, Cuv. and Val. xvi, p. 200 ; Bleeker, Beng., p. 60 ;
Day, Proc., Z. S. 1870, p. 372.

Barbus mus&ulah, Sykes, Trans. Zool. Soc. ii, p. 356; Bleeker,
Beng., p. 60; Jerdon, M.J. L. and Sc. 1849, p. 313.

Barbie Hamiltonii, Jerdon, M. J. L. and S. ls-f.i, pp. :'.ll, :>12.

Labeobarbus, tar and progenius, Rleeker, Beng., p. 60, and Cobit,
and Cyyrin., Ceylon, 1864, p. 10, t. 2.

Barbus maa-olepis, Giinther, Catal. vii. p. 131.

Ilitra patrafi Assam: Pt>i>-m>cii-c<iutlt<\ Tain.: Xa/tarm, Hind.:
Kukhiah, Punj. : Joongah, Petiah&nd Kurreah, Sind.

• For mi account of the natural history of the Mahseer, and the sport it affords,
see "The Rod In India," by H. S. Thomas, Macgalorc, 1878.

•(• ■• llutii Shikaree," i.e., Mr. J. E. Welcome, a resident in Ami™, grree Che
Lssamese as Junga Peetia.

X I ihink the Tamil word should be spelt PSm-min, ns explained a few pa

Chapt. hi. Dr. Da ■ '. />■ wription. l'J

* B. iii, D. 12 I i. P. 19, V. 9, A. 7-8 (Jj*-), L.l. 25-27, L. tr.
1 k Last undivided dorsal ray osseous and entire.

Length of head 1 t i 5, of caudal 4J to 5, height of body 4£ to 5{
!n the total length. Eyes — diameter <:[ to T\ in the length of the
head in moderately sized specimens, but much larger in the young (at
3-o inches in length, being 3J in the length of the head ; al 5 inches,
4^), 2 to 2^ diameters from the end of the .snout, anil 2 apart.
[nterorbital space Hut. Operole ^ higher than wide; the maxilla
reaches to below the front edge of the eye; snout pointed; jawfl of
about the same length: lips thick, with an uninterrupted fold across
the lower jaw, and both the upper and lower lips in some specimens
produced in the mesial line. Dorsal profile more convex than the
abdominal in some examples, not so in others. Barbels — the maxillary
pair longer than the rostral ones, and extend to below the last third
of the eye. Fins — the dorsal arises opposite the ventral, and is J as
high as the body, its last undivided ray is smooth, osseous, sti
and of varying length and thickness. Himalayan, Bengal, and Central
Indian specimens generally have tho spine strong, and from i to |rd
the length of the head, it rarely exceeding this extent. In Canara,
Malabar, and Southern India, where the lips are largely developed (see
PI. cxl.), the spine is very much stronger, and as long as the head
excluding the snout. Pectoral as long as the head excluding the
snout, it reaches the Ventral which is little shorter. Anal laid fiat
does not reach the base of the caudal which is deeply forked. Lati ral
line — complete, 2 to 2£ rows of scales between it and the base of the
ventral tin : 9 rows before the dorsal. Free portion of the tail longer
than high. Colours — silvery or greenish along the upper half of the

further on in this chapter. Pwi-min would moan flower-fieh in Tamil, and bo in-
correct for the Ifahseer. It is rery difficult indeed to get correct rernaculai d
The only way u to gel them written down for you by some native who really
knows how to spell them in his own language, and then to transliterate them your-
self on a cor a. The Canara Canarese name is Peruval or HaraU minu ;
tlie Mysore Canarese, Hallam)nu ; the Malaialini, Mi rural; the Tulu, llrriujxilu or
Perutal ; the Hindustani, Mnha-sir.

• B iii. = Brauehiostegals iii.

I)

1 tonal tin.

p

= Pectoral tin.

V

= Ventral fin.

A

Anal fin.

C

= Caudal fin.

L.l.

Lateral line.

L.tr.

as Lateral tmurrane.

TIIB ROD IX INDIA. ' -'

20 The Natural History of the Mah Chapt. nr

body, becoming silvery shot with gold on the sides and beneath,
Lower fins reddish yellow.

This fish is the celebrated " Malta seer " of sportsmen in India.
The various large barbels in Assam are termed Petiah, with a specific
name prefixed to denote the species alluded to.

Barhus macrocephahn, McClelland, from along the Eastern Hima-
layas and Upper Assam, has not the length of the head, " fths only
of the total (without the caudal) " — (Giinther) ; but without the head
!»/• cdiitltil, or yths of the total excluding the caudal fin. It has rather a
longer head (4^ in the total) than is usual, its eye is nearer the front end
of the head, whilst the upper bone of the suborbital ring is very wide.

Barbiu tor H. B. or progenia* McClell., shows great variation in
the length of the head, which seems to augment in proportion with
the size of the fish; the body is often much higher, whilst the lips
art' very much more developed than in the last variety.

Habitat. — Generally throughout India, but in the largest size and
greatest abundance in mountain streams, or those which are rocky.

Withoul being in a position to prove it, I still adhere to the
view advanced in 1873, that there are more Mahseers than have
been named, ami that it' it were possible that as much accurate
attention could be given to the Mahseer as has been devoted to
the SaLmonidiie of Gnat Britain, of Europe, and of America, it
would be found that the Mahseers of India would likewise grow
in numbers. No one who has not tried it can form any idea of
the amount of labour required to collect specimens sutlicicnt to
clear up a moot point, to decide which differences are only acci-
dents of local colouring, which the ordinary result of the change
of season, which indicate only varieties, and which serve to con-
stitute separate species. To satisfy an accurate mind specimens
must be collected from many rivers, in many localities, at various
ages, in various seasons, and in goodly numbers ; and all details
of capture must be reliably noted at the time; all these facts
which form the basis of conclusion should also be retained for
the satisfaction <>l other enquirers. 1 did enough of this to know
what a labour it is. enough to know that it would be impossible
for me to find sufficient leisure in the intervals of business to
exhaust the matter to my own satisfaction ; not enough, as I have
admitted, to prom my view that there are more Mahseers than
have been named, and yet enough to indicate its probability.
These indications may be not uninteresting to my readers, there-

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CiiAi'i'. 111. ( 'olowrs of MaJt sa r. -1

fore, without claiming for my fiafa an) other than the one
name Barbits for, I will present drawings of several Mahseer,
The light brown Mahseer, Plate [, was caught at a place called
Subramani, in the South Canara District of the Madras Presi-
dency; the grey and u< 'l»l Mahseer, Plate II, at Siradi, in the
same districi ; and the light blue Mahseer, Plate 111, near the far-
famed Falls of c.airsniipa, in the Mysore territories.

These Plates 1, II, and 111 are from drawings executed by a
native draughtsman in ( lanara. At the time they were done, some
seven years ago, I examined them closely enough, as I then thought,
but now I am not without doubts that they are faulty in some
minor details, and I have no means of re-comparing them with
nature. I can only present them as fairly close approximations,

A pretty painting of a 51b. Mahseer caught in the Arienkavu
Pass, near Courtallum in the Tinnevelly District of the Madras
Presidency, was kindly sent me by a friend. In that the fish is
represented as having a deep chocolate-coloured hack and tins, the
colour blending into golden brown on the sides and gills, and
fading into white on the stomach. The iris of the eye is a bright
vermillion, instead of the ordinary light yellow, the pupil black
as usual. I am BOrry that I cannot reproduce the painting, but the
drawing is an artistic sketch without sufficient accuracy of detail
in the matter of Scales and tin rays. Plate IV, is a copy, by kind

permission, of Figure 1, Plate ('XL, in l>r. Day's " Fishes of India."
It shows the large development of adipose continuations of the
upper and lower lips. The Haps are exhibited erect in the
drawing which shows well how they can stand free; but they
ordinarily he close against the fish. I have found this peculiar
formation occurring both in the fish represented in Plate Land
also in that shown in Plate 1 1, and 1 have sometimes found it in
the Plate II fish in the Gairsoppa river as well as in the Canara
rivers. It cannot indicate a mere variety for I have found it so
frequently. Does it indicate a species, or is it a temporary growth
like the beak of a male salmon in the spawning season. I do not
think it is the latter, because 1 do not clearly remember to have
ever Been it half developed, and yet my memory is not quite posi-
tive on this point I am certain, too, that I have observed it in

Miiall immature Mahseer of 1 lb. in weight and even under; but

that may or may not point to Mahseer breeding at an early a

22 TIic Nut urn) History of fin Mult.*,-, ,-. I !hapt. hi.

Plate V is a drawing of the Bawanny Mahseer. The
Bawanny is an affluent of the Cavery in the Madias Presidency,
a river that runs eastwards. The rivers which hold the Mahseer
named above all run westwards. The Bawanny Mahseer, it will be
observed, is much deeper and more high backed than the other
Mahseers. To insure accuracy of drawing, every detail of form
has in all cases been taken life-size by compass, and then the
reduction from that drawing lias nut been made by eye, but in
numerous comparative squares, so that we are insured against
even a single scale being too high or too low.

I am sorry that I cannot represent the colours of this fish. It
was a must handsome tisli. It would have been difficult to do
justice to the rich golden hue which shone on the gill covers, and
was the predominant colour of every scale. It is from this colour
that the natives of that locality call it Bom-mia. (The o like the
o in kingdom, the i long like mt in or mean | which is the Tamil for
gold tisb, from pon gold and mint fish. The colour is not at all
that of the little Chinese gold fish, to which we are accustomed
in glass vases, but something between the colour of a brighf new
sovereign and that of bright shining copper fresh from the mint,
the burnished copper the colour of the outside of each scale, and
the tinge of brighter gold flashing through the centre of each scale,
and coming out almost all over the gill covers, and showing itself
freely in parts of each tin.

How could any artist do justice to such colouring without the
actuals before him. And even with the living fish before him it
calls for a good artist to seize truth and represent it, for truth in
fish colouring is evanescent. My learned readers will readily re-
call to mind bow noble Romans had at their sumptuous feasts
live mullet laid upon the table thai they might watch the beauti-
fully changing hues of the expiring fish, Have my readers
watched a high conditioned Mahseer in like manner '. Let them ;
and they will see that the colours change every second after the
fish is out of the water. The eye travels from individual s<
to gill covers, to the head, the tins and tail, and before it returns
to the original spot, a change has come over that spot, and it
is perceptible. The next survey is made more rapidly, but still
there is a noticeable change. Thus to notice the changes is easy ;
but to catch each licet ing shade of colour before it Is gone is very

.

I

V

\

■

RW

Chapt. hi. ' lours of MahMtr, 23

verj far from easy. Thia is what I have essayed to do. I did
Dot care to present m - with the oorpse-like colouring of
dead and dying fish. 1 wanted the resplendent hues of healthy
living fish as nature paints them when rejoicing in their element.
How did I essaj it ' I took an artist with me to the water's
edge Fie had ready rough drawings of fish in any number, and
his i'm], mis, brushes, *\ •■■.. were handy. The moment 1 landed a
Gsh he hit the colours, and roughly and rapidly filled them in. 1
did the same by his side. We compared aotes. We were con-
is that change had been going on as we coloured, 1 that

it was hard to Bay wherein the earliest and wherein the later
colours had been correctly seized. So another fish was caught,
ami the colours of the painting compared with it the instant it
w.is on shore. Necessary corrections having been made, another
was captured, and yet another, and these all had to be captured
at a season i f the year in which the fish were in high condition,
with a healthy colour. The result is that 1 have colouring which
some have told me must surely he too bright, whereas I affirm
that the failure is rather in the opposite direction. I cannot get
sufficient resplendency. I cannot add t<> caeh eolour the look of
burnished metal. I cannot give the changing reflections of each
angle of light on the glistening coloured scales, the varying hues
of semi-transparent tins showing differently with a dark or a light-
background. Enough that I have done my little best to help my
leaders to recognize our mutual friends of whom we chat together,
and that, where I had not the means of making even such a remote
approach to a just representation of my beauties, 1 have preferred
leaving the drawings uncoloured.

Kei ii fishermen will understand that it is no easy matter
tn lay down the red and take up the brush when the tish are on
the run. There are times when it could not be done at any price,
no not for an annual gold mine. There are times, too, when
appliances are wanting. Hence it is that some fish are left un-
coloured. Friends have engaged to colour fish for me in places
inaccessible to myself, and finding the same difficulties have aban-
doned the attempt, others have most kindly supplied paint-
which unfortunately could not be accepted For want of
ai curacy.

The Mahseer having been more fished foi in Bengal than any-

24 The Natural History of the Mahseer. Chapt. hi.

where else it had grown to be the common idea that it was
exclusively a Bengal fish, and at the time I wrote rny first edition
tlinv was a general impression that there were no Mahseer south
of the Nerbuddah. That idea is now exploded.

People talk of the Mahseer, just as they talk of the carp, as
if there was only one of them, whereas the name Mahseer is
loosely used for many of the larger carps of India, which differ
witli the countries in which they are caught, and when fishermen
who have caught Mahseer in the North of India, on the West
Coast and on the East Coast of Southern India, get together, and
describe the redoubted Mahseer somewhat differently before a
circle of eager listeners, and thence come to disputing with each
other as to who is most accurate, one is reminded of the old fable
of the gold and silver shields which the two knights saw and
fought about, and as a fisherman my advice would be, the less
carping about it the better.

The name Mahseer is seemingly derived from the Hindustani
words iitalni great and sir (pronounced seer) head, ami as the carps
(Fam. Cyprinidu') make up in India a little family of several
hundred species, and as the larger carps also are not few in
number, it is as well to confine the use of the name Mahseer to
the large-headed or large-mouthed carps. The distinction will
be found useful to anglers, for large-mouthed and small-mouthed
fish of the same family feed differently, and the baits to be
tendered to them should in consequence differ accordingly. The
want of this simple distinction has led to the Camatic Carp being
called a Mahseer, and to some loss of sport thereby, as will be
seen in the Chapter on that fish.

The size of the Mahseer depends much on the size of the river
in which it is found, and possibly on other circumstances also with
which we are not acquainted, but certainly on the size of the
river. The size of salmon at home is similarly found to be not a
little dependent on the size of the river they frequent Size in a
river affects both the feeding and the life-time of fish, for a huge
river a fiords a greater quantity, a greater variety, and in India a
more continuous supply of food than a small river does, and it
also ordinarily affords greater opportunities for evading capture.
The consequence is that there are rivers in which the Mahseer
do not run above 10 or 12 lbs; there are others, again, in

iiiAir. in. Tko Sine of Mahseer. 25

which 4t» lbs. or 50 lbs. is by no means an exceptional weight We
hear of captures of fish weighing more or less about loo lbs., and
I have in my possession two heads of Mahseer that weighed,
approximately, by estimate, i"1 lbs, and 150 lbs. each. They h
always hang in my hall, and numerous friends have asked me
their weight, and quoting from memory I have for seven years
given them as 150 lbs. and 180 lbs. respectively, and the mistake
became so thoroughly impressed on my memory that in a hurried
in. 'in, 'in I wrote without verification to the "Asian," 30th September,
1879, thai 1 had such heads of such weights. In wading, however,
through a fearful bundle of letters, before committing myself to

mis-statements or loose statements in this 1 k. I have discovered

my error, and honesty compels me to admit it. The truth must be
told in the words of the narrator and donor of the heads, Mr. ('•.
1'. Sanderson, author of "Thirteen Fears among the "Wild Beasts of
'■ India," a book that eveiy sportsman, old or young, must be
interested in. and most, even old hands, may profit from. Young
hands should not essay heavy game without having read it. These
Mahseer were caught by Mr. Sanderson with a night line in the
Oavery River.

"As to my big fish I put it down at 150 lbs., the other .">() have
en added in the telling. I had no means of weighing it, but
" I found it was as much as I could lilt a couple of inches from
" the ground by hugging it in '">' arms; no one but a big Mussul-
" man peon in camp could do as much as this. 1 imagine that
" a man of 11 stone should have no difficulty in lifting a man of
" his own weight off the ground if lying on his back ; I have since
"lifted a man of over 10 stone with greater ease than the fish
- A native overseer with me, who was formerly in the Ashtagram
" Sugar Works, put it down at 5 maunds (or 140 lbs. Mysore) ; lie

1 they were accustomed to deal with 5 maund bags, and la'

knew the feel of them pretty well The measures of the fish

■■ were : length, including tail. 60 inches ; greatest girth -'is inches ;

" inside lips when open, circumference 24 inches. The skin and

" head are in the Bangalore Museum.

" i >f course my rough estimate of the fish's weight is valueless
" as fact, but you may believe that I was not out many pounds. It
■■ was an astonishingly thick and heavy fish tor its short length
' I have caught them 5 It. 0 in., but not much more than SO lbs.

26 The Natural History of the Mahseer. Chapt. in.

" It had a shoulder like a bullock, steeply hanging over. I have
" caught about 50 of them, but my next largest was about 90 lbs.
" I have no doubt in my own mind that they run over 200 or 250
" lbs., as I have seen teeth and bones of them far larger than my
" 150-pounder ; they are often caught by the natives."

S.i huge wire these heads that one of them fully covered the
skeleton of an unusually fine sambre's head, and I had arranged
it in my hall with the sambres head inside the Mahseer's head, and
the grand antlers coming, as if naturally, out of the Mahseer's head,
when a friend called. He looked round at the various spoils of
bison, sambre, fish, &c, till he cast Iris eyes on this. " Rather a
" rare buffalo isn't it ? " said I. " Have you ever shot one like
"it?" "Buffalo! Buffalo!! It's not a buffalo," he said, "but
" it's something of the cow tribe." I had owed him one. But he
was not long before he left me again in Ins debt.

Dr. Pay, in his "Monograph of Indian Cyprinidse, Part II,
miller Barium (barhodes) tor, writes : "A noted sportsman in the
" N.W. Provinces writing to me says, his largest fish taken with
•' a rod and line was captured in the River I'oonch, 24 miles from
" Jheluni; it measured from snout to bifurcation of tail 3 feet
"11 inches and weighed 621bs. . . The cube of a fish's length
"gives his weight in pounds; fish may vary a pound or two
" according to condition, but the test is wonderfully correct." I
confess to a lack of confidence in the rule myself, for 1 think that
fish of the same species vary much, not only with the condition
of the same individual at different seasons and in different rivers
and climates, but from individuality of figure, contracted probably
from accidents of feeding in earliest youth. Observe the difference
in the weights and lengths of the fish contrasted immediately above
by Mr. Sanderson.

Though purely fresh-water fish, Mahseer are more or less
migratory in their habits, ascending during the floods considerable
heights, two thousand five hundred feet to my knowledge in the
I lanara district, ten pound fish being there found half way up the
Mereara (Jhat, and travelling long distanees for the sake of spawn-
ing. When the streams are swollen by the monsoon rains they

arc able to ascend to parts of the river till then unapproachable
for want of water. There they find fresh feeding grounds that are
Mi.i cessible to them at other times. There they linger till the

Chapt. hi. Spavming 0/ Mai 27

Himiniahing stream warns them t" be moving downwarda There
they deposit their Bpawn, and thus secure for theii try, when
hatched, waters then dwindled to dimensions much better Baited
tn their puny strength than the '1' eper current of tin' lower river,
spawning done, the parent fish keep dropping gently down-
wards with the continually decreasing waters, and before the
spawn they have deposited is hatched, they are completely out nil'
by paucity of water from their fry, s.. that till the commencement
of thf same monsoon in the following year they cannot return to
devour them.

But they must not, after the manner of aalmon, 1"- considered
back fish or foul fish when descending the rivers. Careful

examination of the ovaries of many fish ha- i me that the

Mahseer does not spawn like the salmon all at one time, hut just
fowl lays an egg a day for many days, ao in my opinion the
Mah-eti lays a hatch of eggs at a time, ami repeats the process
Beveral time- in a season. How many batches it lays in a season
cannot he positively said, hut I Bhould judge from the appeal
of the ovaries that tin-re were three batches.

I 3] ermen can judge lor themselves, and may he interested in
doing so. Km- this purpose cut tie- fish open from the vent to the
mouth, ami the ovaries will be found lying close against the back-
bone. There is no mistaking' them, a thin skin, more like a quill in
size than anything else at first, with the little round dots of
evidently apparent through. That these are in states of development
differing anion;,' themselves in any individual fish will be easily
recognizable; but which are more or less approaching complete
ripeness for being laid, can only be learnt by the experience gained
from comparison of different fishes. When nearly ripe the 1
will be banging more loosely together, and the vent will be
inflamed. After a hatch has been laid the lower part of the tail,
and the ventral tin. or the tin mi the stomach, will he more or less
worn, bearing marks, in short, of having been used to workout a
hollow in the gravel for the reception of eggs. This ragged frayed
appearance of tail and tin will indicate, therefore, that one or mure
hatches of eggs have been laid, although others for future laying

may still he found in different stages of development in tl varies.

if tin- fisherman sees no eggs in tin- long thin quill-like bag
lying against the hack-hone, between it in fact ami the

28 The Natural History of the Mahseer. Chapt. in.

intestines, then he may be sure that he lias got hold of a male
with milt.

The salmon, we know, completely exhausts itself by the mighty
effort of laying at one time about as many thousand eggs as it
weighs pounds, and it is not surprising that it should then be in
such a weak state as to be unfit for human food or sport, unable
almost to take care of itself; and even after it has somewhat
recovered, and become what is called " well mended," it cannot be
expected to be the same fish in the river that it is in the sea. It is
a sea-fish, and the river is not its proper element any more than
India is yours and mine. It still pines for shrimp sauce and a
furlough in the sea. The case with the Mahseer is, however, very
different indeed. It gets through its egg laying on the same
principle as the fowl, not exactly one egg a day, but in batches at
intervals, and does not feel the same drain on itself as if it had laid
them all at one time. Moreover.it is all the while in its own
element in the river, is getting as good feeding as it can ever have,
and is recouping itself between the several layings. The
consequence is that I do not remember ever to have come across a
Mahseer looking so emaciated as to appear unfit for human food,
though I have observed them to be in poorer condition at one time
than at another. But that is very different from looking as a spent
salmon does, big and bony headed, lank and thin-shouldered, pale
and haggard as if he had been to a ball or a pool till small hours
every night for a month. It is a general rule that every animal, and
for the matter of that every grass, Sec, is in its finest condition
when preparing to reproduce its species. A hen is never in better
condition than when full of small undeveloped eggs, and about to
commence laying them. It may fairly he concluded, therefore, that
the Mahseer which is prepared to lay one or two more batches of
eggs is in good reproducing condition, is in fact in high condition,
although it may have already laid one or more hatches that Beason.
When it has completed its spawning for the year it has much
deteriorated in flavour and lost all its richness, though it is not
unwholesome like a spent salmon.

A reason for the Mahseer laying in batches may be interesting.
Indian rivers are very variable in their depth, a tropical sun and a
thirsty land drying up the streams that feed them, and reducing
them rapidly to very much smaller dimensions than they boasted

chut. hi. Th< Food of the Mah»

daring the ruins. The change in their si/.' is both greater and more
rapid than in European rivers. It would not be well, therefore, for
the tish in them to spawn by the Bame rule as the fish in European
watera The ova laid in one place might be high and dry in a few
days, and the whole laying lust. It would be like committing an
army to the Greal Eastern, instead of dividing the risks by consign-
ing it to several troop-ships. By laying in several batches not
only are the chances of success multiplied, but the fry are more
widely dispersed over the rivers, and I >y happy experience discover
for themselves the force of the proverb " the fewer the better the
cheer." There is little doubt the fry of the Mahseer eat, amongst
other things, the fry of the smaller sorts of fish ; these are much
bred in the smaller feeders. Where such streamlets fall into the
river, therefore, each batch of Mahseer finds a separate table oVhdte.

An inventory of the contents of a Mahseer's stomach ought not
to be without interest to a fisherman, for unless he knows what
tie- tish is in the habit of eating, he cannot tell what bait to offer it.
If he expects to be successful, he must otter natural food or some-
thing resembling it, for a fish is not so foolish as to take anything
that is offered to it on the sole faith of the advertisement. Only
reasoning beings do that. Let us then turn out this gentleman's
stomach, and discover his weaknesses, as Prince Henry and Poins
did Kalstatfs, from the contents of his pocket. What do we find
there > Aquatic weeds of all sorts, some taken intentionally,
some when grabbing at the insects that live on them ; seeds of the
Valeria Indica or Dhup of the West Coast, which are about the
srze of a pigeon's egg ; the seeds of many other trees also which
hang over the river where it is forest-clad ; bamboo seeds ; rice
thrown in by man ; and unhusked rice, or paddy, as it is washed
from the fields; crabs, large fresh-water crabs as big as the palm
of a man's hand, and with back and claws so thick and haul that
it is astonishing how the fish can have the power to crunch them
into the small pieces in which they are found in the intestine ;
small fish, earthworms, water beetles, grasshoppers, small flies of
sorts, water or stone crickets, shrimps, and molluscs or fresh-water
snails are also found there, the latter shell and all, and smashed to
pieces like the crabs.

Of all this category the easiest food for the fisherman to present
in a natural form is a small fish or imitation tish.

30 The Natural History of the Maimer. Chaft. hi.

It will also be observed that the food taken on the surface of
the water is little in comparison with that taken under it, and at
the very bottom, The fish, beetles, crickets, shrimps, are all found
well under water; the crabs, worms, molluscs quite at the bottom ;
and from the proportionate quantity found in them, the crabs,
molluscs, and fish, seem to be their favourite food.

This is what Paley would call " internal evidence." But we
have also external evidence to the same effect, deducible from the
formation of the outside of the mouth. The four fine feelers hang-
ing down, two on each side of the mouth, which give him the
scientific name of barbus or bearded (from the Latin barba, a
beard), are indications of a bottom feeder.

What the thick lips are for I cannot say, but I hazard the
surmise that it is not impossible they are to enable the fish to
detach from the rocks the water-snails on which they SO largely feed.

The upper lip is capable of being extended beyond the lower lip,
and brought down to the same level, so as to form a cup on the
bottom of the stream, and cover any small body, such, for instance,
as the aforesaid molluscs detached from their hold by the upper lip,
and being washed rolling down the bottom of the stream. The
molluscs being thus detached and covered, are readily drawn up
into the mouth by suction, the process by which a fish always gets
its food into his mouth: for how else could it do it rapidly and
easily in water ? Let any one try to catch a grain of falling rice or
other light substance in his band in a bath. If he moves his hand
quickly, the motion will be communicated through the water to the
object, which will consequently evade his grasp. How else could
a trout take down a water-bred By that sits jauntily on the water
ready to rise again if alarmed. I have seen Mahseer sucking in
their food in countless crowds at places where they were habitually
fed by the worshippers and priests at a native temple, and have
heard their loud sob-like noise as they sucked in ail as well as
water in their hurry to secure the grains in the scramble. l>r.
Frank Buckland has written something about certain tame codfish

doing much the, same. Anybody who has watched gold fish in a
globe will have seen them constantly sucking in water, drinking it
as people used to think in the dark ages, really breathing it, that is
sucking it in, and passing it through their gills, which are their
lungs for the purpose of netting out of the water the oxygen con-

Chapt. hi. Their Manner of Feeding. :'.1

tamed in it. By the very same process a fish sucks in a mouthful
of water, and with it the fly sitting on it, and down goes the fly,
down the little Maelstrom thus created, [n the same way probably
does the Mahseer sink up the detached molluscs, liis peculiar

formation of mouth anahling him to do it from tin- bottom where

another fish could not

To test their power of sacking up, I have fed them at a place
where they were accustomed to be fed, and tempted them nearei
and nearer, till they were well within observation, and having then

thrown in a g 1 handful of rice, so thai much of it must sink to

the bottom before they could get it, 1 watched them taking it oft"
the sandy bottom. They sucked it up with great rapidity, so that
it wanted close observation, but I watched them very carefully for
some time, and distinctly saw the upper lip thrust out from its
socket, and brought down over the rice, and then there was a clear
act of suction for each grain, though the grains wen' taken up one
after another nearly as fast as a fowl picks up corn. The; fish the
while were not swimming level in the water, but with their tails
just enough inclined upwards to allow the pectoral fins to work
without touching the bottom. The pectoral fins were so near the
bottom that the motion contributed to the water by each vibra-
tion stirred up the fine sand, but they did not touch the bottom.
By the suction from the mouth, however, I could not perceive that
any sand at all was disturbed. They picked up the single grains of
rice cleanly and cleverly, and quickly.

The Mahseer, then, is an accomplished bottom feeder,

The means by which the large crabs, shells, and other bard
substances are reduced to a mass of small pieces by the Mahseer
is doubtless the formidable set of teeth in the throat. Every carp
has teeth in its throat, placed so far down that they are not
visible in the mouth ; but the teeth of the Mahseer's throat are
unusually formidable, and the bones out of which they grow are
beautifully formed with a great surface at the back for the
muscles to play upon, and that not directly, but with the advantage
of a good leverage. If any blase individual thinks this "very like
a whale/' just let him slip a finger down a live Mahseer's throat,
and I promise him the luxury of a new sensation.

These pharyngeal or throat teeth are not set in sockets like
human teeth, but are continuations of the pharyngeal bones.

32 The Natoeral History qfike Afahseer. Chapt. hi.

Unlike other teeth, in fish instead of dentine, they have a coating
of enamel, which is continued to their base. There seems to be no
provision for renewing them in case of loss, no adjoining row of
teeth as in the shark, no second tooth below as in the human
being; and in an instance in which I noticed that two were
wanting on one side, the place where they should be was quite
smooth. They are not used for capturing fond at all, but for
crushing it in its passage down the throat. The fine perforations
through which they are supplied with nerves and nutriment are
easily seen. The attachment of the muscles to the pharyngeal
bones is also very apparent and in keeping with what we know of
the power with which they are used.

Professor Spencer F. Baird, Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries
in the United States, says in his report for 1875 76, that the
pharyngeal teeth of the common carp, Cyprinus Carpio, are shed
annually a little before spawning time. Whether or not our
large Indian carp, the Mahseer, does the same is a point that it
may interest some to observe. I do not think it does. I certainly
have not examined carefully for this specific purpose, but I have
caught Mahseer before their spawning time and have never
noticed any indications of such shedding, and I think I should
have noticed them if they had been there. Fur instance, I have
seen broken teeth unreplaced, and I have never seen loose teeth,
or incomplete young teeth. If the teeth are shed one can readily
imagine that it would influence the feeding of the fish at that
season of the year. I certainly have found times even with
clear water, when the Mahseer could not be induced to look at a
fly or fish, and I have been utterly puzzled for a reason. Still it
does not follow that want of a new set of teeth was the reason, and
it may quite as well have been the east wind. There the question
is, however, for enquiring anglers to investigate, do Mahseer shed
their pharyngeal teeth annually as a stag sheds his horns, and if
they do, when do they shed them, and how long are the new
teeth in coming on, and what is the food, if any, during the
toothless period ?

The Mahseer has also great power of jaw by means uf which
it is able at a blow to stun a live fish, and to make up by
compression for the absence of the teeth usually found in the
mouth of predacious lish. That it makes other use of it also to
the detriment of the angler will be found in the next chapter.

CHAPTER TV.

CIR( T.MYFNTIXC TIIK MAHSEER.

■ Take my bait,1 cried Hiawatha,
Me my bait Oli kin:; of fishes!

I., in,. I n.lOW.

Some people complain that the Hindu does every tiling in a way
opposite t" that which you would naturally expect of a sane m in,
because opposite to that way in which all Europeans are accus-
tomed to do the like acts. On entering a lmuse he has not the
ordinary politeness to take off his hat, but instead thereof, he
kicks off his shoes ; in place of making himself a little extra civil
before a big wig. he folds his arms, and stands bolt upright, and so
tin tli. Similarly the Mahseer, being a thorough Asiatic, does
many tilings by contraries, [f you expect him to take better, as
any decent salmon or trout would, when there is a spate in the
river, you will lie very much mistaken. Except for a live bait
not a fin will stir then. If you see the river discolored, you had
\ i iy much better not waste your labour and your patience on it,
for you may be sure you will nut catch a single fish either with a
fly or spinning. You must wait till the river is clear again, wait
till just the time you would consider the most unfavourable for
trout or salmon. Though I have taken Mahseer freerj when the
river has been the least bit tinged by a thunderstorm, still I hold
to the iipiniini that, for a fisherman who keeps carefully out of

sight, clear water is best, that in short the Mahseer takes best in
clear water, and fur the reason, I fancy, that he sees best then
It is not the season of tin' year that prevents the Mahseer taking ;
it is not because the river has been swollen by rainfall, ami
contains perhaps other more attractive bottom feeding. The
result mi the Mahseer is just the same when, without any
-welling, the river is coloured in the middle of the tine season by

THE KOD IN INDIA. D

34 Circumventing the Mahseer. Chapt. iv.

the drainage from rice fields, freshly ploughed and swamped for
the second crop cultivation. Similarly artificial colouring of the
water has on trout the same effect as natural colouring from
rainfall, and it is a semi-poaching dodge, never condescended to
by me, dear reader, to puddle a small stream, and then take them
out with a worm, and this at times when the day is so hot and
bright that they will not look at a fly. This peculiarity of the
Mahseer is more against good fishermen than it is against tyros,
because it is exactly opposed to all the experiences of the former,
and those who do know something about fishing in England
are consequently more likely to be on the wrong tack in India,
than those who know nothing or next to nothing about fishing in
genera], for they would naturally arrange to fish at the very time
when in India they are least likely to have sport. I have, how-
ever, tested this question pretty thoroughly, and am quite satisfied
that it may be laid down as a safe rule, that it is useless to fish
for Mahseer except in clear water; it must be at least so clear that
you can see the small pebbles at the bottom with ease in 4 feet of
water, and it may be as much clearer as ever you like. You need
not be the least bit afraid if it is as clear as crystal, indeed it
ordinarily is so through all the best fishing months of the year.
I have fished in vain with the water so far cleared after a spate
that I could see the small pebbles in 2 feet of water, and that
with great patience and diligence in known, good, easily com-
manded water, and with a large and very bright spoon, and yet
I only stirred two fish, and even they ran short, I conceive I
must, from knowing localities, have taken my hail very close to
their noses, and kept it dallying there provokingly, and that
even then they missed it from visual obliquity in the coloured
water. I am for bright water, therefore, and in this respect
the English fisherman must forego his old creed, and adopt a
new faith as fully as did the thorough going young scamp of
an undergraduate who, unable otherwise to find lit expression
for the radical change for the better that had taken place
in his resolutions, informed his friends that he had not only
" turned over a new leaf," as parentally entreated, but a
libraries.

One mode of fishing for Mahseer there is that may be followed
in coloured water. I was not aware of it when the above remarks

Chakt.it. Hinc ilia laeryn :',:•

on bright water wen' written in the first edition, but those
remarks arc thoroughly applicable still to all the ordinary
methods of fishing for Mahseer, and are worthy to be impressed
as contrary to ordinary ideas, and live bait fishing is somewhat of

an exceptional way to fall back upon in coloured water, rather
than to use by preference to tly- fishing or spinning. I will there-
fore let the above remarks stand in all their unqualified force
for tbe benefit oi the meat majority of fishermen, and will
refer the man unfortunately overtaken by a spate, and the man
who prefers that mode of fishing, to a separate chapter on live
bait fishing for Mahseer.

To any one with an eve for fish a single glance is sufficient
to show that the Mahseer is a carp. It has a leathery mouth
without a vestige of a tooth in it anywhere, the ordinary
lusion would be that carp-like it is not calculated to prey
on small fish, but more likely to be taken with dough or a
lobworm. An examination of its stomach has, however, told a
different tale (page 29), and thence it was that I first learnt
how great a fish-eater the Mahseer is. It has the same weakness
for a fish diet as its congener the English chub, only it has it to a
much greater extent.

But we have not yet done with our friend's Asiatic contrarie-
ties. This mealy-mouthed gentleman, who looks as if his soft
leathery lips could not hurt anything, has a peculiar way of
killing his fish. He has no teeth in his mouth wherewith to hold
any slippery little fish he may catch, and prevent its struggling
out again before he can swallow it. In lieu of this he is therefore
provided with great power of jaw, and he kills, and holds his
fish, by compression, violent compression. It is difficult to
conceive how so soft a mouth can give the bite it does, can bear
to give the violent crush it does ; but there is the analogy of the
which has a yielding springy pad, on which it treads
noiselessly as on velvet, with which it can however strike a
Mow that will break the backbone of a buffalo, and crush in the
cranium of a man. That the Mahseer can exert great power of
compression with its soft mouth I once had clearly proved to me.
My spoon bait, which was nearly new, and for weight's sake
unusually stout, and in thorough repair when I cast it in for a
spin, was doubled righl in two. and crumpled up like a piece of
i iif hod in ivi-i v D i

36 Circumventing the Mahseer. Chapt. i\\

paper, when I landed my fish, and took it out of his mouth.
He must have happened to catch it edgewise in his mouth as it
spun, and thus been able to exert his strength on it ; for had it
not been exactly edgewise on, it would have turned and slipped
away from his jaw as he pressed it, and thus it would have got
flat in his mouth. Probably few fish get a fair bite at a spoon at
the very angle of the spoon in the very part of the mouth
required to produce such an effect on such a hard substance ; the
chances must be much against it, and that would account for my
having seen such a result but once. But once seen there was
no longer room for doubt about the power of the fish ; the spoon
was whole and sound when cast in, was cast in deep water
clear of rocks, was not run against anything by him, for it was
well inside his mouth when I took it out directly he was landed.
Had I tried to produce the same effect, it would have required a
good downright blow, with a hammer and anvil to help me.
I then bethought me of the spoon of a friend which was thinner
than mine, and which was much indented as I had thought at the
time by rocks. I bethought me too of the many hooks I had
lost unintelligibly; I knew I had a light hand acquired by
killing trout on fine tackle, and yet treble hook after treble
hook had been smashed, sometimes before I had felt my fish at
all, and some of them had been curled up like a ramshora, and
curled inwards as from outside pressure, not outwards as from
tension. The murder was out; they had been crunched up by
tin- Mahseer' s power of compression, and the treble hooks had
suffered more than the single, because they had offend resist ance,
while the single hooks had turned in the mouth and evaded it.
When further considered from this point of view the object of the
mouth being soft instead of bony is apparent, for it would be
easier to hold a struggling slippery object between two com-
pressing sides that yielded enough for it to partially embed
itself, than between two unimpressibly hard sides that could get
no grip on the object. These my views mi the Maliseer's power of
compression have, like not a few others put forward in the earlier
edition of this little work, been only confirmed by the further
experience of myself and other anglers, and stand no longer on
comparatively few instances however striking. But it Mould be
tedious if I were continually pointing mj readers to confirmations,

< ii a rr. iv. Spinning mart killing than Fly Fishing. 37

and I shall indulge the hope that they will be kindly contenl to
take my word aa they did at the first.

These three main points, then, being borne in mind, the
necessity for fishing in clear water, the Mahseer's l<>ve of small

fish, and its power of smashing by < ipreasion, we shall lie in a

better position for arranging to circumvent it.

There is yet another point which may as well he reverted to
before proceeding farther, and that is the bottom-feeding habits
of the Mahseer. This was deduced in the lasi chapter from the
evidence of the contents of the stomach, an organ not given to
telling fibs, and from the formation of the outside of the mouth. I
lav Btress "ii this habit from a fishing point of view, because I
am convinced that a due appreciation of and allowance for it
will lead to better sport. I lay stress on it also because I know it
is commonly disregarded. It stands to reason that you arc
more likely to catch a fish by seeking it on its feeding grounds,
and there offering it its natural food, than by requesting its
attention in a somewhat unusual direction, the surface, and
there too to a novel object, not much like any thing in creation,
ady Balmon fly. I lay stress on this point because so many
fish for the Mahseer with an artificial fly at the surface of the
water, and the salmon- fisher is from more reasons than one
very loth to give up his fly. The fly is cleaner and much less
troublesome than any other hue It is much easier to throw
a Balmon fly than to spin a fish, and Mahseer doubtless art
caught with a fly.

The Brahmin, who is as punctilious about his food as a much-
fished trout, describes a pariah as "one who cats without
asking." and if the Mahseer were not in respect of food as
omnivorous as a pariah, it would never take down such an
unearthly thing as a salmon fly in the promiscuous manner it
sometimes does. Though it does take it, ami then- is Borne Bport
to be had with the fly, still in my opinion it is not a natural
bait, and therefore not the best lure that can be offered, and the
sport thereby obtained is decidedly inferior to that to be had by
spinning. Trout are doubtless to be caught in England by very
poor fishermen, with very incorrect fancy flies, still if the correct
fly be used, that is, a good imitation of the natural fly at the time

on the water, it is undeniable that the .bailees of

38 Circumventing tlie Mahsecr. Chapt. iv.

sensibly increased. Similarly, if the reader will waive his
prejudices for the fly, and will spin deep with a small fish as bait,
I will engage that he shall not only kill more, but also better
fish, than with a fly. I think 1 may safely say that if he can
spin as well as he can fly fish, he will kill three Mahseers
spinning to one with a fly, and that the total weight in pounds
shall be more than three to one.

Still he may say that he prefers the fly, that he loves the
excitement of the swirl on the surface, and the rapid approximate
guess at the weight of the fish he has just missed, has all but
caught, and has at least had the pleasure of seeing, or better
still loves to form a rapid idea of the size of the fellow he is
well into, and is in for a fight with, and means to take all the
more pains about taming now he sees he is such a grand one.

He may say he prefers the fly, and prefers it so much thai
he would rather kill fewer by that means than more spinning,
on the same principle as he would rather catch fewer with the
rod than more with the net. If so, by all means let hirn stick to
the style of fishing from which he derives most pleasure, and I
will admit that, besides the advantages already conceded, the fly
has this still further recommendation, that it can be thrown
further than a minnow. There are pools and runs the best
parts of which cannot be reached with the minnow, but that can
be well covered with a fly, and there are sometimes places in
which, from rushes or weeds, the water cannot be reached at all
spinning. For such occasions I always carry a fly collar in my
fly book, and bend it on till I come to ground where it can be ex-
changed again for the spinning tackle.

But as there an- places where it is impossible to bring
spinning into play, so are there places where the river is so
overhung with forest on all sides that it is difficult enough to
«et to the water's edge at all, and impossible without a boat to find
room to throw a fly. In such places even the staunch advocate
of t lie fly will find it advantageous to have a spinning collar in
his pocket, readj for exchange till such time as he can revert to
his favourite lure. If he spins at all well, the result may induce
him to keep the spinning tackle on a little longer, and perhaps
may eventually convert him.

But if ho still prefers the By, or at any rate wishes to use it

en \rr. iv. Ktqt out of Sight. 39

on occasion; I must request him to be good enough to repair
to tin' chapter specially devoted to liis subject.

In either case, however, let him remember above all things
that he is fishing in clear water with a bright sky, and that he
must consequently be much more careful to keep out of sight
than if he were fishing in England, <>n a cloudy day, by a river
more or less coloured.

CHAPTER V.

SPINNING FOR MAHSEER.

" That fish that is not catched thereby
Alas ! ia wiser far than I." —

Donne.

The inventory which we took in a former chapter (Chap. Ill) of
the contents of this Asiatic gentleman's intestinal canal showed
that he was as omnivorous as the mortal Mr. Samuel Weller was
omnibibulous. Metaphorically speaking, the accommodating
answer of each of them is "all taps is vanities;" but the par-
ticular vanity of the Mahseer, or at least that which we are best
able to oblige him with, is, as we have seen, a small fish ; and the
question next arises how is the dish to be served.

Every one knows that fish is good for nothing if it is not fresh,
and a pike or perch carries this maxim so far as to prefer them
" all alive, alive oh." A little roach all alive and kicking has
peculiar charms for a jack, but well nigh irresistible though it may
be, and many staunch advocates though it may have in consequence,
still I am not one of them. Kxcept it be fur a trimmer, 1 should
prefer not to use it; my idea being that with a dead fish you can
cover so much more water, that you can show your spinning bait
to ten or twenty fish, where your stationary live bait will be seen
by only one, and perhaps not that for a while. Advertise freely
and you will be sure to find a " claimant." May he be as heavy as
Sir lloger. By the ordinary law of chances the odds are you will
come across more taking fish out of the ten or twenty than in the
one who happens to live in or near the hole into which you have
cast your live bait; and you cannot be constantly moving your
live bait or you will kill it. You must just quietly drop him into
a likely hole, and leave him to " paddle his own canoe ;" whereas
with a spinning bait you can take [\ saunteringly all through those
dei p eddies that ought to be full of big fish, just under those big

Chapt. v. Vultus instantia tyranni. 11

rooks, and as close to t In it edge as you like; you cat) playfully
dally awhile in front of any pet eorner ; you can hark back after
a little respite to where you have seen a fin move; in short you
can " paddle your own canoe" when and where you like, ami not
l>e at the mercy of your live bait, and then if you can really paddle
well, your bait will be as tempting as most live baits. The
sequence in my mind is that a good spinner will kill more jack
than a live bait fishery but of course all depends on his being a good
spinner, a natural painstaking one. The live bait lover certainly
lias one very great advantage, which is of more importance than
he is probably aware of; that is, that he is generally more out of
sight. Out of mere idleness, perhaps, without any preconside ra-
tion, he lays down his rod, and sits leisurely down a little way off,
and this is in truth the most weighty reason why he should catch
more fish than the dead bait spinner, who is perhaps standing
prominently out in fine relief on the very edge of the hank, and
constantly moving his legs and arms in the action of walking
and spinning. How men can think a fish is such a fool as to
take a bait, when it sees the " niltim i/i*/antis tyranni" on the
hank, I cannot make out. Still they do think it, or at least
ignore the visual organs of the fish, and go on fishing all
their days after the manner of Hiawatha, jawing at the Sturgeon

Xama,

" ' Take my bait,' crie<l Hiawatha,
' Take my bait Oh king of fishes ! ' "

" Hiawatha's fishing" is a very pretty study of what not to do,
unless by the way you really want to get inside a sturgeon, in
which case I say good bye and part company, for I am not game to
play Ajidaumo.

[f the spinner of dead bait will be careful to conceal himself
from view of his desired prey as thoroughly as the live-bait-lover
unconsciously docs, he will not !«• at the great disadvantage he
otherwise generally is ; on the contrary, he will be at an advantage,
in that he tries 80 much more water with his lure.

Ami as to his lure, too, I am convinced he is not at the dis-
count he is commonly thought to be. If he manages it badly, ot

curse he cannot expect to fare well, but if he is really a g I

hand at spinning, his bait will look every bit as natural as a live
tish, and, strai iy, sometimes even more so. Watch a live

42 Spinning for Maimer. Chapt. v.

bait and a well spun minnow and compare them. I will back
the spun one. The live bait has, perhaps, a great hook all uncon-
cealed and too apparently sticking out of its lip ; or if baited in
the side, it is soon lying somewhat unnaturally on its side ; or it
has managed in its lively gyrations to make a tangle of its line,
and encircle itself therein ; or it is more dead than alive, and
looking somewhat suspicious; or may be it is off altogether, and
the angler is in happy ignorance of the fact, and in blissful expec-
tancy of a momentary run at a bare hook.

My sentiments then are that, if the angler will be at the pains
to spin delicately, will take the trouble to conceal himself
thoroughly, and will bait his fish neatly with the hooks well con-
cealed, he will in clear water kill more by spinning a dead fish
than by using a live bait.

In coloured water the objections to prominent hooks may not
be so pertinent, but of that hereafter. < »nly here be it remem-
bered that, in live bait fishing, the hooks must of necessity be
obvious for they cannot be embedded in the flesh as much as in a
dead fish.

1 have killed Mabseer with a spoon, with a phantom minnow,
and other imitation fish of sorts, and with a dead fish and there is
something to be said for each of them, something that will com-
mend itself differently to different anglers in proportion as they
like taking trouble or not.

The spoon bait is, of course, only an imitation of a fish, and
about the rudest imitation we are in the habit of using. Still it
is by no means to be contemned, and does a great deal more
business than would be supposed, one side being copper or gilt, and
the other, the inside, being silvered, it Hashes as it revolves, and
is seen a long way off in consequence. But if too closely in-
spected the rudeness <>f the imitation is bo apl to be discovered,
that it is seldom used in England except in coloured water; but
as it is of no use fishing for Mahseer in any thing but clear water,
the spoon is at a further discount in India. Stall it does very good
service if used judiciously. It stands to reason that in water
clear as crystal its use should be confined to the runs and eddies ;
for in the quieter waters you could not get it to revolve rapidly
enough for deceit, without pulling it faster through the water than
is advisable. In a good strong run you may even keep it stationary,

Chapt. v. Magus. 43

nay, more, may also lower it slowly down stream, tin' stream doing
all the spinning for you.

In consequence of this necessity for using it in running, and
chiefly in rapid water, I prefer the spoon to be somewhat heavier
than it ordinarily is in England; for if it cornea to the surface
it ceases to have a hold mi the water, and consequently ceases to
spin. Having regard, moreover, to the bottom-feeding propensities
of theMahseer 1 prefer to Bpin deep.

As to the different sizes of spoons a word may be better said
in the chapter on tackle. I will only mention here that I have
been so hard pushed for bail in camp that I have been thankful
to lay hands on a mustard Bpoon, and convert it to the much more
useful end in existence of being a beguiler of good Mahseer.

Apropos of this I may be allowed to tell a little incident. I
was fishing in a densely forest-clad part in which a guide was
necessary. I was fishing with a spoon, and my guide sat watching
me listlessly till he saw me get hold of, play, and land a decent
Mahseer. Then he woke up and was all attention. He closely
watched me unhook the fish, and straightway begin spinning again
with the same Bpoon, and soon catch another Mahseer. It was too
much for him. He could contain himself no longer. Is it lawful for
me, he asked, to see the hook. Certainly, I said, and handed him
the spoon. He turned it over and over in his hand and scrutinized
it closely and deliberately. Then, with a motion of the head, and a
look of being thoroughly satisfied that he had got to the bottom of
the mystery, he solemnly handed back the spoon. He asked no
explanation of me, so I gave none, but went on fishing and caught
more. That evening he got a wrapt audience round him, and
expounded the whole matter. " That gentleman catches Mahseer
by magic of hand, he puts on no hait at all. I saw it with my
own eyes. It is pure magic of hand." He verily helieved it.

A spoon has this further advantage that it is much lighter than
a dead fish, and if you use a springy fly top, as I do, in preference
to a stiff spinning top, as used in trolling for pike, you will find
that its comparative lightness will allow of your throwing a spoon
of ample size, whereas with a natural fish bait yon are restricted in
size by the weight which your top joint will lilt and swing out
without being strained or broken.

This is probably the reason why stiff spinning rods have come

44 Spinning for Mahseer. CHAPT. V.

to be thought the right rods for Mahseer. But more of them
anon.

There is something very slippery about a Hying spoon; you
cannot catch hold of it without coming well on to the hook, and I
think that you loose less runs at a spoon than at any other bait. A
fish cannot lay hold of it anywhere without slipping off it straight
nn to the hooks.

The spoon is also as clean fishing as the fly. As soon as you
have killed a fish and removed it from the hook, your lure is ready
again.

Moreover, you may not always be able to procure bait ; at any
rate not immediately on your arrival at your fishing quarters, and
the first evening's or morning's sport may be lost if you are not
prepared with a spoon or an artificial fish.

1 have used a phantom minnow too, and other artificial minnows
with advantage, ami any salmon minnow will kill, but it should be
specially dressed for tins country, as will be seen in the chapter on
tackle, or it will be quickly demoralized. There are fishermen, also,
who have used an artificial dace or roach, such as are made at
home for pike fishing, and had good sport with them. But they
are not fitted for all waters, only for the larger rivers containing
much heavier fish than do the smaller ones.

Of all bait, however, the one that I consider the most killing,
when available, is a dead fish on light spinning tackle. Any small
fish from 3 to 6 inches in length will do, but if I am picking
out of many in a bait-can I select, and use first, those that are
exactly 4 inches long, tail included. 1 prefer this length both
because it is a nice edible size, and generally appreciated, 1 fancy,
by the majority of Mahseer, and also because it is a convenient
weight to throw out from the ordinary fly top of a light salmon rod.
If you have a much heavier bait on, it will rather strain a tly top to
be constantly throwing it, and if you put on a special trolling top
for the purpose, you cannot change from spinning to fly fishing at
will, or at least you cannot change without more trouble, and the
loss of more time, than it is worth; whereas you ought with the
aid of an attendant to be able to do it under the minute, and to take
just a dozen casts over that pretty bit at the far end of the pool
which you could not quite reach with your minnow, and which it
would be a positive -in to leave untried, before passing on to other

CHAPT, iv. Spinning with a Pliable Fly Rod. 15

water, and replacing your fly collar by your spinning brace, the
former being wound round your hat, or better still, thrown down
for your attendant to crown Ids turband with at better leisure
than you can possibly be expected to have while so deeply engaged.
These were the considerations that first led to my spinning with
a fly top in old experimentalizing days, when also I wanted to
make a fair trial which was the more killing bait, a fly or a fish.
1 came thereby to learn, however, that a pliable top carries with it
very much more important advantages. The Mahseer takes its fly
perhaps much as a salmon does, rising at it and descending quiet!}
to its old place at the bottom till it feels the hook, but even then
its first rush alter feeling the hook is very much more violent than
a salmon's. It is this grand first rush that is the glory of Mahseer
fishing. But in spinning there is added to it yet another danger, the
Mahseer does not ordinarily take its fish quietly as if it knew it w< mid
be unresisting like a puny fly, but it seizes it, not always, certainly,
but not uncommonly, with an angry blow that gives a sudden jerk
to the line; it comes at the fish bait with a swoop like a hawk, and
seizing it passes swirling by at speed. To this angry jerk is very
quickly added the grand rush that follows on feeling the restraint
of the hook and line. Then it is that you find out, as mentioned in
Chapter II, that no hand is light enough. The Mahseer is too
quick for you. Before you can drop the top the mischief is done.
There has been a sudden smash, and your friend has gone. You
think, dear me, that was a splendid fish, my tackle was not strong
enough. I venture to say that the probabilities are that the fish
that broke you was not a bit heavier than the last you killed on
that same line, and that if you had only got on terms with him at
starting, by means of a pliable rod, you might equally have killed
him also. I do not deny, be it remembered, that the Mahseer do
grow very large, and do want very strong and fresh tackle, but I
maintain also that much of their violence may he neutralised, and
the necessity for very coarse tackle obviated, by the use of a pliable
fly rod in preference to a stiff trolling rod. I say not only fly rod,
but pliable fly rod, foi fly rods for salmon are made both stiff and
pliable, and 1 prefer the latter. The rod is in effect only the hand
end of the line, it is the last connecting link between the fish and

the hand. I d t understand the term Mahseer rod as if it were

necessary to have something mi generis. An ordinary pliable

46 Spinning for Mahseer. i'iiyit. v.

salmon rod is the one on which I rely by preference, and I hold that
if you strengthen your rod by stiffening it you must necessarily
proceed to strengthen also your line, your collar, and your snood ;
and having done that, you are fishing with a barge pole and a cart
rope. You are substituting brute force for skill. limit < all ii
sport. Sport is the delicious triumph of skill. The man with the
barge pole gets very little of that poor fellow, and he has the labor
of carrying a heavier rod and a heavier winch than is really needed.
Give me the magic wand that promptly "stoops to conquer,"
that is sensitive of every plunge, that aids me like a friend in
meeting it promptly, that works with me hand in hand throughout
the fight, almost speaks to me of the next effort of the enemy,
always anticipates me in foiling it, and when the battle is won,
draws himself up as straight as an arrow, and breathes again for
fresh contests. Ah well ! I have some dear friends among my rods
with many mutual confidences, shared with none else. They have
had as much to do with the killing of many a Hue li.sh as I have.

They have had to do with it in more ways than resisting the
first rush. 1 have, after some play, killed a marral of some 5 or
G lbs. which had one hook pressing against a tooth, and not
embedded anywhere, and which dropped off as the landing net
took the weight off the line. Would such a thing have been
possible with anything hut a springy top I I have after a vigorous
fight in rough water shelved a Mahseer of some 5 lbs., as memory
serves me, which had one honk embedded half way up the barb in
the hardest part of the gill cover, in short, it was only pressing at
right angles against the bone, and dopped out as 1 took off the
tension. Who did that ? Not I, but m\ springy top. Once more.
In very rough water 1 hooked a Mahseer, which, after a mile of
exposure on a coolies shoulder in the sun, scaled, I see in m\ notes,
30£ lbs. in camp. Away down stream he rushed like a madman,
screaming out the line, though the basket boat was started after
liim as promptly as possible; presently he stopped, and the basket
boat, with its way on, overshot him. Of course I was telling the
boatman what to do, and he was paddling and I reeling up, all
we knew. In the heat of the action as we were making downwards
towards still water, where there was plenty of elbow room and a
bit of shelving bank, everywhere else huge precipitous rocks over-
hung us, there was a cessation of vibration, the telegraphic commit-

i'iivit. v. Advantages of a Pliable Sod. 17

nidation between me and my tish was Interrupted, Promptly we
paddled above him, got him out of his arm chair mi some rock at
the bottom, and began conducting him, foot by foot as he gave way,

down another division of the river away from his friendly arm
chair, which he hung on to like a dentist. For the firsl time I got
jusl a momentary glance of the commencement of a 9 ft. spinning
trace. It waa refreshing to see Bigns of getting better acquainted.

But down it went again into the dark depths. Finally I landed,
got the boat and the natives out of the way, and alter 52 minutes
of good hard fighting shelved my friend. As I stooped down to
unhook the fish, the hook tumbled out. It had only been round
one ray of the tail tin all the time, and the hook had been so small
a one that it little more than encircled the ray at its base. Now,
who killed that tish ? Not I, certainly, but my springy rod. I
defy the best fisherman going to have killed that tish with a barge
pole. This, then, is one of the advantages of a springy elastic rod.
I know of an angler going so far as to say that with such rods he
did not want any barb to the hook, and preferred them without for
trout, as they pierced more readily. There, however, I cannot
follow him ; and as regards playing a fish generally, the argument is
equally applicable to other fish. It is with special reference to the
first rush that the speciality of a Mahsecr rod should be pliability,
elasticity, on no account rigidity.

I have two ways of baiting. One is more troublesome than the
other, but it is in my opinion the more killing, so I give it first.

Having selected your bait alive and fresh out of the bait kettle,
humanely kill it thoroughly with a flip or two on the back of the
bead, but temper your physical energies with a little discretion, so
as not to knock it about.

"There is wisdom in sucking eggs," and there is a right and a
wrong way of killing a bait even. If you have the loach-like
Ophiocvpltn/ii.-i i/iahidi to deal with, as hereafter recommended, you
may flip away at his head for a long time without killing him, and
though you may half stun him, you will be horrified, when putting
the baiting needle through him, to find lie is still alive and kicking,
whereas if you give him one good squeeze in one hand so as to

h his internal organs, he will die instantly. If he is too
slippery for you, a little river-side sand will boob 'jet over that
difficulty.

48 Spinning for Mahseer. Chapt. v.

You must not follow this same plan with the dace-like fisli,
however, for if you do, the silvery scales will all come off, and it
will at once look dreadfully dishevelled. Moreover it is not
necessary, for the dace-like fish have as thin a cranium as a snipe,
and a flip on the head soon does for them, and with them it is that
you must he careful not to be too rough.

Your bait being dead, then insert the baiting needle, point
foremost, at the anus, and bring it out at the open mouth. Before
pulling it through, hook the loop of the gut on to the eye of the
baiting needle. Then pull the baiting needle out at the mouth,
drawing the gut after it through the fish till the hook conies home
to the anus. In doing this, humour the baiting needle by giving
it a turn, as a doctor does an instrument, so as to tear the vent
hole as little as possible in getting the loop through it. I prefer a
single treble hook of the sort described in the chapter on tackle,
and about the size shown in Plate VI, figure 2, which is No. 1 in
Plate VII of the scale of treble hooks. I used to use No. 7, but
1 find the hook is so well concealed in this mode of baiting that
one can afford to use a larger hook, and the larger hook gives of
course greater chances of hooking, and a larger hook hold. When
the hook is home to the vent, embed one of the three thoroughly
in the fish, so that the two remaining hooks of the treble shall be
lying close against the fish. In this position they are scarcely
perceptible, whereas if one hook is carelessly only half embedded,
the other two stick out and show unnecessarily. It is always
worth while to bait very carefully and neatly, because all your
subsequent efforts centre on the nicety of your baiting. Then you
must have a sinker, also described in the chapter on tackle, Pass
the baiting needle through the loop or ring attached to the sinker,

and run the sinker down the line, and push it, thin point fore st,

down the fish's throat, so that it is entirely concealed within the
mouth of the bait. Then remove your baiting needle, and hold
the line so as to come out of the bait's mouth exactly in the
centre ; and so as to keep it in the centre, and make the bail spin
true, as well as keep the lead from Coming out, sew the b
mouth up as follows witli a common needle and thread. Close
the bait's mouth, pass the threaded needle through both lips so as
to bring it out at one of the nostrils in the upper lip, insert it at
the other nostril, and pass it through both lips again, keeping the

o^

3

v^

~^

F

c — =

,

-

@=

~3

■53

©

^

■"^

o-

^

KX

Chapt. v. Baiting on one Treble E \\<

line between these two stitches. The two ends of the thread will
then be over at the chin of the bait; draw them together jusl
gently enough to avoid tearing the bait, and yet tightly enough to
keep the mouth well closed. lie a sailor's knot, no* "a granny''
or grandmother's knot> and cut off the ends. Do not use white
thread for this, because it will Bhow, but stout black thread double,
or any dark coloured knitting silk double, say brown for preference.
Your bait is then ready for use.

This may seem a long, troublesome, ami fidgetty process, but it
should not occupy as long in the doing as it does in the describing,
and if you have an attendant with you, he can always lie preparing
a bait for you while you are fishing, and whenever your bait is

Ll by a fish, or by long or rough usage, you can at once change
it for a fresh one, by using the double loop recommended in the
chapter on tackle, in the manner there suggested. This change
can be effected in about ten seconds, or may be less, and the
soiled bait left for the attendant to remove from the hook and
replace by another fresh one.

1 1 you have not got a treble hook, a single bare salmon hook
can be used very well for this purpose, the hook being pulled into
the vent after the line shank foremost, till the fish is well down
.11 to the bend of the hook, ami there is really little more than
the point showing. A No. 4/0, 5/0, or 6/0 Limerick hook will do
very well for this purpose.

The only objection I have heard made to this mode of baiting
is that the bait is apt to bend too much by draggling down on to
the hook, because there is nothing in the line to give it rigidity
and keep it straight. But I have not found this myself it' care is
taken not to embed the hook further away from the head than
the vent hole, and if it be a fault it is one that is easily remedied
by inserting the baiting needle not at the anus, but a trifle nearer to
the laad. In Bucb case insert it not in the stomach, which is liable
to tear away, but in firm flesh half-way up the side, and take

lie baiting needle, not simply under the skin, but through
a good piece of flesh so as to give a bold, and also embed one of
the hooks thoroughly well into the aide till the other two lie. quite

Hat against it. Pass the baiting n lie out of the mouth and

proceed as before. This for objectors, but I prefer the use of the
\eiit huh' as it tears less, and is in my opinion nut at all too far

THK Id II. IN n ''•

50 Spinnmgfor Mdhseer. Chapt. v.

back ; indeed I sometimes insert the one embedded hook a little
further aft than the vent, because the vent is differently placed in
different fish, and some require a little more bend to make them
spin. The opposition of the water makes the bait hang back on
the hook, so as to draw up the tail, and create bend enough to
make it spin.

But there is one objection to this mode of baiting which I will
freely admit. If your bait is not the OpItiorijiJiali/s yuchiut, but
of a less tough sort, or if from not being quite fresh it is inclined
to get rotten, which it will very quickly do in India, then, as the
bait softens from being sodden by use in the water, the sinker in
the stomach slips down the line, and by its weight breaks a way
for itself out of the stomach or vent, and trailing visibly outside
your bait spoils its appearance utterly. For such spoiling,
too, there is no remedy but a fresh bait, and of these you may not
have too many. At any rate you grudge the time lust in changing,
especially if the fresh bait is not with you, but with your
attendant, who, for better concealment, is not quite at your side.
In such case use the sinker outside as in Plate VI, figure 2, placing
it a good foot or foot and a half away from the bait. This plan,
again, is not without objection, for it is not quite so easy to cast
quietly a line that has two separate weights at the end, as a line
which has all its weight at one point, the end. So you must make
your own choice of comparative advantages and disadvantages.
Perhaps the difficulty might be got over by using an outside lead
ca ] > over the nose of the bait with a perforation through the centre
of the crown for the line, as in minnow spinning for trout. 1
never tried it however, and never saw such caps made large
enough for a four or five inch bait, and I should fear that they
would fray the line.

But for those who are too idle for baiting after this manner.
and have not an attendant trained to do it for them, I have
another simpler plan which will do nearly as well though it is not
quite so neat. It consists of a treble hook and a lip hook with a
looped sinker as before, l'ut the line though the loop or ring of

the sinker, and let the sinker run down to the lip 1 k. Put

the sinker thin end foremost into the bait's mouth and half
down its throat, close the mouth so as keep it in by passing the
lip hook through both lips. Then embed the treble hook into the

Chapt. v. A Lip Hook and one Treble enough. -"I

side of the dead bait parallel with the vent. Sou are ready for
action. But this bail will not last bo Long aa the former one,
because it is given to tearing at the mouth, especially in rough
hands which jerk it unnecessarily in swinging it out for a spin,
and when thesecond hook is not put in bo as to share the strain
with the. lip hunk. When properly baited it should give the
bait the slightest curve imaginable. But Francis Francis has
chapters and two sets of plates on this one subject alone, this line

of beauty curve, and H. Cholmondely lVnnell has re apparently

in "How tn spin for Pike," Between these two, therefore, the
reader should have more than enough on the subject, and 1 have
already promised not to trouble him with what he has in English
books. To these and other authors then I refer him, but with the
request that he will bear constantly in mind the one marked aud
very important difference between English fishing ami Indian
fishing, that whereas you seldom spin or troll at home in water
that is not more or less coloured or tinged, and not unfrequently
onder a cloudy sky, you never ought to spin out here fur Mahseer
except in clear water, and if you get any thing but a bright sky
above, you are in luck's way indeed. The consequence is that it
is necessary to be doubly particular about having as fine tackle
witlt as few hooks as possible ; and flights of numerous hooks that
onaidered quite "according to Cocker" at home, look in our
bright waters so truly terrible that no Indian fish would be fool
enough to come within a yard of them. When I use this kind of
tickle I use only one treble as above stated. But I find most people
prefer two. and in it a few three trebles, so I beg you to be content
with two, and let them be small ones as shown in Plate VI,
figure 1. Say No. 7 on Plate VII of the scale of treble hooks,
and of course " extra strong," as described in the chapter on
tackle.

Furthermore, a multitude of hooks, even if they were not
repellant, as they obviously must be in bright water, are not at all
necessary out here. They are made at home for fishes whose
mouths are so full of teeth and scarcely-covered bone, that the
surface presented to the hook is SO hard that the chances are
sadly against a hook penetrating, and getting a lmld. and therefore
the hooks are multiplied with a view to increasing the chances of
hinikiic_< a fish. But the Maimer's mouth and lips are >nft, tough,

THE BOD IN INDIA. I'- -

52 Spinning for Mahseer. Chapt. V.

and leathery, presenting a perfect hookln Id all over, so that one
hook is enough, ami two is certainly ample. Moreover, the Mahseer
closes his leathery mouth very tight on his fish as I have shown,
and the chances are much against his escaping heing hooked.

On all grounds, therefore, I am for as few hooks and as fine
tackle as possible with the Mahseer. With some other fish with
which we shall have to do hereafter the same necessity may not
exist.

Presuming, then, that I have contrived to seduce my reader
into a preference for a dead fish on fine tackle, as being more
natural and consequently better calculated to stand closer fish-
eyed scrutiny in clear water than any artificial bait, the next ques-
tion that arises is whether any particular sort of small fish is
more killing than another. This 1 have endeavoured to ascertain
by identifying the fish found in the several Mahseer killed ; but
their digestion is so marvellously rapid, that it is very seldom
indeed that the small fish there found are recognizable. Not only
have their scales and fins almost always disappeared, but their
very shape has been lost. Though 1 have once or twice recognized
one of the dace-like fish called Barbus swrana, or, in Canarese, hijau,
it does not thence follow that there may not have heen several
other sorts amongst the ones I could not make out, such as
the young of the Barbus chrysopoma or of the Barbus filamen-
tosus, of which plates will be found further on, or of somewhat
similar fish. Though I have seen the Mahseer taking dace-like
fish freely in the natural state, it is no sequence that they do not
as freely take other fish, which I could not see them take, simply
because they are small fish that inhabit the bottoms of rivers, and
are consequently not within sight. I cannot say, therefore, if the
Mahseer have a preference for any particular sort of small fish,
and as they seem to take them all alike, little earing which is
Ciesar and which is Pompey, the question rather is which the
fisherman prefers. The dace-like fish shows furthest from its
white shining scales, but that is not much of a point where the
water is clear as crystal, and they are a tender bait, and soon tear
on a hook and look dishevelled. The young of the Chela argentea
are a favourite bait with some, because they are so very bright
and silvery. But they are most frail. Any of these sorts of
baits can be readily caught by a throw or two of the casting net

CHAPT. V. Kinds of Fish forr Bait. 53

in tin1 shallowing edges and tails of the pools of the very river in

which you are fishing. Your boatman is probably a fisherman by
and has only to be warned to bring bis casting net with him.
The Ophiioaphahw gackua, however, a somewhat loach-like fish
in general appearance, and railed in Canarese morant, in Tamil,
koravai, and in Hindustani dole, is much tougher, and consequently
keeps its good looks ranch longer on a hook. Its lips, which is a
great point, are stltnger, and its mouth being wider, it readily
takes in a larger sinker. It may be easily recognized by the simi-
larity of it- general appearance to that of the marral, Ophiocephalua
atriaiw, figured in Plate XIX, for it is one of the same family and
genus, though small It has small scales, looking to the ordinary
rver like a scaleless skin. It is a bottom-feeder, always among
the -tones, and the young are to be found in any small pool adjoin-
ing rice-fields, whence they can be readily taken by bailing out,
or by small boj B with a worm, or by damming up any small stream
and turning it on to a dry reaped rice field, when they will follow
the stream out on to the rice field and are easily caught. This is
the simplest way of catching a number in a short time. Your
grooms or other camp followers can do it for you. These fish keep
alive in a bait-can longer than any fish I know; but they are
great hands at jumping out if it is not closed.

Though I say loach-like, the reader will please understand that
I mean like in general semblance only to the eye of the casual
observer, and not in characteristics to the closer examiner; for it is
really of the same genus as the marral, though a span is its
utmost length. My desire is to make myself intelligible to the
general reader, the more critical one must therefore please not
quarrel with me for, or conclude ignorance from, laxity of expres-
sion like the above, any more than he would conceive a person
ignorant of the earth's rotation for saying the sun set.

As to what is the best size for a bait to be, it must, I think,
remain a moot point, dependent very much on the fancy of the
fisherman. Some have an idea that the larger the bait you use,
the larger will be the fish you catch. But my humble opinion is
that we do nol always take as big a bite of cake as ever our
mouths will hold, and I am quite sure very tin md :!() lb.

salmon have been killed with a very minnow for bait. I have
myself seen a pike of 3 feet taken on a roach not as many

54 Spinning for Maimer. Ciiapt. v.

inches in length. The use of a large bait may perhaps serve the
purpose of choking off the smaller fish, and allowing the bigger
ones to have it all to themselves, but I very much doubt it, for
it is astonishing how huge a bait, in comparison with its own size,
a small fish will sometimes go at if he happens to be more than
ordinarily peckish. On a spoon of 2f inches in length I have
pulled out a greedy little Mahseer of only a quarter of a pound in
weight, whereas I have also taken a twelve pounder on a spoon of
only an inch and a quarter in length. I measure the spoon in the
spoon part only without calculating the ring and hook fore and aft.
I 'ike, again, have been known to take other pike of more than
half their own size, and in one case every hit as big as itself,
though in the last instance it might have been more intent on
lighting than digesting; anyhow it won't do it again, for it died of
suffocation. Of course if you go to such a length, as was recently
done with success, of baiting with a 7 lb. jack for an individual
pike of 50 lb., known to reside in a certain locality, it would
trouble any small pike to take such a bait, and you might fairly
calculate on strong pro! abilities of your taking the particular pike
you wanted, or none at all. But you do not always happen to
have a personal acquaintance so intimate as to be able to provide
the special dish which your friend alone shall particularly affect.
Furthermore, I hold that as a preventative measure against in-
different lish a large bait is not a necessary precaution. My belief
is that if there is a big fish on the feed within reach of your bait,
though small, and you work it naturally enough for him to desire
to take it, he will have it, and woe betide the cheeky little lish
that presumes to come between him ami his dinner, for "a hungry
man is an angrj man." Again and again have I seen a large fish
sail majestically up to his hail, and take it leisurely in, as if
thoroughly conscious that none of the smaller lish around dare
step in before him. There is a calm resolute look in his eye, and
an angry little twitch of his tail, that the smaller fry understand
the meaning of right well. It means business, and they make
way for his majesty most apparently. But if there is any doubt
in his mind, and he shows no sign, they can read that too, and in
they go at the bait, as they are probably hungrier and Less wary

than he is. And thai is how it is that a good lishcPiian generally

kills liner lish in the long run than an indifferent fisherman, even

Chapt. v. Adva lagtsoj La ,■■ Bait discussed. 55

though both fish with precisely the same bait. The finest Ksb are
the oldest, the most experienced, mosl wary, and in a positioE to
be the most fastidious. The deception that satisfies them must

consequently be the most perfect ; but if it be quite satisfactory,
then tlu-y are thoroughly competent to look out for them-
selves, and well able to prevent the smaller try from rudely
rushing in and currying off their intended dinner. There is a very
decided, dignified, awe-sinking, keep-your-distanee expression in
the countenance and general bearing of a large fish about to feed,
and in a handsomely attired trout an unmistakable odi profawum-
■ look, quite enough to make any small fry shrink into their
shoes. Though 1 have uot yet arrived at the point of recognizing
the varying lines in the lace of a large Mahseer, there is no doubt
in my mind but that the small fish are thoroughly conversant with
them, for I see a knowledge of a certain something there so clearly
reflected in their behaviour, that 1 cannot question it, and myself
am often able to gather something from his general demeanour,
his lordly lineaments, even before he leaves his station for the bait.
His daily satellites the small tish must, however, have much more
i losely studied bis physiognomy.

Still the rule cannot be considered by any means absolute.
Small Mahseer must rush in and take their risks of punishment
sometimes, just as half-grovi n chickens do in a yard, and get a good
now and again for their pains. Nothing venture nothing
have. Your small bait may also be taken by a small Mahseer
before it comes within the ken of the large tish which is in another
part of the pool or run, a part you have not yet spun over. An
argument this for spinning through the best bits first; a reason
again why the best fisherman catches the best fish. He divines
intuitively where the best fish ought to be, and he fishes accord-
ingly. Furthermore, the best tish having taken up their position
in the best localities command only a limited radius therefrom.
If the smaller Mahseer never jot a chance of a small fish they
would be badly off.

There is no doubt, however, in my mind but that the large fish

tie to make the smaller ones understand that he means to

have such and BUCh bait in sight, and that they are not to think of

anticipating him. It is quite intelligible that he should do it

almost without a Sign, just as you would intimate to your second

Spinning f-?r MaJueer. iFt T.

gun-bearer thai you are prepared for the approaching deer or : .
and -

i natural sequence ; h would be a work
: - "t:-- . :: r. : :~11 -J.~ _r --is: - : r._-. ':-:'. tt 7"- . -^ --•■-:

7
position of the small fish is a parallel one.

ebig fish's eye a* bait, and :

undersci: : :he time he considers best

-oipctang what he con - you will

therT -*.e delay it shoul 1

I n-bearer that the master is only waiting

them 11 be proved abundan:

idea- to the anal _;

:
-. . ._- " - "~ :_rv :' 11 — kei in 1 ■:?:■*■ L ndnit -..v.-:.\\ ■

em H.

not been emu
: working out a hollow in thx _

■

' !
It ..-.-:".. •■■ -- 1. r- i - .:. 1 . r. 1 . i? :'...: '.'- ~- :- : : la '.7
■

v-:l:-: -

_ow depend upo- are no fools, and the angler who

hopes to be successful must commence

:lr .'.-.; : .: 1-- "._-- ■ : • 1 : leal *::L Ev-~ man that 1 ■--
from hand to mouth has of nect- ide awake to his

.__rl.-> 5:— :..:_- . ■ - :. '.':.•= il-rt : r. :. ... :__:s . i;;k :o

Chut. v. Fish Think. 57

draw conclusions, and prompt to act upon them. It is the
with civilized man, it is still more markedly so with the savage,
while with the animal kingdom it is presumedly the sole field of
thought Still it is thought, and sometimes followed out through
a surprisingly long chain, and fish are no exceptions to the general
rule, even though their intelligence may not be so educated as that of
the domesticated animals that have been brought into closer com-
munion with the superior intellect of man ; and may not be so
much noticed and appreciated by man. because exhibited under the
water, an element with which he is necessarily less conversant
than earth and air.

Fish have a brain, why then should they not use it, though it
is not as heavy as Cuvier's or Byron's or Thackeray's ? It has even
been suggested that there is a comparison between the weight of
brain and intelligence of different fish.*

Why is it that you use a transparent, almost invisible, material
like silkworm-gut to attach to your hook ? Why do not you use
whijtcord or string ? It would be both stronger and cheaper.
Why ! because the tishis observant, would notice it, would conclude,
would think, aye think, there was something wrong, and would not
ich a fool as to take your bait.

Not to multiply examples too much, howT is it that the trout in
a much-fished river are much shyer than in less frequented waters,
and require finer tackle and better fishermen to catch them ?
They are not really shyer of anything but man, they are not less
greedy of food than tiny were, but it anything the reverse, because
of their fewer opportunities of feeding, they are only more discrimi-
nating, more educated, more intelligent. They have learnt to dis-
tinguish between an artificial fly and a natural one ; they recognize
the figure and the shadow of a fishing man, and dash away ; while
they feed securely on in presence of the ox grazing on the bank.
They may not be a " cooking animal " kke you and me, but they
are thinking animals all the same, and no fools either, and if we
wish to do anything with them we should not take them for any-
Ihing but intelligent beings. If you do, and only then, shall we 1"'
inclined to think there is some sense after all in Johnson's well-

• "The proportionate weight of brain in a Pike as compared with its body, i<
as 1 to 1,300 ; in a Shark as 1 to 2,500 ; and in the Tunny, a remarkably stupid fiph,
but as 1 to 3,700." — The Angler-Nuturalist, II. Cholmondelr Pennell.

58 Spinning for Mutineer. Ciiai'T. v.

known definition of the angler, " a stick and a staring with a worm
"at one end and a fool at the other," albeit the learned man
spake it in ignorance.

I repeat, again, the fish at least is no fool. Eradicate that idea.
Take a new creed. Say rather he is a thinking animal. I might
go on multiplying examples to prove it, but I should weary you.
Pray do not breath a word about reason and instinct, or I shall have
to begin again and write a whole chapter on that well-worn though
interesting subject. Do just please concede for peace sake that my
fish is a reasoning being, and I will go on to the next subject, bis
talkativeness.

I have stated my belief that fish are able to communicate their
ideas to each other, and I hold this opinion on two grounds ; the
first, that it would be contrary to the analogy of all nature if they
could not do so, and the second, that I think I can recognize
indications of their exercising this power.

My belief, then, is that all the higher animal life that we know
anything of has the power of communicating ideas.

Has any one the hardihood to assert that monkeys cannot
converse ? Watch them moving quietly along in a large crowd.
One of them gives a little sound of satisfaction, and there are soon
plenty with him to share the fruit he has found. That mamma
monkey calls to its young one that it is time to be off sharp as there
is a man coming, or that it should not dawdle so as there is fruit
in front, and it very evidently understands and repairs to its
mother hurriedly or leisurely according to the nature of the
maternal command. This is very marked. And then how mamma
croones over it. Is it all meaningless ? I will be bound there is
not so much nonsense in it as in half the stuff talked to babies by
nurses and mothers ; about blessing their little tootsi-wootsies and
so forth. Let one of the herd see a crocodde where they are about
to drink, or a panther, or anything that alarms them, and only
listen to the jabbering caught up and carried mi by all. Do you
say it is all gibberish > It is intelligible enough to them, and all
with one consent take precautions accordingly. They do not run
wildly hither and thither, as if overcome by an uncertain fear, but
they have a clear idea of what is the matter, ami what they ought
tn ilo under the circumstances. The state of affairs has been
intelligently communicated.

Chapt. v. Monkeys ' ; to do Dogs. 59

Try again. Strike gently, bo as not to cow, or threaten to
strike, that captive monkey, and see if he does not face round, and
give you a bit of his mind at once. He" commences balking with
great volubility and though you cannot understand him he means a
great deal It is very evident from his demeanour he does, his face
and bearing being full of rapid expression,

I have often thought it a very good thing we do not know all
that quarrelsome dogs say to each other, for there must be Borne
frightfully had language used sometimes. The very style of the
growling of some of them makes one shudder, it sounds so full of
coarse oaths. But they can talk civil talk to each other also. I had
a tine heavy dog, half fox-hound, half Cuban blood-hound, which
had an excellent nose. He came on the scent of antelope, and
followed it up till it was warm, and he could make it out.
Knowing from sad experience that be was much too portly to catch
an antelope himself, Jim abruply left the scent, and went in search
of Juno, the fleetest of the kangaroo hounds, then hunting for herself
about a quarter-of-a-mile off. Back the two scampered together in
a great hurry, he picked up the old scent, and followed it up, till he
fairly Laid hex in view, and then away she went, he keeping her in

I as best he could by cutting corners. To bring her away from
her own chances of sport, and that so promptly, and to get her to
accompany him back in such a hurry, he must have conveyed to
her mind a very clear idea of some definite sport immediately in
hand. No human being interfered. They did it all themselves.
But dogs can also make themselves intelligible to men, for we have
lived so much with them that we have in some measure learned
their language. Though we do not know all they say about it, man
can well understand from the manner of a dog's giving tongue, when
it thinks it has hit upon a scent, and when it is sure it has a warm
one, and when it is iu view. A dog's whimper, its giving tongue,
baying, barking, growling, moaning, howling, yelping, are all
distinct sound-, with a distinct significance, which man has
learnt to understand. He has learnt a little also of the many
different intonations in those sounds, of the differing force of
expression in them, and of the looks of face, and motions of tail,
and sometimes of paw and tongue and raised bristle with which
they are accompanied. If he knew more he would understand
also how dogs Bpeai to each other in silence by signs, or expres-

60 Spinning far Makseer. Cn.vrr. v.

sions of countenance, or in audible words, that man cannot
follow.

How does a bison tell its calf that it must run in front of the
herd and lead the pace, and having told it this, how does it make
it understand the line of country to be taken ? All this it does in
apparent silence, and you may observe the little one looking back
when in doubt for instructions.

How does an antelope, on the approach of danger, tell its
little one, not yet old enough to run, to lie down instantly, and not
to stir for its life till called ?

How does a sheep call its particular lamb out of a hundred, or
more, a great distance away, and that particular lamb comes at
once, and no others offer to move ? When it wants to reassure
its lamb, and to tell it not to come, it employs a very different
sound, and the lamb shows by its conduct that it comprehends.

Tigers make very different noises when searching for their prey,
when apalling it, when rejoicing over it, when calling each other,
when angered. Man can distinguish the difference therein. But
there is doubtless much more means of intercommunion which
man cannot follow. For instanoe, tigers and wolves and wild dugs
not unfrequently hunt in concert, some lying in ambush, while
others beat towards them, and they must have conversed together
to preconcert the plan of the campaign.

Birds also converse. See how constantly mynas are chattering
away to each other, especially the hill niyna (If /dates religiosd), and
swallows before migrating seem to be busily discussing some subject
or other. I presume it is their journey. Hooks hold great assem-
blages, and make much nose thereat, and the end of it all is
rational behaviour, for they are admittedly very learned about
various things, and are evidently not without rights of property in
last year's nests. They have also decisions executed by the
multitude in the cases of intruders or offending individuals. Indeed,
it is difficult to conceive how any creatures who habitually live in
collected numbers could possibly order their conduct so as to live
harmoniously, unless they had the power of freely interchanging
their ideas.

How could the sociable grosbeak, or sociable weaver bird of
South Africa {PhUetcerus socivs) conjointly construct for the whole
colony one large umbrella-shaped collection of nests connected like

Chut. v. Birds have Ltmgv 61

the houses in a town ; how could they arrange all the necessary
details without communicating ideas and arriving at a joint under-
Btanding I Sociable animals must necessarily converse.

I should not be surmised to find it some day proved that not
unlv do birds have language, but also separate languages for
different species, as we have for different nations, and variations of
voice for each individual and sex. Without such variations of
voice it would be difficult to understand how, in the pairing season,
for instance, each individual sparrow can not only call a sparrow
and a mate, but its own mate, as it evidently does without mistake,
in the midst, too, of a clamour of other voices. That the bird's ear
is formed for the accurate distinction of voices is traceable in the
grey parrot, the raven, the jackdaw, the niyna, and others, which
not only repeat words, but catch so exactly the intonation of the
human speaker that they are sometimes undistinguishable.

That there are different voices for different sexes we can
ourselves recognize in the varying voices of domestic poultry, and
man can so copy the voice, and parrotwise probably the words also,
of a she bear that a male bear shall answer it from far away in
the forest, and keep on answering and drawing near as called. I
have seen it done on the Animalais, till we had to desist because
we were unarmed. The gentleman who did it said that there were
junglemen who could thus call a male bear within easy shot.
Many of us have heard natives so copy jackals crying over their
prey, that others shall answer and come even within striking
distance of a club. This subject might be enlarged on, but I only
wish to lead up to my fish

Take just one example from insects, in addition to those from
beasts and birds. Watch the ants moving in long columns along
some conjointly cleared road, in some particular direction, evidently
with some common object. How did they agree about and com-
municate to each other that common plan ? Put your finger, or any
other obstacle, in the line and stop them. There is immediately
excitement amongst them all, and parties swarm up to remove the
obstacle with a readiness that seems to say the state of affairs has
been rapidly communicated, and a course of conduct resolved upon
and ordered by authority. See two ants meet and cross feelers
rapidly, and thru go on their several ways. What have they been
doing? Pooling? All their history is against the supposition,

02 Spinning for Maimer. CHAPT. V.

They would seem to have been conversing. Watch them dragging
a cockroach up the side of a wall. It is about fifty times the size
and weight of any one of them, but there they are on all sides,
some upholding, some dragging, some pushing, others indicating the
way, and others coming as reliefs, but all evidently understanding
each other, and consequently working with a unanimity of purpose
which alone could make it possible to accomplish their end as
they do. They clear fields, sow seeds, cultivate them, and in due
course cut, carry, and store crops in granaries built for the purpose.
They forage for, capture, stall, feed, and milk cows. They main-
tain armies and take prisoners. They have a well ordered society.
It is impossible that they could do all this without being able to
communicate freely witli each other.

Though arguments to this end might lie multiplied at pleasure,
and are to be found in convincing force in the writings of Sir .John
Lubbock, in " Mind in the Lower Animals," by W. Lauder Lindsay,
M.I)., and such like works devoted to the subject, enough for the
purpose of this work has probably been said, in passing, to satisfy
the reader generally that beasts, birds, and insects can and do con-
verse as freely as human beings, and consequently that there is a
presumption in favour of the same faculty being possessed by fish.
There being no apparent grounds why fish alone should be an
exception to the general rule, and all analogy being favourable
to their being able to communicate ideas, we may examine with
less incredulity, without any presumption to the contrary, and
consequently with more fairness, whether or not there are any
indications of their exercising the power which they may well
possess.

I instance first the example above given of a large fish deterring
Bmaller ones from anticipating him in the matter of food; and 1
beg a re-perusal of those remarks with less incredulity and more
seriousness, than was, perhaps, given to them before. I have seen
the same with chub also, as well as with Mahseer. I have seen
six or eight chub attracted by my floating cockchafer, and appa-
rently meditating taking it, when they hung back, divided, and
made way for a comparatively much larger chub of 2J lbs., who
sailed inajestiea 11 \ up to the bait, and took it leisurely down, with a
seeming confidence thai the others would not presume to anticipate
him. lie must have made them understand, even though he came

('HUT. v. Filk coMmv.iv>, it, /,.'

from behind them, that lie desired to have tint cock-chafei liimself,
and he must have felt confident that lie had expressed himself
itlv. and would be attended to. The aame oonclusian seems
to be pointed at by the frequently deliberate way in which a 1
tri>ut sucks down his fly, in contradistinction to the hurried dart of
the smaller trout

Furthermore, how is it that when a river is much whipped, the
fish all get very shy ? I do not suppose they have all been pricked
1 iy the hook and got away, so as to have gained wisdom each by

■nal experience. Surely there are too many thousands in the
river for that, and too many more thousands fresh burn every year.
Those that have been hook-pricked, not an inconsiderable number
certainly, are not improbably able to communicate the fact to the
others, and not till a large proportion of the community have thus
suffered, is much weight likely to be attached to their warnings, in
opposition to the cravings of nature.

Certainly there is much to be urged in the contrary direction

as, for instance, the fact that fish wdl keep on biting in one
particular spot, though they see their neighbours being pulled out
before their very eyes. Still men do things quite as foolish. They
engage in trades dangerous to life, and continue to follow them,
though they see their fellow workmen falling oft* around them from
which have been calculated to result with certainty after

ted number of years. If the pressure of circumstances, res
anfusta domi, be too strong for the wisdom of the human being,
why should not the cravings of nature be allowed to have out-

iied the caution of the fish, rather than be deduced as conclu-
sive evidence that he knows not the risk he is running. It is at
least an open question, and analogy and observation incline me to
the belief that fish can communicate ideas to each other,

1 may not be able to deduce as many, or as striking examples,
as in the case of birds or beasts, but that, as I have already shown,
is the natural consequence of fish inhabiting an element in which
we are necessarily less at home than in our own.

It is Dot necessary to my argument that the communication
should take place by means of oral sounds as with human beings,
though fish have the sense of hearing. Dr. W. Lauder Lindsay says :

ions fish kept in pleasure ponds in gentlemen's demesnes
" also know their own voice or call, and sometimes even

64 Spinning for Mahseer. ('matt v.

" footfall or footstep, from those of all other individuals. They
" attend to the one and are indifferent to the other." And Sir
J. Emerson Tennent, in his very interesting " Natural History of
Ceylon," has remarked, not without force, that " organs of hearing
" have been clearly ascertained to exist not only in fishes, hut in
" mollusca. In the oyster the presence of an acoustic apparatus of
'■ the simplest possible construction has been established by the
'• discoveries of Siebold, and from our knowledge of the reciprocal
" relations existing between the faculties of hearing and of pro-
" ducing sounds, the ascertained existence of the one affords
" legitimate grounds for inferring the co-existence of the other in
"animals of the same class." Still it is not necessary to my argu-
ment that the communication should be made even by sounds
inaudible to the human ear. It is equally comprehensible that, as
in the case of ants and animals, they may be made by distinct
means, means of which we have no knowledge.

It has been remarked above that it is difficult to conceive how
any creatures who habitually live in collected numbers could pos-
sibly order their conduct so as to live harmoniously, unless they
had the power of freely interchanging their ideas. May not such
a remark have equal pertinence to fish as to birds ? Is it not
equally applicable to such fish as swim in shoals ? Torpoises, for
instance, act very obviously all in concert, and the change, from one
unity of purpose, to another unity of purpose, is made with such
rapidity, and such a complete embracing of every individual of the
school, that it is easier to believe that the new idea was in some
way communicated, than to believe that it was not. Gregarious
fish, such as the herring and the pilchard, could scarcely conduct
their migrations in unison if they had not all a common intent
arrived at by communication. The simultaneous manner in which
avast shoal of fish will descend from the surface of the sea to
deeper water points also in the same direction It is well known
to anglers that you may catch dace after dace out of a shoal till
you have hooked ami lost one in the landing, and that then you
will ordinarily get no more dace out of that shoal. How is this to
be accounted for except on the supposition that they have powers
of communication analogous to those of gregarious animals on land '
Exceptional days there are certainly, that come once or twice in a

twelvemonth, when nothing will dissuade the dace from taking as

h

Chaft. vi. Fiah oommimicatt Ideas. 65

fast as you can throw in yont fly. I'<ut those exceptions militate
Dot against the genera] rule, and the conclusion I have drawn ;
they only indicate, as in an instance above, that on those excep-
tional days appetite overmasters prudence, despite communicated
cautions. The male Btickleback is known to build a nest, and
then to find and bring a female partner to it. Why should it not
be believed that the male stickleback made a communication
that induced the Eemale to accompany him, just as much as such
communications are believed to be made by dogs and other animals
which live on the land ] The fact of living wholly on the land, or
much in the air, or wholly in the water, does not seem to affect the
question, ft affects only om facilities for observation by limiting
them sadly. But, as far as observations go, they seem to indicate
that there is no difference in this respect between fish and other
animals. They all seem to need, to have, and to use, the power of
i on versing, whether by articulate sounds, or by what Dr. W. Lauder
Lindsay calls " non-vocal language."

One more thought occurs to me. I will not put it among the
indications of language, because I am not sure that it fairly is one,
though it may he. Many anglers will have noticed that in playing
"in- fish it is not infrequently followed about through all its
struggles, by its pair fish, in the case of the marral, or by a crowd
of fishes as with the Mahseer. Why is this ? Is it merely that
the others are curious ? If so, what is it that they are curious
about ? Is it about the strange demeanour of the played fish ?
They follow it very closely. Or can it be that the hooked fish has
expressed astonishment or fear, or has asked for aid I Do they
want to ask him what is the matter ?

This brings me to another sense, the sense of smell in fishes, in
connection with the immediate subject of this chapter.

It was out of the question of the size of the bait to be used,
that this discussion of tin- intelligence and communicative power
of fish grew; and the next question is whether it is advisable to
preserve bait in any way, against the eventuality of not being able
to procure it fresh when wanted. It is obvious it will not do to
let it take care of itself, for it will very soon get so rotten as not
to stay on a hook for five minutes, besides being offensive; conse-
quently bait are commonly salted in England, and thus kept on
Some fishermen have objected to the salt on the ground of

THE ROD IN INDIA. P

66 Spinning for Mahseer. (Jhapt. v.

its injuring the hook, and prefer fish preserved in spirits. I,
however, have an objection to bait preserved in spirits, and 1 base
it on the strong sense of smell known to exist in fishes ; a sense
considered to be very perfect, and second only in power to the
organ of sight in fishes. A bait preserved in spirits of wine has a
very strong smell even after it lias been on the hook, and used in
the water for half-an-hour ; and I cannot think that a fish will be
unmindful of it, and recklessly take such a strange smelling tiling
into its mouth; I have often thought, in using such a bait, that
I have lost many a run I should otherwise have got. I have seen
fish follow it and turn away. Of course I cannot say positively
that it was the smell that tamed them away from it, for they
will do just the same to any bait they mistrust; still I was fishing
very carefully, the bait was neat, and I thought it was the smell.
Salt-fish I have used with effect, and if you must use preserved
fish, I would prefer that method of preserving them. At best
they are very inferior in appearance and toughness to a fresh
fish taken alive out of the bait-can, and baited immediately on
being killed.

But the kindly reader who has been good enough to travel thus
far with me must be right weary of this chapter, and anxiously
looking for an end at winch lie can put down the book and rest.
Further remarks on spinning will therefore be reserved for another
chapter.

CHAPTER VI.

HOW, WHEN, AND WHERE TO FISH FOR MAHSEER.

' Give me mine angle ; we'll to the river there.
* • • » • "I will bel ni y
T:uvn\ Bnned t i — 1 1 ; my bended hoofa Bhall pierce
Their slimy jaws." — Siiakspkakk.

Being provided with the right lure, be it ily or spinning bait, there
11 the question how to use it. SupiMi.se we consider the spin-
ning bait first, in continuation of our last chapter. How should
we spin, with the stream, against the stream, or across the stream '
I ee who advocate spinning with the stream, or drawing your
bait in the same direction as the river is flowing, do bo on the
round as fly fishermen, namely, that all fish lie habitually
with their heads up stream, and that consequently you bring
youi bait down to them, into their mouths as they say, instead
of pulling it away from them up stream. But the cases are by
no means parallel. What is natural in one case is unnatural in
the other, and the secret of good fishing is so closely to imitate
nature, that the fish shall not be able to distinguish your bait from
its ordinary food. Though the fly lights, or mounting from the
hottom sits, on the water's surface, and is carried unresistingly
down the stream, the behaviour of the small fish which you have
to imitate is very different. It swims up stream just as much as
down stream; indeed, if it did not it would find itself down at
the sea in a single season. It swims across also, as much as up
and down. Certainly it does sometimes allow itself to drop down
st mini tail foremost, and that action as well as others may be
imitated occasionally, but it is not a common action, and only
adopted when the tish has but a short distance to go, or in a rapid.
When a tish. whether large or small, wants to go down stivam it
almost invariably turns round, and swims down head foremost,
for the obvious reason, that it can then see before it, and avoid

THE ROD IV IN ['I V. F 2

68 Hun-, When.avd Where to Fish for Mahseer. Chapt. vi.

rocks, snags, falls, etc., though when the rapid is strong it requires
to descend tail foremost, so as to regulate its pace by partial
swimming. When swimming down head foremost, what with
the force of the current and its own swimming, it ordinarily moves
more rapidly than when sauntering up stream. Besides which,
it never goes down stream, except in rapid pursuit of some food
that has been carried past it, or for the purpose of returning to,
and again taking up, the post of observation it has lately left.
Whereas, when coming up stream, fish often saunter upwards,
watching for what the stream shall carry down on either side of
them, lazily stemming the current, and frequently remaining
stationary. At such times when moving most leisurely, and when
most intent on their own food, they must offer much better oppor-
tunities for being surprised by big fish than when moving more
rapidly ; I should conclude, therefore, that it is the position in
which the larger predacious fish are most on the look-out to take
them at advantage. It is, therefore, a movement which I should
think it advisable to imitate, or rather I should imitate it much
oftener than 1 should the swimming down stream. In pulling
your bait up stream, also, it is easy to vary the motion by letting
it be stationary, at times, where the current is strong enough to
make it spin, and to keep it off the bottom, and where the stream is
more than ordinarily rapid, you can occasionally imitate the motion
of a fish letting itself lie lazily carried downwards by the stream.
To do that you must not slack off entirely, because if you do, your
lish will be carried downwards like a dead thing, whereas it should
appear like a fish just keeping its m.se to the stream, but letting
itself drop backwards. Do not take off the tension on your bait
altogether, but lessen it, continuing to just feel it, so that you will
be keeping your bait's nose to the stream, and be ready to feel at
once if you get a run. But if you draw your bait across the stream,
you will show it to many more lish, and therefore have, in my
opinion, a much better chance of taking one; and that is on the
whole my favourite throw, sometimes letting the bait describe a
semicircle by simply keeping the top of the rod still, and letting
the stream, when strong enough, do the rest; and sometimes
drawing the bait right across, or half across half up, varying it
each throw so as to search all w atev, and because it is said that
" variety is charming."

Chapt. vi. Spin slowly with Fun Tackle.

Much depends on the pace at which you draw youi bait.

Many draw it a great deal too quickly, under the impression thai
it is all important that it should spin round ami round with light-
ning speed. But there are other things also which are important.
Tho only object of the bait spinning found and round on its own
axis is, as far as I am aware, to conceal the hooks, and perhaps
also to give the general appearance of a fish moving by vibration
of the tail. But chiefly, I believe, to corneal the hooks. My idea
is that it is better to attain this end by having lew and well con-
cealed hooks, than at the sacrifice of natural motion in the hail
It is true that from paucity of hooks you sometimes have a run
and do not hook, because your bait has been taken by the tad
where there is no hook. Hut I would rather have that disappoint-
ment than not have the run at all by way of diversion; and my
belief is that you get more runs on fine tackle with few hooks,
than you do when you have a bait bristling with hooks enough to
scare away the most strong-minded of fish. Moreover, the Mahseer
ordinarily takes the bait in head foremost, asa trout does, not cross-
wise as a pike does, consequently a tail hook is not needed, except
to avoid occasional missing of the bait, and I certainly would not
use it just to guard against such an accident. I would rather rely
on the fish missing the bait altogether, and coming at it a second
time. Again it will be remembered that the leathery mouth, and
the habit of compressing its prey, both point to fewer hooks being
needed forgetting hold of a Mahseer than are ordinarily used for
trout and pike and salmon. Besides, there is a great advantage in
fishing slowly. Predatory fish do not ordinarily hunt down flying
Lvalue like a dog; they take it unawares like a cat, and if they
feel they cannot seize it at a spring, or a rush, they give it up, and
watch for another opportunity. Consequently, if a bait passes
them rapidly, they take no a]. parent notice of it, considering the
attempt at surprise likely to be vain. Many and many a time.
have I watched them do the same with a passing live fish. The
young fellow is probably not unaware of the dangerous quarters
he is passing through, and makes a dash of it accordingly ; the old
fellow sees with half an eye that he is wide awake, and makes no
ell'.. n to overtake him. So little notice does he take, although the
small fish has come close by him, that you are disposed to think
not a taking fish, not on the (ml, hut a thoughtful 1»

7(1 llmr. When, and Where to Fish for Mahscer. Chait. vi.

reflecting on the immoral tendencies of cannibalism, and seriously
meditating the giving of it up. But keep your eye on him now,
as that other little fish which is sauntering leisurely upwards comes
by him, there is the slightest possible undulation of his tail, he
takes just one step backwards* as if preparing for a spring, then
suddenly makes one lightning dash, and the small fish has under
gone deglutition. That is evidently the motion that pays. Imitate
it then. But you dare not trail your bait so lazily, so listlessly,
:il I- >ut in bright water if you have a multitude of obvious honks.
For slow spinning in clear water the necessity for light tackle
with but few hooks, and those well concealed, is therefore impera-
tive ; consequently I prefer the method of baiting with one hook
given on page 47, to that with a lip hook also on page 50. And
I prefer the second arrangement, too, with the lip hook and only
one treble, to flights of hooks invented by English fishermen for
English waters, to which they are better suited than to the bright
waters and bright skies of the Indian angler. Besides its being
unnatural for a predatory fish to give chase to, and hunt down, a
small fish or bait that is passing at such speed as to indicate a
preparedness for flight, and to put him at a disadvantage for seizing
it at a single short dash, like a tiger's bound upon its prey.it is
also to he considered that lie may not have seen it at all, or it has
passed out of his sight, or reach, all too quickly.

Here I must acknowledge obligation to L. J. for the following
kindly communication made in the "Asian" of the 23rd December,
187!b I will quote here only his postscript, because that only is
to our present point, The rest of his letter will be quoted further
on. I will only premise that the rest of his letter shows a capture
in thirteen days of 958 lbs. of fish, a little fact that gives weight
to his evidence. He says:

" P.S. — I have thought once or twice of writing to Major Thomasf
"about Mahscer chasing fish. In page 79 of his book he says,
"referring to Maliseer : ' Predatory lisli do not hunt down flying
"•game like a dog; they take it unawares like a cat; if they feel
" ' they cannot seize it at a soring or a rush, they give it up and watch

* The reasi in for the Blight backward movement will bo Been hereafter in
remarks on the swimming of f i - 1 1 .

t Not Major or Dr., aa elsewhere promoted, but simplj :i member of llcr
\i:i iesty's Indian Cii il Sen ice.

t ii \ii. \ i. Predatory Fish ordinarily surpri» their Prey. 71

"'fur another opportunity.' I am not one of ye giants in natural
■• history, and therefore 1 am not going to pit* myself against the

" Author, as I should only get the worst of it, but I just want to tell
'• him that I on two occasions saw Mahseer hunting.

"< Mi the first occasion I was plaj ing a fish on a long shoh ing Band,
" whero I could see my fish some 30 yards off. It was late in the
"afternoon, I saw a small fish come full speed from the deep water,
"and pass close to my feet (I was standing in about a foot of water),
"followed by a Mahsecr who came tearing along until his dorsal fin
"stood out of the water. He was so close to me that had 1 not been
"playing a fish, I should certainly have tried to throw myself on him
"and tried to catch him in that way. He evidently did not see me in
" his hurry until he almost ran against me. He appeared to be a fish
" of about 25 or 30 lbs.

" On the second occasion I saw a lot of small fish regularly hunted
" into a corner by two Mahseer, and then the gobbling and splashing
" that took place must have made it very lively for the little ones."

■ observations of L. J. certainly militate against my
quoted \ iew, and yet I will venture to be "of the same opinion
still." Not that I doubt or undervalue L. J.'s observations in the
least I accept them fully, and yet I think there is plenty of
room for us both to be right. My view, is I think, still the rule ;
so it will be seen that I still stand by it, qualifying it only with
the one word "ordinarily." Indeed, most general rules have to bo
qualified, for animals are not like machines that move with never
deviating precision, and are incapable of change. In the matter
of the size of the bait, and elsewhere, I have mentioned that the
rules which I may have indicated cannot be considered absolute.
Nevertheless, it is useful, I think, to indicate what is the ordinary
rule, for though animals may deviate from it, we shall have more
sport if we fish in accordance with the rule than with the deviation.
\_ in, I have been perhaps just a little bit afraid of being tedious
ami wanting in connectedness and perspicuity, if I mentioned and
argued out every qualification, as in the present one. In the
sentence questioned, I have instanced the habits of capture in the
dog and cat, but even those instances are not to be accepted
without qualification. The dog ordinarily hunts down living game

• Pitting shut ■ of the question between brothers of the angle. I am

only vi'i-v niucli obtigi '1 to I.. J. I hope he «ill take in good part mj venturing to bu
of the wne opinion still, anil mv reasons therefor.

72 How, When, and When to Fish for Mahseer. (ham. vi.

by continuous pursuit, but sometimes, as in efforts to catcli birds,
it steals up and makes a pounce like a cat. I liave known a pair
of dogs beat a hedge in this way, one on each side. The cat, too,
and the tiger are not absolute in their ways. At times they will
follow up their prey in hot pursuit, and tigers will also drive their
prey, as L. J.'.s Mahseer drove theirs, into a place where it may be
taken at advantage, Tigers will post one of their number in a
gorge for others to drive towards. Some friends of mine found
themselves being thus quietly edged up. Wild dogs and wolves
will thus beat towards their ambushed fellows, yet it will not be
objected to that it is the generally accepted view, and it will be
admitted as a fair description, that the wild dog and the wolf capture
their prey by hunting it down, the cat and the tiger by surprising
it. In like manner, I think, I may hold to my description of the
manner in which the Mahseer captures its prey as a right one,
L T.'s manner being the exception, which, however, it is interest in _'
to know and note. In connection with remarks on striking I
have myself noted a pertinacious hot pursuit of the bait by
Mahseer ; nevertheless, I did apt think it the rule when the prey
is moving rapidly. Trout will also chase small fish in the
shallows, but their rule is rather to watch for what the stream
brings within reach of the station which they have taken up.

While it is comforting, therefore, to know that the Mahseer
may sometimes hotly pursue your bait a long way, even though
spun too rapidly, it is better to trust to slow spinning, so as to give
him an easier opportunity.

Furthermore, there are more or less educated Mahseer, a> there
are highly educated trout. Much fished trout, it will be admitted,
require to be fished for with finer tackle, and less obvious hunks,
as well as with greater skill than do others. Similarly there are
unsophisticated Mahseer, dwelling in uninhabited wilds, that are
capturable with ease by almost any fisherman; while there are
others that have learnt caution from their growing acquaintance
with "that arch deceiver man," and have to he fished fox with more
care and more knowledge. Such fish, especially the larger, older,
and more experienced ones, are more constantly on the !<>"k out
for man, more suspicious, and more intelligent in their criticism.
I have heard say, that once upon a time there dwelt in lair Thames
a trout so much fished for with all sorts of tackle, and grown so

t'n ait. vi. The Vision of Fish. 7:'.

experienced therein, that do! only oould be detect an artificia]
minnow at a glance, but he could tell even the shop it came from .'
I am afraid I cannot produce a Mahseer unite up to that, but they
are on the way to it.

My belief is that Mahseer, and other predacious fish, prey
rather on aick fish than on others, and for the simple reason that
the si.-k and weakly are the more easily captured. The same
rule obtains with tigers, jackals, and other beasts of prey, the
sick <>r wounded deer falling speedy victims where the hale
and stroiir; escape. I remember once fishing a pool with a
small fly for Chela, Bards, and such-like. The pool was full of
them, so that the Mahseer had no lack of small fish whereon to
feed, but I saw no Mahseer feeding till I hooked one of these
little fellows on my small trout fly. Immediately a Mahseer
came at it, and 1 was in fear and trembling for my little trout
rod. My conclusion was that the Mahseer had noticed that the
fish I had hooked, and was pulling in, was in some way distressed,
and was therefore more easdy capturable. This theory may
comfort you in spinning, for a spun fish looks rather like a fish
in difficulties, than like a hale and active one. It is also another
reason still for Bpinning slowly, for a distressed sick tish moves
slowly and wearily, not with vigorous speed like the too quickly
spun fish.

I think a fish's range of vision laterally in tin- water is very
limited, and that, however quickly it may see any thing reflected
against the light or in the air, it does not see nearly sn far
laterally under water. Though clear-sighted, it is, I think, short-
sighted under water. It is the consequence, in my opinion. ,,f
the density of the element. Try yourself, in a large swimming
hath, and you will find yon cannot see very far about you at the
bottom. It is true that the short-sightedness of a man under
water is not worth much as an argument, to prove short-sighted-
ness iu the same position of an animal formed for existence in
that element. Still I just throw it in, in conjunction with other
facts tending to the conclusion, that, the density of the element
as well as the diminution of light, has the same effect on the visual
powers of the tish also. On no other theory could I understand
how it is that large fish and small fish manage to exist in such
close proximity. You sec any number of small fish in one part

74 How, Win a, mi, 1 Whereto Mshfor Mahseer. Ciiait. vi.

of a pool; and in another part of the selfsame pool any number
of the very fish that prey upon them ; and those fish are on the
feed too, though not noticing the little ones, for directly you spin
one of those same little ones near them as a bait, it is taken ;
whereas if the big fish had seen the little ones, I cannot conceive
why they should let them alone, and immediately take your bait.
These little fish, it should be remembered, have no thick coverts
in which to hide, like deer from the tigers that prey upon them ;
nor have they greater fleetness by which to escape in the open.
The substitute for their protection seems to be the density of the
element in which they live, which makes it difficult for even a
fish to see any great distance through it laterally, and without a
back-ground of light. Fish can dart exceedingly quickly for a
short distance, so that a small fish that gets a start before the
larger fish is in motion ran be very quickly out of sight.
Probably only the unwary are taken by surprise, the others
relying on the density of the element to save them. "Whether
by surprise or pursuit the sick could not avail themselves of
this means of escape, and would therefore be especially affected
by the predatory fish. If there were no such means of escape it
would be difficult to understand how small fish could live and
feed with any pleasure in the presence of their habitual devourera.
With such a retreat close at hand, however, they feed with a
senne of security in full sight of their enemies, just as a rat dors,
enjoying his meal and eyeing you the while, well knowing that
his hole is close by, and thai he can be; into it in a second. It is
the hypothesis of short-sightedness only that makes it intelligible
to me why a fish which suspects your bait, follows so very close
behind it, within a lew inches instead of feet or yards, examining
it before it makes up its mind, and requires to follow it for
some time too, scrutinizing at those close quarters, before it can
satisfy itself about it. This theorj of short-sightedness laterally
in the water lias special application to running water, in which
the line of vision is much broken by the disturbances in the
stream, not necessarily violent disturbances as in a run or stickle,
but as in a gentle eddy, as in any pari of a river in which some
water is passing other water, and thus breaking the line of
vision. This must be constant in all rivers, for there is always
friction between particles of water in the How of the stream,

( 'il \ii'. vi. The Shortsightedness oj Fish. 7".

and always a bads draught or upward flow along the edge of
every river. There is more or less friction, according as the
stream is more or less rapid. Through perfectly dear and still
water fish may be aide to see, somewhat indistinctly, some little
distance laterally, as through thick plate-glass, but when the
water is broken their plate-glass becomes to them like ground-
glass. At least that is my theory, and I think fishermen will
find that adoption of it, and attention to it, will influence their

sport

It is tnif that large and small fish ordinarily frequent slightly
different parts of a river, still they are not so tar apart hut that
the big fish ought to he able to see the little ones, if the density
of the dement did not curtail their length of vision, and the
broken rays refract it. This my helief heeoines a reason in my
mind for spinning in right places, for showing your bait exactly
where a fish is likely to be lying, and one of the several
explanations why a good fisherman, who knows such places
intuitively, kills more fish than a tyro. It is one of the grounds
for my opinion that a spun dead bait is preferable to a live bait,
which, from being stationary, is not shown to nearly so many
fish. It is to their short-sightedness under water that I trust,
and find J trust rightly, in wading in to fish, in preference to
standing on the bank. If they could see far laterally in water,
they could not fail to see the fisherman's two legs and trowsers
all in the water up to the fork, and seeing, they would refuse
his lure. And yet all fishermen find that it pays very well to
wade.

This argument of short-sightedness is in favour, therefore, of
spinning slowly, so as to let a fish Bee, and to give it a chance
and a confidence of catching your bait. The chances, I say, as
well as nature rinsi spinning quickly. For my part I like

to dawdle '■' bait about, up and down, under this bank, close by
that big stone, and let it peep into every little nook and cranny
likely to hold a big fish.

But, perhaps, you may see a big fish eyeing your bait, what is
to be done then? You feel disposed to .ease pulling it away
from him, and to let him have a better look at it. Tin' first
impulse is to stop altogether, and wait for him. Such a course

would be fatal. Spin quietly on a- if you had not seen him.

76 How, When, and Whereto fflsh for Mahteer. Ciiait. vi.

If he lias already suspected your bait, you will not mend matters
by letting it fall dead before him. But if, on the contrary, he is
simply eyeing it, to see if it gives him a fair opportunity for
surprising it at a spring, tlien let that opportunity appear, by
continuing its listless dawdling motion in the same direction,
and the chances are he will make up his mind with a promptitude
that will astonish you; and so sudden will be his dash that,
before you have well seen him move, you will feel he has taken
your bait. But if he does not, try him again with another throw
or two, bringing your bait by him in different ways, but not too
obtrusively. I remember one of the first times I tested these
tactics. Two decent fish of the perch family (Lutiamis roseun)
were deliberately following my bait. They were side by side,
and about a yard behind my bait, but they kept on following
it deliberately, and eyeing it intently without offering to come
a bit nearer. " Oh, my heart went pit a pat, pit a pat ;" but 1
screwed it down resolutely, and I bethought me what should I
do now if I was a nice little fish, with two great ugly brutes like
that behind me. Why, if I knew it, I should bolt like mad
instanter, and if I did nut know it, I should just go quietly
paddling on exactly as 1 am doing now, and then I should
probably get masticated for my listlessness. So the end of my
cogitations was that my bait was made to act out this little
pantomime, to pursue the even tenor of its way seemingly
unconscious of the devouring element behind. But oh, tin'
agony of suspense! This spin can't last for ever. Will they
never take? In another yard or two the bait will have come so
home to me, that I shall have to pull it nut. 1 was rewarded :
one (if the two, probably the unsuspecting and inquisitive female,
had made u]i her mind that it was "O.K.," and had dashed
so suddenly on the bait, that all I was aware of, was her disap-
pearance from the side of her companion, and a tugging at my
rod. The consequence was that she and I became very much
attached to one another, and my rod kept on bowing elegant
approval, while we had a lively dance together, at the end
of which 1 led her to a seat in the boat. So ended this
■ spin."

Fishing in bright water as one does, and as 1 have explained
should do, in India, many a little pantomime of this sort is seen

en wr. vi. Keeping Out of Sight. 77

throughout, ami something Learnt therefrom of the manners ami
customs of tin' Bcaly aborigines. lint it should always be
remembered that two can play at that game. It' you can sec the
fish easily, so too can he sec y<m, ami much more easily than you
(in see him. He has every advantage over you. Though I have
twice touched passingly on this suhjeet already (pages :!'.», 41, 42),
it is well worthy to be gone thoroughly into, because it is at the
very bottom of all good fishing, cannot well be made too much of,
and finds proper place here on remarks how to fish. The very
Bret principle, the most important rule of fishing, is to keep well
out of sight, and to accomplish this end too much pains can
scarcely be taken. Again and again have I urged this as the
main secret, on brothers of the angle, who questioned how on earth
I managed to get my basket so full of trout. But again and
again have I found that all the same they have only half
admitted its force, concluding, ostrich-like, that because they
could not see the fish, the fish could not see them. I feel,
therefore, from the experience aforesaid, that it is almost a
hopeless task to convert my reader from the general neglect of
this maxim, to a thorough belief in the all importance of
keeping it constantly in view, and of acting up to it with the
amount of painstaking care that is necessary to command
success. Indeed, I find I constantly have to be taking my own
self to task for not being sufficiently careful in the matter,
thoroughly though I believe in, and practice what I preach.

Properly to appreciate the necessity for exercising unusual pains
to keep out of sight it is as well to consider the facilities which the
fish has for seeiug. To begin with, its sight is, I believe, as good
as ours, perhaps keener, for the formation of its eye is said to be
very good ; and it is natural that it should be, for it is, of all others,
the sense on which it is mainly dependent for its existence, and with
what rapidity it sees the minutest objects passing in the water a
Little observation will soon show. Caeteris paribus then, it ought
to see us as quickly as we see it. But other things are
not equal by any means. It has great advantages of size,
colour, position, and element, of all of which it naturally avails
itself. It is not a tenth of the size of a man, and in mutual
observations the larger object is obviously calculated to be seen
first. Then its colour, like that of most, I may say all, animals, is

78 How, When, and Where to Fish for Mahseer. Cii.ut. vi.

beautifully adapted to conceal it in its usual habitat, whereas a man
who clothes himself by his own imperfect lights and his tailors,
does so in direct variance with all the rules of nature. The object
of his fashions is not so much to conceal his existence, as to be
" the observed of all observers," and sometimes, indeed, to be com-
fortable. What more readily attracts the eye than a white
paggaree, and an almost white coat to reflect the sun ? A black
coat is very little better, and is noticeable, as every sportsman
knows, at a great distance. Then consider the difference of
position. The fish is against a back-ground, the bottom, of nearly
his own colour, whereas the man is standing out in bold relief
against the sky. The fish, furthermore, is motionless, while the
man is waving about a great stick of 10 or 16 feet long, moving
his arms to do it, and cannot even keep his legs still. He is
moving the whole of his comparatively big person, as he walks
along the very edge of the stream, and not unfrequently on the
top of a high bank. Motion catches the eye.

But besides these obvious advantages of comparative size, of
colour, of position, andol being motionless, the fish has still another
very materially favouring circumstance in the element in which lie
is. Water refracts, or breaks back the line of the rays of light.
Newton says, " Refraction out of a rarer medium into a denser is
" made toward the perpendicular," and as water is denser than
air, the fish can see you round a corner ; he can see your white
paggaree before it is in a line with his eye. This is very simply
demonstrated in the old illustration about a shilling, l'ut a
rupee into an empty tea cup or a slop basin. Retreat gradually
till it is just out of your line of vision. Let a second person pour
in water, and you will see the rupee come into sight again. It is
true this cuts both ways, enabling you, as well as the fish, to see
round a corner, but as you neither of you should see each other, it
is an argument for keeping further away from the bank than if
you both saw in a straight line.

If you are not fishing, but wanting to observe the habits of fish,
and can afford to be perfectly motionless, that is quite another
thing. Much may be seen by creeping very slowly and imper-
ceptibly up, with a rock 01 tree-trunk for a bark ground, and
remaining perfectly motionless. It is movement, the slightest
movement, that catches the eye. It is by sitting motionless as a

Cb vrr. vi. ]Jt yaw Fish. 7'.'

stone Em hours together that the oat kills a squirrel. Motion in a
sign of life, and when it is absent, animals, as well as men, arc
prone to doubt their eyes, and to take the object for some
inanimate thing.

But do not trust to this if you are fishing, for it is as unneces-
sary as it is difficult that you should see your fish at all, and
as above shown, the chances are about ten to one thai he sees
you before you sec him, and then your catching him is a thing
out of tin' questions Von do not want to interview the fish, yon
want to catch him. Take a distant survey of the water, ami when
you see a likely looking bit, take its bearings, and decide whence
you shall make your approaches on the enemy's position. Then
stalk it as you would a sambur. Stalk not any particular fish, but
stalk all the positions in which any fish are likely to be; in short,
stalk the pool as if it were a living thing full of eyes, which, in
fact, it is, and if any one of them sees you, mid its owner darts
Brightened away, the probabilities are that the rest also will take
alarm from his movement, and not a fish will you take in that pool.
Do not stalk for too close a shot either ; you do not need to be
nearer than just to see your line fall, than just to see the surface of
the water you are fishing, so that you may keep clear of rocks and
snags, and fish it properly. But you do not always require to do
even that. If from your first distant observations you know that
the coast is all clear in a certain direction, then fish it round the
corner of a rock without even seeing it. This is the best position
in which you can possibly be. You do not need to see. You will
feel fast enough if a good Mahseer has got hold of you, and then all
you have to do is to return the compliment by holding on to him.
If your hand is practised, you will know how your bait or your
fly is deporting itself, though round a corner and out of your sight.

In so stalking, perhaps, you have attained a snug position in
which, by lying down or otherwise, you are invisible to the fish,
but in attaining it have unavoidably shown yourself at some
awkward corner that you had to get round. If so, do not begin
fishing at once, but wait long enough for the scare to pass off.
When confidence is re-established you may a^ain invite speculators
to take shares. Many a goodly trout, like his betters, has been taken
out of ins le retirement by such tactics. There is a peculiar

charm in being even with the wary one that has baffled you and

80 How, When, and Where to Fish for Monster. Chapt. vi.

every one else up to date. The basket is the proper place for him,
you always had an idea it was, and in he slides most satisfactorily.

There now, I have been very heavy and very long winded on
this subject; but if I have converted you, I know you will not
quarrel with me in the end, whatever the non-fisherman reader
may do. A fuller basket will make a friend of you.

In Chapters II and V I have said that I prefer to spin with a
pliable fly rod with a fly top, just such as I would use for
fly-fishing for salmon ; so I suppose I ought to say just two
words on how to use such a rod for spinning, for there are
good pike fishermen who are accustomed to trolling for pike
with a still' rod, but whose manner of casting the bait would
soon break a fly rod. With a stiff rod the line is gathered in near
the reel by the hand after every throw, and spread at one's feet,
till the length between the bait and the point of the rod is less
than the length of the rod; then the bait, which must be heavy, is
swung out with some force, and the force and the weight of the
bait carries all the line out through the rings. The force necessary
for such casting would very soon break a fly top. My way is
therefore different. I never gather in any line with the hand. I
reel it up if need be for change of ground. But ordinarily I do not
change the length of line which I have out. I swing the bait like
a pendulum, and when it is at the end of the swing back a very
little lift, if well timed, that is, if made exactly at the end of the
swing back, will send the bait out to the full length of the line. I
ordinarily have about as much line out as a length and a half of
the rod. It is better to begin with less, and you will soon find that
you can cast in this way with a line about twice the length of the
rod. Say the rod is 10 feet, and the line out 32 feet, then if you
cast this amount of line straight out, and drop the point of the rod
so as to have it pretty straight in the direction of the cast, you will
find that you have dropped your bait -i'2 + 16 = 48 feet away
from you. A cast in this fashion of 45 feet to oil feet may not be
as much as can be managed with a stiff rod and tl dinary way

ot throwing a heavy bait, but it is enough for sport, and covers a

Lrood deal of water, and the loss of a lew feet in the length of the
east is, in my opinion, very much more than compensated for by the
aid which the pliable top gives you in meeting the suddenness and
violence of the Mahseera onslaught, as already set forth in Chapters

CHAPT. VI. Uh a Pliable Bod. 81

II and V. As the bait is on the point of tailing into the water it
should be just t *« -It with the top ever so slightly, so aa to make il

fall lightly and noiselessly. To do this well in a long throw is a
delicate operation, requiring, to my mind, a very great deal more

skill than is needed for casting a By lightly for trout. I do not
hesitate to say that it is a very much higher art to spin well in this
fashion than to cast a By well, whether for trout or salmon.
Besides the casting, there is also so much more room for skill, in
the life-like management of the bait in the water, than is needed
for the right handling of the fly. But the wry difficulty makes
the skilful accomplishment all the more pleasurable.

For such throwing the bait must, as I have said, lie light. If
you use a fish you are somewhat restricted in size ; sinker included,
you cannot well swing a fish more than six inches long without
straining your top. The lightness of the phantom minnow and
spoon allows of their being used much larger.

It will he found convenient to hold the rod with one or more
fingers of the upper hand above the running line, and the other
fingers below it; when swinging the bait for a throw, close the
upper finger on the running line to prevent its being jerked out,
when spinning take it off, so that the line may be perfectly free to
run out the instant a fish strikes.

If fishermen would spin in this manner they would not he so
wedded to stiff trolling rods for Mahseer fishing. It is because
they have been told that they must spin for Mahseer as for 1'ike,
that they have taken to a thing like a Pike rod, and then, finding
they have a much finer foe than a Pike to tight with, they have had
their tackle broken, as was to be expected, and have put down
the breaking to the fish, instead of to their using the wrong rod, or
rather spinning wrongly so as to compel them to use the wrong rod.

I daresay you will tell me I have said this more than once
already in different words. I don't care. I shall say it again.
Other fellows have been preaching the barge-pole ami cable theory
so frequently, and so positively, with all the force of men of
experience, thai everj body lias taken to believing them, you among
them. Confess it. Every letter to the "Field" about Mahseer
preaches this one doctrine, and now it is my turn to have a nag at
you, and it is for your good, dear reader. " Doon " is the one only
writer who has lifted up his voice against barge poles, cables, and

THE ROD I.N INDIA. O

82 How, When, and Where to Fish far Mobster. Chapt. VI

meat hooks. I wish I knew who he is that I might shake hands
with him.

But the heading of my chapter is How, when, and where, and
the next point is when to fish. When as to season of the year,
when as to time of day. The season of the year must necessarily
be dependent on whether the place in question is subject to the
influence of the south-west or of the north-east monsoon, for the
time to fish is from the time the rivers clear down after monsoon
floods till they are again discoloured by the rains.* This on the
West Coast is from the end of September, at the very earliest, till
the end of May, though September can scarcely be relied on,
because of the occasional showers that come down and spoil sport,
and May is apt to be a trifle feverish in the interior, so that you
will stand a chance of catching something else besides fish. The
time to fish in a gentlemanly comfortable sort of way, with
security of sport, and immunity from fever, is from the 1st of
October till the falling of the April or mango showers, or till the
end of April. During this time every day is good for fishing for
six or seven months without interruption, and the fish are not so
variable about taking as are the trout at home, which will take
well one day, and the next, or perhaps during a part of the very
same day, will take a tit of sulks, and will not look at a fly, because
forsooth their delicate sensibilities have warned them, or the
natural fly, or both, that there is a thunder storm coming on, and
instead of trout rising, you see innumerable eels lying lounging
about the bottom, like coast guard men before a storm. There is a
ohange in the state of the atmosphere, less ozone in it according to
one observer, and the consequence is the trout have lost their
appetites. But you will not be cften troubled in that way in
India, for the climate is not so variable, you are sure of line
weather for months together, and you are fairly sine of taking fish.
Theii's your time, airpc diem, for you will get a carp a day, or
rather several Mahseer. You must not, therefore, mind the one
drawback of your sport being spoilt by discoloured water, because
it almost always occurs during fixed periods which you can
calculate on beforehand, and during the months which I have
named, it only troubles you once for about a fortnight in the end

* In Bengal t lie fishing is liable to be spoilt bj the discolouration of the water
from the melting of the Himalayan Bnows,

Ch ait, vi. The Bed Months far Fishing. 83

of ( kstober, or beginning of November, when the rice-field
replonghed for the second crop, and the muddy water from them is
allowed to ran into and discoloui the river. Where there is a large

area under riee on the hanks of a river, the discolouration may last
as long as a month from first to last ; hut where tin' river runs
through forest only, yon will be unite Tree from this nuisance.
Prom October to April then, inclusive, may, as a rule, be counted
on as good fishing months in all rivers which are led by the south-
west monsoon I have found it the same not only in the rivers
which run into the sea westwards, hut also in rivers that have
their heads near the Western Ghauts, and run away from them to
the east through Mysore.

The right months for fishing in clear water in the rivers which
are under the influence of the east coast monsoon will be further
noticed in connection with the Bawanny, in the Chapter on
Localities ; and the right months lor the rivers of Northern India
will similarly be found in connection with those rivers, in the
same Chapter, as given from the local knowledge of those who
have so kindly supplied the hulk of that Chapter.

The time of day is also a thing to be considered. Fish will
run all day long, especially on cloudy days, hut 1 don't much
believe in them between 11 and 3, and I think the best
hours are before '.» a.m. and after 4 P.M. till sunset. Directly after
Sunset t] running at a spinning bait, though they will take

a night line. I presume this is because they do not see well
enough in the dark for the moving bait, and are guided to the
stationary bait of the night line chiefly by scent. As to the use-
Lessness of going on spinning after dark, the keenest reader may I
think be content to take me on trust, for, when by the river's side,
I have been so keen myself as to go on fishing into the dusk and
dark, though the place was densely forest-clad, and the margin
marked with fresh tracks of crocodiles and panthers, only taking
the precaution of having a man behind me with a loaded ritle,
and trusting to his having sufficient care for his own vile body to
keep a good look out in the rear of mine.

And now for when'; where, in the two senses of in what wa
and in what parts of those waters. Mahseer, I believe, are to be
found in every large perennial river in India. 1 know that they
are to he found in every river on the west coast that I ever he rd

TUB SOU IN IM'I I. ('• ^

84 Hou\ When, and Where to Fish for Maimer. Chait. vi.

of. I know they are to be found in the Mysore rivers ; T know they
are in the Cavery, the Bawanny, the Kistna, and the Toongabadra.
I hear of them in all the good rivers of Northern India. The Lover
of the picturesque will find them, admiring with him the adjec-
tive-exhausting falls of Gairsoppa, and dancing in the glad waters
of Hoginkal, and other falls of Cavery ; and I believe they have
every bit as much right as the Artillery to the motto Ubignie.

But they mostly affect the rocky mountainous parts of rivers.
I had almost said they are confined to such parts, and are not to
be found where the river grows broader and shallower with a
sandy bed. There are no doubt instances where they markedly
cease as the river leaves the mountains, and I have known them
called an essentially mountain fish in consequence. But they are
to be found again where rocks recur lower down the river than
the sandy Hats, and there are deep pools and heavy runs among
the rocks; and they are even to be found in deep, still pools
without a rock in them, so that it is not clear what rule, if any,
governs their selection of locality. But I think there is no doubt
that they chiefly affect the rocky mountainous parts of rivers,
and that very many more and finer Mahseer are to be found in
such parts than lower down a river. To such parts, therefore, I
would recommend the Mahseer fisherman to confine his attention.

We speak hen- of the whereabouts of the Mahseer only. The
localities in which to find other fish will be mentioned separately
in connection with each fish, and some peculiarities of position
will he noticed in the Chapter on Localities.

It may be of service to the fisherman to have a list of good
angling stations, after the manner of "The Angler's Diary" in
England, together with hints as to how to get to them, and to
ovist at them; for though a river may he a good one, there are
sure to be particular parts in it in which the runs and pools are
deeper, and better, and more approachable than elsewhere. A
little information, therefore, on this head 1 shall endeavour to give
in a separate chapter. But it is obvious that, for such a vast area
as Hindustan, a list made out by any one man luu-t be exceedingly

meagre, and 1 would suggest that if brothers of the angle would

contribute information about the different localities they have
tried, we might very soon get together a goodly hatch of informa-
tion, so that new comers from England would be at no loss where

( 'hut. vi. Contributions Thankfully Received. 85

!■> spend a little leave or leisure, and even old hands would find,
when transferred by business or pleasure to new localities, that
they could tumble better en their legs than they could without
this information, and that there were a lot of other fellows hesides
themselves that "know a thing or two." To the charitably dis-
i. therefore, I make my appeal on behalf of brother anglers.*

This appeal was thin made in the first edition, and kindly
has it been responded to, both by direct communication and by
letters to the" Field" and "Asian." The result appears in the Chapter
on Fishing Localities. It falls, however, very far short of what I
had limped to attain to, and as it is the chapter which may well
be the most useful part of the whole book to really good fisher-
men, I will let the appeal still stand, in the hope that brothers
of the angle may continue to communicate their knowledge of
localities.

But supposing we have arrived at the river's side at a good
locality, where in it are we to find our fish ? An old hand does
not, need to be told, for he knows instinctively, though he has
never seen the river before in his life. You can tell well enough
from the outside of a house whether it is a poor man's cottage or
a gentleman's mansion, and if you have an eye for the water, you
will be able to make a very shrewd guess as to where the best fish
lie. As a ride the swell is to be found in the best house, except
in Ireland, by the way, where the finest structure in the villages
is the poorhouse. But then every tlung goes by contraries in
" poor owld Ireland," even down to the cereals, for there Paddy
raises the riot, instead of the Ryot raising paddy, as he does here.
Still, out of Ireland, the rule holds good, and the swell fish, as well
as his brother biped, is to be found in the best quarters ; and those
are readily recognizable.

Look for a Mahseer in just such water as you would expect
to find a salmon, in the deep runs, especially where a fall enters a
pool, and in the eddies of those runs.

The depth should not be less than up to the fork, and after
that the deeper the better; though Mahseer, like trout, visit the
shallows in search of small fish, etc., when the water is discoloured,
and at night when the water is bright, returning with light to

• My present address is Madras, but any communication through my publishers,
or through Messrs. Arbuthnot <t Co., Madras, «ill always find me.

86 Hoir, When, and Where to Fish for Mahseer. Cii.ut. vi.

the deeper water. When the water is very slightly discoloured
I have "found my account" in fishing where the river shallows
just above the head of a run, in water so shallow that you would
think a big fish coidd scarcely lie in it, water scarcely up to the
knees. The Mahseer seem to visit it then for the better capture
of small fish. If you attempted to fish in such places in bright
water you would be seen.

For a Mahseer you may fish a run all its length. I have taken
them quite at the tail of a run, and I have taken them in the
very white water of the fall. They are not afraid of the water.
But midway in the run is about the place for the highest hopes.
I have, however, a special weakness for the eddies, though they
are the most difficult to fish, because I think the best fish are
generally found in them, and I prefer one good big fellow to two
or three smaller ones. But in fishing the eddies, try and bear in
mind that there is generally one on your own side of the river,
just as good as the one under the opposite bank. Why should
you be seized with that " vlterioris ripcc amore" which seems to
be almost universal ? Why ? Probably because you had not
prospected the place before you came to it, as I recommended, and
are standing right over it, before you were aware of its existence,
and have consequently spoilt it for all fishing purposes. "Whereas
had you prospected, and stalked the place, as I recommended, you
would have shown nothing but the tip of your rod over the bank,
and with a short line would have dropped your bait in close under
it. It is time enough to try the run, and the opposite bank, after
you have tried your own. The opposite bank or eddy is, in nine
cases out of ten, more difficult to reach than the one under your
nose, and, from the breadth of the river or run, frequently quite
unapproachable. Do not, therefore, neglect the eddy on your own
si lore.

The still deeji pools also are not to be neglected. From a boat
they are the easiest fishing of all, and yield the biggest fish. On
this account some prefer to tisli the pools only. 1 have done very
little in this direction myself, but the plan is simply to let out
plenty of line so that your bait may be spinning far away from the
boat, which might otherwise frighten the fish, and deep, because
big fish ordinarily lie near the bottom, and the deeper the pool the
better the fish as a rule. Having let out the line the bait is

Chapt. vi. Pool Fishing. 87

spun by the motion of the boat, so that it is really spun by the
boatman no1 by you. When you realise this awful fact it strikes
one that it is very similar to shooting sambre that have been driven
out to you by the beaters, instead of stalking the stag yourself hke
an honest sportsman. In letting out the line, of course you will
take care, having the boat in motion, to keep the bait off the
bottom, for you do not want to catch that, like the man in "Punch,"
who got fast into the Kingdom of Scotland. Commence at the
lower end of the pool, and row up against the stream, regulating
the pace by the stream. Fix the rod with the reel free, or bold it as
you prefer. In the lakes in Scotland it is usual to fish thus with
two rods, one out of each side of the stern, and, the depth being
known, to tie a little piece of bright coloured silk round your running
line at the required distance from the end, generally, if I remember
rightly, about 30 yards, so that when you see the little bit of silk
out of the ring at your rod tip you may know how much line
you have payed out, Whether you prefer to let out 30, 50, or more
yards must depend much on the depth of the pool and the weight
of your bait. If you have only one rod you can work it slowly
across and across the stern it' you like, but always with a taut line,
and giving time after each crossing for the bait to swing round ;
this will cover more water than simply trailing. If you are
trailing two lines the second one must be rapidly reeled up by an
attendant the moment you have a fish on No. 1 or you will get
into difficulties.

Use dead bait, spoon or phantom, as you prefer. I have told
you which I prefer, and that a dead bait need not be spun so
rapidly as a spoon or phantom.

Though I say fish deep, still do not be too keen about getting
your bait very close to the bottom, for many more fish will see it if
it is well off the bottom. Bear in mind that a fish can see an
object moving across a light back-ground, much better than one
against a dark back-ground, can see an object between it and the
light which is above it, better than one between it and the dark
bank on the side of it, and that above it, it can, within certain
limits, see it the further the higher it is. For instance (see
Francis Francis' "Book on Angling"), an object at A, which is
twice as far from the bottom as B, will be seen over the whole
base C D, which is twice as big as the base E F ; in other

88 How, When, and Whereto Fish for Mahseer. Chapt. vl

words, your bait at A
will be seen by a Mah-
seer lying at C, which
would never see it if it
was spun 2 feet lower at
B. On this theory you
may say a fish will see
further if you spin on the surface. But, on the other hand, we do
not know how far a fish can see laterally, or at any angle out of
the perpendicular under water, nor how far from the bottom a large
Mahseer may feel inclined to come up after a bait, when the water
is 20 feet deep. I should say, therefore, spin about mid-water,
and I think you will show your bait advantageously to most fish.

If you are often fishing the same water, you should remember
where you kill your best fish, for where one good fish has been
taken, another of the same size is pretty sure to be found ; the
reason being that those fish which lay wait for, instead of searching
for, their bait, those which stop in one place waiting and watching
for what the stream shall wash down to them, look out for the best
places, the places where the chief current of the stream will carry
the most food by them, or a favouring eddy will bring it round to
them, and there they take up their station behind a rock or stone,
so that they themselves may be in comparatively quiet water, but
yet in a good position for watohing passing events, and as any food
comes by them, out they dart, take it, and return to their station.
Some such stations are better than others, and the strongest fish
take the best. With them it is naturally

" The brave oM rule, the simple plan,

"J 1 i:it t ! 1 1 ■ \ slioiilil lain' who have the power,
And thej should keep who can."

And when that tish has been taken, and his place is vacant, the
next strongest takes it. This is markedly the case with trout in
Knglish streams, the proportions of whicli do not vary much from
month to month, and is, in my opinion, more or less the case with
Mahseer too, though to a less degree, because the rapidly varying
size of a stream will in a month or two make a favourite station an
indifferent one. But a proper fisherman will readily recognize the
most comfortable looking quarters for a good fish. The power of

Chart, vi. Dttwr Fortiori 89

making a oorreot diagnosis will be acquired by practice, though

there is a spice of nascitur nonfit about it too.

How soon a vacant place is ordinarily reoccupied I do not
know. Sometimes the very next day, if I remember rightly. How
do fish find out that there is a vacant tenement ? It would seem
that they must l>e giving a look in from time to time to see.

Since the above was in printer's hands, I have come upon the
following in "My Life as an Angler,'' by William Henderson,
London, William Salbhell and Co., 12, Tavistock Street, Covent
Garden, W.CL, 1880, a book that is very pleasant reading: —

" I remember a tale told me by Johnny Younger, which shows how
" surely the angler may rely upon this habit of the largest trout. On
" one of my visits to his workshop he mentioned three evenings ' fishing
" which his son had recently taken in the Tweed. On the first of these,
" when fishing upwards, I believe with the worm, he came to the stream
" which flows immediately below Merton Cauld. The hour was late, the
" gloaming far advanced, and the angler had captured several trout
" of the usual size, when on trying one particular spot which he knew
" by experience to be the best, he succeeded in taking a fish of, if I
" remember rightly, 3 lbs. weight. On hearing this, Johnny observed
" that no doubt this was ' the tyrant,' and advised his son to try the
" same spot on the subsequent evening, as the fish next in size would
" no doubt be found there. The prophecy proved true ; a fish somo-
" what smaller than the last was basketed. On the third evening,
" another trout still rather less was captured, but the three were far
" heavier than any others taken."

CHAPTER VII.

FLY-FISHING FOR MAHSEER.

" Awav, then, awaj ,
We lose sport bj delay ;

But Brat leave all our sorrows behind us,
If misfortune do come
AVe are all pone from home,

And By-fishing she never can find us."

Cotton.

Is any one of our readers half as fond of fly-fishing as I am ?
If so,

"A sudden thought strikes me ;
I.ct u- Bwear eternal friendship,"

for stoutly though I have argued in favour of spinning for
Mahseer. as being the most killing way of fishing for them,
and unable though I am to retract, still I could wish that fly-
fishing were as killing a way, for it is to my mind the most
fascinating style of fishing going. I refer particularly to fly-
fishing with a single handed rod and very light tackle for trout.
The nicety of skill that has to he brought into play, to make
anything of a hag amongst good and wary trout, is sometimes
very refined. It is quite distinct from fly-fishing for salmon,
and is a much higher branch of the art; though there is an
exultant ruder joy certainly in the hand-to-hand light with a
lordly salmon, when once you have got him on. But any
man who is a good trout fisherman will readily fall into salmon-
lishing ; though a master at salmon-fishing may he hut a rude
trout fisherman. But both the real trout fisherman, and the
salmon tamer, will want to know what can lie done in India by
their favourite stj Le of fishing.

Suppose we commence with the Mahseer fisher. I'll he bound
i he very first question he asks will be an awkward question; he
will want to know what fly to use for Mahseer. This is a

en \it. vii. Batik Heresy. '.'1

question to which there is no answer with a good reason for it,
Buch as I should like tu have at the hark of my beliefs. There
are pretty nearly as many opinions "it the point as there are
Balmon-flies, and not one of them is satisfactorily supportable,

that is, be it added with becoming modesty, in my humble
opinion. As far as I can see, it is simply a matter of fancy.
1 gnize no principle underlying the colouring of a

salmon or Mahseer fly, nor can I conceive why a salmon should
oare a button whether or not every one of all the variously
lined feathers that go to make up some of the more expensive
salmon flies, are duly inserted, or more than half of them are
forgotten. Take any one of the more elaborate instructions for
tieing a salmon fly; I should very much like to seethe salmon
that could tell at a glance, as the fly passed him in the water,
whether or not the brown mallard, bustard, peacock, and blue
and yellow swan strips, and halt' a dozen more feathers, were
all duly in (heir place. I do not believe in such a salmon ever
having been hatched, no, not even " north of the Tweed." Why, you
could not tell yourself without taking the fly in your hand to have
a close look at it, nor could the very man that tied it : no more
can the salmon without taking it in his hand to feel, if not to
see. So that is just what he does. He sees something passing
him which he cannot quite make out, it may be good for food,
it may not; he will investigate; so he takes it in his mouth,
which is his only hand, with which he is accustomed to feel
and to taste doubtful objects, passing too rapidly to be quite.
made out by the eye, retaining those that are approved, and
ejecting the others. He takes your salmon fly in his hand,
meaning to throw it away if disapproved, but, before the spirit
of enquiry in hint is satisfied, your hook is into him, and he is
entering on new experiences.

This is doubtless a very heretical doctrine that I am pro-
pounding. I know that the great majority of good salmon-
fishers are of the contrary opinion. To them the colours of
their flies are as sacred as the strands of their tartans; they
would not let you alter one feather; and they will say some-
thing about blending colours. 1 am afraid they will be down on
me heavily for this piece of heresy, and I should be overwhelmed
by their numbers and weight. There rises before me the fate

92 Fly-Mshing for Mahseer. I'hait. vii.

of poor Prometheus, who got making experiments with electricity.
They called it stealing fire from heaven, and ran him in.
But they let Franklin off for the very same crime. Perhaps I, too,
may escape. I will trust to the enlightened age. I wish very
much though that I could find some theory on which to base
fly-fishing for Mahseer. I only look to salmon fishing to help
me in this matter, but I look in vain. As far as I can see the
principle at the bottom of all fishing is, the presentation to the
fish of a hook, so concealed under something which is its natiual
food, or which is so like its natural food, that it is taken unsus-
pectingly in place of food. This principle is thoroughly acted
up to in the tieing of artificial flies for trout, they being the closest
possible imitation of the actual flies on the water, and the fisher-
man changes his fly every hour of the day that the fly on the
water changes. But what on earth a salmon fly is meant to
represent no one knows, nor, indeed, why it is called a fly at all,
except from the trout fly having given the idea that salmon also
might he fished for in the same manner, only with a larger fly.
It is only surmised that it is taken by the salmon for a small fish
or shrimp, or some other thing unknown. My belief is that it
is simply taken for the thing unknown, and experimented on by
the salmon in the manner above suggested. In brief the
Hy is dressed more to suit the fisherman than the fish. The
fisherman must have a fly he believes in ; he cannot possibly fish
well if he has no faith in 'his lure. A fly of your own fancy
always kills best. If the fish are in a taking humour, that is, are
eagerly on the look out for food, they will take any fly you
throw in sight of them. If they are not they will only take the
fisherman's fancy fly. Therefore, if you have any fancy fly use it
for Mahseer; if you have not, then take soineliody else's fancy,
mine if you will. For with only fancy and no rationale to guide
us, and the necessity for having a fancy of some sort, all we
can do is to look about till we find a man who has had the gen id
fortune to kill pretty often with any particular fly, so that he
has grown to have a confidence in it, and to use the same till
we find a better. Now I have a very thorough belief in black as
the colour. I had arrived at such a belief, unbeliever though I
am, in 1S73. 1 have been only confirmed in it by subsequent
experience. Aye, wedded to it. And 1 find 1 am by no means

CHAPT. vii. What it a Mdhseer Flyt 93

ii.l< >nt> in my belief I find numbers of men use a black fly in
preference to any other, and I have been surprised on asking
good fishermen at greal distances whal was their pet fly, to gel
back Gram them simply my old friend the Mack. 1 believe that
anything black will do business. I have tried black wings and
legs with various bodies, with black worsted body, black floss silk
bcdy, orange body, peacock bar! body, with and without Bilver
twist, with and without tail, and somehow, gradually, I have
come to think that the more glossy and shining it is the better,
probably as catching the eye sooner. I have made as many
experiments on the Oamatic Carp as on the Mahseer, and the
fly with which I have done most business was one roughly
dressed on the above fancies, out of the materials available on the
river's side, to wit. almost entirely of peacock harl and silver
twist, with just a little bit of glistening peacock feather for the
legs. I had peacock harl tail, ditto body very full with tag, and
two or three turns of silver twist, peacock feather legs, and a
great hunch of harl for wings. Of course it was a bungling
looking fly, but it did its work; that is, till torn to rags; for

ock hail is too fragile a material for wings, and does not last
long. I shall therefore commend to my reader a fly tied on the
same principle, to wit, as black as T can get it glistening, but of
better materials, and I shall call it by the same name as my less
gaily dressed friend of earlier years, the Blackamoor, and as I
never use any other fly now, I will not give you any other. If
yon will have others yon must pick them up for yourself from
those who recommend them. You will find them in the extracts
thrown together in Chapter XXIV, and you will he able to get at
them through the medium of the Index.

Why black should he a better colour than any other I cannot
tell you. Perhaps it is taken for the black tadpole so common in
Indian rivers, anil so juicy, and so relished by the Kingfisher I
know, and 1 imagine by fish too. I was very nearly trying a dish
of them myself one day. Perhaps it is that black is so readih
seen in clear water against a clear sky. Perhaps it is only that it
is often a used, and with more reliance than other colours. In the
case of the Camatic Carp, perhaps, it is that it is mistaken for a
broken piece of waterweed But whatever it is mistaken for it is
taken, and that's the great point, and as it has treated me and my

9-1 Fly-Fishing for Mahseer. Chapt. vii.

friends well, I am ready to stand security for it that it is an honest

Having thus settled the colour to our mutual satisfaction, the
next question is the size of the fly. Here, again, it is quot homim t
lot scateatice ; and here, again, I have my own ideas, and will submit
them to your judgment for what they may he worth. Salmon
flies are generally supposed to differ in size with the size of the
water, the finer flies being used in the finer water, the larger in the
heavier water and larger rivers. The same ideas are carried into
Mahseer fishing by salmon fishers. Accordingly I have seen
Mahseer flies of all sizes from No. 3 Limerick to No. 10/0
Limerick, the latter being nearly as big as a swallow. Indeed, I
have heard of an angler who, having tried his fly in vain, had given
it up, and, taking up Ids gun by way of diversion, shot a swallow,
which fell into the water. To his astonishment there was a big
swirl and the swallow disappeared. Of course he shot another
swallow, baited and fished with it immediately. It, too, was taken
down, and he landed a Mahseer. What the weight was I do not
know. On the other hand, I know an excellent fisherman who
uses always a No. 3 Limeritk hunk. My own fancy is to have
three sizes, No. 1/0, 2 and 3, of which I more generally use No. 2.

I am quoting sizes from my own scale annexed, and I would
beg the reader's special attention thereto in order to save him from
disappointment. In my former edition I quoted in im the scale given
in Francis Francis' "Book on Angling," overlooking the caution
which he gives, and which I may as well quote: "Hooks are
" varied so much in size, not only by different makers, but even bj
" the same makers, and the numbering and lettering becomes so
" troublesome and complicated, that I have given a scale of Limerick
" hooks of sizes numbered for reference, as the easiest and simplest
" modi! of expression." The value of this caution I learnt to my
cost in this wise. Having planned a fishing trip with certain
friends, I wrote to England for Hies for us all, quoting Francis
Francis' numbers, but not saying that I quoted from him. In
consequence out came the Hies beautifully tied, just as ordered,
but all on hooks of sizes that were useless. Francis Francis'
Xos. 11 and 12, which I was ordering for Oarnatic Carp, would
have been Noa. 5 and 6 on my scale, whereas Xos. 11 and 12 on my
seale were perfectly useless, and that was the scale that came.

Ch UPI. vii. ■ / //■ ■/.•>•. 95

What was to l»o done I There was no time to write again, and we
wen all too busy men to tie flies for ourselves. We had not the

time. What was to be done i My Eriends had relied on me, and
. . . . well, it was very vexatious, I had to look about for a
likely native* and a friend and I taught him, and .so we got OUT
flies just in time after all. But it was very nearly being a worse
disappointment In ordering flies, therefore, he sure to quote, not
only the number, hut also the author of the number, [f you take
Francis Francis' number, say so ; if mine, say so, and your taekle
maker will know what you want. If you do not he is not to blame
if you suffer a like disappointment to my own.

But why have I given you a different scale from Francis
Francis ? It is very annoying, doubtless, and I am very sorry to do
anything to annoy you. Still less had I any silly fancy for setting
up a standard of my own. I would very much rather have
followed Francis Francis' scale, but unfortunately that scale did
not go as far as was necessary for Indian lishing ; it did not give
the larger sizes or the smaller ones ; it only gave medium sizes,
such as lie wanted for his own reference only. I saw no -way of
adapting his numbering to that of any hook maker that I knew of.
< )ther books quote other numbering without giving any drawing of
the scale, e.g., the Adliugton scale. I went to several leading
tackle shops, and was at a good deal of pains to find an accepted
scale. But in vain, there was none. I then did the next best
thing I could think of. I wrote to more than one of the nianu-
ommended by the leading tackle shops, and had my
drawings made from the scale of the manufacturer who took the
most trouble to give me a perfect scale My acknowledgments are
due to Messrs. B. Harrison. Bartleel and I !o., of Redditcb, for the
Messrs. William Bartleet and Sons, also of Bedditch, have

a similar \

I mention all this because I think it is very much to be

• Anthony Solomon Porasamy Pillni, Head Taxidermist, Government Centra]
Museum, Madras.

II.- will do the same for you by the kind permission of the Curator of the

mi, who, being himself a fisherman, has his heart in the right place for

brother anglers. Of course the Taxidermist only docs it out of office hours, so you

mu-t pn him :i little time, but if not ill a hurry, get your Hies lied at your own

tackle -In.]) in England.

9G Fly-Fishinrj for Mahseer. CHAPT. vii.

regretted tliat some arrangement cannot be come to in the trade
for the adoption of one scale in hooks. It would be intolerable if
there were the same uncertainty in guns, so that you could be
never sure of the gauge of your gun. There seems no reason why
the same uniformity should not be attained in hooks as in car-
tridges. Surely the tackle makers could and should, in the
interests of the public, establish a standard scale, not in Limerick
hooks alone, but in all hooks.

Francis Francis' scale of Limerick hooks corresponds with mine
thus far, that his numbers 1 to 12 approximate closely to the sizes
of my numbers 7/0 to G, skipping my numbers 1/0 and 4, thus : —

Ilia 1 = my 7/0

„ 2= „ 6/0

„ 3= „ 5/0

„ 4= „ 4/0

„ 5= „ 3/0

„ 6= „ 2/0

His 7 = my 1 i

8= „ 1

9= „ 2

10= „ 3

11= „ 5

12 = „ 6

Having thus come to an understanding, or to a misunderstanding,
which you will, but at least to something definite about the sizes of
Limerick hooks, I will describe the ilies to be tied on them, adhering,
of course, to what I call my own scale, though it is not mine, but
that of more than one large maker.

The Blackamoor,

Tag: three or four turns dl' tinsel. Tail: two or three sprays
of peacock hail from the end of the tail feathers that end without
an eye, and are feathered only on one side. Body, peacock hail
very full and ribbed with two or three turns of tinsel. Legs or
hackle, commencing small, a little short of the tail end of the body,
and carried up to the shoulder, hackle increasingly largo and
increasingly thick, and forming also the shoulder hackle, which
may be full. For this use the tip end of one of those tail
feathers of the peacock that ends without an eye, and that has
harl on one side only, as those are much the brightest, and
of a convenient length for the larger flies; for the smaller, the
feathers taken from the back of the peacock may be substituted.
Wing: the glossiest, deepest black procurable, e.g., the black crane,
the raven, the glossy blue-Mack feathers of the magpie's tail, with
a sprinkling of the same peacock harl from the eyeless tail feathers

It

i 'hai'T. vii. Mahseer Flies, 97

to make it shiny. In the smallest fly on No. 5 Kirby the almost
black blue from the wing of the mallard or magpie may be pre-
ferred to simple black.

Fur Mahseer, I use '_' n and 2 of my Limerick scale, ami more
generally No. 2. Some use 6/0 and 7 0; and one excellent fisher-
man I know delights specially in Xo 3. But I think 2 0 and 2
are your host sizes, especially the latter, ami that if you want any-
thing bigger than 2/0 you should use a fish bait. For Carnatic
Car]' the same fly on No. 5 and 6, my limerick scale, hut more
generally No. 6, Eor the tail and first drop fly. For the second
drop, the same just a size smaller. It is convenient to have it
tied on a different sort of hook so that it may catch your eye quickly,
when selecting it for the drop fly, so, say Xo. 5 Kirby. This last
may be tied on a single salmon gut. All the others should be tied
on a gut eye, — treble gut eve for No 2 it and larger, single salmon
gut eye for No. 2 and smaller.

For Mahseer I fish with a single fly as for salmon; for Carnatic
< larp with a collar of three flies as for trout, but a collar of single
salmon gut

For the benefit of those who are newly compelled in India to
tie their own Hies, I may mention that the hook of all salmon or
Mahseer Hies will of course be tied, not on single gut, as in the
case of a trout fly, but on stout salmon gut doubled, so as to leave
at the head a -hurt loop, between a quarter and an eighth of an inch
in length. The object of this is to give the gut stiffness, to prevent
it from constantly doubling under the weight of the hook, and thus
fraying, and eventually giving way, close up to the hook. The
precaution is necessary in the case of salmon flies because of their
weight; and when the fly is large, treble gut also is thus looped
instead of single gut

Hooks draw very much, however, in India, because the great
heal dries the was and shrinks the gut, and as a consequence hooks
not freshly tied are very liable to draw. The precaution should
therefore be taken of tying a knot in the gut laid against the
shank of the hunk; when it is covered with dressing it will not

show.

Fish with the fly for Mahseer, just as you would for salmon ,
that is to say, that if you arc a salmon-fisher I can give you no
advice, yon are sure to follow your practice. But [fyou are not, 1

THE BOD IX INDIA. H

98 Fly-MsMng for Moths, ('iivpt. vn

may as well mention that the general idea is, that you should not
• haw your fly with a steady pull through the water, but with a
succession of little jerks, with slight pauses between, so as to give it
a shrimp like motion, the theory being that with every jerk the
feathers will be compressed against the hook, and with every pause
they will spread out again, thus making a greater show, and giving
an appearance of life to the fly, an appearance of kicking out for a
swim. That is, I believe, the theory and the general practice, but I
may be allowed to add I do not believe in it. I believe the con-
stant twitching only disturbs the water, and tends to frighten the
fish, and the uneven motion of the fly increases the risks of the fish
missing your fly when he rises at it. My way is to be careful to
throw a perfectly straight line, and then to keep it just taut and no
more, drawing my fly steadily and as slowly as possible, sometimes
not drawing it at all, but letting it swing round with the stream,
varying the throw and the draw so as to cover all likely water.

Mind you do not pull too fast. Many a fish will not be troubled
to rise at a fly that passes him in too much of a bustle. Possihlv
it may have passed him before he has well seen it, or even if he has
seen it, it is in too much of a hurry for him ; he is not inclined to
rush after it and scramble for it with his next door neighbour, who
is just as wide awake as he is. Be that as it may. work your fly
slowly: more fish are killed thus than by quick fishing, and less
fish rise short.

And as to that much disputed question the striking of a Salmon
or Mahseer, whatever rule you accept in one case, is equally
applicable in the ether. My plan is to strike as quick as lightning
with a trout, but with a Salmon or a Mahseer, not at all. If your
line is thrown straight and always kept taut, as it should be, you
will feel a Salmon or Mahseer, and no mistake, when lie lias your
fly well in his mouth ; you need not watch the swirl.as for a trout.
you will feel fast enough if lie lias caught your tly or missed it,
and it' you feel him there " belay there, belay," hold on to him hard
enough to drive the honk in well past the barb; hold on. not by
touching the line, but by raising the top of your rod, and making
him bend the rod as much as you safely dare. He will do the rest
for you in his violent efforts to break away. There is no occasion
to strike with a jerk as for trout or small tish. If you do, the
chances are you will lie just too quick tor him, and will pull the fly

i hut. vii. The Aebaemtage* of Not Striking. 99

out of his month ; and if you do that you Brighten him, and he will
not come again, which he might do, if lie was not conscious of any-
thing but having made an ass of himself, and missed a good thing.

Remember, also, be is taking it unconsciously and leisurely, not in a
hurry to eatch hold of it before you shall snatch it away. In Bhort,
hold on to him when you feel him and not before, just as you
would to a stumbling horse. But to do this properly you should
not only have no alack line, should not only be just feeling your fly
with your rod top, as you just feel a horse's mouth with the weight
of a finger, and no more, so that you are keeping tip communica-
tion with your fly, and are in a state of constant preparedness to act
when called upon, but the point of your rod should be held almost
at a right angle to the direction of the line, so that the fish when
taking the fly, and striking himself by his weight, may do so
against the full play of the elastic rod. If the rod is held with the
point towards the fish he gets a straight pull on the line direct
from the reel, with no spring to ease off its suddenness, arid the
result is in most cases a break, either of tackle or hook-hold.

The advantages of the non-striking principle are clearly seen in
spinning. How often does a fish miss your bait, and if you do not
pull it away from him with a jerk by striking, go at it again. No
doubt it is hard to keep cool under the circumstances, for "it gives
one quite a turn" to see a big fish roll over your bait, with every
appearance of having taken it, and it is almost an instinctive
process to strike. But it should not be done. If he has taken it,
it will be unnecessary, for his weight will both hook him and tell
you. If he has missed it, it is cpuite a mistake to jerk it rudely
away from him, and it will only put Mm out. To exemplify the
advantage of not striking, I may mention a 6^ lb. Mahseer coming
up at my spinning bait, and turning over as if he had taken it. As
I did not feel him, however, 1 pulled steadily on as if nothing had
happened. Be immediately turned and rushed at it again. Again
he missed it, and my little bait went spinning demurely on, as if
there was no such thing as a Mahseer in the river. Round he
turned and went at it the third time. Tin; line tautened, and virtue
was rewarded. I felt all over just like little Jack Horner, felt
" what a good boy am I." The thing occurs daily, and, for my
part, I cannot understand why people dispute about whether or not
you ought to strike a salmon. It is clear to my mind both that

TIIE HOD IN IM'IA II -

100 Fly-Fishing for Mahseer. Chapt. vn.

you need not, and you should not. With trout and small fish, it is
quite another thing. The rationale of the matter will be found
further discussed, however, in the Chapter on the Carnatic Carp.

I may add, that the salmon fly has yet another redeeming point,
over and above those mentioned in Chapter IV. Though, in my
opinion, you catch fewer Mahseer with the fly than spinning, still I
think you have a better chance of a variety of fish with the fly,
than with a small fish. Other fine carps more or less like the
Mahseer have much smaller mouths comparatively, and cannot
therefore readily take the same sized fish-bait, as the Mahseer.
These take the fly better, and as a consequence do not feed so much
nn lish. But they must have a chapter to themselves.

CHAPTER VIII.

GRAM-FISHING FOR MAHSEER.

" Tile pleasnntest angling 'tis to see the iir-! 1
Cut with her golden oars the silver stream
And greedily devour the treacherous bait."

Shaksfeahe.

There is another way of angling for Mahseer, of which I am fain

to confess that I have myself no personal experience, and of which,
therefore, I ought not perhaps to write ; but it is a way of fishing
which has so many friends in certain localities, that I feel it would
be a grave omission to leave it unnoticed. I have also at my
elbow a good spirit to prompt me, in the shape of a brother-
angler* who has made many a good bag in this way in the
Nerbudda, near Jubbulpore ; and who is consequently in a position
to guide my pen.

Make up your mind where you are going to fish, and send a
servant, a day before, to ground-bait the place. Some ground-bait
two or three days before ; but one day is enough ; the places selected
should be deep strong runs into pools, and it will be sufficient to
bait two or three such places. The baiting is done with Bengal
gram alias ('henna), the servant taking ten or twenty measures of
it, and throwing in a handful every now and then, for hours
together, till all the fish in the neighbourhood have congregated to
get it.

The gram is said to require sonic preparation, though with
what object I do not know, for no amount of parching, short of
burning to a cinder, makes it at all more buoyant

The established practice, however, is to soak it in cold watei
for about two hours, which is long enough to make it Bwell as much

• Major George Chn-ti--, 8rd Madras European Regiment, and Superintendent

of Police.

102 Gram- Fishing for Mahseer. Chapt. vin.

as it ever will, and then parch it in a frying pan, without the
everlasting ghee or any such thing, till well browned and crisp,
just as you would like to eat it. It will not actually float till
fried to a cinder, but it is more or less buoyant, as it is more or
less fried.

This, then, is your ground-bait, and the bait with which you
fish should be just the same, with the one addition, that it
must have a hole through it, large enough to admit the gut and
the shank of the hook, but not to allow the barb to pass. Boring
this hole is rather troublesome, for the grain, after frying, is very
hard. It can be done with a very fine brad-awl, but the best way
is with a red hot needle, set at the end of a handle, that you can
expose to the fire. A dozen, or a dozen and a half, bored berries
are quite enough for a day's fishing.

The hook used should be a No. 1£ Limerick (my scale) on
a single gut. Whatever I may have said to the contrary in
other places, no knot should be tied in this gut, or it may not
pass through the hole in the gram. Singe the end of the gut
before binding it to the hook, and whip your loop, and for both
of them use fine silk, so as to avoid thickness. Put the loop of
the gut through the hole in the gram, and so string on gram
enough to cover the whole shank of the hook, the first strung
piece of gram resting against the barb, and being kept by it from
slipping off.

Before setting to work, let your man get the fish together,
by a cast or two more of ground-bait. The fish ought to be
visibly bobbing up their heads, and crowding together for the
gram. Then let the man throw in a handful, and with it cast in
your line into the middle of the bobbing, gobbling, crowd. You
will get one every throw. To use a Shaksperian simile "it is as
easy as lying:" you have not got to strike, or to do any thing.
You just feel your bait is taken, and you pull him in as soon as
he'll let you. You may go on taking one after another out of
the same run. They do not seem to mind it. at any rate not till
you have made a sensible impression on their numbers. I
suppose they do not begin to think of the hotel bill till after thej
have had their dinner.

Fish the rapid heavy runs, not the pools, and when you have
< itablished a funk in one place, then try another of the previously

( 'ii u'L. viii. Grammiuoro 103

baited runa Two or three such runs will suffice for a morning 01
evening.

The season for this fishing is the Bame as for all other
Blahseer fishing, the bright-water weather; and the time of day
the Bame also, namely, the mmtiing and evening.

There does Dot seem to lie any necessity to hide yourself,
as in other fishing. Foil may tish openly from the water's edge,
far the misguided creatures thiuk you are a public benefactor.
In short, you may follow the fashion of the age, preaching
"universal philanthropy," "the solidarity of humanity," and so
forth, while in plain Knglinh yon mean death to others, and gain
to yoursi If.

Though you throw your bait like a fly, you do not draw
your bait like a fly or tish ; you simply let it float down, or rather
irried down under water. Your collar should be of single
gut, as in fly-fishing. The thickness of the gut depends on what
you expect to catch. The fish caught this way are generally
small, hut I see in the "Meld" that the late Major Geoffrey
Nightingale caught a Mahseer as much as 40 lbs. in weight, in
this way, on a single gut. 1 presume it was salmon gut, or
something approaching it. A single scale of tins fish measured
2| of an inch in diameter, in a life size engraving in the " Field "

■li October 1869.

rossil.lv the large fish are shy, unless the angler is as
thoroughly concealed in this sort of fishing as he should be in
any other, and that it is only the youngsters that are taken in
with communistic clap-trap.

Since my first edition 1 have tried the above plan very
carefully, and have also tried it with what seemed to me a
more natural bait, the fruit of the banyan (Ficws Indiea) which
I used in large quantities in admirably well adapted localities
But on every occasion it was a signal failure, albeit the descrip-
tion was verified as correct by a good fisherman, Colonel K. <i
I do not remember having had an offer even. 1 think it is pretty
clear that this style of fishing will not suit .Madias Mahseer.
I' -ems to be confined to localities in which the fish have been
thoroughly educated to it by having been long accustomed to

a led by man.

In the "Asian" of the 25th November, bS7'.», W. T. F.

10-4 Gram-Fishing for Mahseer. Chapt. viii.

with a kindly compliment which modesty compels me to omit,
that your humble servant " is rather out in his description of the
" fishing at Jubbulpore," adding considerately " but then he does
" not write from personal experience." He has also been good
enough to write the following, which I extract from the " Asian "
of 12th October, 1880, together with a suggestion by T. A. B. in
the same paper, under date 9th November, 1880. Comment of my
own, adjudicating in any way between the informants, I cannot
presume to make, for the fishing is such a local one that I cannot
be expected to know it personally; still I may not leave it
untiientioned, because of the many likely to be interested.

The mode of fishing for Masheer in the Nerbudda, near Jubbulpore,
being peculiar to that place, will no doubt be interesting to some
readers of the " Asian."

I think this is the only place in India where parched gram, called
in Hindustani Chabena, is used as a bait ; at least I have not heard of
it at any other place. The queer thing about it is that not only
is the gram the best bait, but it is the only bait, except dough,
which will catch fish. I suppose they have been educated to like
gram, and gram they must have, and nothing else. I have tried one
thing after another — flies, minnows, frogs, beetles, both natural and
artificial, dead and alive, as well as spoons, but the fish will not look
at any of them.

Jubbulpore was my first station in India, and having been
aecustomed to salmon fishing in the Dorth of Ireland. 1 was delighted
to find that I could still follow my favourite sport in India.

The river is very easily got at, being only about five miles off;
but as it is necessary to procure the bait before proceeding to the
river, I think a description of it ought to precede that of the river.

The simplest way to get the gram is to send to the bazaar for
half a seer of fried chain na. I have often tried to parch the gram
myself, and though 1 have watched the bunnias doing it, I could
never succeed. It is done in hot sand, kept continually moving to
prevent it being burnt, but as it is procurable in every village of any
size, there is no use trying to make it oneself. When procured, the
grain is Been to be loosely covered with the cracked outer .shell ;
this has to he removed, and then the gram appears of a yellowish-
white shiny colour. A hole has now to he drilled through it, large

enough for the gut and .shank of the hook to pass tlirouv.li, as the
gram is very soft (it can even be crushed between the finger and

Ciiut. viii. W. T. F8 Contribution, L05

thumb) ; this is very easily done with a fino brad-awl, but as a
brad-awl is very liable to break it, I had a special instrument mado
for the purpose. This was simply B spear, the size of the head of
a pin, very flat anil sharp. Being flat it allowed the particles, as
soon aa eut away, to fall down, which the brad-awl did not. ami
thus prevented the l: ■ ■ ' nu splitting. Several of the grains will he
found already split, anil it is very important to pick out only the
ot ones, as the more perfect they are the longer they will
remain on the hook. A lot of these ready bored must be provided,
say a match-box full, as they get used up very fast, for as soon as
the gram gets sodden with water, which it will do in five or ten
minutes, it breaks off and another has to be put on. This is the
one great drawback to gram-fishing, for as each grain has to be
threaded on tho hook, and not forced over the barb, it is necessary
each time to remove the hook, and having threaded on the gram to
replace it on the casting line. As thio occurs sometimes after one or
two casts, it becomes a nuisance, and to lessen it as much as
possible, I always arranged that, while I was fishing, my servant
stood behind me with another hook ready threaded with gram.
I thus lost very little time removing the old hook, and putting on
the new, but even this dodge is only a slight improvement, and the
old nuisance remains. The only real remedy is to use artificial
gram. I have made this for myself by using a very white hard
wood (I have forgotten the name), and after carving out the grain
of gram, covering it with a thin coating of shellac varnish, this gave
it the slight yellow tint of the natural grain, and also prevented it
from getting dirty, and soaked with water. I found I was jus! B£
successful with this, as with the real gram, but as it used to take
me hours to make a single grain, and that even then only every
third or fourth one was at all like the original, I thought the game
not worth the candle, and soon reverted to natural gram. No doubt
if Farlow or some other tackle-maker could be induced to make
them it would lie a boon to tishers ;it Jubbulpore.

Having got the bait we now go to the river, and get the tackle
ready. For a casting line I used double gut, twisted just enough to
keep the strands together ; the hook also was tied on doable
gut, but the loop for joining it to the casting line must be tied
with silk, not knotted, otherwise the knot would not pass through the
hole in the gram. For the hook I used a No. 7 Limerick, or the same-
size Sneck bend. This size just held the two grains of gram, and was
not too heavy to prevent it from floating, which it did naturally on
account of the lightness of ths gram. I think I preferred the S

106 Gram-Fishing for Mai Chapt. vm.

bend to the Limerick ; the bend of the latter hook is very sudden and
it broke the grain, but the former being square, the two grains fitted
comfortably on it ; they also could not slip over the barb as they
sometimes did with the other hook.

To make a bag a man had to be sent a day or two, or even more,
beforehand to bait the runs. This he did by occasionally throwing in
a handful of parched gram at the head of the run. This floating down
the river attracted all the fish for a long way down, and in a short time
they had all collected in the pool, the biggest ones near the head of the
run. Of course the first throw you made into this yon hooked a
whopper, but after taking two or three out, the rest got shy, and would
not come again till next day. You could always get fish, and big ones
too, without baiting the runs, but not so many as if the run had been
baited beforehand.

As I said before, the nearest part of the river, and the most
accessible place, is about five miles off, where the Nagpore road crosses
it. It is called Goari Ghaut, and as there is a pucka road, it is an easy
ride or drive. The ghaut itself is a good place to fish, as the fishes
are regularly fed there by the priests of the numerous temples on the
bank ; but though there are a lot of them, they seldom run bigger than
one or two pounds in weight. The Brahmins never once objected to
my fishing there, and I think the rice and other grain is thrown into
the river, not so much to feed the fishes, but rather as a votive offering
to Mother Nerbudda. However, I soon got tired of catching tame
fish, as these practically were, and went up and down the river looking
for new places.

I used to get two dug-out canoes, and tie them together with planks
placed across, this gave one a seat, and also prevented the boat from
capsizing, which a single dug-out is very liable to do. In this way one
could quickly drop down the river, fishing all the likely places on the
way, and with four men to paddle, it did not take so very long to get
hack again, though of course there was B strong current to be
overcome.

About a mile below the ghaut the river narrowed considerably ; a
bill jutted into it, forming a deep pool on the inside, and a splendid run
at the point of the rock. 1 got the best fish I ever caught in the
Nerbudda in this run, and many a one I have pulled out of the pool
using a large hook, and lump of dough. One day, I shall never forget,
I bad successfully stalked a large fish I had seen rising at the very-
point of the rock, ami having landed him after a prolonged light, I
was very proud of myself, and sal down to breakfast, previously
changing the hook and putting on an enormous lump of dough. I

(iiAi-T. vni. W. T. W* Contribution. 1<>7

throw this into the deepest part of the pool, and putting my rod dou n
on the ground. I be^.m my breakfast. In a short time there came a
slight tug at the rod, ai all was still. I thought the fish had

failed to hook himself, and finished my meal. But on taking up tho
rod I found there was a dig fish on. I had to follow him across the
most bnak-iuck places, and was several times in danger of cutting the
line, but I landed him at last. These were the two largest fish I ever
caught at Jubbulpore — L2 and 1" Lbs. The average size is only 5 or 6
lbs., though I believe the fish in the river go np to 30 lbs. or more.
The Nerbndda is a very large river, though nothing compared with the
great Punjab rivers, and of course the fish will not run to the same
size. I w:i^ ereatly elated at getting these two fish on the same day.

About two miles below Goari Ghaut there were some large islands
in the middle of the river, and the runs on each side were very good.
There were good places all down the river, and at Behra Ghaut,
especially just below the Marble Rocks, I was very successful.

The Marble Rocks are about 11 miles from Jubbulpore, but as
there is a pucka road almost all the way, one can easily go out for a
day's fishing by sending on a horse half-way. There is also a dak
bungalow there, and three days' leave can be spent very pleasantly. I
was never tired of looking at the beautiful cliffs, which give the fishing
there a peculiar charm ; at home half the delight of trout fishing is the
lovely scenery one has to pass through ; but in India tho wide, dry,
sandy, or stony bed of the river sadly mars the beauty of the scenery,
and it is only in the rainy season, when the river is full, that it
can be appreciated.

The river enters the marble chasm by a fall of 30 feet, and once
while fishing above it, I hooked a fish within 40 yards of the brink of
the fall. It was very exciting trying to keep him from rushing down,
and I don't think I ever played a fish so hard ; it was a terrible strain
on my rod and tackle while it lasted. There is a railway station for
the rocks, but unless you could interest some of the railway officials in
your favour, and get tho mail train stopped there, the station was
Bftldom used, as the other trains did not suit. I once went down by train
to where the railway crosses the Nerbudda, about 20 miles, as well as
I can remember, from Jubbulpore; there was very good fishing there.
Up the river above Goari Ghaut there were lots of good places ; one
road went along the Rifle Range, and let out at a place where there
was a village on the opposite bank. I cannot now remember the name
of the place, nor have I any map by me to refer to. There was always
a ferry-boat waiting on the near bank to carry the villagers at
and this could be hired for fishing from.

108 I'lnnn-Fi-ihiiit) for Mdhseer. Ciiapt. viii.

About 4- miles out on the Mandla road was the Gaur Nuddee, a
small river flowing into the Nerbudda. This river was very well
stocked with fish in the early part of the cold weather, October to
December ; after that the water got very low, and the big fish retired
to the deep pools, whence they could not be enticed. The road crossed
the river by an Irish bridge or causeway, and below this, and fishing
from the causeway, I have got many a good bag. I don't think the
fish ran bigger than 3 lbs. or 4 lbs. To have good fishing one had to
arrive there at daybreak : and a sharp ride from cantonments on a
cold frosty morning in December was invigorating, if not very
pleasant. Clouds of steam were rising from the stream at this hour,
showing how warm it was compared with the air, and it was quite a
relief to wade in and warm one's perished feet. As soon as the sun
peeped above the horizon your rod and tackle should be ready for the
first cast, and if you did not have some fun for the next two hours
you had bad luck. There were several good runs up the river, but
the causeway was the best place.

Where this river joined the Nerbudda was a favourite place for
fishing, but it was not very easily got at, there being nothing but a
path through the fields ; while proceeding there in the early part of
the cold season, just after the rains, and before the ground had
become dry and hard, I have often had to turn back. It is calculated
to make you angry, if after having sent your rod on in advance to a
certain place, you find you cannot get there on a horse, but could fish
some other part of the river, if you could only recall the man with
your rod. It is humiliating to say the least of it, to have to ride back
the- 5 or 6 miles, and when asked " what luck ? " to have to reply that
you could not reach the river.

# * # # #

1 took a great fancy to fishing with gram, in spite of the nuisance
of having to change the hook so often. The baited hook is not
heavier than a salmon fly, and the fishing approached very closely to
fly-fishing. By throwing in a single grain of gram every few minutes,
and letting it float down stream, you could tell at once when a big fish
was on the feed, and where he rose. I think that stalking a par-
ticular fish, which you see rising, is much greater sport than Bogging
a river on the chance of a fish coming to you : you had to throw the
gram just as nicely, and let it fall just as gently on the water over a
rising fi.^h, as if it hail been a wary trout, and you exult much more
after landing t he fish, which perhaps you have been watching for a long
time, or havo failed to catch on a previous occasion.

When :it Poona some years afterwards, 1 often asked whether

CHAPT. vm. Bottom-Fishing. Night4ines. 109

there was any fishing in the neighbourhood, but invariably was
answered "No," tliat there wore lots of fish, but no one could oatch
them. The river at Poona is a good size and I thought I would
try and get some of the fish which I made smv were in it. The first
two days I tried everything I could think of as bait, but failed to
toooh a single fish. The third day, a happy thought, I determined to
try the old Jubbulpore plan of parched gram, and very successful
I was, that day getting several lish, one 11 lbs. in weight. They
were not Mahseer, but some kind of carp, very deep in the belly
compared with the length. I did not keep the secret to myself, and
many good bags were afterwards made. The fish did not give much
spurt like Mahseer, but after being hooked, used to sulk in the bottom
of the river, and I was three hours landing the above 11-pounder.

W. T. F.
• * • # #

1 have read with much interest the letter from " W. T. F." about
fishing near Jabalpur. I, too, have fished in the Nerbada, and adopted
the plan mentioned by your correspondent : indeed it is about the only
way in which you can catch fish in this river. " W. T. F." mentions
that he found some difficulty in getting parched gram to stay on the
hook : what we used to do was to soak some raw gram in water, till it
was soft enough to pass a stout darning needle through. We would
then thread as much bait as was required on to the common country
thread sold in every bazaar. The bait was wrapped up in damp cloth,
and all we had to do was to take off a grain or two when required for
the hook. Let " W. T .F." try this plan and see how it succeeds.

T.A.B.

If you like to bottom fish for Mahseer you can. I never tried
it. however, and do not mean to ; and seeing how few the natives
catch this way, even though they ground-bait beforehand, I would
no! recommend you to do so either, although the Mahseer is, as
already explained, a 1miU.hu feeder. The natives use a lump of
dough, a large worm, a water snail, a bit of plantain fruit, the
entrails of a chicken, or almost anything. Read up the inventory
■ if this gentleman's Btomacb (page 30), and you will have an idea
of the variety of things he swallows, and can make your own
selection of what dish to offer him.

If you are a Barbel fisher, and think to do as well with the
Mahseer as with Barbel, bottom fishing, I warn you that I am
afraid you will be disappointed; for though the Mahseer is a

110 Gram-Fid iiif/ for .)/, //,<,, ,-. Chapt. vnr.

bottom feeder, ae already explained, he is much more predatory in
his habits than are Barbel, consequently you may expect to do
more with a live fish bait ; and if you must bottom fish for
Mahseer, in preference to other styles of fishing for him, I would
recommend Colonel Parson's way of bottom fishing.

If you are a poacher, I commend to you the following ingenious
dodge for which I am indebted to one who has since risen above
such practices: —

" I am ashamed to say that we do not catch them here by
" spinning, but by bottom fishing : I regard it as a kind of poaching
" as compared with fly fishing or spinning. The method I follow is
•• this, and is the same as the natives employ, improved.

" A shingly bed in the deepest pools is ground-baited (not
"actually necessary) for some evenings, with balls of ragee paste.
" The fishing is night-work. I usually have 3 or 4 reels out, with
" 300 or 400 yards of line each. They should not be thrown out too
" far : the reels are planted vertically on the bank, and have an
" arrangement of bells to signal a fish on. The hue has a couple of
" turns round a stone of 3 or 4 lbs. to strike the fish. I have seen
" these stones jerked 10 feet away into the water. The bait used is
" a bunch of big crabs, a fowl's entrails, or a ball of ragee paste as
" large as the fist. From 8 till 12 P.M., and again towards morning,
" are the most likely times. "With a mattress and coffee and cheroots
' one can pass the night in tine dry weather very pleasantly. I have
had 1 1 tuns in three nights from heavy fish. One cleared out
' with 350 yards, despite every effort to stop him. The river there
" was about I'm) yards broad, clear of rocks, but running 11 feet
" deep, and strong. As the reel was all but out, I was obliged to
" call a halt, when the line went like rotten thread. I have no
" doubt my big fish was a minnow compared to this one "

CHAPTER IX.

LIVE BAIT FISHING FOR MAHSEER.

" Tim* have I oleqrad the Held of my worst foe ! "

Tiik Spanish Studbkt. Act II, Scene V

All the previous chapters have treated of fishing for Masheer
in clear water, for, in the matter of fishing for them in discoloured
water, anglers of any Indian experience have hitherto been agreed
that it was simply useless. Whether from melting snows, or
from heavy rainfall or irrigation drainage, a flood or discolouration
in the river was considered an insuperable bar to all fishing.
There was nothing for it but to pack up one's tackle, and give it
up as a hopeless case. And thus there was the great objection
that Masheer fishing was confined to clear water, that a change
of weather might at any time make the fishing trip a complete
failure and disappointment. But anglers will rejoice to hear that
there is yet a way in which this worst difficulty may be overcome,
yet a way in which the mighty Masheer may be taken even in
the dirtiest water. We are indebted, and that not a little, to
Colonel J. Parsons for the discovery ; so I shall, with his permis-
sion, give it in his own words, as kindly communicated to me.
He writes, under date 8th July, 1878 : —

" A friend has lent me your book ' Rod in India.' I observed
" that you invited hints on fishing. I am not aware whether you
" still seek them or not ; however, I think I may as well tell you
"of my way of fishing when the river becomes thick. It is not
"original, but merely an improvement of a native method I
"saw practised many years ago at the Jumna, in the hills
between Mussoorie and Simla,

"I fish with live bait picketted, as it were, in the river; the

bait may be any size up to £ lb. in weight (as Mahseer don't

"doubt them — 'sardines' if they look large). A bullet is

ured tn the line aboul 2£ feet from the live fish, to give him

112 Live Bait Fishing for Mahseer. Chapt. ix-

"room to swim about If he wishes, and then the end of the fishing
"line, with bait and bullet, is deposited in any likely place in
" the river, and the rod is ' set' on the hank, with reel free to run
,: when required. The best place to put in your live bait is in
" one of the eddies near the head of a rapid ; a favourite place is
"in the backwater, of 2 feet or so in depth, between two
"channels of a rapid. In the deep pools Bowahs, a fresh water
•shark kind of fish, and eels (I once caught one of the latter
" 18 lbs. weight in this fashion) are likely to take the bait and
".give trouble. It is not improbable that Mahseer can feel*
■• about well with their leathery mouths, if they cannot see in heavy

water. Anyhow, the above is a very successful way of catching
■ Masheer when the water is too thick for spinning or a fly, for, with
"close upon thirty years' experience of fishing in India, I have
" invariably found that neither minnow nor fly are of any use in
"heavy water. I never lose time myself in trying them; but it is
" difficult to persuade others till they have tried their own
• patience in the matter. I have caught very heavy fish with live
"bait thus used, and this is not surprising, for, as you mention,

Mahseer arc bottom feeders — and I have, moreover, caught nearly
"as many m a day in muddy water with live bait, as I have in
"bright water by other means. 1 mention cue instance only,
■Major S. . . . fished a few miles up stream fn>m Xaoshera
"on the Towi River (which is met on the Bhimbur route to
"Cashmere), and, though a really good fisherman, could not get

either run or rise; before his return, in less than four hour's

lime, I had caught and landed five good fish in the pool close to
"our camp; the water \\a^ like pea soup, and the flsh were all
"caught, as above, with live bait I might probably have caught

"double the number it' 1 had set a couple of rods. I have caught

" many large fish varying from 1(1 His. to ."at lbs. in this way. and

"what more could be wanted from the river, when trolling or

tl\ fishing is impossible? The bait, it' neatly put mi, and not

* I should incline to tlio conclusion that it is by thi smell that they

arc mainly guided, for a live fish leaves t Jer water as much as a live animal

docs on land, — witness the way in which an otter will follow a li\e Bah BCenl under
water, as 1 have Been, 1 think thai Bah are also guided mainly by th
smell in talcing bail on oighl lines, for it is verj certain thai fish oannol see as well
at night as they do by day. Native fishermen know tin- well enough, and accord-
ingly spread their nits at night.

y

< iiait. ix. Fishing in Coloured WaU 113

•• polled about frequently, will live for an indefinite period. 1
•■ have generally found his existence shortened very rapidly by
" Mahseer.

" 1 give you a sketch of the bait," Plate IX. "The body hook
• i- inserted while the point of the shank is held next to the tail,
"and then tinned over so as to let the shank lie on the Bide
" of the bait, The bait, of course, must not be curved. The month
"hook is put in last. Attach the bullet with a bit of thread t>>
' the line, so that you lose bullet only in case of a foul The bait
- itself rarely fouls. The curve of the side hook stauds out at
" right angles to the side of the bait, so that it may speedily art
■when the bait is taken. The book at A is passed through the
'• thin tlap in the upper lip. The dotted line at B is where a bit
" of the shank of the body hook is under a bit of skin of the bait.
" The points of both books are well exposed.

" In Upper India, December and January are blank months
" for Mahseer fishing, use any bait you like.

"One hundred yards of line is enough for any fish. K. says
" 200, but look at the account of bis monster run, less than
" 100 yards (page 253 of your book). The fish was 4 feet 5
" inches. I have caught 4 feet G inches that never ran 50 yards.

"This method of fishing may occasionally succeed when the
" water is clear, particularly in rough parts, but never so well as
" in thick water ; indeed, it is only then excusable as a substitute
" for fly and minnow."

Colonel Parsons kindly sent me at the same time a pair "I
hooks tied as he uses them. They are " peculiar-eyed Limericks,"
answering to No. f> 0 and 4 0 on my scale of the ordinary tapered
Limerick books (Plate VIII), the larger one being the side
hook, and the smaller the lip hook. They are mounted in the
simplest way possible on a single piece of salmon gut, and he
writes that the mounting of them took him just 45 seconds, which,
of course, is a great recommendation to any man who is pressed for
time, and the majority of Indian officials have very little of that
commodity to spare.

I am informed bya tackle maker that these eyed-hooks were at
■ me time tried for salmon flies, but were condemned on the ground
that the iron cut the gut. I presume it was when laid by for
months in the fly-book that they rusted into the gut, for I should

THE BOD IN INDIA. I

114 Live Bait Fishing for Mahs Chapt, ix.

hardly think that they would cut tin* freshly-tied gat in a single
fishing trip, provided care is taken, by thoroughly well soaking the
gut before tieing the knots, that there may be no crack at the knots.
I always use eyed trebles myself in spinning, and never found
this objection. Colonel Parsons writes: "Being, like yourself,
" frequently pressed for time, I have of late years almost discarded
" the use of silk and wax in mounting bait and spinning casts. On
" artificial minnows I use eyed strong double hooks, which are
" mounted in a ' twinkling ; ' and for spinning natural bait, or
" securing live bait, I use eyed single hooks."

There is no doubt in my mind that, for spinning tackle in
India, eyed hooks are much to be preferred to bound hooks, as
there is much greater danger of losing a fish, from the hook
drawing or the binding being rotten, so rotten as to rip right up,
proclivities too common in India, than from the hook cutting
or rusting the gut. Besides, the danger with the binding is not
noticeable, till a big fish comes and finds it out for you; whereas,
any rusting of the gut is easily perceived, and as easily remedied.
.Many a man will not hesitate to snip off and re-knot a doubtful
piece of gut, when he would think twice of looking out silk and
wax and re-binding it.

Those who prefer to use eyed hooks for other purposes also may
be glad to know that what are called "peculiar-eyed Limerick"
books, that is. Limerick hooks with the eye very neatly fined off,
are made of sizes corresponding to Nos. 10/0 to 1/0 in my Plate
VIII, and that more roughly-eyed Limerick hooks, having the wire
simply bent round for the eye, are made of all sizes from 10/0
to 16, and called "ringed," at least so I find them in Messrs.
Harrison Bartleet's Illustrated Price List, where also are "ringed"
Kirhy hooks from 10/0 to 10, and "ringed" sea hooks and eel
hooks. Messrs. P. Hutchinson and Son, of Kendal, also make very
neat eyed trout hooks, which they call the " Adlinulon hook," and
number 10, 0, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, '■'>, 2, 1, 0, 00; they are practically
K irl >y bend hooks, answering to Kirhy sizes, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 13, the last one, 00, being between 13 and 14 in size.
I pat in these remarks because 1 cannot forget that Indian anglers
have very little time as a rule lor binding hooks, and are between
7,01111 and 9,000 miles from English tackle slaps, and Long posts
from Indian tackle shops.

i'iiapt. ix. el P ttmi Fl'i'jht of Hooks. 115

Colonel Parsons' live bait llight of honks is mounted as follow - :
— A single length of good stout salmon gut being doubled in the
middle, so that the two ends lie equally side by side, a common
knot, Buoh as one ties at the end of a whip lash, is tied at the end
of the gut, so as to keep the ends together, and to keep the knot

that follows from slipping. Close above this is tied just such
another knot, but this time through the eye of hook B (Plate IX).
The necessary space being left, just such another knot is tied
round the shank of hook A, and another through the eye of
hook A. The knots on A can easily be slackened and worked
further from or nearer to B, so as to accommodate the intervening
e i" the size of the bait. With reference to the bait, Colonel
•ons writes: "Six inches in length is a good size for aMahseer,
" but you will observe that if you can't get the size of bait you
" like, tie- small, or mouth hook, can easily be shifted up or down
"to suit a larger or smaller bait. I have frequently used a bait
" 1 lb. in weight, and occasionally as much as 1£ lb., the fitting up
" of a mount to suit him is only the work of a minute, as I have
" larger eyed hooks.

" I am afraid you may consider me somewhat of a barbarian,*
" but press of time, and the not over susceptibility of the Mahseer
" in rough or thick water, induced me to these inventions. In
" slack, char water of deep pools, the Mahseer is a very wary
'• wight, and I advocate care, and as neat tackle as is consistent
" with the gnat strength of a large Mahseer to effect his capture.
" How very seldom one gets two large .Mahseer in one day out of a
"clear slack pool? No. 1 may succumb to a minnow, skilfully
'■ worked by a knowing hand well out of sight .... but No. 2
" betakes himself to cover lor the rest of the day, at any rate wheii-
" ever he sees anything in the form of a line or cast.''

In a subsequent letter, Colonel Parsons writes: " I have paid a
" short visit to Tangtot (the proper name is Dhangrot). I found
" both .Jhelum and Pooncb flooded with snow-water and thoroughly
" discoloured, instead of the <i\ -tal streams of the early year. The
" Bungalow book informed me that the locality had latch been
\ i sited by a good fisherman, wdio, the boatmen informed me, had
■ worked hard at spinning with Bpoon for Mahseer with blank

• Far from it. The eonlrivnnec is neat and simple, and I doubt not my reader*
will feel as mueh indebted as I do to our friendly mentor.

TI1E ROD IS ISDIA. 1 -

116 Lire Bait Fishing for Mul-sm: C'HAIT. IX.

" results, being helpless in such a state of affairs. I anticipated the
" same at this time of year (17th March, 1880), as both rivers are
" fed by the Himalayan snows, now melting daily, and had brought
" a casting net for live bait. The result of my mode of fishing with
" live bait in troubled stream is this: —

" First morning (12th March), a 12 pounder.

" Evening, lost a heavy fish by the snapping under the barb of
" one of Bowness and Bowness' best salmon hooks.

"Next morning (13th), a 9 pounder.

" Evening, a 19 pounder.

" Next morning (15th), a 32 pounder, length 45", girth 23".

"Evening. Lost an enormous fish {fully 5 feet long, and I
" estimate fully 70 lbs. weight), after playing him for two hours,
" and until he was fully exposed to view in a semi-exhausted state
" by the bank, at winch critical period the line fouled. I irnnie-
" diately saw the danger and felt uncomfortable, but thought the
" fish was read\' for landing; he, however, suddenly rallied, and by
" his vast weight parted a new treble salmon gut trace, and through
" a huge self-created wave dived into the Jheluni, not to be seen
" again for some time, I should say. Disconsolate, I embarked in
" my skiff to my dinner on the opposite side of the river, the fish
" having worked me from 5 to 7 P.M., at last in a faint glimmer of
" moonlight, which, by-the-bye, was not very favourable for the
" landing process of such a fish under a straight hank. 1 have no
" doubt he felt very weary, poor fellow, but it might have
" consoled him had lie known how he made my biceps a< he
" holding him up pretty tight, through runs and sulks for two
" hours, with a 19-feet salmon rod.

"Next morning (16th, yesten lay). A 15 pounder, and in the

" evening I moved from Dhangrot, well satisfied with my first visil

" to that far-famed fishing ground.

*****

" I only fished a comparatively short time morning and
evening ....

"The above fish were all Mahseer, Aggregate weight of the
" five, 87 lbs.; average, 17-; lbs. Tells well for Tangrot, and also
" for live bait ! At the same time I prefer the fly and spinners
" when the state of the water admits of their use, there being
" variety and choice of casts."

Chapt. ix. i of Fishing. 1 17

I have never tried the above style of fishing myself, and cer-
tainly should nut, unless driven to it by an untimely flood, for, like
Colonel Parsons, I very much prefer spinning or fly fiahing But I
think the size of the fish taken, much more than the number, is a

very satisfactory proof of the effectiveness of the method of lishing,
and it is a very great matter to have go! over out hitherto insuper-
able difficulty, the coloured water, and we can lieneet'orth lish at
such times as well as in clear water.

1 am glad, however, to see that Colonel Parsons, while giving
us this new method of fishing for Mahseer in coloured water,
thoroughly endorses all I have uiged with reference to all other
styles of fishing for Mahseer in such water.

With reference to other fishing, I have recommended the
Opkiocephalus gaehua or dole of Hindustani as a bait; but it would
not do for this style of fishing, because, like the inurrel, it requires
to come frequently to the surface to breathe the air, and would be
drowned by beiug picketed to the bottom by a bullet.

A friend who was an ardent pike fisherman used to set several
rods with live bait in Slapton Lea, well apart, and he picketed a
daughter over each with a book and a whistle. If a bait was taken,
the alarm was sounded, and my friend ran to the rescue, and played
the fish. If you practise this fishing with water at all clear,
of course you will warn your watchman not to indulge bis curiosity
in watching the Hue or the tup of the rod, but to sit well away
from the bank and listen fur the whirr (if the check winch.

CHAPTER X.

THE CARNATIC CARP.

' Kara milii et rigui placeant in vallibus amines,
Flumina amem silvasque inglorius." —

Viegil. Gi:oegio II, line 85-6.

May I have the pleasure of introducing to you a new Mend,
Barb 1 1 * ('iiniii/icus (Jerdon). In view to your being better
acquainted, suppose we stand on no ceremony, and anglicise the
name into the Carnatic Carp.

I must be pardoned this little liberty with his patronimic, for
the reasons set forth below.

The Carnatic Carp, let me tell you, is not at all a bad fellow.
He is not to be set aside lightly as if he was a mere carp, like the
fish (Cyprinus Carpio) commonly known by that name in England.
He is much more like the mighty Mahseer, the king of carps;
indeed, he has been frequently mistaken for a Mahseer, and it is
for that very reason that 1 must lay stress on not allowing that he
ought properly to be called a Mahseer. That word Mahseer lias
heei) too olastically used by fishermen. They have made it cover
almost an\ big Carp. It should, at least, not include any that have
not large mouths. Still, though I cannot concede that Barbus
CamMwus is properly a Mahseer, I ask for him a sort of brevet rank,
by which, though a carp, he may be promoted above the level of the
common English carp known to our school-boy days. The Indian
carps, mind you, are very different from those in England. The
Indian Carps run, in the Mahseer, up to 200 lbs., as the Indian
cats do to tigers, and ferns to trees, (Alsqphila latibrosa, b tree
fern). Viewed thus in its proper light, ii is no disgrace to be
a Carnatic Carp, and his acquaintance is worth your cultivating,
He runs to 25 lbs., and takes a fly.

My objection to bis being called a Mahseer lies, as I have
aid, in his mouth, and my reason for urging it is that the smaller

4->

3

u

I— <

E-
<

<
U

D
CC

CD

Chapt. x. Naming Ind 119

mouthed Carps feed differently from the large-mouthed, and
must necessarily be fished for differently ; and hints for the taking
of the Mahseer would only lead to disappointment if applied to
the hero of this chapter, under the impression thai it was much
the same fish. Indeed, I know cases in point, of fishermen who
confounded them, and consequently confounded their style of
fishing, with the result that they did m is much sport as if

they had critically adapted their manner of fishing to the fish
they sought One of these was also no mean master of the salmon
wand. But they did not vary their fishing with their fish, they
Used Large flies when' tiny should have used small, and small Hies
where they should have used larger ones; and they threw a fly

where they should have spun, and race Dtrsd; and they sou-lit lor
both rish in like [daces, whereas they should have chiefly tried the
dee], pools ;liid gentle eddies in the one case, and the runs in the
other. All this came of their thinking them both Mahseer; and
as they had caught the Mahseer in such and such a way, they
thought they could do so again. Now it would make me unhappy
if you did the same, if you should call this fish a Mahseer, and
you should apply to him all the advice given in the " Bod in India"
about the Mahseer, and should consequently be disappointed in
your fishing, and perhaps angry with your faithful mentor, and
that, too, after all the pains taken with your education. " But why
cannot you call him a Chub," you say. True, he is more like a
('huh than a Carp in his ways. But then he would not stand
alone, there would he other claimants for the title of Chub, or
Barbel, or Roach, or Bleak, or Dace, or Rudd, and I should only
mislead you by indicating a similitude which was not close enough,
and which had more than one claimant, for there are about sixty
kinds of Carps in India. It is better to start fair altogether
without any English preconceived ideas to be got rid of, and I
think the simplest way is to take the name given him by his
sponsor, 'Dr. Jerdun, the naturalist's name, tie- name recognized by
[chthiologists, and anglicise it as closely as possible. Such names
are ordinarily indicative, first, of the classification ; secondly,
of the peculiarity of the fish in question, though they are
sometimes named alter friends, which naming, though it may be
a kindly recognition, occasionally hard, perhaps, to avoid, is not
useful descriptively; for, though the fish may be bearded and

120 Hie Carnatic Carp. Chapt. x.

moustachoed, and so far be all right, still you know it cannot have
two legs and Bond Street breeches, like the owner of the name
given it. In this case the name is descriptive of habitat only, and
therein I sincerely hope it is erroneous, and that the Carnatic
Carp may be found over a much wider area than that assigned to
it by Jerdon and Day. An exact description quoted from Day's
" Fishes of India " will be found at the end of this chapter. It
may aid fishermen and naturalists to recognize it elsewhere.

Barbus Garnaticus being then simply a Carp of the Carnatic,
with your leave we will call him the Carnatic Carp. Don't be
vexed with me now for this formal introduction. It is just as well
not to pick up a new friend too quickly. Better know something
about him first. But now you know his family, we may safely
proceed to a closer acquaintance, nay, even to an attachment, so to
speak, by means of rod and line.

You will do very little business from the shore. Indeed, I
would not attempt it. You must have a boat, and there is none
better than the common basket-boat or coracle of the country.
Tt shoots the rapids, bumps the rocks, skims the shallows better
than anything else, and when you come to an utterly unnegotiable
waterfall, it — the boat, not the waterfall ! — is very easily taken
out and carried round by one man, your boatman. For this
reason you should have a small one, just so small that one man
can carry it. It will hold you and your boatman comfortably,
and all the fish you can catch. It will hold a third man too if
you want him, it will hold three safely, but as a rule you do not
want a third man, for your boatman can lend you a hand with
the landing net when you want it, and a third man only lessens
the buoyancy of the boat, which is not an advantage when shooting
a shallow rapid. As to a second fisherman being in the same boat,
it is out of the question, for there is not room to manage two fly
roils from one such small boat. Each fisherman must have a boal
to himself. However, you and 1 will get into one boat just for
half-an-hour, and you shall have a cast with my rod, till you get
on terms with our new friend. I will take the liberty of supposing
you are like a man 1 had the pleasure "I' being out with alter these
same fish, the Carnatic Carp, a thoroughly good sportsman, good in
the pigskin, good with the rifle, but whose education had, for lack
of opportunity, keen lamentably neglected in tin' fishing line, and

Chapt. x. /■ id in the B 121

who was pleased to place himself under my tuition therein.
It was aboul the only Haw in his otherwise estimable character.
Still, you will admit, it was a very serious flaw. However,
it has Keen effectively remedied now, so we will say no mure
about it. "Caught Salmon?" I began. "No," said he. "Nor
Trout ?" No," said he, "never threw a fly in my life, but I fancy
I've got it in my bones.'' He was right He took three or four
nice little fish from 1 lb. to 3 lb. each that very morning before
breakfast, and after less than half-an-hour I had let him alone
as big enough to take care of himself. Between you and me there
are some men whom you could nut make fishermen of, even though

you blOUghl them up by hand on cod liver oil, and weaned them
mi nothing but sardines and anchovy paste. Hut we will hope
you have "got it in your bones."

Here we are on the Bawanny, an affluent of the Cavery. We
have got into the basket-boat at the top of a large pool from a
furlong to half-a-mile long, say 150 yards broad, and from 2 to
20 feet deep, with a -rand salmon run rushing in over the rocks,
and continuing some way into the pool. Lower down the pool has
scarcely any apparent motion except the eddies near the shore ;
and the banks are steep and well above the water level, huge forest
overhanging the margin of the river. We will begin at the
top. and wort down river, for the simple reason that it is hard to
work the basket-boat against the stream. This is a deep, strong
run, and though just the water for a Mahseer, it is a little too
much for the (ainatic Carp. Still, do not neglect it, for I have
had big rises even in the heavy water, but try specially the edge
of the run, and the eddies and back water between two runs, and
the tail of the run where it is losing its force in the deeper water
of the pool; try right down till the run merges in still water. Ah,
there you are 1 Missed him! He wasn't a bad fish either. Some-
how the biggest fish are always those one doesn't hook.

Never mind. Stay the way of the boat, boatman, and we will
try him again, There he is again. Felt him this time didn't you,
but couldn't get hold of him? You didn't strike quirk enough;
oryou hadn't a straight line and could not strike home enough.
But you will find out more of that difficulty when you come to

fish the stiller water.

Now that the run is over, try the bank edge. In mo I

122 The Carnatic Carp. Chapt. x.

places along the steep bank edge, where the water is at all deep,
you will notice quiet eddies, formed by the opposing forces of the
stream and the backwater.* Fish there, especially when they axe
under overhanging trees or near reeds, always presuming that the
water looks at least 2 feet deep. Kuti, the boatman, thoroughly
understands, without your telling him, that he must keep the boat
so far out from shore that at your longest throw at right angles to
the shore you can just drop your tail fly within about a foot of the
sin ne; commence throwing therefore, and he will soon see and
gauge the length of your throw, and will let the boat go drifting
quietly down the stream, but slightly staying its way, and keeping
you exactly facing the shore, so that you can throw with ease, and
draw your fly towards you, just as slowly as suffices to keep tin-
line taut while it floats down the stream. And so you keep on
trying fresh water every throw. If you fancy a place tell him, and
he will paddle against the stream just enough to keep you
stationary. If you rise a fish tell him at once, that he may keep
you within reach of the fish while you throw over it again imme-
diately. Do not wait and give the fish time for forgetfulness as
you might with a salmon or trout, but throw at once, because you
cannot depend on its remaining in the same place for any length of
time. It may remain, and probably will, but it may main, for it is
not its habit to be like a salmon or trout behind a stone at the
bottom, but to loam about more or less in a swim. Fast in one at
last. Hurrah! Back away, Kuti. Back into mid stream. Nevei
mind whether the fish takes out line or not, bark away hard all.
There, now, you have deep water and plenty of elbow room, fri I
snags below and boughs above, and, what is of more importance
still to your sport, you have drawn your fish away from his fellows,
and are killing him in a place by himself, for this fish commonly
swims in shoals like a dace, and it is better to disturb the rest of
the shoal as little as possible. It is quite possible that you may
not have disturbed the rest of the shoal at all, for it is quite
possible thai the fish you have, left the shoal, and followed your lly
some little way before he made up his mind to take it, and you
hooked him. At any rate we will hope for the best and do all we
know. " "l'is not in mortals to command success, but we'll do
more, Senipronius, we'll deserve it."

* Tin- backwater i- explained in a foot nolo in Chapter Mil.

Chaft. x. Plat ing a /' from a Boat. 123

The wisdom of killing a fish by itself, is amusingly recognized
in the Tamil proverb that the Paddy-bird or Indian Egret never
takes a fish ont of a shoal, bnl waits till a solitary one passes.
The proverb waa told ni<' apropos of a criminal prosecution.
I was running the trail of a first class plunderer, a regular tiger,
amongst the poor aheep committed to my protection as a ruler.
There was a very twin to him left as unnoticed the while as if
I was utterly ignorant of his goings on. Hut lookers on, who
wanted to see justice overtake the tyrant, told me afterwards.
" We understood you, Sir, you were like the I'addy-bird." And
so the story came. In this, then, prudent reader, be like the
Baddy-bird.

Cannot you get a pull on him at all yet '. Wind him in wheii-
either from his swimming in your direction,
or yielding ever so little to your steady unremitting pressure; take
every inch you can; still don't be in a hurry, don't attempt
to put on more pressure than your rod will hear, only keep
on the pressure you have on unremittingly, and whenever you
feel it lessen ever so slightly take as many turns of the
winch as he will let yon. Wind him in fast, but keep your
hand wry lightly on the winch ready to let go in a second
if he makes a plunge, Kr-r-r-r goes the winch, and he has
made a dash off on catching sight of you and the boat The rush
is over. Quick, and w bad him in again. Ah, it is about his last run.
.\..v. -i.ady, wind in cautiously till you have got the line just such
a length that you can bring him up to the top at the side of the
boat ; hut keep him off the boat. Don't attempt to lift him out by
the rod; he is too big, and would break your top; still less dream
of touching the line, Kuti knows all about it. He has got the
landing net out, a big salmon landing-net, about 1 ft 3 in. across
the mouth, and 2 ft. 6 in. deep, and very full so as to let the fish lie
across directly it is in the net. Bring the fish slowly towards him that
lie may take him into the net head foremost if he can. Be on the

out, however, to keep a constant taut Lint tin; fish, for he

will evade the net as it nears him. Never mind the boat tilting t"
within two or three inches of the water; Kuti knows exactly how
much his boat will stand; only do not you stand up or otherwise
move from your seat. It is not worth while going to the shore to
land your fish, besides there is no approachable shore within a

124 The Carnatic Carp. Chait. x.

reasonable distance, for it is for a long way so forest- clad that you
could not get to land with an upright rod. Well netted, Kuti, into
the boat with him. Five pound if he is an ounce. You have
taken nearly a quarter of an hour over him. You ought to have
had him in very little over five minutes. You see his mouth is
much smaller comparatively than a Mahseer's, and he is a somewhat
thicker built, less active- looking fish. However, we can discuss that
hereafter. Do not waste time looking at him now. Let us get
back to the same place, and try for another out of the same shoal.
It was just a little below the trunk of that large wild mango tree
up there that you hooked him. You have floated down a little
and must make up to it again. Fish all about that place. Well,
that is not so bad, taking another 1\ lb. and alj lb. fish out of the
same swim.

You see the advantage of working a shoal when you have lit
upon one. But do not work it to death. They are not rising to
you now. They seem to have had quantum sujjkit. Depend
upon it some wary old fogie has " twigged " you and " blabbed,"
with one of those wise shakes of the head about the imprudence of
youth, and they are all looking at him to see if he is right, or only
a fogie. If you throw again you will give him a chance of venting
a provoking " I told you so." It is better they took him for a fool
than you for a rogue. So move on to " pastures new," and after
you have gone, there will be a row in the house. Natural food
will come down stream, the old fellow, full of his croaking, will
abstain and advise all to be "varra carefu,' " but some youngster will
take it, smack his lips, and turn the laugh against the canny one;
and the next morning, when you come round again, you will find
his Sage advice has been dissipated, and even his own beliefs so
shaken, that you will be as warmly received as ever, and, may be.
take in the old fellow himself.

Do you see those monkeys moving about feeding in the trees
down there ? Mark the place, for we must fish it very carefully
when we come to it ; my impression is that when monkeys are
moving in trees overhanging the water, the result is that more
IVuit and more insects (hop down into the water than ordinarily,
and that the fish congregate more or less from the neighbourhood
to watch for them. As you get nearer, and the monkeys notice
you, they will commence vociferating and violently shaking tin

i 'ii ait x. Kv&i m his Coracle. 1l'.~

boughs, which will still farther improve the position; meanwhile
we will Dot oeglect the water between, but fish it regularly down,

till we come to the monkeys. Never mind its looking almost still
without any ripple on it, it may all hold fish. Drop an eiupiiring
line to know if there are any tools at home. You're sine to find
some, for the river is nearly as full of them as the world is.*
What should we do it' it was'nt !

Kuti says he has seen a fish rise just about a yard below that
In. uuli. Depend upon it he is right. He never takes any notice
of those little bits of fish which are too small for our present flies,
the Chela argentea, <w\ silvery chela (Tamil. VeUachi), and he will
tell you like a European whether the swirl is that of a good fish,
or of a smallish one.

This same Kuti is no chicken. He and I were in a boat ap-
proaching a rapid, only half of which could be seen from the pool
above, and that half was anything but prepossessing; as the river
went roaring down the steep incline, which was so long that you
could not see the end of it, and could not therefore see, or even
guess, how it behaved itself at the far end. I confess I did not
like the look of it, and I asked suggestively. " Will the boat go ? "
He would not take the hint, but answered with perfect indiffe-
rence, " Don't know," letting the boat glide on the while. " Have
yi at never been here before ? " " 'No." " Are you going to try it ?"
Vs." It was a case of sit well down in the bottom of the boat,
and hold on to the edges, so as not to be overbalanced, for in another
moment the basket-bout was in the middle of it, being tossed about
like a feather on the waves, and flying down at great speed, while
Kuti jockeyed it with consummate skill, and cool collectedness,
taking in intuitively, from the shape of the water, the position of
each submerged rock, deciding whether to ride over this, or dodge
that, and all with such rapidity and such power of paddle. And
how the little boat obeyed him ! Now and then it would seem as
if it must be all U P. But the fellow was as cool as a cucumber,
and the next moment we were past the danger, still riding rapidly
on, ami after having had ample opportunity for fully appreciating
the advantages of holding on tight to the edges of the boat to avoid
being pitched out, there was a flop, and we had taken a drop into

• Carlyle says tersely, I quote from memory, " There are three hundred millions
■' in t In.* world, mostly fools."

126 The Carnatic Cwrp. Chapt. x.

the pool. Kuti promptly gave three or four vigorous paddles, and
was out of the main current, the little boat riding quietly on the still
water close under the rocks at the edge of the run. No one who
had not been at it from a boy could possibly have done it, Kuti's
own elder brother, who, like himself, has been on the river from
childhood, who also has the name of dvuti, and is also a good
boatman, even he had thought better of this one rapid, had taken
his boat out at the top, carried it round by shore, and pat it in
below the run. 1 think he was the wiser man of the two ; still
Kuti minor is a broth of a boy. It is a pity he only talks Tamil.
It suits me well enough, and we hold long conversations as we
work away together, the one at the rod, the other at the paddle,
and when a good fish rises and is missed, he takes it quite to heart,
and cannot repress an involuntary sound of regret; still it is a pity
he cannot talk English Eor the sake of other anglers.

Now we will get ashore and let you put up your own rod.
Mine, you see, is a 16 ft. light made pliable salmon-rod, with 120
yards of Manchester Cotton Twine Spinning Co.'s waterproofed
line on a 3^-inch diameter check-winch, with a 9 or 10 feet cast of
single salmon gut, carrying three Hies, as for trout, the. two end
ones being on No. 5 or G Limerick hooks, according to my scale,
dressed very full, and all the way down the shank, and the firs)
drop on No. 4 Kendal-Kirby, or round bend, which is just the
same size as No. 6 Limerick, hut being short and fine, it is a
much smaller fly. The flies are all Dearly the same colour, being as
black i >r dark as I can put them together with a glistening shiny
appearance. Nothing kills better than a fly all peacock harl, body,
wings, and all, and full. Hut peacock harl is frail, and wears out
soon, and objection may be taken to it on that score. Still it kills
fish while it wears, and I have an idea that is about what we want,
is-nt it?*

My rod is a lii ii. light-made, pliable salmon rod by Farlow,
and I am thoroughly contented with it. Still it is a matter of
opinion, for a friend who was fishing with me came home one
evening Tery cock-a-whoop at having killed a 5 lb. Carnatic I'aip on

* Tin' reason why this fly was thus tied is explained iii the chapter on flyfishing
for Mnhseer. The Blnrkiunoor, ns there described, bu( tied on N" ."> and (• Limerick,

mostly tied veil full, hut some tew .m No. 6, tieil line, may he aeee]>te'l instead, for

the reasons there given.

Chapt. x. Shitiablt Bod and Fly. L27

a single-handed 1 111. trout rod, ami having bad so much fun out
..I' it. that he declared he would never use a salmon roil again.
There was no gainsaying that argument, but against it there is

the consideration that you kill many more fish with the .salmon
roil, tor the simple reason that you can throw a much longer line ;
and this is a matter of some importance, when you an- fishing mainly
in -till, or almost still, water, ami you want togel your fly so faraway
from you that the fish may not sit you or the coracle ; for it' they
see it ymir chances aje of Bourse mil, as already fully expounded
in previous chapters. The coracle is such an obvious object that
the necessity tor a long line is greater then than when fishing on
toot, ami able to conceal yourself. I have killed the Carnatic
Carp in heavy runs, and in shallow stickles, which you can ap-
proach more nearly with impunity, because of the ripple on then ;
hut 1 have killed many more and better fish of this sort in the
deep, almost still, eddies near the steep banks under the over-
hanging trees ; therefore it is for this sort of fishing that you
should be best prepared, and for this I like the long cast of the
salmon rod. Again, three large No. 5 Limerick hook flies are just a
trifle luavy for an 11 ft. rod. Once more, we are not quite sure
how heavy may be the tish you may get in this manner of fishing.
It is true that of the fish caught by my friends and self the g]
majority were 5 lbs. and under, and that 7£lb& was the biggest
Carnatic Carp we took; still Day says they run to 25 lbs., and
such a distinguished naturalist is not likely to have made such an
lion without having tested it by something better than native
hearsay: tested it probably by net-caught specimens. Natives
have told me that they run to marly a cubit in length ; we know
they are a very deep fish. Whether a 25 lb. Carnatic Carp will
rise to a fly or not has, I fancy, got to to be discovered, but if it
will, surely such a fish would be a tritle too much for an 11 ft. rod.
And one lives in hopes of getting such a fish on, does not one ?

Perhaps a 14 feet rod is a compromise. It is a rod which you
can use single-ham led for a few throws, very few with most men,
but for any length of time it will call for two hands. It is
properly a light two-handed rod, this for those who fancy it. For
my part, I stand by my 16 feet rod aforesaid. I have the
additional reason that I like to be prepared for all coiners, and
should a 50 lb. Mahseer, instead of a Carnatic Carp, take my fly,

128 The Camatic Carp. < 'ha.pt. x.

I could pass the word " ready, aye ready," and should look to
making him my own, instead of being anxious to get it out of his
mouth, like the thrifty Scot of " Punch " : —

Donald. " E — h, Sir ! yons a gran' fesh ye've gotten a hand o' ! "
The Laibd. " Oo, aye, a gran' fesh eno', but I'd be gay an' glad if I saw my
twa and saxpenny flee weel oot o' his mooth ! "

I am free to confess that my opportunities have been so few,
that I have not had thirty days' fishing altogether for the Camatic
Carp, and ought not, perhaps, to presume to write about it. Still,
as it is not a question of presumption at all, but of kindly wishing
to help brother sportsmen in the land of their exile to as good sport
as I have had myself, and as I have in that brief period been in
at the death of a good deal more than my own weight of fish, I
suppose even my little experience is better than nothing. Moreover,
brother sportsmen ask me for Information, and it is easier to me,
and more satisfactory to them, to write it fully once for all in a
book, than to write and re-write it briefly to every correspondent.
Furthermore, it was a case of love at first sight. I got a very
nice bag the first day I was out, though I improved upon it
afterwards. So I do not think I need further apologise for telling
brother fishermen, for their good, not mine, what little I do know,
with the frank confession that there is still much more to be
found out.

I have killed these fish, for please remember that we are dis-
cussing nothing but the Camatic Carp in this chapter, on flies of
many colours, and of pretty nearly all sizes, from a No. 1£
Limerick to a No. 6 Limerick (my scale), and even a No. j Smvk
bend, which is equivalent to a No. 8 Limerick, and 1 have killed on
a phantom minnow, and tried the spoon, and the spun dead bait ;
I tut I have killed both more and larger fish on a No. 6 Limerick hook,
and have done more business with a dark, gaudy fly, composed
body, legs, and wings entirely of peacock harl, than with anything
else; though my old friend the simple black fly seems to be very little
less attractive than his more glistening brother. Still, 1 am bound
to confess that there once was an evening, a memorable evening,
it was a sorely trying evening, when the fish were rising freely
at some natural fly, and would not Look at our flies. The
aatural fly was on only for a brief space at sunset, and 1 could not
catch it, but it seemed as small as an ordinary trout fly, if not

Chaff, x. The Seat forth I 129

smaller. Trout will play you the same trick sometimes, even
though you think you have every fly entomologically worked out,
and exactly prepared for their acceptance, so that sometimes it
really does seem that like the little hoy: —

" Who can thoroughly enjoy
The pepper when lie pleases,
They only do it to annoy
Because they know it i

Still our flies did their work very well ordinarily, for we got fish
running from { lh. to 7^ lbs.; very seldom, indeed, did we take one
under 1 lb., and not often over 5 lbs. or 6 lbs. They generally
averaged between 2 lbs. and 4 lbs., and we used to take from three
to fifteen fish or thereabouts (I write partly from memory, partly
from notes) every morning, and not much less in the evening.
Still, I had some thoroughly blank days near Yalamhoondy, as
experimenters must expect when trying new waters ; as even old
hands have even amongst their old friends the trout at times.

Supposing that each angler has a boat and boatman to himself,
and that not more than two are fishing from the same camp, it is
not well to separate ; it is a pleasanter way to take the pools
alternately. A. commences on the first pool, be it large or small,
the luck will right itscdf before the morning is over, and fishes it
down from head to tail. B. meanwhile glides down stream in his
boat to the next pool, without even wetting his line in A's pool,
though he sees a fish rise. When A. has done his pool, he glides
down till he overtakes 1!., and you ask each other of the sport, as
A. passes on to pool No. 3, and so you keep passing and repassing
each other, comparing notes, and encouraging each other, while
each has the satisfaction of knowing that he is fishing fresh water
all the time.

The Indian coracle or basket-boat has no seat in it. It strains
i he knee joint to sit like a native on the "hunkers," i.e., on your
own heels ; it is but poor relief to sit cross-legged, and it hurts the
knee to kneel ; standing is out of the question, so that the Indian
coracle is, for any length of time, a very uncomfortable vehicle, so
uncomfortable that it does away with halt the pleasure of your
sport, and prevents your fishing as well as if you were comfortable.
Sou cannot take in a chair, because the legs would find their way
through the leather bottom of the boat, which would end in your

THE ROD IN INDIA. K

<c

130 Tht Carnatic Carp. Chapt. x.

eventually finding your way to the bottom of the river. You can
obviate all this, and make yourself thoroughly comfortable for
about 8 annas, say, Is. Get a bamboo basket, made much the
shape of the ordinary basket, that is the shape of half .an egg, only
have it made much stronger than is usual, strong enough to bear
your weight, whatever that may be, and have it made so deep that
when turned bottom upwards it will be within an inch of the
height of the seat of a chair. On this bottom you are to sit ; there-
fore cover it with stuffed leather. A cushion would slip and
trouble you at critical moments, therefore sew the rough leather
on to the basket, with a little stuffing under it. This turned
mouth downwards in the boat will give you a comfortable,
steady seat. Add a slit in one side of your basket seat, and
you can then put your fish under you, and have them stowed
away out of the sun, and out of the way of your feet, otherwise
you may well have the boat so full of fish that you cannot move
your feet without treading on and mashing a fish. I add also
a basket-work door to the slit, working on a hinge, and fastening
with a peg and eye. This keeps the fish in, and enables you to use
your chair as a basket when out of the water, and wanting to carry
your fish. It comes in handy, then, for you have no one but your
boatman with you, and if you go ashore to get round an impassable
rapid, the boat, paddle, and landing net is about as much as the
boatman can manage, and you will have to carry your rod and
fish yourself. Sometimes you will be tempted to wish the
basket was not so full of fish, but do not leave them behind, they
are very acceptable to the camp servants and to the boatmen. In
this respect I always treat the man that shares the toils of the
campaign handsomely. Do it yourself, or the camp servants will
treat him badly. It is good policy for sport's sake, as well as the
right thing to do.

If you have not been at the trouble to have a basket of this
sort made beforehand, then two common baskets, which can be
picked up ready-made in any bazaar, put one inside the other,
strengthen each other, and are better than nothing. Bat they are
not so comfortable as a properly made basket-seat, for they are not
high enough, and are rough to sit on. If you go fishing, it is pre-
sumed you go for pleasure, and your pleasure will be very much
marred if you are sitting all the while in constrained positions

I 'HUT. Jt

/ / Taking the Fly.

l::i

which grow more and more trying with time. For a trip such as
I am proposing, a comfortable seat is as much a part of your
tisliinL; gear as your rod and line, and it should be got ready
beforehand and taken with you. You may trj ever so much to
keep yourself up to the mark, but it is impossible you can keep on
fishing nearly as well while increasingly uncomfortable, as if you
were thoroughly at ease and enjoying it.

lor eating oneself, I do not think the Camatic Carp are worth
keeping, though they are much better than the common English
carp (Oyprinua earpio), which some people manage to clamber
outside somehow. To those about to do so, my advice is, don't.

Our Camatic friend is not so active a fish as the Mahseer.
It does not dash off like the Mahseer, it takes out very little line,
but goes down in deep water, and bores about like a log without
very much change of place. It is, therefore, not a difficult fish to
kill. It never jumps into the air like a trout, nor shakes its mouth
in the air like a pike. It has a leathery, toothless mouth, and
gives as good a hook hold as the Mahseer. Its teeth are like the
Mahseer's, and all carps, pharyngeal or in the throat. Still, do
not think otherwise than kindly of him, for is he not a fly taker ?
And is it not a great thing to get a fish that takes the fly
better than anything else?

But it does not take the fly after the manner of the Trout,
the Salmon, and the Mahseer, rising to it from its place in the
stream, taking it qnickly in at a gulp, and then returning to its
position. On the contrary, it takes the fly more as the dace does.

It swims leisurely up to it, and just sucks it in. It then does
not sink to the bottom so as to oppose its weight to and tauten the
line at once. It stops where it is, or continues to swim leisurely
about, or it lets itself be carried leisurely down stream to
where it was before. And if while doing this it discovers that
your fly is a tasteless, uncomfortable-feel in.; leather, instead of the
juicy morsel it had expected, it simply spits it out. It is a pretty
little accomplishment commonly practised in polite circles among
all fish, and some of them are great adepts at it. Chdrao rostratus
is a gentleman I would almost back against a Yankee at
'■\pectoration. He makes his living by it. He used to be
known by the name of Chatodon rostratus. I suppose he
changed his name because he didn't like the stories told about

THK HOD IN INPIl.

K 2

132 The Carnatic Carp. Chapt. X.

him. Men do say that when he sees a fly in the air, he, to put it
nicely, blows a drop of water at it, with such force as to bring said
fly down as dead as Julius Caesar. Thereon he improves his
opportunities, and puts himself outside said fly. He, can make
due allowance also for the fly being in motion, and for the wind.
Chelmo rosirattis may have in the formation of his mouth a choke
bore, peculiar facilities for forcible and precise expectoration ; but all
fish can, and commonly do, perform that interesting operation more
or less. The whale takes in a huge gulp of water in its capacious
mouth, retains the medusce on which it feeds, and ejects the water
in the manner commonly called spouting. Most people will have
seen gold fish in an aquarium not only sucking in water, and
ejecting it by the gills as mentioned at page 30, but also ejecting
it by the mouth when they have taken in any food they do not
want to swallow. A grain of rice, for instance, may be seen blown
out of the mouth with considerable velocity. Have you never
found your worm or your spinning bait blown up your line well
clear of the fishes mouth ? How can you account for this except
by allowing that the fish has the power of blowing a thing out
of its mouth. If you watch very closely you will see how it is
done. The mouth having been opened to suck in either the water
the fish is to breathe from, or the food it is to feed on, it is closed
again while the gills and gill-covers are opened to let the water
pass out through the gills, while the oxygen is inhaled, and that
the food may be swallowed without water. If, when the water
lias been thus got rid of, it is found that the substance in the
mouth is not the food that is desired, but something to be rejected,
the mouth is again filled to the full with water by opening it,
and then by closing the gills first, and by compression of all the
flexible parts about the mouth, and partial closing of the orifice,
the water is violently squirted out. In short, the mouth of a 6ab
is a sort of suction pump capable of working both ways, by
alternate dilatation and compression of the mouth, the gills and
gill-covers, and tlie skin under the chin. If it were not so I do
not know how fish could apprehend their food. Tiny have no
hand in which to take the food and examine it before putting
it in their mouth, as briefly alluded to in the chapter on fly-
fishing for Mahseer. Their mouth is itself their hand in which
they lake and examine much that looks like fond, but which they

<ii ait. x. The Theory of Striking. 133

are not sure of till they have thus tried it. only on this principle
oan wo understand a Salmon taking into Ins month all the

extraordinary coloured artificial Hies ho does, not like anvthini:
that he has seen in the sea. An extra reason Ear a tish taking
unknown things into its mouth for examination is, that in rivers
they are carried past bo rapidly, that the fish has not time to trust

entirely to the rye. It is this brief interval, then, between sucking
in for investigation, in the belief that the artificial fly is or may be
food, and the blowing of it out again on the detection of the
fraud, that you have for striking your tish. In the case of the
Salmon and Mahseer you are helped at the critical moment by the
fish's habit i >f descending to its place at the bottom, and by the
weight of the fish tautening your line, so that if your line is
thrown and kept straight as it should be, the tautening takes
effect at once, you only have to resist and hold on to it, much as
you would to a stumbling horse. The Trout helps )'ou just a little
by the same habit of descending to his place at the bottom, but
the Trout's weight is not enough to tauten your line decidedly,
and the trout line is by no means always straight, especially when
throwing up and pulling down stream with so light a line, and
when throwing across it is often bellied by the force of the stream,
and when there is wind to contend with it is impossible to throw
a light Trout line quite as straight as a heavier Salmon or Mahseer
line. Consequently you need to strike quick for a Trout, as quick
i like, you can't have too quick an eye and wrist. But the
hero of this chapter, like the Dace, the Barbus fUamentosus, and
others to whom I shall introduce you, does not descend to take
up his place at the bottom ; he does not aid you, therefore, the
slightest bit in taking the slack out of your line, and the interval
left you for hooking him is shorter. In consequence you have to
strike if possible still more quickly. On these grounds I hold that
you cannot strike too quickly for the Camatic Carp. With this
idea in my head, I have watched these fish. They were taking
some small natural fly very freely, and refusing to look at our
artificial flies, showing thereby that our flies were not like
their natural food then on the water, yet now and again at long
intervals, when there was less natural food on the water, some
one fish would take our fly out of pure curiosity. Thus the
nturous got taken in. The much-lisle d Trout has learnt that

13-4 The Camatic Carp. Chapt. x.

this spirit of enquiry doesn't pay, and he won't take a fly into his
mouth unless its colours and its size and motion are so exactly
like the natural fly at that time on the water, that all his hereditary
and acquired suspicions about perfidious anglers are disarmed.
His motto is timco Danaos et dona ferentes.

There, now, I am always prating about fishing with your brains,
and not by rule of thumb, and may be you will be sick and tired
of me, and shy the confounded book on one side ; but to my mind
it is so much more interesting to have an intelligent reason for
what you are doing, that I hope you will be graciously pleased
to pardon the seeming digression. Suppose, now, that you have
been missing rise after rise of our friend of this chapter, the
Carnatic Carp, and you cannot make it out, and you vary your
tactics and strike a little slower. Instead of there being any
improvement in the results your discomfiture is only increased.
And then you try back again, and you fish half-heartedly on no
fixed principle, but according to your vacillating haphazard
mood. Whereas, if you have accepted my reasoning as sound,
and have yourself seen that these fish take the fly just as I say
they do, then you fish like a man with a purpose. If you miss a
rise you do not deviate from your purpose, you only say to yourself
my fixed purpose must be still more carefully executed, my line
must have been cast just a little carelessly, not quite straight, or
it cannot have been kept quite straight as it should have been,
or that fellow was one too many for me that time, though my ball
was a regular bailer. Try some more of those. The truth is I hai I
not had a rise for some twenty throws or more, and I had got
just a little slovenly over it. Never mind, I'll take a pull on myself
and see if I can't be even with them next time. Next time you
have him.

There are good fishermen that will be angry with me for all
this prating, I daresay, because there are good fishermen who lay
down points dogmatically, and their dictum is accepted because
they are successful. But I maintain that even the successful
could be more successful still if they would study the rationale
i.l' the tiling, and fish at every step mi natural history knowledge.
The best fishermen do this intuitively, and such would nut

iiccept anything on the ipst dixit of the writer rely because

it is set down in a book. They will want to know the reason
why, and tn weigh the reasoning for themselves.

chut. x. Striking. 1 35

l'.ut some will say that, when striking very quick, they are in
danger of strikiiig too hard and breaking either rod or line when
they come across a big fish. There is a simple way of making

an) such mishap much less likely. Never throw the lull length
of your line, but just a foot or so under it, so that it is necessary
to get the rod out of the same line with the line, to get the rod
point just a foot or two elevated before yon can quite straighten,
or gather up the slack on, your line. Then any sudden pull
must come on the top joint of the rod, which being a pliable

By-rod yields till the line runs. lie careful at the same ti

to grasp your rod underneath the line so that it runs free over
your baud. You may then strike without much fear. If you
strike a trifle too hard the bending rod and running line will
save your tackle from the worst force of the first blow, and after
that you have time to regulate the incline of your rod to the
pull of the fairly hooked fish.

But this principle is only applicable within certain limits.
With a salmon rod you can never strike lightly enough for fine
drawn gut, that is, if you strike at all quickly, you must use
salmon gut; with a two-handed 14 ft, trout rod you must use
coarse or stout gut ; with a light one-handed trout rod only
can you use the finest drawn gut or even a single hair. To
strike quickly and lightly is the finest touch of art in the.
accomplished trout fisherman, but even he cannot do it with a two-
handed 14 ft. rod, much less with a heavy salmon rod. It
can only be done lightly enough for the finest tackle with a
light rod of from 9 ft. to 11 ft. which you can perfectly command
with a single turn of the wrist. I use for such fishing a 10 ft.
rod. A 14 ft. rod is just too much for it; you need to take both
hands to it, and you use your arms more than your wrist, and
directly you have to use your anus you are slower in giving the
strike, and slower again in stopping it, in short, you necessarily
take longer in overcoming the greater vis inertia: of the heavier rod,
whether it be in setting it in motion or in stopping its motion or
momentum. Some trout fishermen prefer a 14 ft. rod for trout
fishing on the ground that they can cover so much more water
and keep further away from the fish. That is true enough,
but if they would only consider the above, and try it, they would
find that they dare not use nearly such fine tackle, because it is

136 The Carnatic Carp. Chapt. X.

simply impossible even in the most accomplished hands to
strike as lightly. As I have insisted elsewhere, under Mahseer
fishing, that you must accommodate the strength of your tackle
to the pliability of your rod, so here also the converse holds in
striking your fish, which is again the converse of your fish
striking you, that you must accommodate your rod to the strength
of your tackle, accommodate it both in pliability and in lightness,
in pliability to allow of the hue running readily, in lightness
to allow of the wrist having a complete mastery. Of course
there is a mean. If the trout rod is too pliable you cannot
strike quickly enough. Therefore I prefer in a trout rod that
it should be rather too stiff than too limp, trusting to its
lightness to allow of my wrist giving rapidity. In the salmon rod

I prefer greater pliability short of being top-heavy for reasons
set forth under Mahseer fishing, in short, because the Mahseer
does not lay a light hand on you but a heavy and a sudden one.
For our present friend the Carnatic Carp I prefer a light 16 ft.
pliable salmon roil. With that you may use single salmon gut
on your flies, but not finer with prudence. I have never used a
14 ft. rod for them. 1 daresay I should like it best of all,
provided I had on an ample supply of stout trout Manchester
<ut ton Twine Spinning Company's 16 plait Egyptian line. An

II ft. rod is, I think, a mistake for this fishing, for reasons given
above. You see thus that your wise selection of a well-made
rod has much to do with your success.

1 have not had opportunities for fishing for the Carnatic Carp
on other rivers than the Bawanny, an affluent of the Cavery,
and I have only fished some 16 or 20 miles of the river, half
above half below Metapolliam, particulars of which will be found
in tbe chapter mi fishing localities. But I have recognised the
same fish caught in nets 10(1 miles or more down the same
river in the Tanjore District 1 have, therefore, grounds for
thinking it is mure widespread than Dr. Jerdon was aware of
at that time. It is thus clearlj not confined to the base of the
bills, and it is probably as widely distributed as the Mahseer,
which was once thought not to exist south of the NTerbudda.

H , who is a good fisherman, writes me that he came

across very heavy Carnatic Carp at Eoginkal, on the Caver]
They would look at, but would not take a fly there. They took

<'ii apt. x. Fishing Hours. 187

■ u green weed called Pas&m freely," but were as tunning as a
fox.

The Camatic Carp was Latroduced into the Bilikal Lake, and
the Ootakamnnd Lake, on the Nilagiris. It is known tn lie tlourish-
ing in the former water, and is believed to be so also in the latter.
Fishermen should try them with a boat

Tin- beat hours fur fishing are, in my view, from dawn till 11,
and Erom •"> t<> du^k. though just at dusk I could frequently do
nothing with them. Fishing for such long hours as from dawn to
11, and often getting up at half-past .". ot 4 in the morning, to get
out to your ground by dawn, one gets a little hit hungry before 11,
and if you allow yourself to get faint and hungry under a tropical
sun, you are simply tempting a sunstroke, and, what is more my
business, perhaps, you are not fishing well, but in a slovenly, tired
manner. You are not half enjoying it. and you are not killing
nearly as many fish as you would be killing if you were feeling
<(iiite tit. Now, to think of sitting down to eat while fish are
rising is too Gothic The precious moments cannot possibly be
spared for such low uses; so my little plan is to take Abernethy
biscuits in the left pocket. They are easily broken with one hand,
and eaten without taking your right hand off the rod, or your eye
off the line for one moment. Many a one have I eaten while in
the act of playing a good fish In England, where you are at it all
day, from morn to eve, and are not going home to breakfast and
shelter during the heat of the day, there is nothing like sitting
down comfortably to a pleasant meal and chat, and bit of a rest ;
that's quite another case. Then you should take something for
your man as well as for yourself. A gentleman I know of had
failed in this little forethought, and was rebuked for it. He had
had his snack and was at work again. His man had had none.
But no better luck attended the afternoon fishing than had come
in the morning; the basket was as empty as the man's inside, ami
the master broke the silence with — " The fish won't bite." Thereon
the man incisively : " Woant boite, woant 'ey. If they was ait' as
'ungry as me they'd be boiting as if the divil was in 'em."

I have had insufficient opportunitir< for arriving at any con-
clusiveness about the time of spawning, but I noticed that fish
caught at the end of September had their roe more than half
formed, and that fish caught in December were full of milt : the

138 The Carnatic Carp. Chapt. x.

natives said the fry could be taken in the dry weather (Chitra).
Native fishermen say that they feed freely on waterweed, and may
be taken with a piece used as a bait. Perhaps this is what the
peacock harl body is taken for.

I am inclined to think that the same tactics would suit other
small-mouthed carps such as the Barbus Jerdoni, a most beautiful
fish, not unlike a Rudd, much more highly painted, and running
to 5 or 10 lbs. In earlier days I have seen them rising freely, and
could not hit it off with them. Would that I had such oppor-
tunities now. There are also several other similar fish that I should
think might be wooed and won in this fashion, but I have not
caught them.

The following description of the Carnatic Carp is extracted
from Dr. Day's " Fishes of India " : — *

Order. Physostomi.

Family. Cyprinidce.

Sub-Family. Cypriniuce.

Genus. Barbus.

Sub genus. Barbodes, with four barbels.

Division b. Last undivided dorsal ray osseous and entire.

Barbus Carnaticus.

Jerdon, M. J. L. S., 1849, p. 311 ; Giinther, Catal VII, p. 128.
Puntius (Barbodes) Carnaticus, Day, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1867, p. 292.
Foaree candee, Saal candee,f Shellee Tamil. Giddi-Kaoli, Hind. Qid-
palcke, Can.

B. Ill, D. 12 (f) P. 15, V. 9, A. 7 (£) C. 19, L. I. 30-32 L.
tr. 5/6.

Length of head 5f , of caudal 4i to 5, height of body 3 to 4 in the
total length. Eyes — diameter 3 to 4 in the length of the head, 1
diameter from the end of snout, and li to 2 apart. Inter-orbital space
flat. Dorsal profile more conv»x than that of the abdomen. Upper
jaw the longer. Lower labial fold interrupted. 7V, //, — pharyngeal,
pointed, curved, 5, 3, 2/2, 3, 5. Barbels — thin, both pairs shorter than

» Pub. by Bernard Quaritch, 15, Piccadilly : 4 vols, 4to., £12 12,?.

t Sil-hrndai, pronounced Slu-l-kriuL'ii, is the Tamil of the Coimbatore district for
the Carnatic Carp, while the same word -lands in the Tamil of the Tanjore district
for a Labeo, which again is called in Coimbatore, Karumula-Kend&i. Such local
variations in a single language increase the difficulty of arriving at correct vernacular

names, and indicate the need tor extreme caution in the understanding of native
?e>i tmoio .

C "n apt. x. Other Similar Fish. 139

the eye. Fins — the dorsal 3/4 as high as tho body with a coucave
upper edge ; it commences anterior to the insertion of the ventral, and
midway between the snout and the base of the caudal fin ; its last
undivided ray is a strong, broad, smooth spine, nearly as long as tho
head in the immature, and sometimes longer in the adult, especially
in specimens from Canara. Pectoral as long or rather longer than tho
head. Anal laid flat reaches the caudal. Lateral line — complete, 3£
rows of scales between it and the base of the ventral tin ; 12 rows
anterior to the dorsal fin. Free portion of the tail as high at its
as it is long. Colours — greenish-brown along the back, becoming
dull white, glossed with gold on the sides and beneath. Fins greyish.
Eyes golden.

Habitat. — Kivers along the bases of the Xeilgherries, Wynaad, and
South Canara hills. It attains at least 25 lbs. in weight. Some have
been introduced into the Ootacamund Lake. The figure is from a
young specimen, life size, the dorsal spine not being well-developed,
and the snout not so obtuse as in older specimens.

N.B. — The figure which I have introduced is from a mature 7 lb. fish.

Mr. J. E. Welbome (Hatti Shikaree), of Assam, says ("Asian,"
10th June, 1879) that the Assam Bookfui is somewhat similar l"
the Carnatic Carp. From Dr. Day's description it would seem to
be very similar, and I hope the same angling tactics may be found
to answer for its capture also. I therefore make a short indicative
extract from Dr. Day's work : —

Barbus hexagonolepis, Bokar and Boolooah, Assam, with 4 barbels
(Barbodes) and last undivided ray osseous and entire. B. iii. D. 12
(J) P. 17, V. 9, A. 7(|) C. 19. L. 1. 28-31, L. tr. 44 41. Habitat,
Assam, in the larger rivers, and those from the Himalayas. It attains
upwards of 2 ft. in length, and takes a fly or bait freely . .
MeClelland considered Oyprimu putitora Ham. Buch, as a variety of
this species. It is said to attain 9 ft. in length.

CHAPTER XI

SMALLER FLY TAKERS.

' Be mindful aye your fly to throw
Light as falls the flaky snow." —

IZAAK WALTOX.

Thus far the weapon of warfare has been the salmon rod. But
there is business to be done with the trout rod also, and as it has
its devotees, a few pages must be given to smaller fish that
rise to a trout Hy. Some of them are very small, certainly, but you
are not bound to fish for them because they are just mentioned,
and why should not ladies and boys have fishing. There are some
old boys, too, who will whip away at anything, however small.
And quite right, too, when there's nothing bigger to be got. It does
them good. It's the only medicine for the mania which is in many
of us. Besides some of these fish are easily introducible into any
pond, and are otherwise more within every day reach than the
mighty rivers which hold the Mahseer and the Carnatic Carp,
rivers to which it is not convenient to everybody to make a
pilgrimage. Without further apology, therefore, I shall introduce
my little friends.

I shall endeavour to call them by simple names. But this is
not easy, for the majority of Indian fish are known only to
Ichthiologists and native fishermen, and have, consequently, only
Ichthiological or vernacular names. Except in the case of the
Mahseer, where the Hindustani name has been adopted, the use of
vernacular names seems a mistake, as they differ with the language
and locality. The full Ichthiological name is frequently too long
for common adoption. Where the correct name can be simply
anglicised, as in the Carnatic Carp, it seems best to follow it.
Where it cannot, and 1 am not aware of any name ordinarily used

^H

-

<

W

3

Chaft. xi. The Sis* of the Chela. 1 tl

I Englishman, I hope I may be excused if I ] impose a simple one
for acceptance. ( If course the correct [chthiologists name shall be
appended, and, where I can give them, the several vernacular
names. Not being a competitive examiner I shall assign no order
<>f merit.

Tiik Chela.

Ch tea.

The Chela is a very common Bah. Day gives ten species, some
of which are to be found in Northern, some in Southern India.
There is a good deal of similarity among them, so that one drawing
l'] ite XI) will probably suffice to help recognition of a fish that
must be known to most lovers of the craft. The chief external
characteristic of them all is a very fiat-sided, thin body, with a
stomach running to quite a thin edge, but not a serrated edge, and
the dorsal fin set far back just over the anal fin. They are very
silvery, some more so than others, and their numerous minute
scales come off very easily. They are a delicate fish both to eat
and to keep alive, so that it requires care to transport them alive ;
but, once in, they will live in any pond, and keep its surface alive
with rises. The}* thrive in any still water. In the rivers they are
to be found in the still water. One of them is very minute, not
attaining more than 2i inches in length, but the majority run,
according to Dr. Day, from 6 to 9 inches in length. I have
certainly never caught any over 9 inches in length, but I have
seen larger ones, and native fishermen assured me, very positively,
and exactly, that some of them, and they particularized a Chela
clupeoides, ran to 18 inches in length, and to a hand-breadth in
depth. Considering the accuracy of their information in other
I believe the informants in question to be right. Being
such a very thin, narrow fish, with a minimum of depth and
breadth, their weight is very disappointing in comparison with
their length, and a fish of 6 or 7 inches is flicked out with
ease by the lightest trout rod. One of 18 inches in Length,
however, should be worth catching. They are most game fly takers,
springing into the air after the fly. They want striking very
quickly, and especially they want the smallest possil>l< fly. Any
k or dun fly will do for them ; but if it is not small enough you
may have rises, but you will keep on missing them most pro-

142 Smaller Fly Takers. Chapt XI.

vokingly. If they are in the rising humour they will cover the
surface of the water with rises, and you may have rises at every
throw. But you won't catch them unless your fly is very small,
and your fly top inclined to be still' rather than over pliant, so that
you may strike quickly.

Ordinary trout flies on No. 9 to 12 Sneck bend hooks are
scarcely small enough, and it would lie better to have black flies
ami light duns tied on No. 14, the smallest size of Sneck-bends and
fine drawn gut. Fish with three such flies on a light collar.

They do not seem to rise till 1 or 1\ hours before sunset, and to
rise best just before and just after sunset. They rise in the
morning also, but not so well as in the evening. I do not think
they attain the same size in ponds as they do in rivers, though
they become very numerous. In rivers they are to be found all
over the deepest, largest pools, pools that hold Mahseer and Fresh-
water Shark. They seem to be most numerous along the shore
edge and near bushes, but the bigger ones seemed to be mostly in
the deep mid water, but always near the surface.

They may also be taken easily with a float, if they are thought
worth fishing for in that way. The bait, a single grain of boiled
rice, or a small pellet of rice on a minute hook, say No. 14 Sneck
bend, should hang within about a foot of the surface, and the float
must be very sensitive, and the rod short and light so that you can
strike quickly. Natives use with advantage the merest little bit
of pith or quill less than an inch long, and a straight bit of small
bamboo tip. I have seen them, thus armed, catching them by the
dozen, to eat. Perhaps they were having an unusually good time
of it ; but they spoke as if it could be done whenever they liked.
Still they seemed abnormally jolly over it.

1 have caught three sorts myself with a fly — Chela argentea,
C. boopis, and 0. dwpeoidcs, — and I have caught them on the west
coast of Southern India, in other parts of the Madras Presidency,
and in Mysore.

The Tamil name is Vi'lhlchl ; the Canaiv ehl Day says,

"Generally termed Vellachee-candee in Tamil: Bay-retrsaie and
" Baarsee,TeL: Bounce-putti, Ooriah. : Took, Punjab."

They are evidently the fish commonly spoken of by sportsmen
in Northern India as Cltilmi.

Apropos of those little fish, which are caught as much in ponds

Chapt. zi. Frogs Rising to Flies. 143

as in rivers, I Bhould not omit to mention an absurd little
adventure. As we rode into camp we found the tents pitched
close to a large pond, ami the pond covered with i-ircles. "Just
" look there," I cried, before I was well out of the saddle, "we will

"have a dish tor breakfast," and the trout line was very soon put
together, and two expectant friends watched the line fly deftly
out, and light with fairy grace among the circles, and lo and
behold they were only frogs that were rising so freely at the small
Hies on the surface! Dear reader, don't t*ll any one.

The Chela is scarcely worthy of my devoting to it the number
of pages that would be required if, as in other cases, the full
description was extracted from Dr. Day's work. The general
characteristics of the genus may suffice, with an epitome for each
species.

Body rather elongate and compressed ; abdominal edge cutting.
Pseudo-branchifB present. Mouth directed somewhat upwards with
the lower jaw prominent, and generally with a knob above the sym-
phasis. Barbels absent. Pharyngeal teeth hooked and slender, in
t wo or three rows. Dorsal fin short, without any osseous ray, situated
principally or entirely opposite the anal, which latter has an elongated
base. Pectorals long. Caudal forked. Scales of moderate or small
size. Lateral line concave.

Order. Puysostomi.

Family. Cyi'KI.nidj:.

Sub-Family. Cyiiuxina.

i h nus. Chela.

1. Chela gora. B iii., D 9-10 Of*), P. 15, V. 8, A. 15-16
(xTf-Vf ) 0. 19, L.l. 140-160. L. tr. 18-20/18. Vert. 46. Qhora chela,
Beng. Chd-hul, Hind. Habitat: Sind, Punjab, North West Provinces,
Bengal, Orissa, and Assam. It attains at least 9 inches in length.

2. C. Stadoni. B. iii, D. 10 (»), P. 11, V. 8, A. 20-21 (t^)
C 21. L.l. 65-68, L. tr. 10/8. Habitat: Irawaddy, in Burma,
extending northwards as far as Mandalay.

3. C.sardhiella. B. iii, D. 9 (?■), P. 13, V. 8, A. 21 (J- ), L.l.
48, L. tr. 7-^/4. Habitat : Irawaddy river at Rangoon. Also the
Salwein at -Mnulmein. It attains to at least 6 inches in length.

4. 0. untrahi. B. iii, D. 9 (?), P. 13, V. 7, A. 17-19 (^rfr),
C. 17, L.l. 55-65. L. tr. 7-9/5. Untrahi, Ooriah. Habitat: Mahannddi
river in Orissa. Also the Cauvery and Coleroon in Southern India.
It attains at least 8 inches in length.

144 Smaller Fly Takers. Ciiapt. XI.

5. G. argentea. B. iii, D. 9-10 (f#), P. 15, V. 8, A. 17-19
Cr£rc), 0. 19, L.l. 43-45, L. tr. G|-7/3. Habitat: Bawanny river at
the base of the Neilgherries, Cavery river, and Mysore ; attaining

6 inches in length.

6. C. Punjabensis. B. iii, D. 9 (f), P. 11, V. 6, A. 16-17
(•jf:^), C. 19, L.l. 90-110, L. tr. 12/9. Took, Punj. Eabitat :
Lahore, in the Ravi river ; also the Indus, in Sind. It attains at least
2-j inches in length.

7. 0. phulo. B. iii, D. 9 Of) P. 13, V. 9, A. 18-19 Orf:?*),
C. 19, L.l. 80-87, L. tr. 12-15/6. Habitat : Assam, Bengal, Orissa,
(Central India, and the Deccan as far south as the Toombudra ami
Kistna rivers ; attaining 5 inches or more in length.

8. O. boopis. B. iii, D. 9-10 (V). p- 15, V. 9, A. 14-15 Orfrfr),
C. 21, L.l. 38-40, L. tr. 6-6|/3. Habitat: S. Canara and (?) Mysore;
attaining at least 5 inches in length.

9. C. clupeoides. B. iii, D. 9 (?), P. 13, V. 9, A. 13-15 (lT.Vj)
C. 19, L.l. 80-93, L. tr. 12-15/6. Habitat: Cutch, Jubbulpore,
Mysore, the Deccan, Madras Presidency, and Burniah. It attains at
least 6 inches in length, and is very good eating.

10. C. bacaila. B. iii, D. 9 (f), P. 13, V. 9, A. 13-15 (.„!„),
C. 19, L.l. 86-110, L. tr. 17-19/6-10. Habitat: Throughout India,
except Malabar, Mysore, and Madras, and parts of the Deccan. Dr.
Giinther gives Moulmein as one of its localities. It attains at least

7 inches in length.

Tin-: Black-Spot.

Barbus filamentosus and Barb us Mahecola.

These two fish differ from each other only in the filaments
attached to the dorsal fin in Ji. jiln ///< n/osiis (Plate XII), and in
\fahecola having two barbels and filumrntosus wanting them. Their
must marked characteristic is the singular black spot on the lateral
line near the tail. They frequent the same waters, run to the
same size, about six in the pound, and are to be fished for in
the same way. They unfortunately seem to be confined to
somewhat limited localities. I have only met with them on the
West Coast; but Dr. Day adds the base of the Niclgherries,
and Southern India, and Ceylon. In any case, the area is wide
enough to allow of their being mentioned ; very much wider than
the area occupied by the Grayling. They affect the smaller
tributary streams, and especially, it', indeed, they are not confined

*

CO

CD
O

CD
D

ffl

CHAPT. xi. 'i Flies and Quirk Strik I 10

to, those which are rich in water-weed, on the seeds of which, as
well as on the weeds themselves, and the insect life therein, they
feed largely. They are not to be found in the runs, but where the
watei Sows more gently, and even in the still water. There they
congregate in shoals like dace, and take tin- By with a very gentle
suck like dai

To make anything of a bag of them they require right good

fishing. I have a note . . t" having at Mala, in the South Canara

I »i-t i i«t , caught 30 one afternoon. I*i> they came, a fish at

each fly, and out they came, one or two at a time. In one throw

1 took three fish the size of the plate, one on each fly. But, aye,

there's a hut, and it must be admitted 1 have a note also that

runs thus: "Had I taken all that rose that afternoon, I suppose I

" should have killed :'.un tisli, weighing from 35 lbs. to 50 lbs."

Of course I wiite, not from memory, hut from notes made at the

time. They are very shy and the water very bright, so you

must tish very tine. Their month is leathery, lmt small, so that I

think a fly on No. 14 Sneck bend is preferable to one on No. 12.

You miss fewer rises with a small hook. The above note will

show I found this out to my cost. Any light dun or Mack fly will

kill, but I saw on the water a deep purple little fly, and imitating

it did best with it. It is coloured on Plate XII, and mentioned

among other flies in the remarks on the lesser Barils. Because

of their shyness, throw as long a line as you can perfectly command,

both to fall straight and to strike quickly with, for they frequently

rise as the fly touches the water, though a sunk fly will suit them

also. Do not draw the fly too close to you, because they will also

follow the fly, and if they follow it too close to you they see you,

and there'll be an end of your fun. Remember they swim in

shoals like dace, so that if you get on a shoal you had better

not move from it as long as they keep rising. Out tiny come,

one after another, with a quaint look of unutterable surprise in

their faces. " Now, who would 'a thought it!" Sou may go on

throwing in exactly the same place. Draw your fly very slowly.

They are deep and thick for their length, so that the full-sized o

are just a little too heavy to Hick out. Any fish that cannot

be flicked out, but has to be struck tine, with a light, quick hand,

and then brought out quietly, ( tents me if there are enough of

them ; ami I think it i^ likely to lie the same with many of my

TI1K RO!> IN IN HI I. L

146 I :.UT. XI.

read- 'raight tip" on quick striking with a

rine line, I must refe: I of the chapter on tie Carnatic

Carp.

These fish have the furtL- : i mendation that they hreed

well in ponds, hut t i m, though numerous, to ruu

smaller than in the rivers, presuinahly from inferior feeding. I n

water-w-
wba . abunda: half-an-i: a and

prawns from 1^ to 1£ of an inch in length, and numerous larvae,
from jus: - • - of an inch long, and huh . . and

the weed and its seed may he found in ti. icha,

In i they do : ■ 11 in the mornings

9. Whether they go
on r. the heat ol the day. I never had

the . i find oui _ take well, and

keep at it till after sunset, till it is quite dark. They seem to sit
up late, and b r in the morning. Bad habits those. In a

pond whea were small and hungry, a friend and I g

six before 11 a.m. This was at Warranga, near Mudradi. I have
had little eh ■

\er. Phtsostomi.
Family- Cmsxa

unfly. CmnsixA.

'me.

with two barbels.
B. iii, D. 11, (f>, P. U A. 7 (*). C. 19,

L.l. -2 J. L. at. 5 4.

without barbels.
Bar' ,. B. iii, D. 11(|), P. ]' ' C. 19,

4 4.

The Qui ;

very En
introduce hii he will take

a fly, and will liv< ponds where

I have taken them about $ lb.
and slightly - k bend I

f

%

ti

£

ffi

A

Chapt. xi. 1% rp. I 17

and I have also taken them and Been them taken with a float and
paste bait But I have seen them taken over ^ lb, with a net I
have only seen them in the Adyar river above the anicut, and in

the Red Hill Keservoir, both near Madras. Prom what little 1
know of thriu 1 cannot call them a sporting fish, hut may he that
is my fault for nol yet knowing enough about them. 1 have never
been at the trouble to try roving or bottom fishing with a gentil in
India. I should think it ought to just suit fish of this suit. I Eound
these fish always in still water. I see Day says they are to be
found in the fresh waters along the coast of India from Cutch to
Bengal, also in the Deccan, Mysore, and Madias ; he also received
a specimen from Darjeeling. Tamulians call it Shani Kendae, or
cow-dung carp, from its colour, but olive carp is to the same effect,
and prettier.

Barbels iv. D. 12 (J) P. 17, V. 9, A 8 (J) C. 19, LI. 28-30.
L. tr. 6/6.

The Lesser Barils.

Barilius Canarensis.

Ofthegenus Barilius, there are fourteen species in India. They
are so widely distributed that every Indian angler must come across
them. One of them, 7. /".attains some size, and is com-

monly known as the Indian trout; under that name, therefore, it
will he treated of a little further on. The others run more or less
to 6 inches in length. I shall therefore call them the lesser Barils.
Plate XIV is a life-size representation of a full-sized fish. I have
given Barilius Canarensis because of its colouring being so beautiful ;
but B. Bakcri and B. gattnsis are to my knowledge so similar in
their habits that, for angling purposes, they are practically the same
fish. The colouring of the Barilius Canarensis is so very brilliant
that I cannot do it justice ; every colour, also, should shine like
burnished metal. Tie- Barils are a vi rj Lime little fish, rising to a
rly with a quick dart just as a burn trout does. They are an active
fish, and are to be found where the stream runs briskly among the
rocks, to be found in the stickles, and all about the edges of the
deep runs. They are in large rivers frequented by Mahseer, and in
the very same water. In fact, I was fishing for them once, and the
moment I had honked one, a Mahseer, recognizing that it was a

THE BOD IN INDIA. L 2

148 Smaller Fly Takers. Ciiapt. xi.

lish in distress, went for it. They are also to be found in the
smaller streams inhabited by the Black Spot, but not in the same

water. Where the river runs lazily among the weeds yon will find
the Black Spot, where it runs rapidly among rocks, the Baril

They are small, not running larger than a hungry beck trout of
3£ ounces and under. They are. however, plentiful, and free fly
takers, and to be fished for just as for a trout They will rise to any
small trout fly, and I have had on simultaneously one red, one dun,
and one black, and they have taken kindly to them all, and some-
times two and three have been pulled out at once, just as little beck
trout are at home. But the trout flies should be of the smallest,
for though the fish will rise, they will not be readily hooked, unless
the fly is on a hook as small as No. 14 Sneck or Kirby bend.

For choice, black seems to be the favourite colour for these little
fellows, as well as for Mahseer, perhaps because it is most quickly
seen against the light; and a friend, who is a good fisherman, so
far believes in it, that he mounts his collar with all three black,
such as the black gnat, small black palmer, and like tlie.s black or
nearly black.

Why it should be so fancied I do not know, for I do not
remember to have ever seen black natural Hies on the water in India,
except it be little bits of black flies very little bigger than a well
led mosquito. These I have seen in countless numbers, but they
are too small to imitate, and are only fitting food for fry, and
minnows, and chelas.

1 have noticed and painted red flies and yellow flies which were
evidently water-born flies, but they were nut in any numbers, and
the fish were not sporting at them, so why should I trouble my
reader with them 1 They must remain among the useless notes
taken in my endeavour to work out the rationale of fly fishing in
India in preference to the rule of thumb, The subject is too big
a one to be mastered without very much more leisure at the water's
side in all months of the year than I am ever likely to have at
command. Will any one else work up the ephemera of India in
connection with fly fishing? One fly, however, 1 have shown on
Plate XII, because it is a practically useful My. the Black spots tak-
ing it freely. I saw it on the water in great numbers both morning
and evening, but for want of opportunities of observing sullieieiitly
I am, of course, in QO position to say for how many days or months

CHAPT. xi. Entomology, 149

it lasts "Ut. and on what rivers it i-. In be found. I can only say it

is in full force in tin- northern parts of South Canara in December
andJanuary. But of what avail is such very limited information
in tin- direction <>t' the entomology of Indian fly I i s 1 n 1 1 _; !

1 have also observed tin' overhanging bamboos covered with
light dun flies that were clearly land flies, and remained on the

hand till disturbed, ii"t seeming ever to fall into the water for

the fish. Such Hies, of course, are useless.

There is no doubt that fly fishing, if worth anything as a science
and a sport, should he reduced tn its entomological basis, and each
artificial fly should be a close imitation of some known natural fly
in the habit of living on or near the water, and thus becoming the
common food of fish. But it' we cannot ascertain the natural flies,
we can only do as our lathers pretty generally did in England, and
a- uot a few are still well content to do, namely, to make arbitrary
guesses at the .sort of fly to be used at certain times and places,
with very little reference to entomology, preferring to it, indeed,
such crude regulators as the colour of the water, and the brightness
or otherwise of the day, to guide our preferences, and after all
coming back to this, that if one man has killed with a certain fly,
another may. For the Bariiius 2?a&m, then, any small trout fly
will do, and the black, perhaps, for preference, the sue being Xo. 14
Sneck or Kirhy.

It must not be presumed that, because fish are small, they are
not shy. There is no sequence at all in the argument. It may
be that some small fish are. not so shy as the bigger ones, but some

sorts again are; and you may lie very sure that n bite the

better for seeing a biped making demonstrations at them from

tin- sh None but those which have been ltd by hand will be

sociable. Therefore, if you go and stand bolt upright at the very

edge of the stream, and don't get spurt, don't blame me, that is

all. Do nciL you remember how even the little burn trout in
Scotland dart away directly they see a Saxon on the bank i

Vmi will very much improve your sport if you will condescend

to he careful in this matter, even with small fish, and notalilv with

the Bards. They should be fished fur just as carefully as a trout
It is well to remember that fish ordinarily lie with their noses up
stream, l'mkimj in front of them, and, more or less, cm each side

■ if them, fur what maybe brought down to them by the stream,

150 Smaller Fly Takers. Chapt. xi.

but not behind tliem ; and as you know that their hacks are con-
sequently all turned the same way, that is down stream, and they
cannot see with their tails, it stands to reason that if you want to
approach them unobserved, your best chance of doing so is from
below them in the stream ; and this is why the most successful
fly-fishermen endeavour always to approach a bit of water from
below, and take the best fish throwing up stream, and pulling
down towards them, or rather just keeping the line taut while
the stream brings their fly down to them. The most convenient
plan is to fish a river upwards, that is, to commence fishing at the
lowest part of the river you mean to fish over, and to walk up-
wards as you fish. This saves retracing steps, as you stalk to the
foot of each pool or run your fish. The simplest way to fish any
particular bit of water with a fly is to approach crouching, and,
kneeling on one knee so far off from the bank that you can only
just see and command a little bit of the water, throw your fly
Straight across, keep your line just taut and no mole, and let the
stream carry it down and round towards you as quietly as it will,
without any pulling from you, and you thus fish first the water
where you are most likely to be seen; repeat the process a yard or
two higher each time, carefully edging nearer and nearer the
while, till you find yourself throwing straight up the stream close
under your own bank. These are, of course, only general instruc-
tions for thorough!} fishing over water, and cannot be held applic-
able in all cases; for differently exposed, differently running,
waters require to be fished differently, and not a little depends on
the generalship displayed in properly availing yourself of every
advantage of ground in approaching the enemy's positions

Another argument against fly-fishing from above is, that if you

throw your fly downwards, and pull it towards you, you will pull

it in the most unnatural way, for no natural fly ever floated up

bream. 1 know that fish are caught in this way sometimes, but it

is not g 1 fishing, and will not pay as a rule.

l'l\ fishing, it will be observed, is in this respect the contrary
to spinning, the rule in the latter case being to pull the bail more
or less against the stream. Ami the -ami' rule obtains more or less
in salmon fly-fishing, but then that is not properlj fly-fishing,
though commonly so called, because no mortal can tell you the
entomological specimen of which a salmon fly is a representation.

Chart, zl Fishing Up Stream. 151

Perhaps you may say the fiah arc too Bmall, and not worth all
this trouble. So be it. In such case let them alone, and don'1
fish for them at all But it' you will tish for any of these smaller
fish just for a change, you maj as well catch them while you are
about it. Tins I tel] you, therefore, you will not do unless you con-
descend to take the pains ti> lisli for a Barn" as carefullj as for a
trout If you are a good fisherman all tins painstaking will come

t<> y.m naturally, as a matter of C0UT86, and be no pains.

Flies draw, and mat, and get moth oaten, quickly in India, and
should consequently !»■ got from England in small quantities Erom
time to time. They are light, and can easily travel in a letter.
Do not buy any that have been kept some time in store in a
shop in this country. Hut if you tie your own Hies, s, , much the

hotter.

It is decidedly a point to put on your drop Hies neatly, so that
there shall he no large knot to make a ripple in the water. Some
put on the drop by a loop, but this is a clumsy, bungling way, that
shows ;i great deal too much for a wary fish. .Some tie their collar
with two knots slipping together, so as to he able to pull them
asunder and insert the drop, after having tied a knot at the end
of it, and then pull the collar together. But I do not like this
plan, not only because all collars are not made up so as to allow
of its being done, hut also because the pulling asunder of tight
knots soon frays the gut, and weakens the collar at those points.
Better than these knots is the one recommended by Francis
Francis. Tie a simple knot at the end of your drop, and then
with the drop out tie a simple knot round the out of the collar,
and let it slip down the collar till just over a knot or join in it,
and then pull tight This is very neat and strong and simple, and
I ; fess 1 generally use it on a fresh collar. Hut it is not quite
without an objection. As you must always tie your drop over a
knot you must always tie it just over a join in the line, or you
must make a knot in your collar on purpose for it, and practically
it ends in this, that you almost always tie on your drop over the
same knot, and if you change often, you fray that spot in the collar
ami weaken it. I would therefore suggest the knot shown in
Figure 4, Flat' XXV. Wherever in your collar you wish to place
your drop fly, tie, in the collar, the knot there shown, being careful
only that F. is the end near the rod; A. the end near the tail fly.

152 Smaller Fly Tah Chapt. XL

It is wry easily done by making the loop C. and doubling the bit
B. through it. The line has not to be taken off the rod for the
purpose, or the ends passed through at all. It is done in a couple
of seconds by two turns. Having done this, and taking can- that
your gut is thoroughly soft from soaking, so that you may be sure
it will not crack in knotting, pull A. and B. so that loop C. becomes
a tight knot, Put your drop fly, with a simple knot at the end,
through the loop I)., and then pull E. till 1>. also is absorbed into
a tight knot. Then pull your drop fly close up to its own knot,
and you are ready for action.

What 1 consider the advantages of this knot are, that it is tied
as quickly, it' not more quickly, than any other ; is as neat as the
neatest of them; can be tied in any part of the collar you like,
so that you can have your drop fly at the precise distance you
fancy from the tail fly ; and if a breakage or any thing has some-
what curtailed that distance, you can hit it off again to a nicety.
This is no small point to my fancy, for it makes one unhappy to
have the drops crowded together. To move your first drop a length
further up will, perhaps, bring it too near the other drop, whei
you had rather it werenot qwite so near the tail fly. This is the
dilemma in which you are placed, if you are dependent on the
knots at the joins, whereas by my plan you can locate your drop
fly just where you have a mind, to an inch. Again it is superior
I think t< other knots in the ease with which you can remove your
fly. Pull the end A. and the drop, and the knot will open, with a
little aid of the nails on the knot, Or if you are not handy at
this work, or will not be troubled, nothing is easier than to nip
the fly off close up to the gut. You lose next to nothing of the
length of the drop thereby; you lose considerably less than you
do when nipping off one of Francis Francis' drops. As soon as the
drop is removed, the whole knot easily straightens, and a fresh
knot is tied, for a fresh drop in a fresh place, an inch or so higher
or lower.

I have said be careful in tying the knot that the end !•'.. is the
end nearest to the rod ; the reason is obvious. The knot is a .dip
knot, and therefore a heavy fish on the drop might open it, if it
were not so placed thai the more the fish pulls, the more he
tightens "the knot. The end that tightens up the loop 11. and
keeps the knot at the head of the drop from coming through that

I'll ait. xi Dr. Day's Description. 153

loop, is the end EL; EL being the made end connected with the
rod, it follows that the more the fish pulls against you, the more
he tightens EL, and the more secure he consequently makes the
knot. I showed this knot to a friend, who tied it with A.
towards the rod, lost his Gsh and By, and said it was my fault !

Tin- following I'lirt extract from Dr. Day's " Fishes of India,"
may In.' useful for reference: —

Order. PhtsOSTOMI.
Family. Ctpeimu
Sub-family. GTPK1NIMA.
Genus. Barilius.

Synopsis of Spe< i
A. — With four Inula U (JPdchystomus).

1. Bariliut u \gra. D. 9, A. 13-15, L.l. 42-44. With 10 vertical
bars. Sind Hills, Himalayas, Ganges, Jumna, and Brahma-
putra.

2. Barilius modestus, D. 9, A. 12-13, L.l. 43. Back dark, sides

silvery. Sind and Punjab.

3. Barilius radiolatus. D. "J, A. 12, L.l. 50—62. Silvery. Cen-

tral India.

4. / thaora. I).'.', A. lit, L.l. 00-70. Twelve vertical
bars. Bengal, N.W. Provinces, and Assam.

5. Barilius bendelisis. D. 9, A. 9-10, L.l. 4U-43. Short ver-
tical bars: each scale with a black spot in adults. From
Western Ghauts throughout India (not Sind) to Assam.

B. — With tiro barbels (BendiKsis).

6. Barilius barila. D. 9, A. 13-14, L.l. 43-46. With 14 or 15

vertical bars. Bengal, Orissa, and Lower Assam.

C. — Without or with only rudimentary barbels (Ba/rUius).

7. Barilius Bakeri. D. 13, A. 16-17, L.l. 38. A row of large
spots. Travancore.

8. Barilius gatensis. D. 10-12, A. 15-17, L.l. 40. With 15 ver-

tical ban. Western Ghauts and Neilgherries.

9. / < . D. 12-13, A. 14-16, L.l. 38. Two
rows of spots. Canara.

10. Barilius barna, D. 9, A. 13-14, L.l. 39-42. Nine vertical
bands. Orissa, Bengal, Assam.

154 Smaller Fly Takers. CHAPT. XL

11. Bariliuf! guttatus, D. 9, A. 11, L.l. 44-48. Two rows of

spots. Burma.

12. Barilius tileo, D. 9, A. 13, L.l. 70-75. Two rows of spots.

Bengal and Assam.

13. Barilius Evezardi, D. 9, A. 14-15, L.l. 40. Silvery.

Poona.

14. Barilius bola, D. 10-11, A. 13, L.l. 88-94. Two rows of

blotches. Orissa, Bengal, Assam,

The Indian Trout.

Barilius hola.

Of this fish I have no personal knowledge at all. But it is
too important a sporting fish to lie omitted mi that account. In
the interests of brother anglers my deficiency has been most kindly
supplement ed by a paper from the pen of Colonel J. Parsons; and
while I express my own indebtedness therefor, I know 1 may add
that of my readers. Must kindly has been the response to the
invitation thrown out in my first edition, and repeated at page ii
of this.

I have called this fish the Indian trout, because it is commonly
thus called in Northern India. Other competitors there are for
the name; but Bariiiiix bola seems to have the best title to be
called the Indian trout. To avoid confusion, therefore, we will com-
mence by deposing the other fish which seem to have less right to
the honourable distinction. Oreinvs Michardsanii has, according to
Day, been called the "Kemaorj Trout." " Tn some specimens there
" are black spots on the sides and head." Of Oreinus sinfaUtts Dr.
Day writes, in his "Fishes of India," "Some have scattered black
" and occasionally red spots, and these have been termed Trout."
But this fish has a sucker with which it adheres to rocks, which is
most untroutlike, and Dr. Day tells me it will not take a fly at any
price, a piece of wrong-headedness for which, with your concur-
rence, it should be shorn of its brevet-rank, in spite of its red
spots, o/i forums,' puer ni nun in ne crede colori — we will degrade you
in spite of your looks. " Handsome is that handsome does" is the
belter rule, and as Barilius hula sports like a trout, as we shall see
from Colonel Parsons, let us allow his claim, though he has no
adipose dorsal fin like the true trout* (salmonidse). We may have

0J

i

o
<u

"J

a

ft

gc

t'HAi'T. xi. Rival Claimants to Trout&hip. 155

tin' less hesitation in confirming the honorific as there are uo
indigenous trout in India.

The plate is taken by permission from Dr. Day's " Fishes of
•■ India," the mouth only being a little opened to show the
peculiarly beaked and prominent under jaw.

"The Barilius bala (vernac Gulabi Machli rose-speckled fish)
" by Anglo-Indians commonly misnamed Trout," writes Colonel
Parsons, "is found in many rivers of India, its chief habitat being
" clear streams with stofty bed,

" Though not of the Trout genus, it bears some resemblance in
" outline to the European Trout, but is of more delicate formation,
" and the more brilliant looking fish of the two. Like the Trout,
"it is very beautifully spotted."

"The weight of the Barilius bola of different rivers varies
" greatly, the average weight of mature fish in streams where it
" best thrives is probably about $ lb., and maximum about 2 lbs.
" This may be an estimate under the mark, as the writer merely
" notes from his personal experience as a fisherman, as far as it
" extends, during periods of fishing recreation that were chiefly
" devoted to the capture of Mahseer, and he has never known the
Barilius bola to he brought to market by natives of the country,
" whereby the quantities coming under observation would afford
" ilata for satisfactorily deciding on the dimensions of this species
"of fish.

" The Bdriiius bola is taken with the fly, and likewise with
ill spinning bait ; a small sized phantom is a very good bait to
" use. They are usually shy, and take the fly best at the close of
"day, when a white moth (lake trout fly size) is perhaps the
" most suitable lure, the addition of white bead eyes to the fly 1
" have known to be an improvement. Anglers fishing for Mahseer,
" with a good sized spinning bait, occasionally hook a good
" specimen of the Barilius bola, notably in the '.Sone' or 'Sonu. a
" beautiful stream which joins the Ganges, a few miles above
II irdwar, on its right bank, and wluch is a grand place for
' Mahseer fishing.

"The Barilius bola runs large in both the Ganges and the

" Jumna in the Doon ; I have got them close on 2 lbs at Dadapur,

" the head of the Western Jumna Canal, a few miles from Jagadri

on the S. p. and Delhi Railway. This fish is. however, difficult to

156 Smaller Fly Takers. CHAPT. XI.

" catch in most localities where I have tried them, and I attribute
" this in a great measure to the frequent presence of Mahseer in
" their vicinity. It is a marvel to me how any Barilius can
" escape at all from the rapid moving Mahseer, which is perhaps
" more partial to the Barilius than to the young of its own species,
" which, by the bye, the Mahseer swallows very freely, as 1 have
" repeatedly proved to my entire satisfaction in live bait fishing
" when the devourer has full time afforded to consider the species
" of Ins morsel.

"The native fishermen at the Jumna, on the hills between
" Mussoorie and Simla, use scarcely any othei bait than the Barilius.
" They have a curious way of catching their bait. The trout,
" which for convenience sake we may call them, are excessively
" keen sighted, and the stream running into the Jumna at this
" locality where they are taken is of exquisite brilliancy, conse-
" quently they very soon clear out of reach on the appearance of a
" net caster. Their capture is effected by means of a weighted line ui
" horsehair nooses, dextrously slung across stream well ahead of
" the fisherman. As he walks up stream, scaring the fish to the
" line, the trout shoot along the bottom as if to escape observation,
" and the line being weighted, with nooses all along it across the
" stream, some of the tisli can scarcely fail to run into loops open
" to receive them, but which draw tight over their shoulders,
" on Hearing the dorsal fin. The trout in this stream average
" under £ lb., and are easily held by the noose. I have watched
" the performance with interest, and immediately purchased some
" of the bait in exchange for English fish-hooks, more prized
" than money by the fishermen

" Speaking of fish hooks, the Limerick and other patterns
" would be much improved by the barb being additional, instead
" of being, as it were, a slice out of the shank. I have frequently
" known hooks of the best makers parted by heavy fish straining
"on the narrow bit of metal under the barb; such mishap has
"quite recently occurred to me while .Mahseer fishing at Tangrot.
" If the hook is resting on the point by pressure on bone,
" instead of cartilage, of a large fish's mouth, the trial at the above

" pari of the ln.ok is very severe, and not likely to last !

"The Barilius is numerous in the Morar near (!>valior; it
metimes takes the tlv well, but it is of ven small average size

Chut. xi. Tht Indian Trout. 157

" in that stream. In the Scinde, another stream in that territory,
" I recollect many years ago, 'when my lines were east in those
" ' places,' getting a couple of these tish close on 2 lbs. each.

" When fishing for Mahseer, and hooking a l'.arilius, there is
" little doubt which is hooked from the first, as the spotted one
" will jump repeatedly out of the water, and dash about in a
" perfect frenzy, and is game to the last; not that I wish in
" any way to disparage the noble Mahseer, whose peculiarity is
'" the truly grand rush he makes when first struck, and woe betide
" the line then if all is not clear. This spanking tish, far beyond
" the pretty little l'.arilins, has beguiled many a day of my exile,
" and long may he flourish."

And so Bay all of us.

Turning to Day's "Fishes of India," I extract the following
portions : —

"Barbels absent. Branchiostegals iii, D. 10-11 (T*T), P. 13, V. 9,
"A. 13 (t^) , C. 19. L.l. 88-94, L. tr. 12-15/9-11. . . . Head
" compressed, snout pointed, a well developed knob above symphysis of

" the lower jaw Colours : silvery, with two or more

" vertical rows of bluish blotches along the sides, the upper being
" about twelve to twenty, and the lower intermediate ; some spots also
" on the head. Lower barf of the dorsal fin slightly gray. Caudal,
" orange stained with gray and black. Pectoral, ventral, and anal,
" orange, the colours being somewhat simUar to those of a trout ; it
" often goes by that name amongst Europeans."

" J i Orissa, Bengal, N.W. Provinces, Assam, and Burma,

lining at least a foot in length: one killed in Assam by Mr.

" Hannay is stated to have weighed 5 lbs. It is a very game tish,

" takes the fly well, and is one of those termed Rajah mas, or 'chief

" ' of the fishes ' in the Assam rivers.

"Bitgguah, Ooriah ; Korang, Assam; Bola, Beng. ; Buggarah,
" Hind."

CHAPTER XII.

BOTTOM FISHING FOR LABEO.

' Bait the hook well, ami the fish will bite." — Mrcn ADO.

Suppose we try a little bottom fishing just for a change.
" Variety's charming : " we have it on the old indisputable authority
of the copybook. And the swan-quill is not without its charm.
There it sits elegant and upright in the water, like a sprightly little
water-nymph in its element, on the very tip-toe of expectation, and
ready to give you the earliest hint of the slightest flirtation going
on with your bait down below. You feel you have a friend in
that quill, it will tell you faithfully of every move made against you
in the dark depths below, and you have a conviction you may trust
it implicity. In cautious silence your little nymph makes mute
gestures to you, by a code of her own, like tbe signs of the
needle speaking to you of the man at the other end of the wire.
Mind you are quick to read her aright, for your nymph is true as
steel, and will tell you all, if you can only follow her signals.
There! she made the slightest shade of a bow; some one has
entered the room, shall we say just smelt your bait. Again she
bows, courtseys, now more and more rapidly, now she is quite
excited over it. They're off, and she lias disappeared after them.
Strike instanter, not roughly, but rapidly. Ha! it's you is it? I
thought as much. But mind, mind what you are about, you have
only tine-drawn gut, and a light rod, and seemingly a stout part] al
the other end. Out goes the line oll'the reel, not ver\ fast certainly,
nor very far, still the old alderman will have it, and there's no
denying him. lie tights long and persistently though not furiously.
Stick to him, keep bearing on him all you dare, but gingerly,
gingerly. What, no signsof my poor little faithful nymph, yet still
down in the depths keeping an eye on that fat fellow? Ah, up
she shows at last, one is quite glad to see her little face again.

-^

<

CRAFT. HI. s era! Labt L59

She tells you that the old alderman is getting pumped, Hiseverj
instinct is to keep do Vi a at the bottom in deep water, bo keep pressing

on him upwards and shoreward*. At last you have him in the
landing net, a 3 lb, tisli with a funny little fringed mouth. What
is he I He is a Labeo, one of twenty-five, of which eight run large,
attaining respectively to 1£ feet, 2 feet, '■> feet, ami in one case to
nearly 5 feet in length, according to Dr. Day. I have only the
pleasure of a personal acquaintance with lour of them, and they are
all .similarly thick-built fish, and to he taken in one ami the same
way.

The Plate which I have given does not exactly correspond with
any one of Dr. 1 laj s Labeos, but it is none the less correct, having
been taken from life from a 5 lb. fish under my own careful
superintendence. 1 did not choose it because it differed, but
because, as I meant to give colours, I was hound to have the very
fish to which the colours belonged. 1 have not named it as a new
fish because the difference is slight, and because I could not keep
the specimen, and there are difficulties* about the Labeos, arising,
seemingly, from varieties rather than from separate species. I have
thought best, therefore, to apply the name I have in the Plate in
spite of the very slight variation from Dr. Day's fish of the same
name. In short, [ have preferred to follow his nomenclature.

These fish being of the sizes above-mentioned, and all, as far as I
know them, thick-built heavy fish for their length, anglers will see
that they are worth fishing for. I have no note of having caught
them over 3 lbs. with a line myself, hut I have of having seen them
5 lbs. 14 oz. and am assured that they run very much larger, and J
have a manor;/, perhaps poetic, of ha vine caught them 7 lbs. They
are as cunning a fish as the roach, and to be fished for in the same
manner. Good roach fishing is the glory of the Londoner, ancl here
is just the same for you with the fish seldom under 1 lb. and
averaging 2 lbs.

Iain afraid of want of sympathy for float fishing, so I must

transgress my rule promised in the preface, and mention a little bag

made one day just to draw the render on. A friend and self caught

in a pond 21 lbs. weight in one hour. Some of them were 3 lbs.

DUl the majority were about 2 lbs. each. Another day I got

• For the difficulties, see the discussions under various Labeos in Dr. Daj's
'• Fi-hes of India," and the differing opinions of different authors.

160 Bottom Fishing for Laheo. < 'iiapt. xii.

25 lbs. weight of these fish, besides two freshwater tortoises, weighing

together 6J Lbs. There were two more g 1 fish also that a new

hand broke off my hook in bis clumsy hurry with the landing net
(bad Luck to him), and another that fairly broke me after a long
fight I suppose I thought it was about time he gave in, and he
thought otherwise, for they fight lorn,' and steadily, and the tackle
has to be very fine. Another tortoise also was hooked foul, brought
to the top and lost. This fishing was from Tin a.m. to IO-.jO a.m.
During the first hour I took nothing ; during the remaining two
hours and 40 minutes I landed the above 31i_ lbs., on a light
single-handed lit feet trout rod. When I left they were still
biting, but I had to tear myself away, Other similar bags I have
made alone or with friends, but of these two days only did I keep a
note, because, dear reader, I was thinking of you even then, think-
ing that you would not believe in bottom fishing unless I gave you
particulars from notes taken at the time, thinking what you would
lose, by such incredulity. As we are on pond fishing one more bag
I must give you. Fishing all day H. caught 52 lbs., of which two
were freshwater sharks, weighing respectively l11 lbs. and 22 lbs. ;
the rest were the tish I am introducing to you. A friend fishing
with him that day caught about 30 lbs. weight, but of this I speak
roughly from hearsay and estimate, not having seen hi Tims

the two rods took about 8n lbs. weight of fish out of a pond near

j tpatam.

Is this enough to draw you with me bottom fishing? In the
hope that it is I will continue.

Mv [uaintance with these fish has been made chiefly in
ponds. I have seen them in rivers, but there I confess they have
been one too many for me, mainly because I gave them but
secondary attention where I could get Mahseer, or was experiment-
ing with the fly, catching Barils and Chelas, and hoping to make
new discoveries. In rivers they seem to be very wary. I n
that on this account the natives tish as far from themselves as they
can cast the line. They ground-bait freely for two or three d
and attaching a lead, about the weight of a bullet, a Little above the
bait of dough of millet, and coiling up the line of sago palm tibre at
their feet, whirl and fling out the weighted Line as far as they can,
which is about 4u yards, and, when jt has Settled, gather in the
Black so that they can feel any bite. They have one such Line in

I 11 Ml. Ml. P 161

each hand without any rod Even with these precautions they '1"
better bj night than by day, and prefer the night fishing accordingly.
Hut such fishing will not Buit as rod fishermen, far we could not
throw bo far. nor could we feel a bite through the rod, nor see a
float if it were allowed. From a sporting point of view, th I

look upon these fish as gentry whose acquaintance i- bo be
cultivated in ponds rather than in rivers, though I am told there
are places in rivers where Europeans have good sport with them

with ■

The ponds* in which I have caught them have beeu fed by
channels coming from a river, which channels brought down the fry
in flood time ; and the natives informed me that the spawn would
not vivify except in running water. I have, however, proved the
contrary by inserting fry into a rain fed pond, that ■ inly

Km- of them, and watching them till they reproduced fry. Of this
pond at Vallain the reader will hear again hereafter in the Ch
on Stocking Ponds. This was before l'r. Day's " Fishes of India"
waspublished, in which 1 see lie says of! • . ■■ \- ,,:;

• or more in length It lleiit as food, and

" propagated with care in ponds in Bengal;" andol .' as he

writes that it is extensively used for the pur] I inks

in northern India, and attains nearly .". feet in length, and lAtbco

attaining 2 feet is mentioned similarly.

Very quick striking being necessary, a light rod is a am* qud
mm. If you have a roach rod, so much the better. lam content
with my little light single-handed trout fly rod, substituting a short
stiff spinning top for the fly top. This shortening and stiffening
quickens the stroke, but strike as quickly as yon may they will
still i quantity of your bait A I tine running

line are indispensable The collar should be of tine drawn gut.
and the hook at least must Ik- on such gut. The float shoii'
of the lightest I indicative of thi

touches of these adepts at halt stealing. Weight it so that when
the weight of the bait is added, about one-third only -at is

visil ■ r. The handiest thing t-r weighting is tht

drawn lead wire made by the Mai. :i Twin. S

pany, of 51, < - Mai . by them

• Vhout «x mile*' drive from Tanjore. I «p.:ik roughly from memoir. They
are the private property of a wealthy native, who ujed to prohibit netting th. I
Tiir. boo a a M

162 Bottom Fishing for Labco. Chapt. xil.

at 15 yards for a shilling. It is so easily accommodated to the
exact weight you want, and with these thievish fish you should
weight to a nicety. An inch or so of the lead wire is sufficient, so
that it will take you two or three lifetimes to use up 15 yards
unless you are philanthrophic to your brother anglers, whether
white or black, as a fisherman should be. For hook I have pre-
ferred No. 6 Kirby or Sneck bead.

You will find it advantageous to ground-bait beforehand, and
a little while fishing, just to keep them together.

Before you begin, plumb the depth carefully by putting a
weight on your hook, and arrange your float so that your bait shall
lie an inch or two off the ground, not more.

Bait with paste or dough such as you fancy. Dough made up
of wheat flour and water kneaded together cold will do, but it
is easily stolen. Cheese mashed very fine with a fork and mixed
with the above dough, gives it additional consistency, and what is
of much more importance, smell. The natives scent their paste
with the most offensive, untouchable, unmentionable matters. I
daresay aaafoetida would answer the same purpose; I never tried.
It is undoubtedly right to trust much to the sense of smell in fish
when you wish them to find your stationary bait as in bottom
fishing ; and their preferences are the reverse of Rimmel's. Newly
baked bread may also be kneaded up and used. It is not so liable
to be stolen as paste, hut I think it is a little too hard, offer-
ing, therefore, a little too much resistance to the passage of
the hook through it when you want to strike the fish. I
found the cocoamit rice-flour cakes commonly made by old
women at corners of streets, and called by Madrassees hoppers
(Tamil, appam) to be very convenient and effective when kneaded
up. Did'nt I say old women, they have never been known to be
made by young women, that's a peculiarity of them. I have used
a bait the size of a man's little finger nail ; the natives use it as
big as a thumb nail. They use also paste made of the flour of ragi
(Tamil, kevaru or kevaragu. the botanical name would'nt help you)
mixed with rice bran, not paddy husk, and boiled up with a little
water, stirring the whole till it thickens ; and they ground-bait with
the same. It is douhth <s of a very suitable consistency, and has
a strong smell about it. and is as cheap as anything they could use
When to strike is a very important point. These fish bite very

CHAFT. xii. Striking, 163

slowly and cautiously like a earp, and it is of no manner of use to
strike at the first bob of the Boat as for gudgeon, [fthey have not
been much fished for, and are biting freely, it is a very simple matter.
There will be a very slight movement of tli" Boat, then six or eight
quick bobs, and then the Boat will go right under and away : when
it disappears strike. It' they axe more wary or less on the feed,
the almost imperceptible quivers of the final will continue longer
and stop at times, till you almost think the fish have deserted
you; the subsequent perceptible bobs will be less vigorous and
will cease at intervals ; eventually your lloat will move away quietly
on the surface. When it moves off, strike immediately. If still
more wary they will not move your Boat off at all, and if you look
at your bait when the bobs cease you will find it lias all been
successfully stolen. When it comes to this you must strike on the
chance when the bobs are a little more vigorous and rapid than
usual. But do not be in such a hurry as that till you find they
have stolen your bait several times. Your bait is often stolen by
the little fish of other sorts that scramble for it if you have scared
away the l.abeos. Sometimes you will see your float tilt up and
lie down Bat on the top of the water. What is to be done then ?
That indicates that a fish has taken your bait from above it, and
has raised it so much that both it and the lead are lifted, and the
weight being taken off, the float it is no longer partially immersed,
but floats flat on the surface of the water. Strike immediately.

Fish frequently suck up bait from below them, as you may have
seen in an aquarium or globe of gold fish. If bottom feeders
could not do so, they would be al a loss how to get at such of their
food as lies on the bottom. Some protrude their lips in cup-like
fashion over the object to be drawn up by suction, notably Barbus
curmvca. The mouth of the Labeo is ordinarily placed below the
anout, not at the end of it, so that it must often have to suck its
food upwards. The mouth is frequently (imbricated or fringed
with short tendrils, and looking like a frill.

Always make preparations for striking by gathering in stealthily
all the slack line between the rod top and the float, so that when
the critical moment for sinking arrives, you may take instan-
taneous advantage of it. You will need all the quickness of which
v"ii at.' master, and still they will steal much of your bait.

The stroke is made with a quick turn of the wrist, any blow

THE BOD IV INI. IV II 2

164 Bottom Fishing for Labeo. C'HAPT. XII.

from the arm would break your fine tackle, for a fish of over a
pound weight will not yield to it at all. You will have to play
him before you can get him out, and they make a stubborn well
sustained resistance. Only once have I had one of these fish fling
itself a little into the air; the rule is that they keep down, and
make for the deeper water of the centre of the pond, and fight, not
vigorously nor furiously, but very steadily for a good long time.
In this their slow way they are very game.

They ascend and descend rivers in floods and low water ; and
are consequently caught in cruives as Mahseer are. They do not
go to sea.

The Tamil name of Tanjore is Sliel-Kendai ; but the Tamil of
Coimbatore is Karumtila-Kcndai. The Mysore Canarese for the
Labio kontius is Kcmmiii, or red fish. Which again is particu-
larized in Tamil as Gundamdni-Skrl Kcndai.

They seem to take flies, but I think it is only in play that they
come to the surface.

They frequent the deep, still parts of rivers.

They are not a delicate fish to transport. For stocking
purposes the young bear carriage well.

The various sorts are between them distributed all over India,
Ceylon, Burma, and Assam.

The White Carp.

There are other fish that may be taken bottom fishing with a

paste bait. The mighty Mahseer sometimes takes the bait meant
for the Labeo, and when tendered on native lines commonly breaks
them. There is a silvery fish much like a Labeo in general shape,
but having the mouth at the end of, and nut under the snout, that
takes the same bait and hook, and is taken lively with the Labeos.
It is Cirrliiiin rirrhosa, called in Tamil Vmg hendai, or White
Carp, which anglicised name may be fairly given it. Some of my
native informants said it ran to 2A. feet in length; others said
H feet. We may accept the latter, which tallies, I see, with
Dr. Day's information.

I well remember (and find in my notes) catching one of 2i lbs.
that came up with fresh, only very slightly healed, marks of a bite
which seemed to say he had been halt-way into the mouth of a

( .i lpt. xii. /' '/'■ 165

iwatei slunk. These fish formed part of the kills above-
mentioned as Labeos, ami gave more vigorous play tlian the

Lai s. It' I remember rightly, I have uo note, I got Borne of

them up to 5 lbs.

The freshwater tortoise mentioned in the above mixed bag
bit just like fish, and you could not tell it was u tortoise that was
biting till you had hooked your friend, when he proved less active
than a Labeo, only clinging to the bottom without any travelling
about there. They seemed to scare away the tish by their presence.
For this reason, and because I believe I am right in Baying they
are sad spawn and fry eaters, uever fling them back or let them
Crawl away to the water.

Xbur native attendants will sometimes be glad of them, and
they say they know which tortoises are edible and which are
not. I cannot say I have studied them gastronomically. I only
observed that some emitted an almost overpoweringly offensive odour,
and that was more than enough for me. Mind their bite. It is
not easy to kill them. Their tenacity of life is extraordinary to a
degree. It is recorded that they have lived for months with the
brain removed, and for twelve days without a head. I had the
pleasure of recognising one inside a crocodile, and they in their
turn are said to eat young crocodiles and crocodiles' eggs. But
they are reptiles, not fish, so we will have no more of them here.

The following epitomized extracts from Dr. Day's " Fishes of
India" may be useful for reference: —

Order. Physostomi.
Family. Oyprinidm.
Sub-family. Cyprmma.
Genus. Labeo.

2. Labeo fimhriatus. Barbels 4. B. iii, D. 19-22, (T|:±5), P. 17,
V. 9, A. 7 (|), C. 19, L.I. 44-47, L.tr. 9-10/8. Bind, Punjab, the
Deccan, and probably N.E. Bengal ; also Southern India, at least to
Orissa. Attains a foot and a half in length.

3. L. nigrescent. Barbels 4. B. iii, D. 17-18 Orfcry), P. 19, A.
7 (I), C. 19-21, L.l. 36, L.tr. 6/7. South Canara. 18 inches.

4. L. calbasu. Barbels 4. B. iii, D. 16-18 (t^tt), P- 19. v- 9.
A. 7 (}), C. 19, L.l. 40-44, L.tr. 7£/8. Punjab, Sind, Cutch, Deccan.
Southern India and Malabar, from the Kistna through Orissa,
Bengal, and Burma. 3 feet.

L66 Bottom Fishing for Labeo. Ch.vpt. xir.

6. L. gonitis. Barbels 4. B. iii, D. 16-18 (xflfr), P. 17, V. 9,
A. 7 (|), C. 19, L.l. 74-84, L.tr. 16/17. Indus, in Sind, N.W.
Provinces, Bengal, Orissa, Ganjam, as low as Kistna. Assam and
Burma. Attains nearly 5 feet in length.

7. L. dussumieri. 13 inches.

8. L. rohita. Barbels 4. B. iii, D. 15-16 ( r^n.). p- 17> v- 9>
A. 7 (|), C. 19, L.l. 40-42, L.tr. 6£/9. Sind, from Puujab through
India and Assam to Burma. Not found in Madras, or on the West
Coast. 3 feet or more in length. Ruhu, Ooriah ; Ruee, Bengal.

11. L. Icontius. Barbels 4. B. iii, D. 15-16 (tJ:^), P. 15,
V. 10, A. 7 (1), C. 19, L.l. 38-41, L.tr. 7/8. Base of the Nilagiris,
Cavery, and Uoleroon in all their branches down to the coast. 2 feet.

14. L. dyocheihis. Barbels 2. B. iii, D. 13 (,\), P. 17, V. 9,
A. 7 (1), C. 19, LI. 43, L.tr. 8£/7§. Sind hills and along the
Himalayas to Sikkim :md Assam. Common in Assam. 3 feet.

17. L. lata. Barbels 2. B. iii, D. 11-12 (£&), P. 18, V. 9,
A. 7 (f), C. 19, L.l. 37-40, L.tr. 7/6-7. From the Kistna and
Godavery rivers, through Orissa, Bengal, and Assam. 2 feet.

Those which I have omitted are not to my knowledge big enough
to be worth recording in a book on angling. They may be bigger
than certain fish I have mentioned as fly takers, but fly taking makes
a fish more worthy of notice. I am afraid of swelling my book, and
therefore omit whatever may seem not likely to interest an intelligent
angler.

Oirrhvna eirrhosa. Barbels 4. B. iii, D. 17-19 (t.^tt), P. 19,
V. 9, A. 8 (|), C. 19, L.l. 42-44, L.tr. 8'.'. Vert. 21/17. Habitat:
Godavery, Kistna, and Cavery rivers, and generally in Southern
India.

CHAPTER XIII.

FRESHWATER SHARKS.

" I care not I to fi«h in seas,
I'resh rivers best lm mind ilo please." —

I/in Walton.

THE name freshwater shark seems to have been given to more
than one of the Siluridse, and it is fairly applicable as indicative
of their voracity. I propose, therefore, to adi >pt it ; and under
this name to present to my readers three different fish of large
dimensions that are highly predatory, and may be taken with
a rod and line. They are Wallago attu, Bagarius Yarrellii, and

ndia Qangeti a.

I cannot call them spurting fish, for they show no vivacity in
their play. Still they take out line after their fashion, and hang
their heavy sulking weight on it. and grow to an enormous
size. So I suppose we must be content with quantity in lieu of
quality. As the panther is to the wild cat, so are these Siluroids
of the East to the Pike of the West in respect to size and general
similarity of habits.

They are very voracious, preying generally on fish, but they
are not particular, and may be termed foul feeders. Still they are
esteemed good eating, and why should they not be ? The sweetest
fruit are the most highly manured ; and I hold that with fish,
too, any food that is thoroughly assimilated grows healthy
meat. Otherwise who would eat prawns, shrimps, lobsters,
crabs, crawfish, and other scavengers of the sea. Carrion eaters,
indeed, that's nothing. Is not the much esteemed trout a
cannibal, in common with the Mahseer and other gentry of the
waters? Set aside sentiment, ili-ms, and take the proof of the
padding to be the eating. Dwell not here on entozoa, and other
ramifications of the subject. I believe the above general rule
to be sound in the main and sufficient for our purposes.

168 Freshwater Sharks. Chapt. xiii.

Wallayo attn, shown in Plate XVII, is rather a long-shaped
fish, fining down from the head to the tail, the head being the
broadest part of the fish. The huge mouth is a mass of formidable
teeth. The skin is scaleless, as it is with all the Siluridse.
This one attains to 6 feet or more in length. It affects
the still deeps in rivers, and is found all along their courses,
from the rocky mountain fastnesses of the Mahseer down to
the estuaries, and all over India, Ceylon, and Burma, so that
small fish in those parts have rather a rough time of it. It
thrives well also in ponds ; far too well for its companions in such
limited areas, witness the 2^ lbs. fish mentioned in the chapter
on Labeos as scarred by this fish. The fishing for Labeos in
those ponds would have been very much improved if these
voracious fish had not been there to thin their ranks.

The Wallago attv. are to be taken with live bait picketed to
the bottom in the manner and in the places mentioned in the
chapter on live bait fishing for Mahseer, or by live bait attached
to a float large enough to restrain the bait. I have taken them
also with a live frog attached to a float ; and even with a small
paste bait on a small hook with fine gut line when fishing for
Labeos. But this last was an aeeeident, their formidable set of
teeth indicating very clearly that gimp or wire should be used.
I have known them taken with a plantain, with fowls' entrails, or
a bunch of worms, and I have caught a good sized one with a
spoon.

lint 1 do not think the spoon or phantom or spun dead bait
are to be relied on as a rule. I place more reliance for these fish
on a stationary live bait. I do so partly because this fish is not
as active in its movements as the Mahseer, and not, I think, as
quick sighted. I once attributed its slowness to take a spun
bail to caution, but 1 am inclined to think the more correct
reason is deficient vision, for it has small eyes, and such long
feelers that it must surely be very much dependent on them,
and also on the sense of smell, for supplementing its eyesight in
search of food. Living and feeding mainly at the bottom, where
light is deficient, it is natural that the senses of touch and smell
should be more developed than sight You must therefore give
it time, and this is best done with a stationary live bait.
At the same time I should mention that I have seen them go

Craft, xm. Deficiency of Sight. 169

round and round a live bait, inspecting it seemingly, before taking
it, and I conclude that yon must be a little sparing of big hooks.

Indeed, I think it is always better to err in the direction of
fishing too fine than in that of using too obviously large and
numerously bristling books. Still, in this case, the great sbie
of the fish must not he altogether forgotten, though against that
may be set the fait that it is not as strong comparatively as
the Mahseer, and cannot compare with it for an instant in the
rapidity of its rush, so that you have plenty "I' time on your
side wherewith to ease oft" strength by play. Tin- terrible array
of teeth not only points to the use of gimp or wire, hut also
indicates that yon cannot expect as good a hook-hold as in the
leathery-mouthed Mahseer, and had best supplement your
chances with a little more hook. Still do not do it wholesale.

They do not take up a position and wait for their food to be
brought to them by the stream, like Trout and Mahseer, but
they roam about in search of it, I don't say they do not lie
in ambush too. They affect still water.

"Doon" speaks of spearing them. Pretty poaching that, says
the English salmon fisher, but fair enough, I hold, for such
sharks. " Doon's " letter is quoted from the "Asian" of 28th
October, 1879, in Chapter XXIV.

The Tamil name for the Wattago attu is Vale ; the Hindustani,
seemingly, is Ooonch.

Bagabius Yarkellii.

Bagarius YarreUii is another predatory monster sdlnroid, big

enough surely to satisfy any one. The one shown in the annexed
woodcut scaled 136 lbs., and was 5 feet 8 inches long from the
lip to the end of the tail, and 5 feet to the fork of the tail; the
circumference of the head being 3 feet 4 inches. The marginal
drawing is taken from a photograph kindly given me by Mr.
Kirkpatrick, and the fish was caught by his friend Mr. Van
Cortland, in the Jumna, at Oklda, at the head works of the
Agra canals, on the evening of the 11th May, 1875. The history
of the capture is given in the "Field" of 24th July, 1875. It
would seem that it took a " young rahoo " or Labeo rohita, "of
L2 or 14 His. " which was hooked foul and being played, and

170

Freshwater Sh a 1 7 3.

Chapt. xiii.

ejected it as fish will, in the effort to get rid of the hook, while
being played. As it is probably the largest fish yet caught with
a rod and line, I must present a plate giving a side view of it.
Plate XVIII. The Plate is copied from Dr. Day's work.
The Punjab name seems to be Goonch.

Si i.im u. i Gaxgetica.

The same sportsmen mention in the "Asian" of the 8th of
June, 1880, having caught another large Siluroid at the same
place, Okhla, near Delhi, while spinning a tin minnow : " It was
" very game and fought splendidly, making one magnificent rush
" of over 80 yards, ami being gaffed cleverly by a friend after
" about three-quarters of an hour's anxious play, and before it was
"quite done up." It weighed 42 lbs. ami was 39 inches long
without, and 47 with the tail. The native name is given as
Sinnun. Day says it attains to G feet or more in length, and is

(D

0]

i'hapt. XIII. Smaller Sil in 171

i" be found in the estuaries to nearly the aourcea of the rivers
of [ndia and Burmah.

In Southern [ndia I haw not come across either of these
two last fish, but t li.it is only negative evidence, and though

attu, is much more common in the South, Dr. Day
informs us that the other two are also to be found there.

There are smaller Siluroids of many sorts, notably the genus
tJvrout, that abound in rivers and tanks, and can be taken
with a float and worm. They run ordinarily under a pound, and
are only tit for small boys and gluttons at fishing.

Order. PHT80ST0MI.
Family. Silurid.e.
Genns. Wallaqo.

WaUago attu. B. xix-xxi, D. 5, P. 1/13-15, V. 8-10, A. 86-93
(*r?nr). C 17, Vert. 13-56.
Genus. Baoarils.
Bagarias Yarrellii. B. xii, D. >/0, P. 1/12, V. 6, A. 13-15

(t*T*). C 17.

Genus. Silindia.

Silundia Gangetka. B. xi-xii, D. |/0, P. 1/11-13, V. 6, A. 40-46
(t^),C17.

The A" | Assamese name) mentioned by Mr. J. E. Welborne,
of Assam, as running within his observation to 60 lbs., and his
hearsay to 100 lbs., and the Poongah (Assamese), seen weighing
about 20 lbs., and both to be caught with live bait in the still
deep waters of the Assam rivers, are evidently Siluroids, and,
perhaps, the very ones above spoken of.

Mi Welborne's plan is in pools of 30 feet deep, if possible,
using for preference a \ lb. live bait, and even up to £ lb.,
with one treble hook beneath the back fin, and one haneins
free below the stomach, and an ounce sinker 2 feet from the
bait and 3 feet from the bottom, to hang the bine, taut from tin-
rod top, over the side, and let the boat be carried down the
gentle stream from the head to the tail of the pool ; which done,
you may work up the edge of the pool and repeat the operation.
He has also killed with the spoon. He thought the afternoon
fishing the best. ("Asian," 22 July, and 2 September, 1879).
mi Pbeudeutropiiu gamut, Assamese Bata or Bacha, another Gab

172 Freshwater Slutrks. I 'iiapt. xiii.

of the same family (Siluridae), Mr. Welbome writes, in the
" Asian " of 30 March, 1880 :—

" The Basa (Assamese) is to be found in all the Assam rivers
" towards the plains, bat I am inclined to think they do not ascend
" the hill streams — at least I have never caught them or seen any
" that have been taken so far up. They run up to about H lb.,
" but the average run of them would be about ^ lb. They are out
" and out the finest fish for the table in the Province, and are,
" moreover, game to the backbone, hence well worth the attention
" of anglers. They will take either a minnow or fly freely, and
" for colour, orange ; wings and all. Size No. 6.* Fish for them
" wherever any water or small stream runs in the main river ;
" an enquiry, too, from any of the local fishermen will invariably
" be successful in determining their whereabouts. They spawn in
" April."

The Puflah (Assamese Pabho) of the same writer is seemingly
another fish of the same family, viz : Callichrous bimacvlatus, or
C. pcibo, or both, but it is very uncertain ; so I will not quote his
letter, though he says, " capital sport " may be had with tins fish ;
but will refer my reader to the " Asian," 10th June, 1879.

His Seetal, again, may be Dr. Day's Seetul, Assam. Notcpterws
chitala, and probably is. If I was certain I would give a drawing,
but the description is not sufficiently exact to justify my doing so.
His note is not long, so I will quote it, with the observation that
Dr. Day's Notoptcrus chitala, has a small mouth, and silvery sides,
and teeth that may have escaped notice from their being villiform
or file-like, and Dr. Hamilton Buchanan says of it : " The belly is
"uncommonly rich and well flavoured, but the back contains
"numerous small bones," etc. Dr. Day says it " attains at least
" 4 feet in length," and inhabits "the fresh waters of Sind, Lower
" Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Burma, and Siam to the Malay Arehi-
" pelago."

"The Seetal is a very handsome fish ('Asian,' 2nd September,
"1879) somewhat resembling the English 'Bream' in shape, but
" being much longer in the body ; and instead of being a slimy beast
" like the Bream, its sides are of the most silvery whiteness. It attains a

* From wlint sculi- tin- N'o. is quoted, nor of what sort it is, I know not. If
from Francis Francis' Limericks, it nnswers to my No. 2/0 ; if from Francis Francis'
Sui'ck bends, or Kirby's, the same No. "ill answer on my scale.

Chapt. xiii. N ■ ■ Chitala. 17:'.

" weight, I am told, of abonl l" lbs., but the average size they are
" cniiL'lit by theDhooms, in their nets, would be probably about 18 lbs.
" It is not usually thought much of for the table by Europeans, but tho
" natives think highly of it; and I think they are right, for I know
" nothing better in the fish line than the thin or belly part of this fish
" fried ; the baek or thick part I will admit to be uneatable. The thin
" part, when in condition, is covered with Eat, and very rich and tasty.
" This fish you will take with the live bait, and in the same kind of
" water and manner of fishing as mentioned by me in my last letter;*
" but he has a habit, directly he is struck, of running up right under
" your boat, and you wind up, and wind up, thinking you have lost
" your fish, until you are agreeably astonished with a ' whir,' ' whir,'
" of your winch, and a glimpse of his bright silvery side as he goes off
'• with his grand rush. Take him all in all, he is a gallant fish, and
" fights bravely. The only fault I find with him is, that he has such a
" small mouth, consequently you strike but few. Probably, however,
" with smaller hooks and bait, better sport might be had with them than
" I have had ; but, as a rule, fishermen naturally use such tackle in
" fishing a certain water as is best suited to the majority of the fish they
" expect to catch, and therefore the tackle I spoke of in my last is, I
" think, the best suited for live bait fishing; and with such tackle, anil
" in such pools (' Dhoobies ') you will probably take three each of
" ' Kors ' and ' Poongha ' to one ' Seetal,' for the reasons previously
" given. I have never fished for him, so to say, exclusively, but if 1
" did I should use much lighter tackle, say strong salmon gut trace,
" two medium size triangles, and a live bait not exceeding 6 inches;
" he has no teeth on his gills to cut your tackle. I have never known
" of a ' Seetal ' being caught with a spoon."

" I pitomized alx>TC under Kors and Poongah.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE MURRAL.

"Ah me! what perils do environ
The man (? fish) that meddles with cold iron ! " —

Bctleh's Htdibbas.

Hike is another gentleman whose acquaintance is worth your
cultivating, but how to write his name is the puzzler. In the
absence of lucid and authoritative instructions in orthography,
such as those volunteered to the judge, " Put it down a wee, my
" lord, put it down a wee ;" it would seem, like Samuel Weller's
name, to have depended " upon the taste and fancy of the
" speller."

The Murral, misspelt also marrel, rnurl, morrul, in the various
untutored efforts to transliterate the Hindustani name, is the
Ophiocephalus, or snake-headed, of Ichthyoligists, and the Viral,
misspelt Verarl of Tamil, Hal Mars of Assam, and Owlu minu, I
am told, of Coorg, and, to make all sure, here's his honours like-
ness.

His acquaintance is worth cultivating, for he grows to 2 and
3 feet in length, and is not bad eating. He is as fidl of bones as
a pike, but then he ought to be brought to table as full of stuffing
also, so that you may be of a forgiving disposition.

He is very like a pike in more ways than one. He is long-
shaped like a pike ; has a mouth full of teeth like a pike ; like
him basks in the sun at the surface, though very tolerant of cold
also; and like a pike roams about at times for his food, instead of
waiting stationarily behind a rock, for it to be brought down to
him by the stream. This is the natural consequence of his li\ ing
chiefly in ponds, ami in the still pools in livers, where there is
little or no stream to bring things past a stationary object: ami
the consequence also of his food not 1.. ing such as would naturally

H
CO

CO

a

B

o

X

a
o

Cii.vit. xiv. Ma n-nl Running to Earth. 1 75

!>.• washed down a stream. At times he lies hidden like a pike,
and perfectly motionless behind weeds, under a bank, amongst
roots, or in a hole, with just his nose out, watching for unwary
little fish to swim by. It is Bald thai they frequently have large
holes in the bank in which they live in pairs roiled up. This
habit of taking to earth is sometimes very inconvenient to the
angler, for if lie is not very prompt and very vigorous in keeping
them away from the hank when hooked, they will have the line
round a corner, and vmi may then say good-bye to all chances of
recovering it, or your fish; you will have to break it. I have had
i Murral run into a hole in a rock in this way, and I lost my fish,
and my tackle, and my sweet temper, all at a stroke. Of the last
two commodities, however, I had more in stock, and soon indented
thereon.

It does not make anything like as good a fight as a Mahseer,
but bores down to the bottom. When caught, keep your fingers
out of his gills as well as out of his mouth.

The Murral feeds much as the pike does, and may be fished for
in the same way, and with the same tackle. But whether they
require clear water, as the Mahseer does, and the necessary
concomitant of fine tackle, or can equally be taken when the water
is coloured, I am not prepared to state, though I am told coloured
water suits them best. The principle on which they surprise
their prey is to hide themselves well.

They are, in my experience, very shy fish, and from what
has been seen of their habits should be fished for, not in mid
stream, but close to the hanks, and under them, and in the still
pools.

Morning or evening is also the time to take them ; in the
heat of the day they may be seen basking on the surface or
close below it, and can then he shot. I have seen a native
doing this very successfully. He walked up the stream like a
wise man, so as to approach the basking Murral unobserved
from behind, and he used a hall, and aimed always at the head.
By making the head your mark, you not only injure your fish
less for the table, but you make much more sure of bagging. The
one that this native shot for me had the Blightesl mark on the
off side of the head, where the ball badjusl grazed. Apparently
the man had not allowed sufficiently for the refraction, and had

176 Tlie Murral. C'iiapt. xiv.

very nearly missed his fish in consequence; but just a touch had
been sufficient on the head, whereas a flesh wound would not
have secured the fish, unless it had been so central as to break
the back-bone. If you aim at the head you may even miss
your fish, and the concussion of the water will stun him, if
you have gone close to him. I am told they sink when killed, or
stunned, as I should suppose they would. You must, therefore,
have a man ready to go in after them at once.

But if you go in for fish shooting, and I would not call it
poaching in India, you must allow for refraction. Refraction
makes the fish appear nearer to the surface than it is — you should
therefore aim below it; your ball also has a tendency not to
pursue a direct course under water, but to glance upwards —
another reason for aiming low. Furthermore, your ball will not
take to the water kindly at all, will not do business far under the
surface. I think a foot under water is the utmost distance at
which you can trust it to be effective.

But to return to the rod and line. The Murral may be spun
for with the same bait and tackle as has been recommended for
Mahseer, except that it is well to substitute gimp for gut, because
of his mouth being full of teeth. I have sometimes had my gut
provokingly cut by them.

By reason of the Murral keeping mainly to the still deep pools,
it can also be fished for with a live bait by those who prefer that
mode of fishing. A single, gimp hook of about No. 0, 1£, 1, or 2 of
Limerick size, shown in my Plate,* will then be the thiug ; and
you had best have also a float, cork, or bung, too big for your bait
to take under, and, if you like, a shot or two, as generally
recommended to keep your bait down : but as Murral are
frequently at the surface I do not think this is necessary.
Indeed, I would say fish close to the surface, as Murra] feed largely
on frogs, for which you may frequently see them roaming about
near the surface.

A good reason for fishing near tin' surface, in preference to
fishing deep, is to be found in the position of the Mu rial's eye,
which is placed very high in the head, and is calculated for
looking upwards rather than downwards; so that a Murral, even

* When quoting sizes to your tnckle-muki r, remember the cnution given at
page 94.

( 'hut. xiv. /. Ba 177

when concealing himself , by Lying on the very bottom, can well
what is passing over his head, and between him ami the
light

The depressed ahape of the head and fore part of tin1 Mnrral's
body, especially of the under hall', shows that it is frequently at
the bottom; indeed, so depressed is the form, that it seemingly
could not swim with its mouth at right angles to the perpendicular,
it' it was not assisted hy an unusual length of dorsal and anal tin.

There are two or three ways of Live baiting. There are the
ordinary English ways of running the hook just under the back fin,
or through the upper lip. Through the lip is unsatisfactory to my
mind, both because it gives a very tender hookhold, and is liable
to give way when taking your bait in and out of the water ; and
also because it interferes, I think, with the breathing of the bait,
and kills it sooner than it need. Of course you should not adopt
the clumsy way I have seen some follow, of hooking the bait right
through the body near the tail, for you thereby make its move-
ments in the water unnatural; and, I should flunk, soon kill it,
tor I am free to confess I never tried it myself. Then, again, there
is the somewhat cruel way not unfrequently used with trimmers
in England. Just slit the skin with a penknife, on the side, half-
way down the fish, close to# the gills, insert a baiting needle, and
it carefully down the lish only just under the skin till about
the anus, when you bring it out, and draw the loop of the
hook after the baiting needle till the hook is home to the entrance,
and lying close against the fish. But the natives have a very neat
way of baiting a live fish. They insert the hook at the anus, and
pass it carefully point fore m o-i lowards the back, but only just
under the skin ; and when they have got it well up to t lie bend of
the hook, they push the shank gently in up to the very head, so
that the whole hook is concealed under the skin of the bait, and
lies with the back of the hook towards the back of the fish, and the
point towards the stomach, for the hook has had a turn given to it
in the process of inserting the shank. Lastly, the hook is felt
through the skin, and the cord gently pulled, so as just to bring
the point through the skin of the bait This Last is a delicate
operation, and serves the double object of preventing the hook
from slipping out of its concealments, and of being the better
prepared for hooking the fish that takes the bait. This sounds

THE BOD Di INDIA. N

L78 ThtMwrroH. Chapt. xiv.

a long operation, but is very quickly done, and seems to injure
the small fish hut slightly. If you have gut attached to your
hook there is nothing at all showing, and even if you have
thinnish gimp there is very little to be seen in dirty water.
The natives use what they call, in Canarese, the Bainy fibre.
It is the fibre taken from the network at the base of the fronds
di' the sago-palm, Caryotd iircus Lin. It is less transparent
than gut, but less easy to bite through, and less readily seen, I
should think, than gimp. It is very capable of standing great
tension, hut it is brittle and liable to break across when dry,
consequently it should not be coiled up too closely when put
away, and should never be used without being well soaked,
when it becomes quite flexible. If you will he careful, therefore,
of its brittleness, you need not bemoan the absence of gimp, for
you will find it a good substitute, and easily procurable for a
mere song. Having live baited, you can fish with a rod, or
can set trimmers after the English fashion for pike, just as you
prefer.

Another way, and a paving one, to fish for Murral is to dap with
a dead frog. The common little brown frog (liana cyanophlyctis)
is the one they like. Bun the hook, No. 0 Limerick in my scale,
through the head of the frog, and bring out the point only, not the
barb, just through the skin under the chin ; extend the legs up the
line, and bind them together on it, the tin- beine. dead. Dap the
frog on and between the lillies on a pond. A stiff rod and stout
line is advisable, because, among a network of lillies, you dare
not give any line, but need to lift your fish straight out at
once, and as they run large a stilt' pole of bamboo is about the
best thing you can have. The natives place the butt of the pole in
a leather socket at their waist, so as to give them a leverage in
using the pole.

Murral are said to take a gaudy salmon fly, and so do pike
indifferently. But it is not a natural bait, and I would not recom-
mend it.

The following plan also has been mentioned to me. In
repeating it, I speak entirelj without persona] knowledge, nol thai
my personal knowledge need be any better than any one else's, but
that I like to be fair with my reader. Take a hook of about No. 1
Limerick size, by my sizing on Plate VIII, mounted on fine gimp :

CHAPT. xiv. . I .. /', 179

t from the common small brown frogs, one of medium
sue; insert the point of the hook near the centre of the b
and get the whole bend, and as much as possible of the shank,
under the skin towards the hind legs, the point remaining under
the skin ; tie a thread round the frog to keep the hook lying
down; put a couple of big -hot en, about •"> or 4 inches from
the frog, and a Boat about \\ feet from the frog, and throw in.
My informant says the Bhot prevents the frog from coining up
and sitting mi the float, hut does not prevent his coming up
for air. Set the rod on the bank with a man watching.

I should have thought it would have heen better to simply
hook through a little skin in the back or thigh, and cast in
without shot or tieiug. However, 1 tell the tale as it was told
to me. To use such fine tackle, of course, the pond must not be
one of those that are completely covered with lillies. Such
ponds are best suited to the previous method.

But there is yet another way of fishing lor Murral which is the
most killing of all. It is the native method of setting a trimmer,
and is very simple and very perfect. In your large still pool look
for a bush with a bough overhanging the water. You will find
plenty of them, and can set an Asiatic trimmer at each. Be
prepared with some live frogs in a covered earthen pot. Bait one
by passing a hook in and out through a little bit of skin nearer the
head than the centre of the back. The way in which a frog sits
naturally in the water is not on the flat of its stomach, like a duck,
but with just its eyes out, and its hind legs well under water. By
ting the hook a little forward of the centre of the back, you
not only give the frog this natural attitude, but you also relieve it
of inconvenience by letting it- weight be borne by the water, not
by the hook. Be careful you do not touch anything but the
veriest skin, and bear in mind old Izaak Walton's famous injunc-
tion to "treat him tenderly as if you loved him." The skin is
easily taken up like the loose skin of a dog. Then reach out,
and |ia« the line over a fork in the overhanging bough, the
object of the fork being to keep the line oil' the shore, and then
lower away your frog till he just sit- comfortably and naturally
on the surface of the water, unsuspended by the hook, his
weight really being on the water, and yet without an inch of
-lack line. Then make fast to any convenient object on the

THt BOD IN INDIA. N 2

180 Tht Murral. CHAPT. XIV

shore, giving, as aforesaid, no slack line at all. You may leave it
to do its work while you go away and tie a dozen more, or spin, or
smoke the pipe of peace.

The Murral feeds largely on frogs, and sailing quietly about,
looking for them, as his habit sometimes is, he comes upon
your bait, and, as it is thoroughly natural, of course takes it.

" Ah me ! what perils do enTiron
Ihefish that meddles with cold iron."

He has to go through a severe course of steel before he has done
with it. As there is no slack line at all, he is struck the moment
he has taken the bait ; the line is taut on him, and he is seen
flapping about, with his head half out of water. You have conse-
quently no need to be constantly examining your trimmers, as you
can see, from a quarter of a mile off, a great fish flapping and
splashing on the top of the water.

As there is no play whatever given to the fish, but a dead pull
from the moment he is hooked, it follows that your hue and hook
must be strong — must be much stronger than it would be necessary
to use on a rod. A single hook of about the size of a No. 4/0 or
3/0 Limerick hook will do very well ; but a good strong treble
hook is perhaps a trifle better. It should be tied on a piece of the
stoutest pike gimp; tin1 natives use a bit of cupper or brass wire,
which does very well. The line can be any piece of good stout
twine. You need not be nervous about its being seen by the. fish,
for the manner of baiting is such that there is nothing whatever to
be seen in the water, and the hook, be it ever so big in reason,
cannot be seen, because it is thoroughly screened by the frog,
which is in a direct line between your hook and the fish to be
taken. Of cord, too, there is only about a toot or two, hanging in a
motionless straight line directly down to the frog, by which again
it is mainly hidden ; it is also generally difficult to see in the
shade of the bush.

The wlmle method of baiting is so simple and so effective, that

it might be adopted with advantage for pike in England, for they

also have a tooth for frog, though not quite such an one perhaps

as the Murral : —

" But John P.

Robinson. lie

Sez they did'nl know everything down in Judce."

So the little wrinkle is thrown out

dm i. xiv. Frogs Bating Fish and Frogs. 181

In shallow edged tanks with no overhanging bushes the same
method is adapted by a native wading in nearly up to his armpits,
with three thin pieces of bamboo, which he sticks into the mud,
with their bases well apart and their tops together, so as to form a
tripod ; and from the point where they meet he drops his frog just
as he did from the fork of the overhanging bough, and the other
end of the line is made taut on the shore. One man ordinarily
manages three such lines, radiating out from the point where he
-ns ,,ii the shore, to spots 20 or 30 yards apart in the tank.
He has one under each foot so as to be able to feel with his bare
foot the twitch of a bite, and he has one in one hand. He cannot
manage more. Does'nt he just wish lie was centimawus Gi/as.
If the tank is covered with weeds, a small clearing is made for the
tripod and bait, and though this may disturb the locality while
baiting it does not matter. A mole cricket tied to the hook, not
impaled, and dapped all alive and kicking, is said to be irresistible.
I can quite believe it. But surely it should be among lillies. In
rivers I have killed with a spoon also. Cockroaches are also used
for such fishing, but in what exact method I cannot say positively,
for I have no note ; my memory is that they are impaled on the
hook, as cockchafers are for chub in England, and cockroaches
certainly are wonderfully tenacious of life in a hot climate. I
know, however, that you may safely repose confidence in a frog.

Ah me ! who would be a frog ? To " lead the life of a dog "
is nothing to leading the life of a frog. On land mongooses,
snakes, kites, crows, rats, larger frogs, and battalions of paddy birds,
ii at him greedily. In the water the Murral feeds almost
entirely on him, lying perdu under the banks for the purpose;
while the water-snake follows him in both elements. r>ut the
verdict is "serve him right," for he is a fry-eater and a spawn-
eater, and he is irrepressible, getting up drunken choruses all over
the country directly there is a good fall of rain, and he has had a
wet night of it. It is truly disreputable ; and then he is so greedy.
I had some in a can, together with other bait, when what should I
see but one of these " glutinous " ruffians improving his oppor-
tunities by endeavouring to swallow a bait longer than bis own
body. He had the head and shoulders and half the body down his
"sarcophagus or elementary canal" and was holding on to it
sulkily, while the fish's tail Mas wagging gaily. I pulled poor

182 Tli- Mwrral. Chapt. xiv.

fishy out, when froggy straightway went at him, and half swallowed
him again. You see what an incorrigible brute he is, so put him
into your can, and be off with him to the haunts of the Murral
without any compunction.

A frog swallows a frog head foremost, a snake swallows a frog
legs foremost, the little frog in both positions calling out lustily
the while, and the operation in both cases being a protracted one,
the placid impurteibability of the swallower contrasting markedly
with the gesticulating vehement oratory of the swallowed. While
the big frog, Rana tigrina, was swallowing tin- little frog, llmm ri/n-
nopMyetis, head foremost, the little brown fellow kicked all he knew,
very little more than his hind legs being out, and from cavernous
depths shouted in sepulchral tones Police ! Police ! ! Police ! ! !
Being a J. P., I stopped to know what the row was about. Rama
tigrina had not a word to say for himself, and moved not a muscle
of his impassive countenance, much less stirred hand or foot. As
in duty bound 1 eventually interposed and freed the little one. Ee
was not injured in the least, only a little frightened! Considering
his character, I think I should have done better had 1 let the
urchin alone,

The Murral lives a long time without water, and can therefore
be taken home alive, and consequently fresh.

The reason for this is that, unlike most fish which breathe only
the oxygen contained in solution in the water, the Ophioccphalidcc
inhale the atmospheric air direct. They may be seen coming up
to the surface continually, exhaling a bubble and taking in a
mouthful of fresh air, and they have an air cavity for the stoi
of the fresh air. If confined in a globe or other vessel with a net
stretched across a little below the surface of the water, so as to
prevent them from breathing the atmospheric air direct, tiny will
die from not being able to oxygenate their blood, however fully
supplied with oxygen the watei may be. Being thus able to
breathe our air, and being commonly dependent on it, they do not
suiter like other fish on being transferred to it. indeed, they
travel on land of their own accord, and any one allowed to jump
out of your can or tuli of water will soon be seen to wriggle a
considerable distance on land, and to keep it up long alter any
of the carps would be dead. They are among the fish that have
been known to bury themselves in the mud at the bottom of

Chut, mv. Respiration of Ophiocepkalida. L83

drying rivers and ponds, sestivating there through the drought till
tlu> next ruins release them. They have been dug alive out of the
sun-burnt mud.

The Ophiocephalus gacua, which 1 have mentioned above
tough bait, is one of tliis family, therefore easy to keep alive in a
can, ami uot to be picketed to the bottom.

As the Murral can ordinarily be taken home alive, the flesh
remains firm.

Tin- Mimal will thrive in ponds, and at various altitudes, so
you can easily stuck a pond if yon desire, but they will speedily
depopulate it of other sorts. The natives frequently put them into
their wells, from which they can take them fresh and fresh as they
want them.

The Murral, unlike most fish, exhibits parental affection
towards its young, keeping them together in a shoal, and
swimming under them, and attacking anything that comes near
them. This it does till they are about 3 inches long, when it
turns on and eats them itself, if they do not disperse.

The Murral, 1 have said, is similar in many respects to the pike.
I must be allowed, therefore, to tell here a little story of a pike, a
story that will bear re-telling, and will serve to enliven the
dulness of my page. I quote it from Scrope's " Nights and Days of
Salmon Railing," a work that is, I believe, out of print, hence 1
snatch the .-tory from oblivion: —

"A friend of mine (sacred be his name) of great repute for his
" dexterity w itli the rod, and celebrated for his agreeable and amiable
" qualities, as well as for his intelligence and various accomplishments,
"had this poetical facility for seeing what really did not exist in
"substance. A curious instance of this popular talent occurred at a
" friend's house in the country with whom be was staying. There
'"was a tine piece of water in the park, well stored with fish, where he
" used to spend the greater part of the morning, rod in hand ; so that
" his perseverance excited considerable admiration from the host, as
" well as from his guests. Not having been very successful, his
" ardour at length began to flag. It was a pity, for it is a pleasant
" thing to be excited. What was to be done? You shall sec. A
"report was raised that there was an enormous pike seen in the
" water, about the length of a decent sized alligator. He was said to
"have maimed a full grown swan, and destroyed two cygnets, besides

184 The Mwrral. Chapt. xiv.

" sundry ducks. At first be was no more believed in than tbe
" great sea-snake, which encloses at least half the world in his folds.
" But after tbe lapse of a few days tbe keeper came to the private
"ear of my friend, and told him thai a mortal large pike was basking
" amongst some weeds and could be seen plainly. ' You are sure to
" ' catch 'im, Sir.' He was rewarded for this intelligence and exhorted
" to keep the important secret from the other visitors at the mansion.

" When piscator, cunning fellow ! thought that all were out of tbe
" way, employed in hunting, shooting, or some other occupation,
"he and John Barnes, the keeper, glided down secretly to tbe
" awful spot, and they there discovered the semblance of a fish so
" enormous that it was doubted if anything less than a small rope
" could bold him. Tbe sportsman was astounded ; the keeper was not,
" for the said awful animal was nothing more than a large painted
" piece of wood, carved deftly by himself into the shape of a pike,
"painted according to order, and stuck in the natural position by
" means of a vertical prop, which could not be discovered amongst the
" weeds. It was too bad, really a great deal too bad ; but tolerably
" ingenious and beautifully deceptive. The gentleman approached
" with tact and caution, and the eyes of the fish glared upon him; as
" well they might, for they were large and dazzling, being made of
" glass and originally designed to be inserted in a great horned owl,
" which the keeper had stuffed.

" ' What a prodigious fish, John ! '

" ' Very prodigious indeed, Sir.'

" ' What eyes he has ! '

" ' So he has, Sir.'

" ' I'll try him with a roach. There, it went in beautifully, but be
" ' did not move.'

" ' No ! he won't take it nohow. Give him a frog ; he seems a
" 'difficult fish.' Piscator did tender him a very lively one in vain
" in short, be offered him every bait be could possibly think of, runniiiLT
" through all tbe devices and temptations be »:is muster of. Cautious
" in bis approaches, thai the supposed tish might not see him, he
" always advanced to make his east upon his knees, to the no small
"amusement of his friends who were looking at him with a telescope
"from a window of the mansion. Well, thus he spent the whole
" evening, waiting, however, at times, for a cloud to intercept the sun-
" beams, and a breath of air to ruffle the surface of the lake. When
" these came he would set to work with renovated hopes, till at last.
'• tired and discomfited, he bent his steps homewards. On his arrival
" there, he was accosted on the very threshold by some of the guests.

Chaft. xiv. //. Ran at i - ' Times. 1S5

■■ ■ i ili ' yon have been fishing all tin- morning, I see: but what
Jd make yon May out BO long, and get away so cunningly with
"the keeper?'

" ' Why, to tell you the truth, Barnes (you know what a good
" 'creature lie is) told me of an immense pike that was lying among
" ' the weeds at the end of the lake : he must be the same thai swallowed
" " the cygnets, I never saw so enormous a monster in fresh water.'

" 0 - — ' Well, where is he. where is he? let OS look at him.'

" Host, — ' John, tell the cook wc will have him for dinner to-day,
" ' Dutch sauce, remember.'

" Piseator. — ' You need not be in such a hurry to send to the cook,
" ' for I am sorry to say I did not catch him.'

" list. — • Not catch him, not catch him? Impossible! with all
" ' your skill, armed as yon are to the teeth with roach, bleak, minnow,
" " frogs, kill-devils, and the deuce knows what. Not catch him ! Come,
" ' you're joking.' "

" 7' ' Serious, I assure you. I never was so beat before, and

" 'yet I never fished better : but though I did not absolutely hook him,
" 'he ran at me several ti

"An universal shout of laughter followed this assertion, which
" made my friend not a little suspicions : but he never again touched
'• upon the subject. Sometime afterwards, wandering near the scene
" of his operations, he saw an immense carving of a pike, placed upon
" a pole, near the margin of the water, and painted beautifully ; he
" guessed he had seen him before !"

There are nine Ophiocephali, of which four attain to about 3ft.
long each, and one to 4 ft. These larger Ophiocephali are
commonly called Murrals. Of these five, then, I will quote abbre-
viated descriptions from Dr. Day's "Fishes of India," omitting the
others, except 0. Oaehua, mentioned above as a good bait.

Order. Al LHTHOPTBBIGII.
Family. OfHIOCXFHAUDA.

Gents. Ophiocephalis.

Ophiocei milius. B. V. D. 45 55, P. 18, V. 6, A. 28-36, C.

U, LI. 60-70, L. tr. -tfjft or VtMt Ceylon and India to China.
4 feet.

0. leucoptmctatus. B. V. D. 47-53, P. 18, V. 6, A. 28-35, C. 14,
LI. 59-60, L. tr. ^4 or i-Jifj. Southern India. 3 feet.

O.barm. B. V. D. 47-52, P. 16, V. 1/5, A 34-36, C. 10, LI.
60-65, L. tr. ff Bengal. X W. Provinces, Assam. 3 feet.

186 The MurrcU. Chapt. xiv.

0. mieropeltes. B. V., D. 43-46, P. 15, V. 1/5, A. 27-30, C. 15.
LI. 95-110, L. tr. ,£$* Vert. 53 .West Coast of India, Siam to the
Malay Archipelago. 3 feet.

0. striatus. B. V., D. 37-45, P. 17, V. 6, A. 23-26, C. 13, LI. 50-
57, L. tr. $f or ££.$.. Vert. 13/30. India, Ceylon, Burma, China,
Phillippines. 3 feet.

0. gackua. B. V., D. 32-37, P. 15, V. 6, A. 21-23, C. 12, LI. 40-
45, L. tr. |;f . India, Ceylon, Burma, Andamans. 13 inches.

C II A P T K II XV.

KKI.S.

" Tin' imperious seas breed monsters ; for tlie dish
Poor tributary rivers »8 sweet fish." —

Sll 1KE3PE8K.

These fellows are not much in my line. I confess I hate the
sight of them ; for if ever you see eels lounging about the bottom
of a river in England, lite so many coastguardsmen expecting foul
weather, you may be sure the trout will not rise. How could
they be expected to in such low company ! And if you have
the bad luck to hook one, he just behaves like an excited cork-
screw, till be has got your line into so many knots and kinks, that
it will take you a month of Sundays to unravel it. And then as
to unhooking him. Oh ! don't talk of it.

But some think them good eating, and like to catch them, so
we will give them a page or so, grudgingly.

Of spined and unspined eels you will find, in Dr. Day's work,
47 species, under the families, RkyncobdeUidee, Si/m/nmirhidce, and
• <"/" ; hut many are small and the last-named are almost all
marine, and of the others many are tidal. The only ones worthy
of the angler's notice seem to be my old friend Masatcemblus
armatiis, which runs, to my knowledge, to about 2 feet in length,
and Anguilor Bengalensis, which Dr. Day says runs to 4 feel
in length, and lias been introduced into the Neilgherries. This ia
probably the fish of which Colonel Parsons caught, by his live bail
method, one weighing 18 lbs.

Their flavour is much esteemed by some Europeans, and
the natives in your camp are always very glad to get them.
It is as well, therefore, to know how to catch them, and as they
are easily caught, your servants can be allowed to do this
much for themselves, if you will be at the trouble to provide.
them with the simple tackle necessary, and the bait, which in

188 Eels. Ciiapt. xv.

any case yon would have to throw away at the end of the day
from its being dead. They will afford them a good meal, and you
beaming countenances to look upon !

The plan is to set night lines with dead fish. Take your dead
bait of 4 inches more or less in length, and string one on to a
common double eel hook on wire, by passing the baiting needle
down the throat and out at the centre of the tail, and drawing your
hook after it till the hooks are well home to the mouth of the bait.
Then attach the hook to the line, and having tied a bullet or other
good sized sinker to the line, throw it well into the middle of any
good, large, deep, still pool ; make well fast to the shore, and leave it
all night. If you have set half-a-dozen of these, you will probably
find two or three eels on in the morning.

These common double eel hooks are to be bought in India.
Oakes and Co., at Madras, have them, and so doubtless have
the tackle shops in Northern India and Bombay. But a neater
arrangement is a common pike gorge hook, because there you have
the weight neatly stowed away inside your bait ; and the hooks
are shaped so as to sit closely against the mouth of a bait, and
consequently to go comfortably down the throat. Facilis descensus
Amnio est. But as to coming up again, scd rrwcurr tjritdum, that's
quite another business.

Your night line must be a good stout one, and well made fast,
for the fish is strong, very strong, and has the whole night to him-
self to work his wicked will.

They are all fish-eaters, so the more your servants catch, the
better for the little Mahseer, the youthful Barils, and the un-
sophisticated young of the other sorts of game fly-taking fish.
Encourage them, therefore, to go in at them heavily, and show them
how to draw the hook home so as to lie neatly against the lips of
the bait, and so, in fart , t hat it shall oiler no obstacle to a fish that
gradually swallows your bail head foremost.

Be wary how you handle Mastacembli because of the sharp
spines on their backs. Their fry may be seen in the rice fields.
They are widely distributed.

I see no sport in this style of fishing.

CHAPTER XVI.

FISHING ON THE NEILGHERRIES.

" We care not who says,
And intends it dispraise,
That an angler to a fool is next neighbour j
Let him prate ; what care we ?
We're as honest as he ;
And 90 let him take that for his labour." —

Cotton.

The fishing on tho Neilgherries is poor to a degree, while
with several such fine lakes it might be very good. It is a
thousand pities that, with the exception of Dr. Day's intelligent
action, all the admirable energy that has been displayed in stocking
the Neilgherries with fish has taken the mistaken direction it has.
To go all the way to England for the common carp was truly a sad
waste of most laudable enterprise and painstaking perseverance, for
the carp is only an imported fish in England, and attains but a
slight weight there comparatively, with a very poor flavour, and
yields next to no sport ; whdst India is itself the very paradise of
carps of numerous sorts, from 200 lbs. downwards ; carps that are
much better eating, that propagate and grow more rapidly, and,
moreover, afford excellent sport to the angler with fly, spoon, live
bait, or bottom fislung, as may happen to be preferred by the
weary health-seeker of the chief sanitarium of Southern India,
Ootacamund. How large the carp grow at Ootacamund I do not
know, careful netting only could tell us. Fishermen there have
told me certainly of lines carried away by them, but then their
lines were very frail ones, unsupplemented by reels, and the fish
that liroke them might quite as well have been the Carnatic Carp
put in by Dr. Day. All the fish I have seen taken there, whether
by rod or net, were miserable little things, of about 3 ozs. in weight,
and I have seen two or three drags made by the authorities, on

190 Fishing on the Neilghe, Chapt. xyi.

purpose tn try and discover if there were any decent fish. Miser-
able little carp of this size swarm, and choke the water in the
Ootacamund and the Lovedale Lakes. They ought to he kept within
bounds by constant netting; and, if sold in the weekly markets,
would probably find purchasers enough among tin' natives to pay
& >r their capture, and to create a fund for the improvement of the
fishery; for a little fresh fish diet of any sort would be very highly
relished on the Neilgherries, where at present it cannot be had
really fresh for any price. But the fishing should not be let on
contract, but conducted systematically under the superintendence
of some trustworthy person nr persons deputed by the municipality,
i >r 1 >y a committee of gentlemen-residents interested in improving
the fishery. All Tench and Carnatic Carp should be carefully-
replaced, so as not to injure the rod fishing, from which source
some slight revenue is now derived by means of rod licences.
Anglers would soon find that such systematic netting would
improve, not injure, their chances of sport It would give the
Tench a better chance of increasing in size and numbers, but
especially in size. At present they seem to be a good deal starved
out by the Carp.

The Tench, the only other fish I have seen in the Ootacamund
Lake, were likewise brought at great pains and expense from
England ; whereas the Indian rivers teem with fish of a more
or less similar nature that far excel it in size, flavour, prolificacy,
adaptation to the climate, and sport for the angler. I allude to the
Labeos, running to 3 feet and 5 feet in length, and very thick fish
for their length. Some of these might have been very easily
brought from the river running at the foot of those same hills, and
might even now be thus broughl and introduced with advantage.

Lochleven Trout are said to have been introduced into the
Pykara stream by the late Mr. MclvOT. I never saw one alive
in India, nor did Dr. Day, and their existence lias been very much
questioned; but the one fish, said by Mr. Mclvor to have been
. aught with five others by his men near Pykara, and sent by him
to me in spirits, just as 1 was going down the Ghat, on the
ll'th October, 187f>, had bright red spots, as if quite fresh then. I
had only just time hurriedly to wrap it in white muslin so as
to bear the journey better, and to replace it in the spirits till
I should reach the end of my journey. At my tirst leisure I

Chapt. xvi. Trout i'n the NeUghtrrUa. 191

examined the fish, on the 22nd October, 1 87."», and found that
much of the vermilion in the spots was lost, and on the 25th
November nunc waa traceable. This was certainly a Lochleven
Trout It waa Bent home by me under seal, was examined before
the Linnsean Society, and is figured in Dr. Day's " Fishes of India"
as a Lochleven Trout Trout not having been seen alive on the
Neilgherries before, or traced since, by any one that was prepared
to depose to an adipose tin. and that, too, in spite of much effort,
some have suggested that this trout came to me not from Pykara,
but from Lochleven. Peunel says, however, that in Lochleven the
trout have no red spots, and the presence of red spots in this
individual would seem to be the result of its being bred in the
clear Pykara stream. The first freshness and subsequent fading
of the vermilion spots should also serve to satisfy the sceptical
that the specimen was caught where it was said to be caught.
These two facts satisfied me. And a friend who saw the fish with
the vermilion spots fresh was so satisfied that he backed his
belief with coin, the crucial test! Still a Commissioner there,
who was a keen fisherman, made every effort to discover more of
them, but failed. He wished to put them, a lake trout, into the
Ootacamund Lake, for their better protection and growth. If they
could be got into a lake, these trout would flourish better and
be safer than in the Pykara stream, where they are liable to be
poached; and it is the greatest pity that all the energy and pains-
taking perseverance which brought out the fry should have ended
in putting them into the wrong place. If they had only been put
into the Ootacamund Lake to begin with, and had it all to
themselves, the carp and tench being pitched into the sea, what
fishing we should have had there by this time, and what a source
from which to stock the other Neilgherry Lakes with acclimatized
trout.

Possibly they were put in the l'ykara River under the impres-
sion that trout cannot breed except in a stream, running water
icing necessary to the sufficient oxygenation of the ova. This idea
is h.M. I believe, by not a few. Doubtless trout will not breed
except in a stream, if they can help it, but it is not that they
cannot. It is only because their instincts tell them to prefer the
stream, for the very same reason as a Mahseer's instincts, and we
may say a salmon's als... impel it to seek the higher streams, tor the

192

Fishing on the Neilghtrries.

CHAPT. xvi.

deposit of the ova in positions best suited, not only to its hatching,
but also to the prosperity of the fry. Whether intentionally, or of
what is called instinct, the prudent trout and Mahseer exercise
parental forethought how they put their young people out in the
world. Lake trout lay their ova in the stream, but then fall back
themselves into the lake. Thus the fry have much better chances
of escaping being eaten than if they were reared in the lake, in the
midst of their own and everybody else's hungry parents. Fancy
eating your own children, and not finding it out till all too late, by
the peculiar taste, not till

" Tn those mutton pies,
You do recognise,
The flavour of your old dog Tray."

That is what trout do, and that is why they spawn in the stream
in preference to the lake. But that they can breed in a lake there
is no room for doubt, witness the hundreds of small tarns and bog-
holes fed by no superficial drainage, only by percolation from
adjoining morasses. Those places are full of trout that have bred
there for ages. In such places more of the fry may be eaten
in immaturity, but the extraordinary fertility of fish allows of
numbers surviving the extra risks. The Ootacamund Lake lias

Till: OOTACAM1 N l> I.AKK.

Ciiapt. xvi. Introduced Fish. 193

enough of ahallow, shelving, gravelly bottom to form excellent
spawning ground fortrout ; and thai done, the law of chances in so
large a lake may well be trusted to for enough of survivals.

If even now the troul could be caught in the Pykara Btream,
and as many as half a dozen at hast ]mt together into the Ootaca-
mund Lake, so as to 1»' pretty sure of having both sexes, there
might still be some hope of eventually getting good sport in the
Hill Lakes. I am not unaware of the arguments for and against
the possibility of trout breeding in such a climate as the Neil-
gherries, a very different thing from their breeding in the plains of
India, which is of course out of the question. But the matter
seems now to have passed beyond the region of argument into
that of tact It' trout are introduced into the Ootaeainund Lake, it
will be advisable to make a little elbow room for them, by some
netting out of the diminutive carp that choke the lake. It is not
that carp would injure trout, but that they breed faster, and would
monopolize the available food.

By way of improving the trout struggling for existence in the
Pykara stream, a certain gentleman, and he a fisherman too, I will
not name him lest anglers should "Boycot" him, was at much
pain- to introduce into that stream Murral, the Indian l'ike! ! and
was proud of the achievement, and was abetted in it too ! ! ! Ah
me! how those poor Hills have suffered from misdirected energies.
It is to be hoped no one will be energetic enough to put them or
Freshwater Sharks into any of the lakes.

Dr. Day, however, did good work there, as might be expected.
He introduced from the rivers at the foot of the Hills, the Barbus
Carnaticus, my tine lly-takinu friend of Chapter X. It is flourish-
ing in the Billikal Like, the owner of which, Mr. Thomas Kaye,
told me, in September, 1875, that be saw the big fish spawning on
the shallows of the lake, sixteen at a time, and that they rose best
to the fly in the N.E, monsoon, alter and in a shower; that
they took butterflies, when he threw them in, and tried at swallows.
He had ahot '■'< lb. fish, and had seen them 4 feet long in the water.
11- hi ird them splashing from his bungalow, which is two or three
hundred yards away from the lake. He preserves well from
netting, and is kindly about allowing gentlemen anglers to fish.
But alas : alas ! he had put in the small English carp from Ootaca-
niund in 1S74. The Carnatic Carp are believed to be also iu the

nU BOD IN J.M'IA. O

194 Fishing on the Neilgherries. Ciiapt. xvi.

Ootacamund Lake, at any rate they are now thoroughly acclima-
tized in Billikal Lake.

I paid one day's visit to the Bdlikal Lake, which is about 6 miles
from Ootacamund, hut could catch none, because the big fish keep
to the deep water, and are unapproachable without a boat. Any-
one essaying them there should have a basket boat brought up from
the low country, or try the deep water near the embankment,
bottom fishing if he cares to. The existence there of the Carnatic
Carp would seem to Bay that if they have borne the change
of climate to that elevation, and have got acclimatized to it, they
will probably bear it on to Ootacamund from thence, even if they
do not bear it direct from the plains.

The Billikal Lake swarms with the little indigenous Rasbora
daniconiits. It only attains to 8 inches, but it rises very freely
indeed to the smallest fly you can use, and may serve excellently
to teach schoolboys to throw a fly, and to feed bigger fish. They
thrive very well there in company with the Carnatic Carp, but
they cannot stand the common carp, seemingly.

There is no doubt that Labeos wUl thrive on the Neilgherries,
for I sent some fry to a friend, and they lived and grew well in
his pond, till a clever coolie let off all the water, and they went
into the coffee pulper.

If they will live on the hills one might hope that the Oirrhma
cirrhosa, or White Carp, mentioned in Chapter XII, would also
thrive there.

Barils would not thrive in the still water of the lakes, but
Chela might. The Gourami, of which more hereafter, has been
tried and died from, it is said, the cold.

But with Carnatic Carp, White Carp, several Labeos, Chela, and
Tench, very fair fishing might be had in the Lakes at and about
( totaeaimmd. With so many residents at, and so many visitors to,
this the largest sanitarium in Southern India, and a fishery act in
existence, something surely could be done to improve the fishing,
and thus to contribute to the health and amusement of not a few.

As to the fish already there, the manner of capturing them may
be dismissed in very lew words.

The Carnatic Carp has already been treated of in Chapter X
and above. Of Haslumf d<inict>niti* enough has been said. There
remain the English Car]) (Cyprvrws carpio), and Tench (Tinea
vulgaris).

ciiait. xvi. p emd Tench. 195

The English carp are very difficult to take with the rod They
are tin- fox ol the waters Cor cunning. The plan, however, is to
use fi in- gut and light nnill float, with small shot about a fo t
From the hook, No. 6 or 7 Kirby size, not larger. Let the shot
rest on tlie bottom, just tilting the float Bait with paste, worms',
utils, ground-baiting with the same mixi'il with clay and bran.
Keep out of sight and quiet, and strike when the float moves off, not
before. Ephemera says the\ rareh reach (i lbs. in rivers, and 12 lbs.
in ponds in England; while other writers say they grow to twice
those weights, and even more in warmer climates than Kngland.
Let us hope, therefore, that they really do grow to a respectable
size on the Neilgherries, with their sub-tropical clime, and that we
have seen only little ones because they are this most easily caught.
To catch these little ones with a rod and line is a very simple
matter for any boy that thinks it worth doing, but to catch the
big foxy ones wants ground-baiting and very quiet and very fine
Ashing. Ground-bait two or three likely holes, and keep ringing
the changes on them, moving from one to another to let it quiet
down after lauding a fish, IJest your rod on a linked twig or
otherwise bo as to keep quiet.

Tench should be fished for in the same manner, or with the
bait just off the ground, the bait being a well-scoured brandling.
Though captious feeders, they are much freer biters than carp.
They Beldom exceed 5 lbs. or 6 lbs. in weight ; 2 lbs. is a common

lit. I have boyish memories of fair fun with them. They
are somewhat more palatable than the common carp. A pond
may be full of them, and the existence of a single one never be
suspected because they are undemonstrative, and keep about the
bottom. I sent some fry to the Shevaroy Hills in June, 1878, and
they were safely turned into the .smaller lake there. Tench bear
carriage remarkably well.

TIIS BOD IS INDIA. O 2

CHAPTER XVII.

FISHING IN ESTUARIES.

1 There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune,

• « * » *

And we must take the current when it bi rvea
Or lose our ventures." —

Julius Cesar.

All fishing in estuaries is very much, and I am inclined to think
entirely, governed by the tides, except, perhaps, when monsoon
floods somewhat modify calculations by overpowering the tides,
and except in the months when the tides of putrid-smelling sea
water set in ; then the fish are sickened. But the tides seem to
affect different fish differently, so that it is a very difficult matter
to work out to a satisfactory conclusion. I have noticed fish
taking freely at the very commencement of the flow in an estuary,
while not a few fishermen agree that certain fish take best during
the latter part of the ebb tide.

I am inclined to think that the former are chiefly the rock-fish
/.ii'ianus rose//-.', and C/n-i/^i/i/iris ihitnin, and C. berda, and some-
times Lates calcarifer. The latter are the well-known Bdmin of
the Malabar coast, Puli/nrmus tetradaclylus. The latter go to sea
with every tide, I believe, whereas the former do not leave the
estuaries, 1 think; and this difference in their habits may well
account for a difference in their time of feeding.

Watching an estuary I noticed that when I first came to the
spot all was iptiet, not a lish was moving. Then the tide turned
to flow, and I saw all along the edge of the river, between me and
the sea, heavy fish rushing at smaller fish, and making great
swirls on the surface ; when they came opposite me, the place was
alive with hig fish striking Little ones; but it did not last more

tiiAiM. xvii. \g by Backwater. 197

than a quarter <>f an hour: with the advancing tide the swirls
passed upwards, and I could plainly watch their course into the
tar distance. It was clear thai the text at the head of the chapter
was closely applicable, and it came into one's mind at once

" There is a tide in the affairs of fish,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."

It was not the same at the ebh tide. It was only at the

commencement of the tl 1 tide that the fish were moving. These

tish were, 1 am inclined to think, the rock-fish mentioned above,
and sometimes Lates ealcarifer.

But why is it, you will want to know, that the big tish in
estuaries cannot lie content to feed in one place, like the big fish
in the rivers above tidal influence ? Why is it that they must be
for ever advancing with the advancing tide ? You want a reason,
and I will give you one. If you place yourself on a projecting
rock, or stone-jetty, and watch the first flow of the in-coming tide,
you will see innumerable shoals of minute fish, from an inch long
and upwards, coasting busily up the river.* They are near the
surface, and you can see them well. Keep motionless, and as
much out of sight as you can, that you may not frighten them or
anything else, but may see them pursuing their natural course.
How pretty and sociable they look. Dash into them goes a huge
open-mouthed ruthlessdooking monster, and makes a cruel gap
in their closely packed column. It is pitiful to behold. Poor
little things, how like they are to soldiers when a great round
shol has torn through their ranks. They close up again and
press on

" They fill
The ranks unthinned though slaughtered still."

• They coast, because there is always a back-draught, or back-flow of water, at
the edge of every stream, in the opposite directum to the main current of the
stream, and caused by the stream carrying down, by friction, water that must return
to fill up the vacuum it left as soon as it is released from the power of the friction
that removed it. This backwater (not to be confounded with the common Indian
name fur an estuary), is constant in all rivers throughout their length, and the tide
on entering a river, and while still contending with the current of the stream, takes
first advantage of this backwater, and accelerates it, till merged in the general inflow
of the tide. Small li-h ariahing to ascend a river take advantage of this backwater,
which is always winning up each shore, and thus by coasting they get up a river,
without having to swim againsl the stream.

198 Fishing in Estuaries. Ciiait. xvii.

Dash goes another monster, or, perhaps, the same one, and again
there is an obvious gap. " Close up, close up," is the word, and
so they keep pressing on up stream, apparently very much
frightened, but still unwavering in their purpose of pressing
on up the river, with all their little strength. What their purpose
is in resolutely struggling up stream, and whether they are small
fish or fry I am not certain ; but I have a strong suspicion that
they are the minute fry of mullet, which, I am assured by native
fishermen, ascend and descend for the sake of food with every tide,
and which I know are caught in large numbers by taking
advantage of this their habit as mentioned in para. 122 of
Chapter XXV. When they have passed the fish cease taking.
Whether it is because the big fish have followed the little ones,
or have turned their attention to other food, as trout will when
the rise is over, I cannot say; but that it is no use fishing for
them I can say.

For the brief period that the small fish are passing, you will
have excellent sport. Put on a dead fish, and spin as for jack,
with stout hooks on gimp. Gut will not do, it will be cut through
in a trice. The gimp, too, must be stout. I have had every
available bit of tackle broken by successive fish in twenty
minutes. But then 1 was learning; I was buying my experience
a great deal dearer than you will buy this book. Rut I have
made the fish pay for it eventually, for, when a shoal has been
passing, I have taken toll of them as fast as ever I could land
them and throw in my line. It is "a short life and a merry one."
Have good stout gimp and let there be two trebles, besides the lip
lumk, on your llighl of hooks, instead of only one treble as for
Mahseer. The fishes' mouths are hard, and closely set with
teeth, so that it is as well to have the extra chance of an extra
book.

POLTNEMUS.

But the best fish to be caught in estuaries is the Polynemus
telradaetylus, Plate XX, well known to sportsmen on the West
('oast by its Malayalim name, Bd,-m\n, pronounced Bar-meen, and

all too well known for its tackle-breaking propensities. "They

"eat an astonishing lot of phantoms," writes a friend, 1 emoaning
his tackle. The fish I spoke of in my first edition as the l'amban

CD

<

W

O

Chapt. xvn. Polynemm. 199

salmon ia either this same fish or Polym mua Indicia. I have caught
and Been them canghl with a fly at Pamban, and .seen thousands
oetted at sea, and Been them, unfortunately, only when thej were
si.-k and unfishable in the estuaries. So I have indented on my
friends for details of their manners and customs in the estuaries.
1 am chiefly indebted herein to Colonel W. Osborn, Commanding
9th M. X. [., who has most kindly been at much pains to draw up
a paper which, it will be Been, forms the body of this chapter.

The mouth of the Ba-mln is placed well underneath, the uose
being very prominent, as may be Been in Plate XX, and the jaws
and the inside of the mouth (vomer and palatines) are armed with
villiform, or file-like teeth, which not only cut through any tackle,
pt wire or gimp, hut present a hard and had hook-hold. The
eye is covered with a fixed transparent membrane, through which
the eve may be (dearly seen moving five of it inside it, and which is
so tough that Colonel Osborn has twice hooked fish foul hy it and
landed them. The five rays of the pectoral fins are singularly
prolonged.

Dr. Day says that in this species " The free rays reach nearly
"to the end of the ventral." The individual from which my
drawing was taken was only 1 foot long, and possibly youth may
have something to do with their growth. Unfortunately my
approaching departure for England prevented my being a hie to
get a larger specimen to draw from. The first dorsal is also
wanting, in the drawing, of one short small spine. This may have
been an oversight of mine, and I cannot positively say it is not,
for 1 have not brought the fish home with me, whereby to re-
verify, but I think I took every possible pre. ant ion against
sights. It may also be a vagary. Dr. Day's footnote shows
that other observers have found such divergencies from rule in
this fish.

Like the Bass fish, which is sometimes called the Salmon-bass,
it has B rough general similitude of shape and silvery colour to the
Salmon. All anglers agree that it is much more powerful than
the salmon.

( lolonel Osborn write

"The lying places of the Bahmeen in the tidal backwaters, are
"in the .-witt, deep runs, where the incoming or outgoing tide
"produces a quick stream, with a strongripple, where the stream is

200 Fishing in Estuaries. Chapt. xvn.

"narrowed between submerged nuks, ami where, as a consequence,
" the run is swift and the surface broken ; and where there are side
" eddies is a very favourite spot with them : they seem to be attracted
" thither by the small fish which abound in the side eddies.

" Bahmeen are also found among the piers and piles of wooden
" or iron bridges, such as the bridge across the river at Mahe-, or the
" three bridges on the Cannanore side of Tellicherry. These are
" their haunts, and it is of no use fishing for them until you observe
" them on the feed ; in fact you will not know that there are any
" Bahmeen about, till the tide begins to ebb or flow, bringing up or
"down with it shoals of small fish, principally young grey mullet,
" and on these latter, while they are running, the Bahmeen prin-
" cipally seem to feed. In fishing for Bahmeen, these small grey
" mullet form the most attractive bait that the fisherman can use.

" At such times of tide and at such places as I have described,
" you will not be long in doubt as to where the fish are, or the
" proper spot to fish for them, for as soon as the ebb or flow settles
"into a steady stream, you will see the Bahmeen dashing up at the
" small mullet every minute, and throwing themselves completely
" out of the water. They will continue to feed in this way till slack
" water.

" I have heard it discussed whether Bahmeen feed, and take
" best on the ebb, or the flood tide ; in some waters, possibly at
" certain times of the year, these fish seem to take more readily on
" the flood, than on the ebb tide ; such I found to be the case once
" on the Mane* river, when fishing from the bridge there, in the
" month of April, but, as a general rule, I think it will be found that
" I'.ahmeen take best on the ebb tide, though it is also possible to
" catch them on the flood ; but, after a good deal of experience, the
" ebb is the tide I recommend, though when the tide is flowing it
" should not lie neglected, as you are always likely to get a run or
" two even on that tide."

This question of the right time of the tide lias exercised many
great minds, and I have quite a bundle of letters on the subject
from observing fishermen kindly wishing to help me to a right
decision in the matter. Their views differed from time to time,
but the end of it was that certain of them, personal friends, well
known to me as good fishermen, met together for a combined Ba-
mln attack, and after putting their own several experiences, and

Chaft. xvii. Colonel Osborn'a Contribution. 201

those of their friends together, wrote me what T shall call the
report df tin' l'.a-]ifm Committee. It entirely confirms Colonel
Osborn's view, for though it may seem t" limit it somewhat, it will
be seen that a Bubsequenl quotation from the same ]im <|ualifies
the limitation just as Colonel Oshorn has qualified it After so
much diversity of opinion as there has been, a concurrence of
opinion is satisfactory. "The reason I had never succeeded before
"was that I was always told to go at low tide just at the turn,
•' whereas the time is two or three hours before the low tide. An
hour before low tide they are quite oil' the teed, and probably not
" there." These views are again confirmed by another fisherman,
1!., who tells me that not only has he fished for Ba-mln with
advantage during the last quarter of the ebb tide, but has, in a
boat, followed them down with the tide, and caught them all the
way down to the very sea.

Colonel Osborn continues :

" As with the Mahseer, when he makes his first rush, so with the
" Bahmeen, the smallest check and you part company, for he is a
" Strong and hard-mouthed fish.

"The rod I like best for this kind of fishing is one of Farlow's
" L'ike spinning-rods, bamboo for choice. Mine is 12 feet long, with
■ it- short top, — for Bahmeen I prefer the short top — as 1 would,
"indeed, for Pike, for the long flexible top joint is only of use in
' spinning a minnow for trout. Note the length with short top,
12 feet, because the farther you go beyond this length, the less
" line you can throw out, the exertion in throwing will he greater,
" your control over the line not so complete, and the cast not nearly
"so perfect and artistic as that which can be got out of a 12-foot rod.

"The reel should carry 100 to 120, or 150 yards of 8 plait
"smooth running, spinning line, not a corded line, for in spinning
"either from a bridge or from the banks for I'.ahmeen (which latter
"you may have a chance of doing), you have to spin in exactly the
" same way as you spin for Pike, and a corded line would kink,
and spoil your sport.

•'A gimp trace, with two swivels — brass gimp 1 prefer to silver,
"as it shows less, though when silver gimp gets clouded and soiled
" it ifl equally good In thickness the gimp should be of medium
"size ; if new and good, it will be (put e strong enough, and the finer
" you fish for Bahmeen, the greater will be the measure of your
" success.

202 Fishing in Estuaries. Chapt. xvii.

" I now come to the flight of hooks, and for this there cannot be
" anything better than the spinning tackle recommended by Mr.
" Thomas for Mahseer, in ' The Kod in India ' (page 48) ; but as the
" liahmeen is a hard mouthed fish, and as he sometimes comes short,
" I found it best to add to this flight. I consider the following to be
" the most serviceable. A snood of medium brass, or silver gimp,
with two* trebles instead of the one treble that Mr. Thomas
'•' recommends for Mahseer, and a flying treble, made with a short
"loop, to slip over the snood, after the latter has been threaded
" through the bait.

" It will save you time and trouble, for you only have one
" really good tide to fish on, if you have six or seven of these flights
" ready baited.

" Baits are the next thing to speak of, and I will confine my
"remarks on this point to natural baits, as I have tried for Iiahmeen
"with both spoon and phantom, without success, though I have
"heard that others have found the spoon and phantom answer."

I may here put in a word to say that not only have others
written me of kills made with phantom and spoon, but one used
nothing but phantoms, and exhausting his shop supply had to set
up a home manufactory thereof. I, too, have killed and seen them
killed with a white, fly in the 1'amban Channel But a tish bait,
as argued above, is doubtless the deception nearest to their natural
food ; apropos of which remark it was thai 1 was once upbraided
in the presence of these very Ba-in'm, " You have written a book
" to teach men how to deceive."

" A young grey mullet about 3, 4, or 5 inches long, is the best
"bait that can be used; these small mullet are not difficult to
"procure, for they abound in all waters inhabited In the I'.ahmeen,
" and the latter seem chiefly to feed upon them. On the shores of
" these waters also, native fishermen and casting nets are always to
"lie found. Some time before the turn of tide, set one of these
" men to work with his net, give him a bait kettle, or an earthen

"pot a; a substitute, to hold the baits, and bid him be careful to

" sink the kettle in the river each time he puts fresh baits into it,

"as natives have do idea of the necessity of supplying fish fre-
quently with fresh water to keep them alive. By the time the
" tide ebbs or flows, you should have enough small mullet to last
* The last ono flying free about on n lord with the ta '.

Cha.pt. xvn. Manner of Spinning for Polynemus. 203

you a day. Other small silvery tish will, of course, do for bait,
" but the mullet is decidedly the best, being the favourite food of
"the Bahmeen, and being also very tough and lasting, bearing the

i ti< m in these latter qualities to other tish, ;

"gudg i does to a bleak or a small dace. Should there beany

"difficulty in procuring baits at any particular spot, small mullet
"or other tish can be preserved for a short time, in a wide-mouthed
"bottle of spirits of wine or methylated spirits. I have several
" times used baits thus prepared, while Bahmeen fishing, and found
"them answer very well. Baits do not get soft in methylated
" spirits, and their toughness is very well preserved.

" Having now mentioned rods, tackle, and baits, I now turn to
" the actual capture of the tish.

" As I have already said, when the tide steadies into a regular
" stream, you will, if standing on a bridge, soon see the mullet, and
" other small tish, darting in different directions, and the IJahmeen
'■ dashing after them. Commence spinning at one end of the bridge,
" by throwing out as much line as you can control; let the bait
" trail, and spin in the water, anil be careful to spin well over those
its where you have seen fish rising. Hold your rod with both
" hands across your chest, with the point rather elevated, and with-
•■ out m airing another cast, walk at such a pace as will keep the
'• bait spinning nicely, to the other end of the bridge. And now
■ lines the question, which is the best side of the bridge to fish
" from. This is an important point. The best side of the bridge
" is that towards which the stream is running, the reason being that
" mullet always work up against the stream, and the Bahmeen
" always lie in wait for them, on that side of the bridge towards
" which the stream runs, so that as the shoals of young mullet toil
" -lowly up against the tide, and make their way through the arches

" of the bridge, they fall an easy prey to the I'almieeli which
' are lying in wait for them, and hiding behind the piers ami piles
■he bridge, on the other side. When there are a large number of
" fish about, they can be i on both sides of the bridge ; but the

" ride I have given as regards what I may call the stream side should
" be adhered to."

This is Colonel Osborn's view. I am not prepared to contradict
it. But my own idea is that the mullet fry go with the tide both
in and out, and that the Pa-min hide or rest behind the piles as

204 Fishing in Estuai Ciiapt. xvir.

Trout, Salmon, and Mahseer ordinarily do behind rocks (see page 88).

However, the fishing rule here given is equally supported by either

theory.

" In nearly all of the bridges I have mentioned in these notes,
you will find projecting planks outside of the hand-rail, or balus-
trade, on both sides of the bridge. Climb over the railing and get
on one of these planks, and spin away wherever you see the fish
breaking. This is the best way of all to fish from these bridges,
as you have full command of the water, and of your fish when you
strike him.

" If the Bahmeen are feeding you will not be long without a run,
and should the fish run away from the bridge, into clear water,
get to the nearest end of the bridge as soon as you can, leave
it, and run up the bank as far as possible, so as to prevent
the fish from running through the bridge, or among the piles.
Having got into a safe place, play and land your fish as you
best can.

" It is a good plan to have a canoe with a man or two with it.
moored mi the most convenient side of the river, and on striking
a fish, should he run through the bridge below your feet, run
down to the bank letting out line all the time, get into the canoe,
follow, and either play him from the canoe, or from the hank
below. This is the reason why I recommend a long line, it enables
you to do all this. If you are steady, and do not get flurried, and
your tackle is as strong as it ought to be, even if the fish should
run through the bridge, below you, you can often, with careful
management, work him back again gradually to your side, ami send
a man down to the nearest pier to gat)' him ; this only holds good
with a masonry bridge. Should a fish behave in this manner at a
bridge built on piles, a canoe is the only thing to get you out of
your difficulty, and even then you may loose your fish and tackle
by bis running three or fourtimes round a pile, as they are some-
times fond of doing.

" You may, if lucky, find a place frequented by Bahmeen, where
you can spin for them from the bank, in which case proceed in
exactly the same way, as if you were spinning for Bike. There
is such a place, about live or six miles from Cannanore, in the
Billipatam backwater, and just at the end of the village on your
right, as you face the water; the tide at the place I mean makes

CHAPT. xvii. ilities/or Polynemus. 205

" a deep and swift run between sunken rucks; and at this point
" Bahmeen congregate, and sport is to be bad.

" The places I know of where Bahmeen fishing is procurable
Billipatam village, near Cannanore, just mentioned, the three
" bridges "ii the Cannanore side of Tellicherry, of which three the
itre one is the best, Yellatooi bridge near Calicut, the back-
" water at Beypoor, Currulhoondy railway bridge near the camp
" platform and troop rest house, about a mile and s halt' down the
" line from the Beypoot station, and there is another small bridge,
" up the Tellicherry backwater, about three miles from the central
■' bridge, that 1 have already spoken of as being a good place for
" sport.

Near the mouth of the Eallei River, in Calicut Town, between
the mouth and the bar, is mentioned by M. as another place.

" About the best place I know of for Bahmeen is the Mahe1 river,
" where it runs through the little French town of Mahe, about 20
" miles south of Cannanore, from the bridge that spans this river, at
" the entrance to the town, capital Bahmeen fishing is to be had, ami
" you can generally hire a tolerably comfortable bungalow on the
" hank of the river, close to the bridge, and from your windows you
" can always see when the fish begin to feed, so you only have to
" shoulder your rod, ami walk a few yards to your sport.

" I don't know the spawning time of the Bahmeen, but I have
" had good sport with them all through the monsoon and in the
" months of March, April, and May. At the end of, and after the
" monsoon, however, the sea at the mouth of these backwaters
" becomes almost putrid, and a very unpleasant smell arises from
" it. When the incoming tide brings this dirty water up the back-
" waters, it seems to poison the Bahmeen, Nair fish, and other large
" fish ; the water has a brown tinge in it, and, as the tide ebbs, num-
_e fish, all dead, float down with it and go out to sea
" At these times the native fishermen wade in, and secure the dead
'• fish as they pass, with a short harpoon. I need hardly say that,
" during the months when the rivets are in this state, it is of little
" use attempting to fish.

•• In concluding these notes, 1 think 1 may say that Bahmeen
" fishing is good sport, and quite worth following. In starting on a

■ fishing trip it is well to he provided with plenty of tackle, as the

■ fish are strong, and breakages frequent. I don't know what in weight

20G Fishing in Estuaries. Chapt. xvii.

" Bahrneen run up to, the largest I have landed was one of 9 lbs.,
" but I have seen many larger than this which have been caught in
" nets. Si mie of the latter having scaled 11 and 12 lbs. A Bah-
" meen of this weight would give very good sport."

I have seen thousands of Polynemus Indicus brought ashore
by a fleet of netting boats: 12 lbs. was quite an outside weight.
They averaged 10 lbs., and were all very much of a size. Day
gives much larger sizes for P. tetradactylus as will be seen
below.

" When taking your bait, the Bahrneen does so with a violent
" rush, in the most determined manner, and away lie goes at his best
" pace as soon as he feels the hook. After he has gone a few yards,
" and you can safely do so, strike him twice, so as to drive in the
" hooks, for he is by no means a leather- mouthed fish, like a Mahseer,
" and without some such performance on your part, he is apt to get
" rid of the hooks, as soon as the line slackens, which by-the-bye,
" you should always endeavour to prevent. Be careful to have your
" line clear, ami free, for if there is a check of any sort when the
" Bahrneen has made up his mind to go, you will probably have to
" lament the loss of both fish and tackle."

I never could be persuaded to endorse this striking of any fish
after he is booked, my own belief being that if you will only keep
on sufficient pressure his struggles will do all the jerking you can
possibly desire, and that it is very dangerous for you to slacken
ever so little for the purpose of getting up a jerk.

Before parting with the Ba-min, 1 will quote from M., whom I
have already quoted as a member of the Ba-min committee: "We
" are agreed that they run stronger than Salmon for their size;
"but with gimp, and 100 yards on a good reel, the only danger
" of being broken is their charging the piles under one's feet. The
" first one that tried that broke me, but 1 find that with judicious
" use of stones they can be kept oil', and one gets down at last onto
" the shore of the river and brings them to the landing net. " But
the same writer had rather a rough time of it afterwards, as the
following letter will show : —

" I had rather a disastrous morning with the Ba-meen the other
" day. A peon on watch reported they were feeding at daylight,
" though d was then almost high tide, just beginning to run out. A
" lot of fry were tinder the bridge, the Mullet were eating them, and

t HUT. xvn. Tackh-brtaJdng Capabilities. 207

■■ the Ba-meen the Mullet. This waa under the still arches near
" one side, instead of, as usual, in the centre where the current is
•■ stroi - -!. Tlir first fish I lost after playing a few minutes. Bold

" gave way.

•• Tin- uext, a very lively fish, drowned me as I was getting off
■■ tin' bridge, as lie ran down stream and got a bush between us.
Bowever, being well hooked, he iliil not gel oil, ami [got the
" slack in, ami had nearly tired him out, when, to my horror, I
" found the reel running still', and his next rush I could not give it
" him fast enough, and the bait came hack with one vi' the tail
" trebles straightened

" It turned nut that a screw inside the reel had started, and
" jammed against the disk, into which it was cutting, and when
" opened the box was full of brass filings,

" This was. then, had luck. I then put on a fresh phantom,
" haying, luckily, a second reel and line, and had two or three
" runs, the fish missing being hooked.

" This I attribute to my having tied the treble on stiff win-,
•• m airing the whole bait still'. I then put on a guttapercha bait, a
• great favourite, and had hardly begun when a fish took and bolted
" at once round a pde. I make it a rule to break them directly they
" get close to a pile, hut this one I gave line to, in hopes of saving
" my bait, and did so, a large treble breaking I got a boat and
" rescued line and bait, but found the easting line all frayed against
" the barnacles on the pile. I hail now to set to work and tie the
■ still' phantom afresh with gimp ; and, while doing so, a monster rose
" under one of the arches. As soon ;i^ 1 was ready I went at him and
" soon hooked him. He went down stream, ami alter 10 minutes I
" began edging off the bridge to get to the bank, when he suddenly
" came charging at me to get under the bridge. His power was
" enormous; and. in spite of stones and a long bamboo with Leaves
" tied on the end, he came under and actually got a few yards
" above the bridge, I being in an upside down position, and holding
" him very tight. At last he made for the piles and broke me.
" This was the biggest fish I have hooked, and 1 think he must
" have been from !•"> to 20 lbs.

"Had I then had what I have now, a wooden ladder fixed into the
" centre piles, and a boat moored with men ready, I could easily have
" killed him, by following him on his tirst rush, and getting below

208 Fishing in Estum Chapt. xvii.

" him if he tried bo make up for the bridge. Next day I went out.
" I had hardly begun when a brute came and took me and instantly
" went round a pile and broke me. This made seven consecutive
" fish that had broken me here. I then hooked and landed a 6-
" pounder, using the ladder and boat. I have lust three fish round
" piles after they have run away fairly down stream, and this, of
" course, is avoidable ; but if they go at the pier at once, there is no
" remedy. It seems to depend on where one's bait is. The fish
" naturally pulls against you ; and if your bait has been swept 8 or
" 10 feet down stream he runs down ; but if he takes almost under
" the arch, he runs in.

" In one case I purposely gave a fish line instead of breaking,
" to see what he would do, and tins was the result."

Here was a sketch of a labyrinth of piles with which, dear
reader, you must kindly dispense.

" I unravelled the maze, and finally, after going from pier to
" pier in a boat, caught sight of my friend at the eighth pier. The
" run I must tell you, was all done in a few seconds. It took ten
" minutes or a quarter of an hour to work it out, and I could at
" one moment have checked the fish, had I been ready. Seeing me
" close to him he took three turns round the pile and broke. The
" last few days I have been out fish have not been feeding. I
" have a theory that every fish left there has got a phantom in
" bis gills.

" I think you will admit that they treated me badly that
" morning. They seemed to have determined toshow me what they
"could do. They straightened one treble, broke another, a large
" strong one, filed the casting line, pulled off one phantom's bead,
" demoralized a reel (one of Bowness' best Mahseer reels) by sheer
" bard running, and, finally, the big chap tried all he could to break
" the rod, and has given it a permanent bend."

In the Pamban channel, just opposite the Superintendent's

house, there are, or at least there used to be some twenty years
ago, a number of splendid runs. It is to be hoped the Govem-
1 1 it i it has not cleared them away for the benefit of the shipping!!
Probably not, for they were uot in mid channel. There was a
fish there that we used to call the Pamban salmon ; and were well
content with the name, for in those days I had Dot troubled my
head with lish nomenclature and classification, It funis out to be

i 'hut. xvii Tht Pamban Channel. 209

our mutual friend Polynemus. Either P. tetradaetyhu or P.

fndicua, probably the latter. I only bad one bour at them, but
it is a day to be remembered in all my lifetime. What splendid
sport they gave I We anchored tbe boat at the head of the
run, and fished below us in the middle of it. We used a full
sized salmon fly, made of nothing but the white feather of a quill
pen, tied palmer-fashion all over it. Much the same fly is used
fen Bass in England. Bow freely they rose, and how vigorously
they tugged. My companion, who put me up to it, and pro-
sided rod and boat, lived there, and used to catch any number
of them. But there were certain seasons, he said, in which they
would not take at all. Which were the favourable and which
the unfavourable months, 1 cannot at this length of time recall.
W., fishing there in October, writes me : " I'amben salmon do
" not come on till late in the year." I presume he means later
than October.

The natives, in fishing for Ba-mln, use a strong cord, with a
large sea-hook, on a piece of bell-wire. But they use much
direct force in pulling in their fish, because they have very crude
ideas about the auaviter in modo, fortiter in re principle of
running tackle on a reel, which enables you in time to kill a heavy
fish on a light line. Don't be alarmed, therefore, at their
tremendous preparations, but trust to stout gimp, and a salmon
rod, with a good length of line, and making your fish work as
hard as you dare for every inch of it. Do not waste a bit of it by
giving it too easily. The native fisherman may examine your
tackle, and condemn it as too weak, and you may be disposed to
believe in him, because he has actually killed the fish, and ought
to know. Never mind that ; just do with him the very same as
you will probably do with this book, namely, listen to all his
advice, and then don't follow it. Only draw your own conclusions
therefrom. At the same time you need not be uncivil, or he will
become uncommunicative. Do not rudely disturb his complacent
belief that you cannot help yourself, that your tackle is not so
good as his, and that you must make the best of a bail job; and
then, when you land a fish nevertheless, be will be all astonishment,
and doubly anxious to show you there is still "a thing or two"
which he knows better than you; and you may pick up many a
useful wrinkle from the native fishermen

TIIF ROD rS IN [>1 V l'

210 Fishing in Estuaries. Chapt. xvn.

It is now time I made the usual descriptive quotation from Dr.
Pay's " Fishes of India," and bid good-bye

Sab class. Teleostei.

Order. Acanthoptertgii.

Family Polvxemidj; (including eight species).

Polynemns tetradactyhis. B. vii, D. 8 t^tti P. 17 + iv, V. 1/5,
A- Tf:fr. C. 17, L. 1. 75-85, L. tr. 8/14. Ome. pyl. many. Habitat:
Seas of Indiato the Malay Archipelago and China. Attaining 6 feet
and upwards in length. It is excellent eating. This species appears to
ascend higher up the river than any others, and the young are
numerous in the Hoogly, at Calcutta. Ham. Buchanan observes : " I
" have been assured by a credible native that he saw one which was a
" load for six men, and which certainly, therefore, exceeded in weight
" 320 lbs. avoirdupois." (Fish Ganges, p. 225).

P. Indians. B. vii, D. 8 T^.Tit P 15 + v, V. 1/5, A r?:?¥, C. 17,
L. 1. 70-75, L. tr. 7/13, Vert. 5/19. Ccse. pyl. many. Habitat: Seas of
Indiato the Malay Archipelago and Australia. It attains 4 feet in
length, hut it is rarely above "Jo lbs. weight.

The Cock-up, ob Naif. Fish.

Lates calcarifer is said by Dr. Day to be the Cock-up of
Europeans, though how it got the name I know not. It is also
called the Nair fish by Europeans. The Canarese called it KvZanji,
when small, Madam when large ; just as we use the terms Jack and
Pike. The Malayalim name Colonel Osborn writes is " Coollon, the
" final n being pronounced as the n in the French place Dijon."
For other vernacular names, Dr. Pay shall be quoted hereafter.

I have seen them weighing 30 lbs. on terra jinn", and Colonel
Osborn says lie has seen them over 50 lbs. or 60 lbs. in weight.
They are a sea fish frequenting the estuaries, and are found in
company with the Bamln. Their mouth is similarly armed with
numerous minute tile-like (villiform) teeth; their colour is silvery,
with a bronzy sheen cm the hack. Plate XXI will aid recognition.
The young have not the humped back seen in the adult fish.

1 have done not a little business with these fish myself, but

Colonel (isliorn seems to have had more opportunities of watching
them, so I will quote his kindly routributed paper.: —

" When the S.W. monsoon is at its height, and the rivers are
" very much discoloured by the floods from the western mountains

< 'ii ait. xvn The Cock-up -fish. L'U

■■ the Naii fish enter the backwaters, which are then quite thick

" from tlic inland tl Is. and congregate about the bridges, in com-

" pany with the Bahmeen ; during the day they seem to take
" when the water is most discoloured, coming in with, and fei ■
" on, the flood tide; they have a large and very brilliant eye and

" possibly ran see well in thick water, while they themselves are
" concealed from other fish, whose vision is probably not so perfect
" in muddy water, and I am strengthened in this opinion by
" having noticed the nocturnal habits of the Nair fish, and observed
" them feeding during a good portion of the night.

" The tackle to use for these tish is the same as that which I
" have recommended for Bahmeen, but the gimp should be the
" thickest kind, and the hooks rather larger than those used for
" Bahmeen, say a size larger than ordinary Mahseer hooks, as the
" larger hooks lie better on thick gimp, and the fish, rememlier,
" runs to a very large size, besides being very powerful. The
" bait should also be larger than that used for Bahmeen, as this
" fishing is carried on in thick water, and at night. Bod, line,
" trace, snood, and hooks, should all he strong, for when the Nair
" fish really finds out that he is hooked, he start- oil' on a journey
'• which is a pretty long one before he stops. I allude here to the
" large sized ones. I once struck one that must have weighed about

50 Lbs., and off he started up the river; 1 only had a medium sized
np trace, and snood, so dale not check him. I managed to jump

" into a cai from the hank, and followed him for about 400 yards

" before he stopped. In a subsequent struggle, he broke my snood
" and I lost him. A friend of mine followed a fish, of similar size,
•• for about the same distance up the river, before he came to a

stand-still, a few days before. I mention this incident to show
" that, when these tish make their first run, after being struck, they
" go far. Let them have their run out, and keep them going after-
•' wards if you can.

" In spinning for the Nair fish, you should spin slowly; he
" takes the bait, not with a rush like the Bahmeen, but slowly and

■ deliberately, as compared to the hurry of the other tish. And

" sometimes, while fishing rather deep, as the fish does not always

rush off after taking the- bait, I have not known that 1 had a fish

" on, till I felt the cheek on chawing in the line, I have known a

" Nair fish, after taking, mow about at a quiet pace as if nothing

THE ROD IV I Mil 1. P 2

212 Fishing in Estuaries Chapt. xvir.

" had happened, when it suddenly appeared to occur to him that he

" was ' on,' and off he went for his run. It does not answer to check
" this, or any other fish, while he is running, even if there be danger
" ahead; try and let him have his run out, for these strong and
" heavy fish have a way of plunging violently when checked, which
" is fatal to tackle. As soon as the first run is over, reel up quickly
" till you are as close as you can get, and then start him for another
" cruise. Continue in this way till you can master him, without
" fear of a break. In mentioning these precautions I allude again to
" the fish of large size, the smaller ones are easier dealt with, but
" the large fish are so heavy, that caution is necessary in handling
" them, when they are inclined to plunge and be restive.

" The best time for fishing for the Nair lisb is, as 1 have said, !"<>r
" daywork, during the monsoon, when the waters are thick. At
"other times, when the rivers and backwaters are clear, commence
" fishing well after sundown, and go on as far into the night as the
" fish are on the feed, for you will hear them feeding, and splashing,
" all about you. "When they have stopped doing so, it is not much
" use trying for them any more.

" The break of a Bahmeen you never can mistake for that of a
" Nair fish : the former is a sharp and violent splash, the spray flies
" in every direction, and the Bahmeen nearly always shows himself;
" that of the Nair fish is a deep-sounding plunge, the sound of which
" a practised ear can recognise, even in the night, when you cannot
"see the break; there is not much spray, and the water subsides
" with a peculiar swirl.

"I have here noted all that I know at present about the Nair
" fish, for, compared to the Bahmeen, he is, I may say, a new
"acquaintance of mine. 1 will only add that, for this tish also, a
"small grey mullet is the best bait that can be used. I have
" mentioned, also as a peculiarity of this tish, that he takes a bait
"rather slowly, and in a much quieter style, than the Bahmeen
"does. This is what 1 have observed, during a somewhat limited
"experience of the habits of the Nair fish, a period not extending
"over a full year. There are times, 1 believe, when the Nair fish

"takes a bait greedily, and goes at it witli great eagerneSR

" The ways of tish differ so much under various conditions — local
"and atmospheric — that it is impossible to find out all about
" them, or even to arrive at a correct knew ledge of a good many of

CO

o

■Ml

l/k

CHAPt. xvii. /'/,, Bed Perch. 213

"their habits, without close observation, extending over several
sons.

rhese ootes are simply the result of my own observation of
" the tish. whose habits, and the method of whose capture, I have
" endeavoured to describe. They are intended, no( so much for t lie
" use of sportsmen, many of whom are probably better informed on
"the subjecl than I am, but for those to whom a few hints as to
" where, and how to obtain sport, may be useful."

I have let Colonel Osborn's opinions stand us they are, but for
my part I do not see the advantage of letting a big Gab have his
run, except it be that you get a belly on the line which acts as a
cushion to sudden jerks. I would rather contest every inch with
him from the first, trusting to the elasticity of my top joint and
fresh tackle to help me over the angry plunges.

The sizes of the treble hooks I would recommend are No. 1 in
Plate VII, for the hook embedded in the vent; No. 5 for the
other two.

This fish has also been caught in the Fort moat at Madras;
they would seem to have got in through the sluices as fry. One
of these tish caught there by Mr. Robinson, and now stuffed in the
Madras Museum, weighed 33 lbs. 5 ozs.

Sab Class. Teleomii.

Order. AOAKTHOPTBBYGIl.

Family. Percidj;.

Lai Ifer. B. vii, D 7-8 r^, P. 17, V. 1/5, A 5?5, C. 17,

L.l. 52-60, L.tr. 6-7/13, Csec. pyl. 3.

Dangara, Sind ; XudJee-meen or Nair-meen, Mai. ; I'ainnee-meen
or Koduwa, Tam ; Pantluhopa or T <>u Tel.; Durruah and

Bekkut, Ooriah ; Beijti, Beng. ; Nga-tha-dyk, Arrac; Koral, or, if large,
/•' ir, Chittagong; Todah, Andam. j Cock-up of Europeans.

The Red Pbbch.

In the Madras Fort ditch I have also caught spinning as foi
the two previous fish, Lutianus roseus of 5 lbs. weight, Plate XXII.
and I have caught them in estuaries, and in a pond at Cundapur
where they had become acclimatized to nearly fresh water. They
are an estuary fish frequenting the rocks. The bait should
ordinarily be much smaller than for the two previous fish. The
name is A" m

214 Fishing in Estum < 'hut. xvii

Family. Percid.*.

Lutiamts roseus. B vii, D fj, P- 16, V. 1/5, A. J, C. 17, L.l. 48,
L.v. U, L.tr. 7/18.

There is another fish (Chrysophryu herda), and called Yeri in
( lanarese, that may be caught in company with Lutianns roseus.
A prawn lias been recommended as a bait.

Megalops Cyprinoides.

Mi golo ps cyprinoides, which it is as easy to call Megalops as
anything else, also takes a bait well at times. I have come across
them coming up an estuary in a shoal, and it was like hauling in
Mackerel ; and they run about the same size. There was a fish on as
fast as ever you could get your line into the water. But the fun
was very short-lived. It was in mid stream, and they were all
past the boat in a very little time. I am told they, as well as an
Slops sawrus, have been caught in the Madras Fort ditch with a
white fly. My fishing for them was with a small dead-bait. I
should think a prawn used like a fly very slowly would suit them
to a nicety. They acclimatize very readily to fresh water, and
grow fast, as I know, and breed, as I am told, in ponds. But they
must be very destructive of the fry of other fish. It is not a
prudent thing, therefore, to put them into any pond in which you
wish to breed fish. But natives are Eond of keeping them in
ponds, and in a Fori ditch or any place into which predacious fish
have already got it may be added without injury. Plate XXIII
will help you to recognize it.

Order. Phvsostomi.

Megalops cyprinoides. B xxiv-xxw. I). 19-21 (tt-'t? )> f- 15-10,
V. 10, A. 24-27 (■..,,?*-*) C. 19, L.l. 37-42, L.tr. 5-6/6.

Pwvnihov/u and Naharu, Ooriah ; Cwrmay, Mai.; Moran <
Tarn. Nga-tan-youet, liurmese.

The Seek.

If you try the same tactics at, or close to, the mouth oi a
river, as have been recommended for Bamln, you may get the Seer
fish, which is a splendid fellow, t do not think they ever r<:uir
far into a river [ndeed, I am pretty sure they do not 1

u

CO
O

r

■.■ • .

irr. xvii. Seer. 215

once saw a fine one of LS Lba killed in a funny way. A friend and
Belf were spinning for them. 1 left my friend spinning at a pro-
jecting sand Bpitj at the moutb of the Mangalore harbour, which is
cut abruptly away by the current, and is very little above the

water level. He threw out his bait, and spun it home to him, and
had just pulled it out when, to his astonishment, and 1 believe
alarm, a LS lb. Seer fish, in dashing after it, Bprung clean on shore,
at his very feet There he was, a fine fellow, flopping about, and
in imminent danger of getting into the water again, All hands
punched his head, with the butt of the rod, with boots, for we
had been bathing, and anything handy, and with any amount of
excitement. Meanwhile, others of us were in a boat trying the
mid stream, and coming hack we were shown the tish, as if it had
been a legitimate bag, with a long yarn about the Line it had taken
"in, etc. But 1 had happened to get a glimpse of it in the
distance, and joined in, therefore, with their story, saying, " I saw
yon showing him the butt."

I am inclined to think much fun might be got out of the Seer
fish. The matter wants developing.

II writes : " I caught a couple at Ponany, and I never saw finer
" running. I do not think 1 exaggerate in saying they leaped 8 feet
" out of the water at times. They were 15-pounders." The
writer, be it remembered, is no tyro, easily exhilarated, but an old
salmon fisher, and otherwise a mighty hunter.

The Seer tish is Cybium, of which there are five species in the
Indian .Seas, attaining some of them 3 and 4 feet in length. They
are excellent eating. Their mouth is full of very formidable teeth.
They are a sea, not an estuary fish.

It should be remembered that Seei are not always present.
They do QOt make their appearance till a month or SO after the
close of the monsoon, when they follow up the little fish
frequenting the rivers. The simplest way to ascertain when they
are in, is by having them for breakfast from the fish market, fo]
the natives net them as soon as they come

- BT, and, I believe, other tish, are caught oil' the Indian coasts
much after the manner of mackerel in England. A crude imita-
tion of B tish is made out of the white kernel of the COCOanut

cut to shape, and placed on a big hook, about the size of No,
LO/0 Limerick, or out of white rag; and three long lines thus

216 Fishing in Estuaries. Chapx. xvn.

baited are trailed well behind the vessel as she sails, one from each
ami of ihe yard, and one from the mast head. They are thus kept
well apart out of danger of tangling. A bridle or connecting line, one
from each of these lines to the deck, makes it easy to tell if there
is a fish on, and to pull the line in so as to have it and the fish on
deck. This style of fishing wants a good breeze. " It's the pace
" that kills" fish. This I give from hearsay, not personal trial,
for my "soul does sicken o'er the heaving wave."

Friends going home by P. and 0. tell me that they have caught
fish in this way from the steamer. They did nothing in the deep sea,
but in those parts of the Red Sea where they ran near land or rocky
shallows they killed big fish in spite of the jeers of incredulous
fellow passengers. The hook about the size of No. 10/0 Limerick
was on thick wire, the body weighted with lead and covered with
white rag, the wings and tail being of the same.

But splendid sport though estuary fish give you at times,
I cannot but say that, in my estimation, estuary fishing is highly
unsatisfactory, for the simple reasons that the fish, whose habits
are governed by the tides, will not take except at the right time of
the tide. If the tide would always turn conveniently, just half
an hour after one got out of Cutchery, I would not complain.
But as it is, the chances are just about twenty-three to one against
your hitting off the right time. If your time is your own like
a native fisherman's, and you do not mind a little sun, and can
study the tides, and be on the spot at the right time, then you
may have excellent sport. But how few Europeans there are in
India who have the necessary leisure. If you have the leisure, and
have come to know their times, this very periodicity of their
taking is in your favour. The tish are all on the feed at the
same time, and to be able to predict this beforehand, and to
arrange to meet them at dinner, is n wry great point indeed.
What lucky and uncertain hours are those when the tro are
fairly on the feed, in a taking humour at home. How one fis<K 3 on,
hour after hour, in England, in spite of indifferent sport, in the
expectancy that at any time in the day there may be a change,
with the air full of Hies, and the water covered with circles. But
there is not such an amount of uncertainty about the estuary tish.
He takes his meals at regular intervals, and you can tell his
dinner hour as well as he can himself, for his clock is in the

I HAFT. xvii. Fishing. 217

heavens, to wit the moon; only it is ;i little like Captain Cuttle's

famous watch, about which he gave the advice and testiniony-
" Put it back half-an-hour every morning, and about another
" quarter towards the afternoon, and it's a watch that'll do you
edit." Similarly your fishing cluck, the moon, is irregular, and

you must remember that it is not exactly 12 hours between high
tide and high tide, but nearer 12 hours and 20 minutes ; though even
tins odd 20 minute- is sometimes nearer 15, sometimes nearly 25.
But you will not be far wrong if you bear in mind that each high
tide, after an interval of 12 hours, is about 2n minutes later than
its predecessor, and as there is one in the night as well as in the
day, the day high tide recurs, mure or less, about 40 minutes later
than it did the day before.

On the whole, therefore, the estuary fish is no lunatic for not
sitting down to table till the cloth is laid, and his dinner ready in
the shape of passing shoals of little fish ; and, though his puncti-
lious punctuality, and his lunar time, may be inconvenient to me,
there may be others to whom it may be no bar to the closer
cultivation of his acquaintance. To them, therefore, I introduce
him with this caution about punctuality. He will not wait a
minute [or you.

Sea-fish are to be caught in India, as elsewhere, by bottom
fishing from a boat, and for those who fancy this style of fishing,
good sport may sometimes be had. With a view to tell them
about it, I commenced collecting the information from the native
fishermen. But it strikes me there will be very little practical use

in my swelling my 1 k with what anyone can learn just as well

direct from them. Moreover, it is difficult for any book to make
a man independent of local aid in sea-fishing; for there are certain
places in the sea that hold certain tisb, while other places hold
none, and he will still want the local fishermen, who know the
spots, and the guiding landmarks, to anchor him immediately "Vet
these favoured spots. Beingy« /;/'»/•->■ reliant, therefore, on the native
fishermen for locality, he may as well leave them to supply bait,
lines, and everything else.

Chanos Salmoneus.

One sea-fish, however, I will mention briefly, because, though no1

to be caught with rod and line that I know of, it. in its own way.

"218 fishing in Estuaries. Chapt. xvii.

shows really exciting sport. Acclimatized to water that is very
slightly brackish, it runs to 20 or 30 lbs. in a pond at Cundapur,
and having the repute of having been reserved by Hyder for his
own use, it has ever since been protected, and going by the
name of Hyder's fish, is believed to be a freshwater fish, im-
ported and put there by Hyder. I entertain no doubt, however,
that the fry introduced themselves through a breached sluice
from the adjoining estuary, and that, on the sluice being per-
manently closed, they gradually got acclimatized to the watei
growing less and less salt. Now they breed there freely. Being
satisfied this must be the explanation, I showed a peon a stulli-d
specimen, and, impressing every detail of its form on him, and
making him repeat them with his back to the fish, ami selecting
the month in which I thought it most probable that the (Jl
stiliiKiiirus would enter the estuaries to spawn, and allowing time
for the fry to hatch and grow before going to sea, I sent the
peon to the estuary, not the pond, to catch some fry and take
them to another lake, the bigger Karkal Lake. He found them
as predicted, and introduced fifty in the Karkal Lake, bringing
me back specimens in spirits that I might be satisfied there had
been no mistake.

The full grown fish are caught in the pond in a singular
manner.

Ordinary drag nets are connected till they are together long
enough to stretch right across the pond ; but not a single fish of
this description is by any chance ever caught in this net; its sole
use is to frighten them. Behind this net comes a long row of
small canoes tied to the drag net at short intervals, so that the
hauling of the drag net shall keep them in their places close behind
the drag net. On the thwarts in these canoes stand men extending
B similar net in the air, at about the angle of 45° from the water, to
the greatest heighl they can reach. Thus arranged, the line proceeds,
and the fish, frightened by the drag net in the water, endeavour to
Leap over it. and in bo doing fall into the net spread in the air. It
is a sight to see a silvery salmon-like lish of 20 pounds or there-
abouts face the line with a spring that clears boats and standing
men and up-raised nets. Sometimes he haps against the net
close to the boatman, or even hits him and brings him down like .i
nine-pin, a sort of tumbling that the fishermen seem to enjoy it

( ii.um. \vn. Ckanos Salmoiiei L' 10

the fish is Becuied, and the eventual victory lies with them.
Altogether it is a pretty and somewhat exciting scene to witness,
ially if the spectator be himself under fire.

They are such magnificent fish that it is a thousand pities they
cannot be taken with a rod and line. 1 have tried spinning and th-
in vain. They have a mouth like a -icy mullet and might, perhaps,
be similarly tempted with a rag worm. But 1 should not be
hopeful, for the grey mullet also are very difficult to take with
a bait, as is well known.

It may be noticed in passing that the acclimatization of salt
water tish to fresh water is no uncommon occurrence. There are
ponds in the sand strip between the sea and river at Mangalore
in which the water is fresh, and Yet they contain several distinct
species of purely sea fish that have lived and spawned there for
more than eight years. The salmon, shad, and bilfla, for instance,
change every year from sea to fresh water, and trout are found at
sea. So there is nothing extraordinary in the Clutnos satmcmeus
taking kindly to fresh water.

CHAPTER XVIII.

ROD AND TACKLE.

" A.way to the brook,

All jour tackle out-look,

Here's u day that is worth a year's wi-hing ;

See that all things be right.

For 'twould be a spite

To want tools when a man goes a-fishing." —

Cotton.

I began my fishing in India with rough and ready self-made
articles ; accordingly, in my first edition, I began this Chapter with
instructions how any brother fishermen in like distress might set
himself up with an impromptu self-made kit. T think it was a
mistake. Such a kit is sure to be a bad one, sure to lead only to
terrible disasters and disappointments in any hut the most skilful
hands, and not unfmptently even in those. Practised hands will
know how to make up makeshifts without my telling them ; others
should not venture on using them. Bather let them be careful to
buy the best implements to aid them in their first efforts.

The hunks required for Mahseer fishing will, as far as the fly

fishing is concerned, be the same as fur Salmon

fishing, to wit, Limerick hooks, but in ordering

them you will please not forget the caution given at page 94, and

will refer your tackle-maker to my Plate VIII.

But for spinning you will require a very different style of treble
hook to the sort ordinarily used for spinning in England, you will
require one made specially Eor Mahseer. The sizes of Mahseer
trebles are the same as those of other treble hooks as given in
Plate VII, but Mahseer trebles are made of very much stouter wire.
A tackle-maker accustomed to supply Indian tackle will know
what you mean if you call them Mahseer trebles; but from ordinarj
tackle-makers you might just as well a^k for the man in the moon,

i ii U'T. win Mahseer Hooks. 221

and expect to get him out by the next overland parcel post. Sou
will have tn tell them that it is the treble hook called by the hook
makers extra-stout The ordinary tackle-maker, who is not edn
oated tn thr supply of Indian tackle, is sure to have none of these
hunks in his Bhop. He never deals in them, has prohably never
seen them, and does not know how to order them of the hook
maker, even if he sees them. Tell him they are railed extra stout,

BS 1 said above, and that such hooks you must have. It will
-lii.ik his sensibilities doubtless, his refined eye recoiling from
anything bo clumsj .

Moreover, he considers it no compliment to oiler such a hook tn
a sportsman, as if lie had not fine enough hand tn kill a fish on an
ordinary hook ; and. indeed, it might be considered an insult, if the
juill of the fish was the only tiling to he afraid of. But that is not
the difficulty at all, it is the very unusual power of compression
exercised by the Mahseer, the violent chop with which he seizes
his fish, that crushes an ordinary treble hook before you feel your
fish at all, as explained at length in Chapter IV.

My readers being mainly Indians, some of whom had come
out to India without ln-inu' innoculated with

Tuokle shops. . . .

the fishing virus, 1 telt m my former edition
that they, some of them, might not know where to look for tackle
shops; and in those days, the days of my first edition, few tackle-
makers knew anything about Mahseer, and the special hooks
needed for them. It was specially due to my readers, therefore,
that I should mention shops in which these hooks were kept. 1
mentioned, therefore, C. Farlow, 191, Strand ; and Bowness, 230,
strand, as the only ones I knew. Since then, however, letters to the
"Field" have been frequent, and much more is known to tackle-
makers generally about Mahseer, ami perhaps my little book itself
has added its mite to spread the knowledge; and anglers have
talked to their tackle-makers so that it would seem invidious at
this date to single out and mention any particular shops, as if thej
were the only ones that could supply the proper articles. Any
tackle-maker that you are accustomed to deal with can equally
supply you, if only you will be at the pains, in ordering, to suffi-
ciently particularize tin- tackle, ami especially the hooks, as I have
set them down for you. Of course I am writing only for such as
need such aid. It is of no use your simply referring your tackle-

222 Rod and Thckle. < 'iiait. xvrn.

maker to this book, unless you are going to lend or give him a
copy : for unless lie has a large Indian trade, it will not pay him
to buy it. But if you will only particularize carefully, and I have
done all I can to help you, you can continue to deal with your old
friends. But if you will not be troubled to particularize, perhaps,
you had better go to those who are likely to be in the way of
supplying Mahseer tackle, always warning them, however, that you
don't want a "Mahseer rod" for Mahseer, but a Salmon rod as
particularized. There may be a hundred such shops that I know
nothing of. I can only mention such as I know, that the reader
who happens to know none may be helped as far as I can help
him. In so doing, however, I don't want to tamper with your love
if your affections are already centred. My love was plighted long
ago to Fallow. He first hooked me with a proper Mahseer hook,
and then stole my heart with one of his rods. It is the special
confidant spoken of among rods. But I have poked about in other
si in] is picking up tackle lore, and paying for it by purchases.
Bowness above-mentioned understands Mahseer tackle. So does
G. Little and Co., 15, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street. He is employed
to supply the. Civil Service Co-operative Society of 28, Haymarket,
and also the Army and Navy Co-operative Stores Society, 117,
Victoria Street, Westminster, London, S.W.,sothat if you are in the
habit of going to them for other things, I suppose they, too, could
get you the proper tackle. They profess to do so in their Price Lists.
In Madras, there is the shop of Messrs. Oakes and Co., Exchange
Hall, Blacktown. They have some excellent tackle supplied by
Bowness, and some that must have been made up for Methusaleh,
"or his uncles or his aunts," and unless you go and pick for your-
self, they don't know which to give you. In Bengal. I am told,
there are three men who know how to supply the right article : —

E. B. Eodda and Co., 7 and 8, Dalhousie Square, Calcutta.

Manton and Co., 13, Old Court House Street, Calcutta.

Biswas, whose address I do not know.

Presuming presumptiously that some few of my readers will be
converted to my ideas of tackle, and will wish their tackle shop to
supply them with the things particularized, to lighten the labour of
the tackle-maker, 1 have gathered together in one place in the
index all the references that will be useful to him.

Phantom minnows should be dressed with hooks of the same

< 'ii \rr. win. Phantoms. Spoons. Split ring*

strength, the size of the phantom being from

Phkntams.

ti inches in length, tail included, with hooks

No. 4 size. I think the best phant for general use is

4 inches long, dressed with Xo. 4 hooks, ami that yen want no
other. For Bfahseer they should he mounted on stout treble L'ut ;
lor l'.a-mm, on medium gimp; for Cock-up, on stout gimp.

Spoon baits also should be mounted with the same hooks
specially for India, and should, for the reason.

'119.

already given (page 13 . be made of thicker metal
than fishing spoons ordinarily are. 1 like them as thick as a good
t nspoon, and gilt on one side, silvered on the other. The sizes
for Mahseer spoons are from two to three inches in length in the
howl. The smallest may be used when the river is very small,
and the fish run small; indeed, I have killed well in such rivers
with a spoon one and a quarter inch long. The largest size may
be used when you expect particularly big fish. But the best
spoon for general use is, 1 think, two and a half inches long, which
is just the size of an ordinary dessert spoon.

For the reasons given below in connection with rust-eaten gut,

it is desirable that the ring in the spoon to which the gut trace is

attached should be of some material that does not rust like the

steel split ring ordinarily used. Electro-plated iron or brass miglit

ibstituted with advant

And split rings must unquestionably be abhorred. They are
an abomination. Xo matter how stout they may

Split rings.

be, they are utterly untrustworthy, and are sure to
fail you with your first biji fish. Tackle-makers, even the best of
them, will use split rings, because they are so easily put on, look so
neat, and are supposed to be so convenient for the angler. I enter
against split rings the most uncompromising protest. Oh, the magni-
ficent fish they have lost me ! I cannot bear the sight of them. I
take them off and break them up the moment I see them, for I
wouldn't trust one for a single day, even when perfectly new. I
substitute a bit of brass wire a little less than the thickness of the
hook. One end goes through the eye in the point of the spoon, and
through the eye of one treble, and being brought back just loose
enough to allow the treble to play, is given with the pliers three
turns round the wire, as neatly and as close to the spoon as possible;
the other end goes through an eye of the swivel, and is similarly

224 Rod and Tackle. CHAPT. XVTH.

doubled and given three turns — a double swivel is best. The hook
at the thick end of the spoon is similarly fastened on with wire
and the hook not unfrequently added at one side of the spoon is
dispensed with, because two trebles are quite enough to ensure
the hooking of any fish that is fool enough to take the spoon into
his mouth, and more than two hooks unduly impede the spinning
of the spoon. Tackle-makers ought not to give you the trouble of
doing all this, but should send out your spoons mounted in this
trustworthy manner, or on soldered solid rings, which is a very
easy matter. In this matter of split rings I do hope, dear reader,
that you will be cunt cut to be guided by me. It is not a matter
for compromise, not a matter for argument. It is aid Ca'sar aut
nullus.

Any one who baits with a fish on one treble hook, or on a
single hook drawn home to the anus, should have
a loop at the end of his spinning trace big
enough to allow of the bait being passed through it; for the
simplest way of attaching this bait to the trace is to put the large
loop of the trace through the loop of the snood,* and then pass
the bait through the large loop. But traces are not always made
with large loops, and then the only alternative is to unhitch the
collar from the running line every time you fresh bait, and passing
the loop of the snood through one loop of the trace, then to pass
the whole trace through the loop of the snood, and bitch on to the
running line again. This is a tedious operation, and time is too
precious when fish are taking. I have, therefore, a little knot of
my own for getting over this difficulty. It is a double loop, made
of a single length of good stout salmon gut.

Commence by thoroughly well soaking your gut for a quarter
of au hour or more. Then arrange it as in Figure I, Plate XXV,
and tie a simple whip knot or common knot in it. such as is com-
monly tied al the end of a whip; a single knot, not a blood knot.
The gilt will then lie disposed as shown in Figure 2. II' in this
stage you take the trouble t<> sit that the guts tall evenly side by
side, and lint across each other, your kimt will be both tighter and
neater than it' clumsily tied. Pull the two loops, and the two ends,
till vou get all quite taut ; and then cut off the ends, and you will

* The stxxiil i* the length >>f ma. or other material, with Loop, which is attached

in the ho»k.

<^

Chapt. xviii. Soaking Ovi. 225

have a neat knot as in Figure :'■. When ueatlytied ami well pulled
together, in well soaked gut, the knot is a very neat and strong one
indeed. Of course you will arrange to have a large loop at one
end, and a small at the other A very little manipulation is
sufficient for this.

Put the end of your trace through the small loop, and then
pass the big loop through the trace Loop, and you have then
furnished your trace with a large loop of double salmon gut
big enougli to pass any bait, and strong enough to hold any fish;
stronger, probably, than your spinning trace, which is seldom made
of such Btrone tnit.

Thoroughly soaking your gut, before tying any km its in it, is a

precaution inculcated in all hooks on angling; but
Soaking gut. . .

it is very much more important to attend to this

in India than it is in England, because in a tropical clime the gut
is much more dry and brittle, and consequently cracks more easily.
But if the gut is soaked in cold water till it is quite soft and limp,
there is no fear.

It' your trace, your phantom, or fly collar, has been much
doubled up in your book or case, I would suggest well wetting and
straightening it in the river, before trusting it with a heavy fish.
Indeed, I would suggest well wetting it whether it has been so
doubled up or not, for the fish may give it an uncanny turn, and I
have lost two good fish in an evening, and that on treble gut fresh
from England, solely from the gut being dry and brittle and easily
broken. Always soak your gut thoroughly, therefore, both before
tying, and before fishing, Do not trust to your not getting a run
the first half dozen casts, and your line being by that time well
soaked and pliable, but soak before endangering it at all. Ami if
you have a man with you, as elsewhere recommended, always keeping
a second hook ready baited for you, take care that that snood is well
soaked. Do not let him hang it out to dry in his hand or keep it in his
pocket, but have him drop it into the bait-can when ready, and let it
Boak there till wanted. I always put my spinning trace and two
flights of hooks into the bait-can before starting for the riverside,
so that, by the time I reach the fishing-ground, they are soft from
having been well soaked and 1 can begin fishing with them with-
out delay. Another simple plan is to steep a pocket-handkerchief in
water, half wring it out, and wrap your tackle in it before starling.
the hod in [sni. y

226 Rod and Tackle Cbapt. xvnt.

A constant source of disappointment in India is the swivels
rusting, and eating into the gut to which they are

Rust-eaten gut. . , 5' , , 7 . .

tied, and the gut consequently giving tliere when

you get a heavy fish. If they have been put by for a fortnight,
always try them in your hand before risking them. Don't be
afraid of breaking them, it is much better that you should do so
yourself and re -tie, than that a fish should break it for you, and
carry away your phantom, or spoon into the bargain. But well
soak before testing, or you do not give the gut fair play, and it
may crack from brittleness at the double, though it would be strong
enough after being soaked. Test with an even strain, not a jerk.
Why on earth swivels, which are meant to be amphibious, are
almost always made of a material that will not
stand the water without rusting, is a thing I never
could make out. The only excuse for it is that they can be made
finer of such a hard material as steel, than of anything else. This
is all very fine, but it is an advantage which is more than counter-
balanced in India, and the sea, by their rapidly rusting; audit
brass swivels cannot be made small enough, or galvanized iron is
too soft a material to run well in a swivel, then I would suggest
swivels made of steel in the centre bit, and of brass al each end ;
so that the two eyes to which the gut is tied should be of a
material that does not rust and corrode the gut. At any rate it is
an easy plan to have your swivels electro-plated, the gut at each
end is then tied to silver, not iron, and is saved from being rust-
eaten, that is, if the plating is thick enough. 1 had such from
Farlow; they looked beautiful, and were so for a time, but from
thinness in the plating it was soon worn through, and the rust
commenced doing its work again. They should he liberally electro-
plated, at least at the two ends ; a little wax over the centre would
easily prevent the plating from settling on and clogging the work-
ing centre. My idea, is that the action of rust is more rapid in a
tropical country than in England; at any rate it is much i
provoking and remarked in a country where you cannot replenish
for want of a tackle shop, and consequently it should be the better
provided against. Brass in steel, or rev versd, ran better than any
other metals. The ordinary plan is to use two swivels on a b
with a length of gut between; but swivels are now made double,

and such a double swivel immediately over your spoon or phantom,

I'nvrr. .win. Hooks Drawing, 227

close home to the origo malt, in short, should thoroughly prevent
w>ur line from twisting.

The sizes of swivels are as follow : —

No. 1 0 single swirel ia •;,', of an inch long.

1

.. IS

« ,.

» H

3 „

.. H

*

.. a

5

.. H

8

.. «

7

.. U

B

.. -1*

'.'

.. A

0

_7

The double swivels, being made of two s\\ ivels linked together,
are nearly double these lengths, and are similarly numbered from
1 0 to 9. The sizes most convenient for Mahseer are, in my opinion,
Xos. 3 and 4.

Hooks draw dreadfully in India, from the great heat drying up
and shrinking tin ■ -m, as well as slackening the

Hooks drawing. .... , .

silk tying, and making the wax as brittle as resin.
Every fisherman in India should be ready to re-tie his hooks afresh
after any length of time ; and every tackle-maker should take
precautions in making up Indian tackle, which he does not con-
descend to do with English tackle. Two hundred years ago,
careful old Izaak Walton advised one to singe the end of the gut
before tying a fly, and this should always be done with trout flies
for Indian use. It is neglected because flies are tied in the day-
light, when a candle is not at hand, and because it is considered
unnecessary. But for India it is necessary, however good the fly
tyer, and should never be neglected, or at least the gut should be
flattened between the teeth.

1: salmon flies for Indian use, the same precaution should be
taken ; or the simpler one- of tying a common knot in the gut.
There is so much thickness of body in a salmon By that this knot
is concealed under it, and is not noticeable, as it woidd be in a
-mall trout fly.

With a treble hook, the obvious plan is to double the gut, and
hring it half way w\> the other side of the hook. It is impossible
fur it to slip then. All nights of spinning tackle, and all minnows

THE BOD IN INDIA. Q 2

228 Rod and,Taekle. < iiapt. xviii.

mounted with treble hooks, should invariably be tied with this care
for a tropical clime. But, except where one treble is placed below
another in a flight, it is best to have eyed trebles.

" K.," in his interesting letter (" Field," 9 October, 1869, and
copied below) on Mahseer fishing on the Poonch,
says the winch should be capable of holding
200 yards of running line. And " Barkis," writing to the " Field,"
6 July, 1878, is not content with less than 250 yards ; but I find
Colonel Parsons agrees with me that 120 yards is ample, and he
speaks of 50 lb. fish. And K.'s biggest fish, see Chapter XXIV, in
the Poonch did not run out more than 100 yards. There may be
singular occasions when a big fish wants more than 120 yards, and
you are not in a boat, so that you can follow, or are hemmed in by
forest, so that you cannot move after him along the shore, and the
home he is making for is far from where you hooked him ; but
such are very singular occasions I am satisfied. Much of your
enjoyment in fishing depends on having in your hands a rod yo\i
can work with comfortable ease. The winch is not the least part
of the weight, and if you enlarge your reel, and double the length
and weight of your running line, fishing becomes a labour instead of
a pleasure. I do not see the wisdom of making all your sport a
labour for the possible chance of falling in with a fish that, in very
exceptional circumstances, might want a most exceptionable amount
of line. I would rather fall out with such an exceptionable cha-
racter. I would rather break my line with one such fish in 1,000,
or, perhaps, it would be nearer the mark to say there is only one
such fish in several thousands. I would rather deliberately break
with such a fish than take the cream off all my sport with the
other 999, 1 have never had to do it yet. Of course I have been
broken again and again, who has not, but it has always been in the
first violent rush, never for want of running line, and I use, and
commend to your use, 120 yards.

Will you consider for a moment ; a fish does not ordinarily set
out fin- the next county the moment he is hooked, his object on
such occasions is not foreign travel but his own village. He is
frightened at the novel feeling of restraint, exerts all his strength
to rush from it, and his object is to seek shelter in his home, which,
with a Mahseer, is ordinarily the deepest part of the very pool in
or near which von have hooked him. He has left that shelter for

Chapt. win. Ltngth of Bumming Lint. 229

the shallow, or the run, in search of food, and only aims at return-
ing to it ; or, perhaps, he has nol Left it. and it La there you hooked
him, and he has do definite ideas of where to go ; he just wants to
make a short rush to shake off the restraint, the thing that is holding

him, and then he will return to his home.

Consequently a fish dues not usually take out all your line,
and expend all his strength, in one rush X" one lias told him
that your line is only so many yards in length, and that it' he will
only | re, he must come to the end of it. and break it; on

that subject his mind is a blank, so he ordinarily confines himself
to the limits of tlie pool in which you have hooked him, and
rushes up and down that ; so that you lose and recover and re-use
the same length of line many limes in the course of one tight.
And if by any chance he does come to the end of your line, the
course is simple. I confess I once had a fish take me so very
near the end of my 120 yards of line that I kept anxiously
watching the reel to see if it would hold out, and had to make ap
my mind what I would do if it didn't. If something must be
broken, the choice is obvious, let it be the line, not the rod. The
course, then, is simple ; lower the top of your rod till it is in a
straight line with your line, till all the strain is taken off the rod,
and goes through the ring straight from the reel to the fish. There
hold on, but don't despair yet. Of course you then have on the
very utmost strain you can possibly put on, and it is death or
victory. After running out 120 yards of well contested line, the
odds are it will be victory; you will turn him, and if he will only
go in any direction but straight away from you you ale saved I
hope I am not romancing, but citing from the tables of real
memory, I think 1 am, that either 1 or one of my friends have
thus been victors at the last tug. At any rate, I know there's
a firm conviction in my mind that the die-hards in life not
unfreiiuently live through it. But if the worst comes to the

t, and you are broken, it is pretty certain that the break will
be in the snood or trace — most probably in the snood that has geen
most wear. There is also another view of the position, the
unpractical perhaps, but the romantic one. The e, or

idea of the existence, of a remote possibility of a tug as a last hope,
remote though thi ! rabihty be, is just the little risk thai

spice to your sport. Sport reduced to a certainty is sport robbed ol

230 Bod and Tackle. Chapt. xvnt

its essence. H., whom I have quoted elsewhere, was such a thorough
sportsman that he would never keep a head, however fine, thai
was not shot with what he called "the toy," the other rifles, which
were the usual weapons of ordinary mortals, were never used by
him, except at elephant and bison, and, in cases of emergency,
with bear, &c. ; but any deer shot unadvisedly with what he was
pleased to term scornfully a " blunderbus " was a head to be given
away, got out of sight as an unsportsmanlike thing to be ashamed
of. The chances are your 120 yards will never be run clean out
and broken, and, even if they are, it is certainly very much more
enjoyable, and perhaps just a trifle more sportsman-like to run
those remote chances.

The amount of line a winch will hold, depends very much on
the description of line you use. The same reel will hold nearly
twice as much of the cotton twine recommended for Mahseer
fishing as it will of the india-rubber coated plaited silk, which is
both more expensive and more bulky. To avoid repetition, therefore,
it is perhaps better that I should give the sizes of winches when
speaking of running line.

I would recommend the invariable use of a check reel in
preference to an old-fashioned simple reel. When you have just
the length of cast you wish to throw, the check on the reel keeps
the line at the same length ; whereas, without the check, it is
liable to run out a few inches each cast, and thus throw you out,
and trouble you. The noise of the check 'gives you immediate
notice of your having a fish on, and, what is of more importance
than anything, it makes the reel cease to revolve directly the fish
ceases to pull ; whereas, if it goes on revolving as a wheel or
common reel from the impetus given to it, it will take a turn or
two more after the fish has ceased running, and your running line
will get wound the wrong way, and the chances are that if your fish
makes another dart of it, there will be a hitch in the line, and your
fish will break away. The best winches are termed revolving plate
winches. In them the handle has no separate elbow round which
the line is apt to gel bitched, but is let into the plate which revolves.
Winches are made of all sizes, increasing by a quarter of an inch
in each size from 2 inches to 5 inches in diameter, and after that
the breadth is increased, and I have seen a specially made one
very much bigger than 5 inches in depth. If you trill have a mile

('iiAi'i. xvni. Running Lines. 231

of line m a weighty winch it can be arranged thai the winch shall
be fitted into a belt* bo that the weight may come on the waist,
not the hands. But a winch with a plate of 5 inches in diameter,
Mini a breadth widened in ~\ inches, will hold 250 yards of
Manchester ('niton Twine Spinning Company's thick line, and you
surely cannot want more than that. But I Bee beautiful lines a
trifle, if anything, cheaper are also made by the Manchester ( lotton
Twine Spinning Company. One that I have of 60 yards tapered at
both ends looks perfection, and 1 sec them highly Bpoken of in the
Field " by correspondents, but 1 have not yet tested mine. Foi
rach a line a winch of 2J inches in diameter, and 1 inch broad,
inside incasuivnii'iit, will suffice. For heavy fish, such as Salmon
or Mahseer, 1 find nothing to compare^with the lines of the above
Company; though they are objected t<> as ten still', and Liable, if
badly packed, t" break like a wire. They make lilies of all suits.
and the one they recommend for Mahseer is their No. 5 " 16 plait
Egyptian enamel waterproof" at 2s. per score of yards. They
make this No. 5 of six sizes, to wit, 5, 4, 63, 64, 84, and 600, which,
for brevity sake, 1 will term No. f, No. -J-, No. -£%, No. -fa, No. ^T.
;""' -N>"- irhf- Of these —

No. £ is so thick that no one would think of using it except
when in very rough weather he wanted a specially weighty line to
enable him to east against a strong wind.

\o. -f is the next thickest, and is the thickest ordinary size.
In their letter to me the Company call it "heavy Salmon."

No. -Jj is the next in thickness, it is what many use for
Salmon and Mahseer. I suppose we may call it ordinary Salmon
line.

No. ~'T. the next size, which is a trifle, only a trifle, finer must,
I suppose, be called light Salmon, though it is very little lighter
than No. ^. This is the line I have used, and prefer. It is
stron- enough to kill any .Mahseer in Hindustan on a rod, and
120 yards of it will just go comfortably into a :.'.i-iuch reel;
whereas, if you take the line before it, No. fe, you will want to in-
crease your reel to 4 inches. No. ^'T is the line I have in view
in my recommendations tor winches at the close of this chapter.

No. 1pTi their next Bize "f this style of "16 plait Egyptian
enamel waterproof" is called by the Company "strong trout."
And—

232 Rod and Tackle. Chapt. xvm.

No. -$%-$ is finest plait trout.

Of these last two I can say nothing from experience after
practical trial ; but from the samples sent, what they are pleased
to term " strong trout " seems to me strong enough, as far as
strength goes, to kill Mahseer, but perhaps not the best weight for
throwing a treble gut cast. If your habit is to use a single gut
cast, as " Doon " does, it would be heavy enough and strong
enough, and of course you could get more yards on a reasonably
sized winch. These 16 plait lines cost 2s. per score of yards.

There is no getting anything out of them without previously
paid cash, which it is difficult to manage in India, when you do
not know the exact price. Your tackle-maker ought, however, to
arrange this for you.

In the way nf running line there is nothing nicer for light fly-
fishing than plaited silk, coated with india-rubber,
Running Line.

and use 30 yards.

Of all your lines be careful that they do not rot from being

put away wet.

For gut, too, I could wish that some fisherman, who has time

on his hands, would give the tussa silkworm (An-
Gut. \

//urn a Paphia) a trial. It is more than twice the

size of the ordinary silkworm; and the Atlas moth (Attn ma

Atlas) is still larger. I am inclined to think a thicker and

stronger piece of gut, for Salmon and Mahseer fishing, might be

got out of them. The process of manufacture is simple enough,

apparently, for, if what one reads be true, you have only to take

the worm, when, from a piece of silk hanging from his nose, you

see he meditates spinning, and put him into a closed jar of vinegar,

and let him pickle therein, fur some six hours in a tropica] climate,

more in a colder; then break him open, and taking one of the two

guts, stretch it between finger and thumb, and keep it stretched

across a plank, by hitching the rods into niches, or round pins or

tacks, and put it into the sun to dry.

From "Shifts and Expedients of Gamp Life, Travel, and

Exploration," by W. B. Lord and 'I'. Bains, I quote the following: —

"Silkworm gut can also 1>< • obtained wherever silk-spinning worms
" are met with. To make it, a number nf the caterpillars are to be
" collected just prior to their time of spinning. These are to bo.

ciimt. xvui. Silkworm Out. 233

•' placed in a pot or other convenient vessel, containing a mixture of
" vinegar and water in eqnal quantities: thej are ihen to be covered
" down and allowed to stand for about twelve hours. A worm may
" then be taken out, opened, and tested as to its fitness for drawing.
" If, in polling the yellowish green coils which will be found within
" it to their full extent and extreme, they break from softness of
•• texture, the worm must be allowed to remain in the vessel some time
" longer, the temperature having much to do with the condition of
•■ the pickled insects. When the coils are found to be tough, and
" stand stretching fully out, one end of the strand must be placed in
" a slit made in the end of a thin board or sheet of bark prepared for
" the purpose. This strand is now to be drawn and stretched to the
" other end of the board, in which corresponding slits have been made,
•' when the extremity of the gut is secured in one of them. When all
•• the worms have been thus treated, the stretching board is to be
" placed in the sun, in order that the gut may dry, which it usually
" does in about twelve hours. It will now be found that a considerable
" quantity of yellow substance will remain adhering to the gut. This
" must be removed, and in order to do so dissolve a common piece of
" soap, about the size of a musket-ball, in a gallon of rain-water.
" Place this, with the gut in it, in a boiler, and boil it for ten minutes,
" when the gut must be turned out in a cloth to drain. Before
" cooling, each strand must be lightly and smartly drawn through a
" pledge of cotton held between the finger and thumb, which will
•• at once strip off the yellow coating : but great care must be taken
" not to press the softened strand hard enough to make it flat or
" curled. As fast as the strands are tud through the cotton they
" must be replaced on the board, and again dried in the sun, after
" which the}- can be selected as to size, quality, length, etc., and
■• packed up in hanks by twisting cotton or any other kind of thread
'■ round them."

The advantages which 1 suppose these worms to possess ovi t
the ordinary silkworm are, thai they are larger, and will probablj
yield much larger guts ; also that they are indigenous to the
country, and do not require to be fed on mulberry leaves, or
other choice food, but on the wild tree leaves en which tiny are
found.

More or less objection is taken by silk-spinners to both these
worms, on the ground that the silk is difficult to reel, by reason of
its being stuck together by such a strong gummy substance, that

234 Rod and Tackle. Chapt. xvni.

diluted sulphuric acid is recommended for mixing with water in
which the cocoon of the tussa silkworm is boiled ; and of the
Attain* Alio* it is .said "the silk is difficult to reel, though it
yields partially if boiled in vinegar." But this very objection
becomes a decided recommendation from a fisherman's point of
view, for the stronger the gluten the less likely the gut is to
fray in water, as ordinary silkworm gut will when worn.

To aid recognition by those who do not know the tussa
silk-motb, I quote an extract from a description by Dr. Sliortt,
F.L.S., F.Z.S., etc., of Madras :— " The male and female moths differ
" in size, the male measuring from the tip of one wing to the other
" between 4 and 5 inches, whilst the female measures from 6 to
" 7 inches in expanse of wing ; both are of a uniform yellowish
" brown, having a couple of lunated transparent talc-like spots on
" each wing, and it is chiefly in the form of these spots that they
" differ from other ninths of the same kind."

An exhaustive history of these and other silkworms, their food
and culture, will be found in an official report on "Silk in India,"
by J. Geoghegen, Under-Secretary to the Government in India,
Department of Agriculture, Revenue, and Commerce, and published
at the Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing,
Calcutta.

I'm- llv fishing fur the smaller fish a light single-handed rod

nf Id feet in length is the luxury. You shmdd

have an extra top in case of accidents, and a

short stout spinning top is an advantage ; not that you will use it

for spinning in India, but for bottom fishing for Labeos, as stated in

Chapter XII.

For Mahseer, however, you want a double-handed salmon rod
and 16 feet is quite long enough. 1 have had 17 feet and 19 feet,

and prefer ll> feet.

The Irish rods, with splices instead of ferrules, play the best
Prom em! to end, if you will be troubled with putting them
together, and if you will also do s,. thoroughly tightly, so that thej
are like one piece; hut most fishermen will not he <n bothered in
s]iiie of their proverbial patience.

On no account buy a rod with a screvi inside the ferrule; the
screw always wears, and then the rings do not come in Hue, and
the joints are always stiff and unbend

Chatt. win. The Maimer Bod 235

An ordinary ferruled rod is the general favourite, and though
glue dissolves in the damp, and wood shrinks in the drought, of a
climate which runs to extremes, still, if the ferrules are all ri vetted
inside and outside, as a good rod should be, they will stand. Kline
have had a pretty lively experience, in as much as 135 inches of

rainfall in two months, and have consequently had a constant

glue-melting atmosphere, besides a very bone-drying one at other

times.

But be very careful how you choose your rod, for it is to be
your best friend in Mahseer fishing. < »n no account huy one of

those stiff, almost pike, rods ordinarily advertised as Mahseer rods.
I know there are those who commend them, and that it is on that
account that they are so made and SO styled. I suppose, also, that
the commenders thereof are held to be law-givers in the matter of
rods, or the trade would not follow them. < >ne such writes to the
"Field," under the oame of " Barkis," and I will not do his view of
the ease the (injustice not to state it fully. I will also give you
the opinions of another writer, equally unknown to me, a
writer to the " Asian," under the name of " Doon," one, however,
whom I gauge from his writings to be an expert. lie entirely
disagrees with " Barkis," and goes further even than myself in the
opposite direction. While you read what " Barkis " says about

rods, complete his argument by noting also what fearfully heavy
tackle he has to use on his still' roil, nine strand gut traces ! Hi-
rods are, in my humble opinion, specially designed to smash anj
ordinary tackle. I argue as I have argued above, that it is not the
heavy fish, hut the heavy rod, the barge pole, that smashes the
tackle. But I will not repeat the argument, I will rather beg
your re-reading of it in this connection, and the tackle-makers
reading of it asset forth on page 4 o. I will only add to those
remarks that all the experience and talent of England, Scotland,
Ireland, Norway, and Canada has devised i-i the capture of a fish,

the salmon, that shows much and runs up to 70 lhs. 01

thereabouts in weight, a thin;.; called a salmon rod, certainly not ,,
died Mahseer rod ; and no proper reason has been shown to my
thinking why a fish, the Mahseer, thai exhibits the selfsame
qualities, in a somewhat higher degree, should be best captured by
an implement devised on opposite principles. I hold that the
principle adopted by all the salmon fishing skill of the world is the

236 Rod and Tad I > . ( 'iiapt. xviii.

right principle, the one to be adopted also for the Mahseer ; in other
words, that there is no better implement for the capture of Mahseer
than a salmon rod. But as the activity and strength of the salmon
is somewhat intensified in the first violent rush of the Mahseer, SO
the principle of the salmon rod, its pliability, should be somewhat
intensified in the Mahseer rod.

In brief, I hold that the best Mahseer rod is a pliable, but not
top-heavy, salmon rod of 16 feet in length. For portability, I like
it in the usual four joints, and of my two, I very much prefer the
lighter one, by Farlow. You should have an extra top in case of
accidents.

Fish that are less active than the Salmon and the Mahseer
may, like the pike, be safely killed on a stiff pike top. Such fish
are the Marral and the Freshwater Sharks of Chapter XIII, and the
Cock-up. If you want a shorter an 1 stiffer rod for the throwing
out of a heavy bait in pike trolling fashion, it is easily managed by
having a third extra and very short lip to your pliable salmon rod.
With such a top your 16 feet pliable salmon rod will become a
12^ feet trolling rod.

For the Barilius bula, or Indian trout, may be a 14 feet fly rod
is the most enjoyable.

My complement of rods is two pliable 16 feet salmon rods for
Mahseer, one of them very light for its length, two in case of
accidents, and one 10 feet trout rod. The complement is doubths>
incomplete without a 14 feet fly rod, only somehow I have always
been thinking some one might possibly give me one on my birth-
day ! !

I will now quote " Barkis " as promised. The "Field," 6th July,
1878:—

" Avoid the ordinary black salmon rod of the London maker ; it is
'• a delusion and a snare. 1 broke five of them in a fortnight, all by
" good makers. The fact is the wood won't stand the climate, and
•'gets as brittle as sealing-wax. After many trials of rods of every
" description, I decided in my own mind what was the besl rod to get
'" for Mahseer, and I came home and got it. I took it out. used it hist
" season, and handed it over to a friend, who wrote to me last mail
" and said it was 'the best rod in Asia;' and I think he was about
"right. My friends in Crooked Lane made it for mo, an 1* feet
" greenheart, in two joints, with a splice and a spare top (the latter

Chapt. xvni, Barkis' Views. -'■'<>

" much stouter than that of an ordinary salmon rod'), and standing
■' rings all the way op both joint-s.

• • * •

" I shall now recapitulate the various articles I have mentioned,
" with a few additions: —

" One 18 feet spinning rod.

" One 18 feet fly rod.

" Two 5-inch metal reels (a spare one is always necessary),

"one smaller reel for fly.
" Two 250 yards plaited silk lines.
" One 150 yards silk and hair line.
" Four nine-strand traces,
" Four treble gut traces.
" Twelve gilt spoons, of sizes varying from 1£ inch to

■■ -\ inches,
" Six phantoms from 3 inches to 6 inches, ordinary trout

" colour, or blue and silver for choice.
" Six natural bait traces.
" A casting net.

" Two hanks of gut, one salmon, one strongish trout gut.
" A reel of copper wire.
" A box of spare triangles of sizes.
■ A {vw spare swivels.
" Some cobbler's wax.
•" Some leads of sizes.
" Some split shot.
" Some whipping sili:.
'• Some small hooks for bottom fishing.
" A 10 feet trout rod, a reel, and some 80 yards of line for

" the same purpose.
" A landing net.
" A baiting needle.
" Some spare standing rings.
" Small bottle of linseed oil.
" Small bottle of Rangoon oil.

A scale, up to 60 lbs.
" A japanned tin box, with trays for holding tackle."

Against the above, I now quote " Doon's" views ("Asian," 30
September, 1879), with the principle of which I cannot but entirely
agree. His principles and mine an' fully in unison, and it is ;i

238 Bod and Tackle. i'n u>t. xviii.

matter of choice whether you prefer his 14 feet or my 16 feet
pliable fly rod for Mahseer : —

" You will easily understand that advice as to kit, etc., must vary,
" uot only to suit means, but for many other reasons.

" A strongly-made man could wield a rod for hours, which would
" be a simple nuisance to a light frame, and some may go in only for
" ' big ' fish, and consider it almost waste of time to be hooking 6 or
" 7 lbs.

" No special rule, therefore, can possibly be given. Keep in
" mind your means and your strength, and buy your rods and tackle
" accordingly.

" I give my ' turn out ' for the benefit of what I termed light-
" framed men.

" 1. A double-handed trout rod, by Farlow, one I can just use for
" half a dozen throws single-handed.

" 2. A single-handed trout rod, by Farlow, rather a long rod,
" and one that it is pleasanter to use with both hands than with one.

" 3. A light single trout rod.

" I doubt if the above will suit every one. In tackle, too, there
" will be a difference of opinion — some holding with me that light
" tackle, and plenty of line will land almost any fish in almost any
"water; others preferring treble, and even ' six-strand ' casts; the
" latter I term ' cables.' No fish ought to break such things, but I
" know they do! Woe to me for my presumption! but I put the
" blame entirely on the holder of the rod !

" For rod No. 1, I have some 80 to 90 yards of good ' Tussa ' silk
" line. Almost always a good single gut salmon cast, and with that
" rarely lose a fish. The ' Tussa ' line is a grand line. It will not do
" for spinning, but for ' fly ' it is splendid. Not only is it strong, but
" it has a quality little known probably, and still less appreciated —
" strcfi-hii Try a bit and see how beautifully it yields.*

" This quality is a grand gain in hooking a fish. The sudden
" ' jerk' on the rod with a line that will not give is entirely avoided,
" and many a rod-top and trace saved, and many a valuable fly, and
" the fish too ! I may say here, to show the double-handed trout rod
" is capable of good sound work, that a 44 lbs., 3G lbs., two fish over
" 30 lbs., and several hundred (1 can safely say, for I have had the
" rod over 12 years) lesser fish confirm its capabilities. Therefore, for
"a light-framed man, what we call a 'salmon rod' is simply a
" burden. Could he wield it comfortably, he would land his fish sooner,

* I »i~li I knew the Tussa line, it Bounds excellent.

( 'h lpt. win. /' \'a V

" but ve.ur humble servant prefers the Lighter rod, and the lighter
tackle, not only because it L,'ives more play, but because it is more
■• — what shall I say F — ' scientific.' It is a real pleasure to land a big
■" Gab on light tackle. I know nothing more exciting, bar the charge
" of a ' devil ' boar or a fighting tiger.

"On rod No. - there are fully 70 yards of good 'Cotton Twine
'• Spinning Co.V line, and a cast of 'lake trout' gut, and you can
" Laugh, if yon are careful, at the efforts <>f a l11 to 1- lbs.

" The little rod has not, of course, pretensions to much, but a 6 or
" 7-pounder has a bad time of it, and generally comes to grief.

" This you may say is all 'egotism,' ' boasting,' etc., but let it not
" be taken as such. I simply show you what I believe any fairly good
" fisherman will do; simply what any man. with a fairly light hand,
"and patience 'and 'head' can accomplish, and the satisfaction
" u hen yon once reach this stage is a recompense for all one's
• troubles "

Boon, " .1- ' - ." 1st October, 1879.

" Use also, always, as flexible a rod as you can throw with. It
es a lot of ' breakages ' in rough waters, and is generally lighter,
" pleasanter to handle, and throws a fly far more neatly than any-
- thing stiff."

One or two extra eyes (brass, not glass), and two or three
dozen rings, will not come amiss for repairs in tin's distant
land.

I want a word Or two on sinkers, insignificant though the
subject maybe. They are generally sold with a

Sinkers. . .

little brass wire loop, jutting out from the lead in

which the rest is embedded when the mould is east. So far so

good. But then tackle-makers always insert into this loop an iron

split ring, whereas if they would simply knot on a small loop of

gut, it would be much better; it would not he so awkward in

baiting, for it would bend on one >ide as desired ; and it would not

stick stiffly out of the bait's mouth and show, as an iron ring

frequently does. And what if it does v. • little sooner than

iron, nothing is simpler than to knot a fresh loop. But in practice

I do not think it does wear, because there is verj little strain

on it.

If von have not the time to wait for sink>-rs from home, many

240 Rod and Tackle. < 'ii.vpt. xviii.

a native blacksmith will turn out a thing like a bullet mould, for
casting three sizes of sinkers, and that is all you want.

These sizes may be £ of an inch long in the lead, by -^ thick in
the broadest place, and £ x •£ and ^ x £ , but the medium size will
be found most useful, and next to that the smallest size.

But you cannot get more than a limited amount of lead stowed
away in a bait's inside, and for still further weighting your line very
convenient sinkers are sold in English tackle shops, consisting of a
long shaped piece of lead strung on to a short bit of line with a
loop at either end, so that it can be attached to, or detached from
the trace at pleasure. I am not sure that I would advocate the use
of this except as an additional sinker, and after having stowed
away all you can in the bait's hold ; for it is there out of sight, and
makes no splash, and is in the best position for throwing. Still, on
the other hand, the lead in the bait soon tears its way out of the
bait's stomach, breaking through the skin of it, and when your bait
is not very fresh and tough, it will be found less trouble in the end
to have the weight outside and well away from the fish. It adds
much, however, to the difficulty of throwing lightly. It thus becomes
a question, I think, for-individual choice. When fishing deep pools
for heavy fish you should have it, but in the shallower runs it is
not necessary, and is trying to your top joint.

I have one more complaint against the tackle-makers. It is
the fashion with them to bind the gut loops in the
snood and collar with silk, whereas the fastening
would be both tighter and less visible, besides lasting longer, if in
single gut it were simply knotted after well soaking the gut. In
India particularly, where whip fastenings are so liable to come
undone, from the extreme dryness of the air shrinking the gut,
spoiling the wax, and slackening the silk binding, it would lie more
satisfactory to have plain gut knots. Knots also are not liable to
fray as silk is from wear. With treble gut collars, of course, the
best fastening is the whipping with gut, which is exceedingly neat,
and durable.

In Chapter V. 1 have, for special reasons there given, recom-
mended two sorts of spinning tackle for Mahseer,

Flight of hooks. .

one a solitary treble hook, which any one can tie,
the other a lip hook and one treble, which is tied as follows. Take
the lip hook first, and with silk whip a small piece of very fine

chut. win. Flight oj Hooks. 241

gimp on to it. bo aa to Leave a Loop at the head not more than an
eighth of ;m inch Long, and another similar loop where the tail of a

fly would come, that is, at the rial of the shank and at tin' back of

the hunk. I have tried Loops of salmon gut instead as being less
easily seen than gimp; hut I was n,,t satisfied with them, because
the gut, when well soaked from fishing, becomes so limp that it

readily bends, and the result is that the snood is Dot kept in posi-
tion, loses one of its turns in the j ielding gut loops, ceases to have
two turns round the shank of the hook, and, asa conse<|Uenee, slips.
For th<' same reason the tine gimp loops should not he a hit bigger
than I have said. Having thus disposed of your lip hook, take the
snood of salmon gut or treble gut, on 'which you are going to tie
your treble hook, and pass what is to lie the treble hook end through
the loop at the head ; give it two turns round the shank of the lip
hook, or, if you like, three turns, but certainly not less than two
complete turns, and pass \\ through the tail loop, and then on to the
end tie your one No. 7 Mahseer treble hook, alter the fashion
recommended for tying treble hooks in India. Knot the usual loop
at the other end of your snood, and your flight of spinning hooks is
complete. Your lip hook will, of course, hang the same way as your
treble.

You will find that, when pulled taut, the two turns round the
lip hook keep it effectually from slipping when spinning ; and even
should you ehance to hook your fish on that hook instead of tin'
treble, it will still hold without slipping. At the same time it is
easy enough for you to adjust the length intervening between the
lip hook and the treble, by pushing the snood together, so as to
slacken the double turn round the lip hook, and you can then
work the lip hook either way. The lip hook should thus he
adjusted so as to suit the varying size of your bait, by making the
intervening space just long enough to bring the treble hook even
with the vent, when the lip hook is in the lip ; hut care should be
taken to do this when the gut is limp alter having been well
soaked, or it is liable to crack, because of the sharp turns given
to it round the shank of the lip hook.

The lip hook will he very much the better tor being an eyed lip
hook, for whipping is so untrustworthy in India. I have had the
whipping rip right up from having got rotten, and Lost a good fish
at the Last moment which 1 should have landed if 1 had had the
metal eye in the lip hook to fall back U]

THE KOI) IN INI'IA I:

242 Rod and Tackle. Ohapt. xvm.

It' you are spinning for murral or sea-fish, however, you cannot
be quite so sure of hooking with one treble, and can either add
another treble to my flight of hooks as above described, or can
adopt Francis Francis' or Pennel'a flights of pike hooks, which,
if quoted by the inventors' names, will be sufficiently described for
recognition by tackle-makers. I, however, would rather recom-
mend the use of small stout Mahseer hooks, because Indian
waters are generally bo bright, and pike hooks are so large and
formidable. For these fish, however, they should be tied on gimp,
not gut.

When I am fishing with at all a large bait, so large that it
carries the hooks well without showing, I do not mind adding a
second treble hook, so as to have one treble book half-way up the
fish, and another near about the region of the tail, but I never
have one trailing all unconcealed behind the bait, and I do not
know that this second treble is really of any use. It is more
fancy, I think, than anything else, the remains of an old creed still
clinging about one, though all reason in connection with the mate-
rial of the Mahseer's mouth, and the manner in which it seizes its
bait, argue that one treble hook is really all that is wanted; and if
more than one is superfluous, then it is objectionable, for it
certainly cannot tend to make the bait look more tempting to the
fish. Keep then, as a rule, to no more hooks for our bright water-
than are absolutely necessary, to wit, One lip honk and one treble.

In consequence of hooks rusting so quickly in India, and the
difficulty of replenishing vour stock, t lie prudent

Preserving Tackle. J l ° J ....

man will perhaps take extra precautions which
I confess I never had the time for. A thin coating of shellac
varnish put over your hooks, swivels, traces, and flights of
hooks, and heads of flies, will exclude the air, and thus preserve
them from rust. It is recommended that the same should be done
again on putting away used tackle I believe the Waj to do it is
to dip your hooks and tackle in the Tarnish, and then hang them
on a thread stretched crosswise. If laid on the table, of Course
they will stick to it.

\\\ flies I always kept in a tin box of sandalwood sawdust.
The oil in the sawdust kept the hooks from rusting ; the smell pre-
erved the feathers from being moth-eaten

Shellac varnish is easily made. Lat is p amble in any

Chapt. xviii. Rotttn Lima. It 243

native bazaar in India. Put it in a tightly corked bottle with
spirita Time does the rest Hade thick, il is liquid glue ; thin, it
ia varnish Naphtha is the spirit orclinarily used in England as
the cheapest, but spirits of wine, or any highly rectified spirit, will
do as well

Four running line must be scrupulously dried everyday you
use it. Never put it away damp, unless you want it "rotten as
" pears," to fail you with the first run-away fish This 1 never
Degleoted to see to myself. Dry it after morning fishing; dry it

:i after evening fishing. There are things sold for this purpose

but I always found the hacks of tWO i hairs, or the eves of the

udahs, or something else handy enough.

Wax you must have. Cobbler's wax you ran get from any

boot -maker, but now-a-davs you must be careful

to call it shoemaker's wax, or you may be told he

has not got any. If you are living in the wilds beyond the pale of

shoeiuaking, and are compelled to make your cobbler's wax yourself,

the following recipe may be useful: —

" Take -1 ounces of resin, grind it to a tine powder between two
nes, ] ez. of bees' wax chopped up small, and 2 ozs. of common
'" pitch ; mix these substances with the resin, and place the whole in a
•' small native chatty pot. Then put the pot in a bed of hot wood
'" ashes, and with a long, flat-pointed stick work and stir the mass
"about until thoroughly melted ; then add £ oz. of good clean tat,
" and keep the whole in solution for about a quarter of an hour or
■' twenty minutes. Grease the bottom of a calabash or bowl, half till
"' it with cold water: take your pot off the water with a twisted stick,
•■ and pour the .molten material into the water. When cold enough
" to handle, grease your hands and work the wax about, pull it out
•' into long strips, double these back on themselves, and so proceed
" until all the materials arc well amalgamated ; then work it out into a
'• long stick or rod, take a greased knife and divide it up into pit • ■
" large enough to make convenient balls for use. These are best kept
■■ floating in water until wanted." — " Shifts and Expedients of Camp
" Lite, Travel, and Exploration," byW. B. Lord, Royal Artillery, and
1 Bainee, P.R.G.S Horace Cox, 346, Strand.

1 "i white By-making wax Two ounces of

.ii. one drachm of \» put them into B

TI1E BOD IX INDIA. E 2

244 Rod and Tackle. Chait. win.

" pipkin over a slow fire till completely melted. Then add a
" quarter of an ounce of spermaceti ; and let the whole simmer,
" constantly stirring it for a quarter of an hour longer. Pour the
" melted mass into a basin of clear cold water. It will instantly
" become thick. In this state, and while yet warm, work it by
" pulling it through the fingers till cold. This last operation is
" necessary to make the wax tough, and to give it that silvery hue
" it has when made in perfection." — (" The Angler and his Friend,"
by John Davy, M.D., F.E.S.) Francis Francis substitutes tallow,
I see, for spermaceti.

For weighing lines for float fishing, split shot are ordinarily
used, but a much handier tiling is the soft-drawn
lead wire of the Manchester Cotton Twine
Spinning Co. It is so easily put on, and can without the least
difficulty be exactly accommodated to the finest float, whereas it
is troublesome sometimes to exactly hit it off with shot. It is
cheap enough, 15 yards for Is.

The same Company supply also fine soft copper wire, as
fine as fly tyers' silk, in knots of 40 yards for Is.

Conner Wire _ . .. . ,.. -, n i 111

It is nice ior whipping, and fishermen should not

be without it.

While you are sending to this company for running line,

&C, yen will do well to get their " waterproof

cable whipping cordj 100 yards for Is." It is

excellent for repairs of breakages. Their silk for whipping books,

flies, &c, is also good. They supply also all sorts of excellent

lines for sea-fishing. But, as I said before, their transactions are

all for prepaid cash, a little difficulty which your tackle-maker

will arrange for you.

A common earthen pot makes a very good bait-can. Arrange a

string by which to carry it by one hand, tie a cloth
Bait Kettle. ' , . V, , .. .

over the mouth to prevent the bait jumping out,

and punch small holes round the neck of it with a nail; in doing so

use caution to prevenl breakage. When fishing, keep it well under

water in the river, having first poured out all the old water. Your

bait will keep alive the longer for thus having fresh water. Do

not bore holes lower than the neck, or you will have no water in

your earthen pot, when carrying it from place to place. This is as

good a bait kettle as you can desire, and is rn be had for between

Chapt. xviii. .1 .1 ' ••■ ial Otter. 245

one and three pies, Bay, at the very outside, for the vast sum of two

farthings. It' your bait are Ophiocephaliu ' - care is

accessary about the changing of the water, but more that they are

not suffocated by being cut off from the air; for them the earthen

pot must be left out of water, not immersed and the cloth kept

carefully over the mouth for they jump out more than an] fish.

An artificial otter is not unfrequently used in lakes in Ireland ;

and as some may like to use it in India, where
Otter. , J , .

the competition amongst anglers is not so great

0 bring down on you from your neighbours the charge of
poaching, I will supply instructions for making one.

1 should add that it lias this toJ>e said for it in India, and that it
is ou this account solely that I mention it, or ever deigned to give
it a thought, that here we do not know definitely by the experience
of ten thousand anglers exactly how to fish. AW are all more or
less explorers, trying to find what fish there are in India that will
take a bait, which will take a minnow, which a fly, and what fly is
preferred. For this purpose the otter covers a larger field of
experiment, it searches more water, and it allows of one man try-
ing twenty or thirty flies at one time, instead of three at the most.

Take a light plank, f inch or an inch in thickness, of 2 feet in
length, by 7 or 8 inches in depth, and lead it so that the water-line
shall be about 1 inch from the top. Insert a brass ring, or light
staple, exactly halt-way up in the centre of the stern of the plank,
and two more like staples, two-thirds forward, one in the top edge
of the plank, and one in the bottom edge, or exactly opposite each
other. To each of these staples tie a cord about 2 feet long, and
bring the ends together, so that when suspended the plank shall
hang quite even crosswise, but lengthwise shall have the stern
slightly lowered, say 6 or 7 inches, for it is on the principle of the
inclined plane that the otter acts. Then to the point where the
three cords are knotted together tie a long cord, push the otter out
from the shore, nose foremost, in the direction you mean to walk
along, keeping the line taut, and try it. If the otter acts properly,
it should keep parallel with you, keeping the line taut all the
while. But if the top and bottom cords are not of exactly equal
length, it will not sit true, and consequently will not have so good

a hold of the water. It' the cord from the stern is too short, the

otter will have a tendency to yield to your tension and t ime in

24(3 Rod and Tackle. Ohapt. xviii.

to you, and will not keep away enough to keep the line taut. In
such case let out the stern cord a little, and try again. If you
lengthen the stern cord too much, the angle of the plank will be
too great, and the otter will pull away from you too much, and in
consequence will not keep pace with you, but will lag behind.
You must therefore humour this stern cord till you have got it to
work nicely ; and, that attained, knot all three cords together in
one simple knot, such as is usually tied at the end of the lash of a
whip by non-whip makers, so that they may not slip; and leave a
loop over to which to attach your towing line with the hooks on it.
This adjusting of the stern line of the otter is rather a nice
operation, but, once done, it lasts for ever.

The towing line can be used with flies or spinning bait, just as
yon like. To lead the otter so as to sink it to the desired depth,
drive in small screws all along the bottom edge of the plank, one
every inch, say, so as to stand out a little in continuation of the
plank and give the lead something to hold by. Then paste brown
paper on both sides of the plank, near the bottom edge and 1ft it
dry and stiffen. Stand the plank bottom edge upwards and pour
molten lead into the trough thus made all round the line of jutting
out screw heads along the bottom edge of the plank. You will need
ai Least half an inch of lead, and it is better to pour ton much than
too little, for it is easy to plane off what is extra with a common jack
plane, whereas it is not so easy to add lead with a second moulting,
Tor it does not make a good joint with the previous cold lead;
there is always a crack left with a want of firm hold. Remove the
paper wall, and trying the otter in the water, plane down the lead
till the plank sits evenly in the water, with just about an inch
or an inch and a half above the. water level.

The usual way is to attach the tow line to the loop, where the

three otter plank cords are knotted together, which three cords we

will call the bridle; but another plan, as suggested by Mi. Wilcocks,

in his " Sea Fisherman," is to tie the tow line primarily to the

ile at the stern of the otter plank, and connect it with the

hridle 1 iv a piece of tine twine. When a fish is 1 ked you will

then, by the art of striking the fish, break the thin connecting
twine, and the strain coining on the stern of the otter, you will
easily haul it on shore end-on; whereas it is not so easy when the
otter remains hroadside-on, and more or Less in with the

('hut. win. i i Artificial Otter. -47

og of your fish. The better way when it remains broadside on
stand Btill, 01 retrace youi steps, bo as to gel the otter in, and
-a palling in the line till the otter describes a semicircle and
runs in to shore

But againsl Mr. Wilcocks' plan it is argued, again, that the otter
does not interfere with the playing of your fish, but more or less
aids it by yielding Id violent togs, and coming up and going on
again as you proceed, and thus helping you in the drowning of your
fish Moreover, it is Urged that you do not want to be compelled
to poll in your otter with every individual fish, because it saves a
great deal of trouble to keep m<i\ ing on, the fish is soon killed, and
trails quietly, and it is time enough to pull in when you have
five or six fish on.

Still it may be that Mr. Wilcocks' plan is preferable, with
heavy sea fish, of 10, 20 or 30 lbs. each, and it is about sea-
lishing that he writes.

The tow line should be prepared as follows: — Get a number of
small brass rings just big enough to run easily on the tow line, but
so small that a knot tied in the tow line will not pass through them.
Put twenty or thirty of these rings on the tow line, each 6 or
8 feet apart, say 8 for preference, with a common whip knot
on each side of it, so as to prevent its shifting. The ring is to
prevent the drop lines from twisting round the tow line. To these
rings attach your drop lines, which must not lie more than 2i feet

to the hook ; so that bj oo means can they reach each other,

and entangle in the water, even when the drops are only (J feet
apart.

But I think 8 feet is a fairer distance at which to place the
drops, so as to be secure against entanglements, even in the event
of the tow-line sagging, or a heavy tish behaving badly. These
drop lines w ill be the better, in the case of spinning fish, for having
one or two swivels each I would recommend the droplines having
two brass swivels each, and being not more than 2 feet long, with

a large loop at the end. To this loop your spinning bait s id can

then be easily attached, and re-attached, when fresh baiting. But

the whole drop should be removable, because you want no swivels

with Hies, and will 1m- the better for having nothing hut gut, 2£ to 3
of gut to your lly.
The otter can be made larger if you like, maintaining the same

248 Rod and Tackle. Chapt. xvm.

proportions, which are that it should be about three times as long
as it is dec]), and always sunk with lead so that the water-line
shall be within an inch of the top. I have one, 4 feet long,
which nearly pulls me into the sea. It was made for fishing broad
estuaries for heavy sea-fish, and for fishing the seashore outside the
waves on calm days; but I have had very little opportunity for
trying it. Still 1 have seen what it can do in the lakes in Ireland,
and have seen also that Indian sea-fish, the seer, for instance, will
take a small fish readily enough. I wonder if a porpoise would
take it, If he did you would have caught a tartar.

The otter can be used whenever you have a good extent of
uninterrupted shore or beach to walk along, without interposing
lives, etc.; and it can also be used from the stern of a rowing
boat, for as you move on rowing it will move parallel with you;
and if you are very avaricious, you can have one on each side of a
boat. But remember, that weeds have a strong affinity for tow-
lines and drop flies, especially when there is a fish on.

I will confess, however, that I have nol bad the patience
to experiment with the otter half as much as I purposed to do. It
went against my grain, and in golden moments of leisure I found
myself fingering my old friends the rods in preference.

The simpler way, however, is to lane two small otters as above ;
if you like to use them singly you can do so, one on each side of a
boat. If you wish to have one of double the power, so as to take
• nit a very long line from the shore, drive a small staple into one of
the otters, midway in the plant perpendicularly, and a little
forward of midway longitudinally. The staple may be easily made
of a piece of strong brass wire, with the eye protruding on the off-
side and the ends on the near-side doubled down. To this eye
attach the bridle of the second otter. The two otters will be thus
coupled, ami will walk side by side, together bringing just twice
the tension to bear on the tow-line that either does singly. If you
always worked your otter one way, say from right to left, nothing
more would be wanted; but as you sometimes require to work
from left to right, drive in another staple close alongside of the first
one, and. a- before, in the centre of the perpendicular of the plank,

but with the eye ] .rot Hiding OH the opposite side. You have thus
an eye on either side to which to attach your oil' otter. To reverse
an otter, turn the nose in the direction in which you wish it to

Chapt. xvm. Ordering Tackle. 249

run, anil bring the bridle between you and the plank. To hitch on
and unhitch the second otter, it is convenienl to have a thing like
a " nursery pin," only ahorter, and made much stronger of thick
brass wire. A pair of pincers "ill twist one up in a minute.
Friends wishing to set themselves up in tackle have come to

me to advise them what to order, and to help
Hon i" Order.

them how to describe what they want, so that the

Rngl'«r» tackle-maker may not misunderstand them, and have
asked me to give them some idea also ot' prices ; I wish to sit down
similarly by the side of my reader, and help him to indite his
order. This may seem a work of supererogation to some, but to
others I am convinced from experience that it will be a practical
tance, because they have not a tackle shop into which they
can walk, and point out this thin- and that thine, without knowing
its name, and take the shopkeepers' advice about other things.

For such, then, I add a good comfortable outfit, the prices being
taken from a good tackle-shop's list, and when three prices
ari' named, the medium price being ordinarily taken. Inferior
articles can, of course, be got at cheaper rates, but it is most
unsatisfactory to buy such. Those who think my order too
big 'Mil easily omit what they do not want.

For Mahsi kii.

d.

1 Pliable, but not top-heavy, rather light, salmon rod (not what is com-
monly called a Mahseer rod), four-joint, greenheart, double
braized, winch fittings, with button-ended butt, partition bag, and
extra fly top, 16 ft 3 10 0

1 Extra spinning top .. .. .. .. .. .. 050

1 Superior bronzed revolving plate check winch, of 31 inches in dia-
meter 180

120 Yards Manchester Cotton Twine Spinning Company's No. „'^, 16-
plait Egyptian enamel waterproof running line, at 2s. a -
yards

4 Treble gut salmon spinning traces, stout, at St.. .

1 Treble gut salmon flj collar

1 Salmon fly collar, half treble, half single, extra stout, salmon gal
3 Single, extra stout, salmon gut By collars, at 8*. <;•'. ..

2 Stout spoons of 2\ inches, silvered and gilt, mounted without split.

rings, hut with wire or solid soldered rings, with VI Mah-

seer treble hook at head, and one like hook at tail, and none at tin'
and on a double No. t swivel, as given at page 227, on stoul
treble gut 0 I u

0

12

0

0

8

0

0

2

6

0

2

r,

0

7

6

L'.-.O

Jln'l mill Tackle.

Chapt. XV11I.

4 Like spoons of 25 inches ..

1 ,. „ 3

3 Phantom minnows of 4 inches in length, including the tail, mounted

with No. 4 Mahseer treble hooks, and on stout treble gut, with

one double No. 4 swivel at 2s. 6d. ..
1 Hank of stout salmon gut . .
12 Lengths stout treble twisted gut. .
3 Dozen Mahseer treble braized hooks, No. 1, at 2s. a dozen

3 „ , No. 4,

3 Flights of iny hooks (page 50), tied on extra stout single salmon gut

3 „ „ „ ,, on stout treble gut

6 Snoods on stout treble gut of my one-treble spinning tackle (page 48),

3 Baiting needles

3 Sinkers with loop at each end of stout treble gut for fitting on trace. .

1 Dozen sinkers, medium size, page 239, for putting in the mouth of bait

1 Dozen double swivels, silver plated, No. 4

3 Blackamoor flies on No. 2/0 Limerick hooks, my sizes . .

6 „ „ No. 2 ,. „

1 Fly book, 7x4 inches

1 Pair fly scissors

1 ,, pliers

1 Skein of silk for tying flics, and 2 skeins of silk, stouter,

repairs
100 Yards Manchester Cotton Twine Spinning Company's waterproof

cable whipping cord

1 Dozen bare Limerick hooks, No. 2,0

2 , No. 2

1 ,, peculiar eyed No. 6/0

1 , No. 4/0

1 Gut twister

An extra rod. winch, and running line as above

£ s. d.
0 8 0
0 2 0

for rod

6
0
0
0
0
6
0
0
3
6
6
0
0
0

0 9 G
0 2 6
0 0 6

0 0 6

o l 6

0 0 3

0 0 6

0 0 3

0 0 3

0 10 0

5 15 0

For Carnatic Carp, Extra.

•1 Dozen Blackamoor flies on No. 6 Limerick hook, my size, with gut eye
1 ,, „ „ No. 6 Erby, on stout single salmon gu(

1 Landing net, 14 inch diameter, folding ring and handle
8 Doien No. 6 Limerick bare hooka
I .. No. 5 Kirby „ ,,

ve 1

4

0

0

3

0

0

9

6

0

0

1'

0

0

3

Fob Freshwater Sharks, &c, Extra.

3 yards stoutest gimp

8 ,. medium „

8 Phantoms, 4 inches, including tail, on stoutest gimp, with No. 4 Mah-
seer treble hooks, and double swivel attached bj wire, not split -
ring, at 2*. 6i/...

( !hapt. .Will.

3 nights, as a! | m stoutest gimp, with No. 4 Hahseor treble

hooks, at 6./. . .
1 Flights as at pa - in medium gimp
3, Mv fliglits (page 50), on medium gimp..
1 Disgorgcr
1 Stonteel - mp ' race

261

£

». </.

0

1 G

0

1 6

0

1 6

0

0 2

0

1 0

Fob Small Fly Tab bs.

I Single-handed trout rod, not top-heavy or too limp. 10 feet, three joint,
greenheart, double braised, winch fittings, with screw spike,

partition bag, extra fly top, and short spuming top
1 Superior bronzed revolving plate cluck winch 2i inches
30 Yards waterproof pi.i < per trout running line

1 Dozen blaek flies on Xo. 11 sneek-bend hooks ..

2 Dozen light duns of various shades on No. 14 sneek-bend hooks
i Dozen black flies on No. 6 sneek-bend book

3 Bus drawn trout fly collars or casting lines
1 Ordinary trout fly collar

1 Hank trout gut

2 Dozen bare No. 1 1 sneek-bend hooks

1

I.I

0

0

18

G

0

6

3

0

2

0

0

4

0

0

1

0

0

3

0

0

0

9

0

3

0

0

0

6

For Labeos, Extra.

2 Lines of medium trout gut, furnished with fine quill floats, with

No. 6 Kirby hooks on wooden reels. .
u Span Cue quill floats with caps complete

2 Dozen Xo. 6 Kirby hooks on medium trout gut. .

3 Yards soft drawn lead win-

0

4

0

0

1

6

0

2

0

0

0

1

Fob Luxury. See page 236.

1 Two-handed trout rod, 14 feet, 4 joints, greenheart, double braized,

winch fittings, with extra fly top, and partition bag . . . . 1 15 0

1 Superior bronzed revolving plate cheek winch of 3 inches in diameter 14 0
60 Yards Manch. >n Twine Spinning Company's trout line,

with taper at both ends 0 10 0

Total .. 27 14, 8
Add 26 per oent for freight, insurance, loss by exchange. . .. .. 7 0 0

34 1 1 8

Say, 340 rupees, and order the whole to be sent out in
one stoutly-made hinged and locked l»>x with your name painted

252 Rod and Turk!,. Chapt. xviii.

on it. You will find such a box very convenient for keeping
your tackle in, and for transporting it on your trips to the fishing
grounds, occasions on which you will sometimes find a good lock
.■in advantage.

For those who prefer "barge poles" and "cables," as "Doon"
calls them, I have quoted above a list taken from " Barkis' " letter
to the "Field," dated 6th July, 1878; only let me be allowed to
say, I disapprove of its principles quite as much as "Doon " does.
Still, there are those who are wedded to "Barkis'" views, and I
cannot convert them, so for their benefit the list is introduced.
One last effort, however, I will make, — compromise by having a long
line, 250 yards long if you will, and stick to my pliable rod,
and you still may avoid "barge poles, cables, and meat-hooks."

For 250 yards of thick Manchester Cotton Twine Spinning
Company's line, the winch will need to l>e 5 inches in diameter,
and 2\ inches broad in the bar. For plaited silk it will probably
have to be broader still. Be careful to particularize the line
your reel is to hold, for the guidance of your tackle-shop, for even
the Manchester cotton lines differ much in thickness, and at an
Indian distance you cannot easily remedy mistakes.

In India, one commonly makes up a party for distant fishing
and shooting, and several rods are apt to get thrown together in a
corner of the tent, and when coming from the same makers, and
ordered after one pattern, as they would be if two or three chums
ordered from this book, it will be found that they are very much
alike, and that it is no easy job to tell the several joints one from
another, when starting, perhaps somewhat hurriedly, for the day.
It will save you some trouble, and cost nothing comparatively, to
have your initials cut small, at twopence a letter, on every joint of
every rod, and on every winch you possess, and marked pretty
large on the rod partition bag. Thus you will always be able to
pick out your own property at a glance, and will not get in
exchange a carelessly put away rotten line, or your friend's top
with a bad warp in it from ill-usage ; or, still worse, give him yours,
or exchange tops, that when you are a mile apart, and putting them
up at the river's side, are found not to tit into the second joint !

For those who wish me to indicate a minimum economical kit,
I will extract from the larger order the following: —

Chut. win.

Ordering Tackle,

253

FOB MahSBKB.

1 Salmon rod u in the burger order..

1 Si-inch winch

L80 Tarda rnnning line

9 Spinning ini.es

1 Treble gut fly eollar

2 Spoons of 2J inches. .

1 Phantom

L Dora \ • l treble hooka . .
gtha stout treble goi

2 Snoods of my one treble spinning tackle

1 Baiting needle

2 Sinkers on treble gut

3 Blackamoor flies on No. 2 . .

1 Skein silk

Fob Cabnatic Carp.

6 Blackamoor flies on Xo. G Limerick
3 „ „ 5 Kirbv . .

£

«.

d

3

LO

0

1

8

0

0

12

0

0

1

0

0

2

6

0

1

0

0

2

6

0

2

0

0

2

0

0

0

2

0

0

1

0

1

0

0

3

0

0

0

6

0

(>

0

0

1

fi

For Fbeshwateb Sharks, &c.

Gimp as in the larger order

1 Qimp phantom „

2 Flights on stoutest gimp, as in larger order
1 Stoutest gimp trace..

For Small Fly Takers.

1 Fly rod

1 21-inch winch

30 Yards running line

t Dozen black flies on Xo. 14 snecks

\ Dozen dun „ „ „

2 Ordinary fly collars. .

Fob Labeos,

1 Furnished line

1 Dozen No. 6 Kirby hooks on gut . .

3 Yards soft drawn lead

Adding 25 per Ben! aa above

0

2

6

0

2

6

0

1

0

0

1

0

1

10

0

0

18

6

0

6

3

0

1

0

0

1

0

0

1

6

0 2

it

0 0

6

0 0

1

10 7

1

2 14

0

13 1 1

Say, 130 rupees; and of this any of the parte fordifferenl Gsh that
,. qoI desired i m be omitted. But this is a highly limited order.

CHAPTER XIX.

FISHING GEAR AND OTHER SMALL BEER.

" The apparel oft proclaims the man." — Shakespeake.

JrsT a few short words on the clothes most convenient to weal
when fishing in India, will add to the comfort of those that will
he troubled to read them.

As you have already seen, you will have to do a good deal
of wading if you are at all keen about sport. But on no account
get waterproof wading stockings. First rate tilings though they
are in England, they are not at all wanted in India. I doubt if
they woidd keep good in India, I am quite sure they would be
unbearably hot in this climate, and, much though I have waded,
I never felt the want of any such protection in India; for the
water is not perish inylv cold, as in England, but comfortably
tepid, so that, if you make a rule never to be tempted to go in
over the fork, you will not be the worse for it. If you walk in
deepei, and stand in the water up to your stomach and vitals,
T will not be responsible for congestion of the liver, dysentery,
and all the rest of it.

b'einembeiiim that you will be often in water up to the fork,
shorten your coat tails accordingly : and have your pockets high
and dry, or you will find, after landing a fish you have been
very intent on, and waded in to get at, that your fly book, or
some other valuable, has been thoroughly soaked the while.

The stony bottom, with its rounded boulders, i- often \>r,
slippery, and, as you see the native naked foot slips less than a
shoe, you may be tempted to wear thin shoes, so as to give you the
better foot-hold. I tried thin racket shoes, but was very soon
convinced of my mistake. OndeT water you cai t alwaj

' iiai'T. xix Boott, s Lteches.

where you put youi foot, and you are watching your By, etc.,
ami have to feel the bottom with the foot, and you are some-
times in a little hurry, for life is nol long enough for dawdling,
and then you bring your unprotected foot against a rock, and
generally right on the top of your pet corn. " I never knew a
oVar gazelle," etc But what is worst of all is when you get youi
unprotected foot jammed by the weight of your body between two
lurks — that will decide yon in favour of thick bo

Have good heavy hoots, then, with the sole a trifle broader
than the foot, and of a good thickness. I mean the boots com-
monly made with a sort of open verandah all round the foot.
Ankle-boots are a protection to the ankle from being bruised,
and also from being turned and sprained ; laced hoots best pro-
tect the ankle. In short "the Alpine boot" is ahout the most
comfortable you can have.

Walking amongst the rocks in, and on the edge of, a river is
.1 galloping consumption of boots. Nails are an antidote. Bnt
too many nails make the sole slippery, make it almost as bad
as one without any at all. Have the sole studded all over with
large nails an inch apart. These will improve your foot-hold.

After being so soaked your boots will get uncomfortably hard
if not greased. If you dry them first and then grease them they
will shrink, but if you grease them when wet and put them in
the sim the grease will take the place of the moisture, and the
boots will remain comfortably soft and unshrunk. Jones' ( Homes-

is much used for shootdng-1 ts in England, but

in India my servants used common mutton fat, and my 1 be

were always comfortable.

Braces are a mistake, for when exerting the arms by making
alonu: Btretch in clambering round a rock, for instance, they give
or. more likely, a button flies. The trousers should be supported
from the wa

<; 1 thick socks are not only a wise precaution for health's

Mike, but a comfortable protection more or less against the sand,
which, however, will get in when stirred up from the bottom in
Wading, and which proves a nuisance when walking home again.

The forest-clad riversides often swarm with leeches, which

bite better than the fish. Tuck the trouser into the sock, and
tie round tightly with a string in lien of leech gaiters.

256 Fishing Gnu- and other Small Beer. Chapt. xix.

I have been told that the after itching, which is the worsl
part of their bites, may be prevented by rubbing gunpowder into
the bite immediately on your return home, and that no mark is
left by the gunpowder, but I am satisfied the amount of after
itching is entirely dependent on your then state of health, and
that nothing you can do affects the matter.

It is better to get them to let go their hold themselves, than
to risk the leaving of a broken tooth in your leg by pulling
them off. If you should happen to be so far behind the age as
to have a flask of powder in your pocket, a little of that sprinkled
on the leech will effect the desired release. They cannot stand
the saltpetre in it any more than common salt. Tobacco juice
or a hot cheroot end will get rid of them.

But all this is a somewhat luxurious method of being leech-
bitten. The usual recipe is grin and bear it, but never scratch
the annoyingly itching bites, or you will rue it in their long
continuance.

As to the material of your clothes, you need not " fash "
yourself, though woollen, of course, is most comfortable. But us
to the colour you should be careful. White turbans, white coats,
and white trousers, are all to be eschewed ; " for the apparel oft
"proclaims the man" in more senses than Shakespeare meant.
Common shikar clothes are the things.

Wading not only enables you to get at many a pretty bit of
water otherwise unapproachable, but when up to the fork in
water you are lower down, and consequently less likely to be
seen by the fish, than when standing out in line relief on the
bank, with the sky for a back-ground.

I do not think fish see any great distance laterally in the
water, and I am inclined to think this is why you find preying,
and preyed on, fish living so near each other in the same stream,
without clashing half as much as one would expect them to do.
It is also a reason in my mind for spinning in the right places,
close to where you conclude preying fish to be lying. The case
is very different with the By, for that shows against the light ;
and the nearer it is to the surface, the further it is seen by B
fish on the bottom; for conceiving a fly and the angle of radia-
tion, or vision in the water, are represented by an isosceles
triangle, of which the apex is the By, the two legs the angle of

' h \i'T. \ix ocodilea. 257

vision, and tho base the l><»ttoni of tlie river, it follows that an
extension of the two Legs extends the base, or, in other words,
that the fly which is further off, from being at the surface, is
visible over a greater breadth of bottom, than the tly which,
from being sunk, is nearer the bottom.

An objection to wading is said to be that yon are now and
then swallowed by a crocodile. But I have not experienced that
sensation yet, and though there are crocodiles enough, I do not
think there is really anything to be feared from them. I have
again and again waded in just where I have seen a crocodile
disappear, or have noticed fresh footmarks and basking places.
Mr. Sanderson, in his "Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts
"of India." writes the following: —

•' The few crocodiles that are fonnd in the Mysore rivers very rarely
" attack people ; and fishermen — who pay no heed to them — have told
" me that, if they come upon a crocodile whilst following their employ-
" ment, it will skulk at the bottom, and not move though handled,
" apparently believing it escapes observation. Crocodiles are, like all
" wild creatures, very timid where not encouraged, as is sometimes
" done by superstitious natives. Incredible though it may seem to
" readers with no knowledge of the saurians but that derived from
" stories of their boldness elsewhere, I may instance having seen several
" 'bestaa ' (the professional boatmen, divers, and fishermen of Mysore)
"dive time after time into water 12 feet deep, and bring to the surface
" by the tail a crocodile 7 feet long which I had wounded. The
" creature was not in any way crippled, but seemed overcome with fear.
•-lt offered no resistance till dragged near a rock, where I stood with
" a rope, when it would turn and snap at the man pulling it, always
" sinking, however, the moment this demonstration made him let go its
" tail. Different divers went down successively, one at a time, and
" brought it to the surface. I at last killed it with a charge of shot.

Still they did kill women ami children groping for shell-fish
in Mala

Whether or not it was under a mistake on this head, the
Government sanctioned a reward for killing them in Malabar, at
so much a yard, and tin- result was that seven miles of them were
killed in a very -hort time.

I think it must be the American alligator thai is the bai

THE BOD IS ISI'I I. S

258 Fishing Gear and other Small Beer. Chapt. xix.

all the beliefs in the dangerousness of saurian*, and that the Indian
crocodile is as inoffensive coward. The Canara crocodile is Croco-
dihis palustris ; the Malabar, Mysore, and Madras one, C. porous.

Trousers hang about the legs, and are not only cold and
clammy when walking, but axe also heavy with water. A more
comfortable costume is knee-breeches and worsted stockings.

<ll M'TER XX.

THE TAME OTTER.

" Oh ! the gallant fisher's life,
It is the best of any ;
'Tis full of pleasure, void of ttrife.
And 'tis beloved by many." —

JO. C'llAI.KHILL.

One can imagine the above song being jovially rolled out 1\ a
rollicking otter, after a good day's hunting, just as well as by Isaak
Walton's old friend John Chalkhill ; for the otter is as fond of
hunting in the water as any hound is on land. He evident!]
hunts from the love of it, and not for the pot, for be eats a mere
k nut of each fish he catches, leaves it. and hunts for another.
Any one who has been much on the banks of rivers where otters
abound, will have seen many a fine fish little more than tasted
and left on the bank. Having watched five full sized wild otters
hunting together, calling cheerily to each other in the water,
gambolling on the sand together for a minute or so, and then in
again at a call, and going on calling cheerily again, shall I say
laughing, chaffing, and singing "jolly dogs are we," as they went
hunting down the river together, I could not doubt they were
thoroughly enjoying themselves, and following a propensity, a
sport, rather than working for their living.

The otter picks up and follows the scent of a fish under water,
.just as a dog does that of game on laud. You may think a fresh
live fish has little or no odour. Perhaps not to man, and you may
be surprised at a scent being left in water. But water retains a
scent well, as may be seen from dogs readily recognizing the scent
of deer, and following it across a stream. And as to the powerful-
ness of different smells, it evidently depends on the capacity of
differently formed olfactory nerves for appreciating them, It is
astonishing how a dog will follow at speed the scent of his master's

THE BOD IX INDIA. S 2

260 Tht, Tame Otter. CHAPT. xx.

foot, left, through a suck, and through a thick boot, on the gravel
path on which it has been only momentarily placed while walking,
and detect it also from other footsteps. A man might sniff away
for ever, and never recognize the presence of any odour whatever
on that pathway, except perhaps the smell of earth. At the same
time a man is struck offensively at several yards distance by the
stench of certain tilings which the dog almost touches with its
nose, and very deliberately examines, before it seems to have made
up its mind. If this last example were not enough to show that
different olfactory nerves appreciate different odours very differently,
we all know the conclusive dictum of the huntsman that his
checked hounds had lost the scent " all along o' them stinking
violets." And so we say the olfactory nerves of the otter are
endowed with the power of recognizing the scent left by a live fish
in the water ?

The otter (Lutra nair*) is the mrnai, or water-dog of the
Dravidian languages of Southern India, the panika-kutha, or water-
dog, again, of Hindustani ; and the different names applied to it in
Sanscrit mean water-cat, water-rat, ami water-animal (udraht) from
which last our word otter is probably derived And why should
he not be utilized as a water-dug, instead of being exterminated
before his uses are discovered? Why should he not be domt Pli-
cated and bred for the chase in the water, just as the wild dog has
been on land ?

The wild clog is very destructive to game, and so is the otter
in fish, it being estimated in England that each otter destroys a
ton of fish a year. But the domesticated dog under man's control
is very useful to his master, and the following extracts will show
that the otter can be readily domesticated, much more readily I
imagine than the wild dug. and affords both sport and business-
like profit to his master. If the same attention were paid to the
breeding and training of otters as has been paid to dogs, there
seems no reason why similar marked results should not be
obtained in varying size and power ; at any rate you can very
soon get a retriever otter, and that is about all that is
wanted. I have QOW, as I Write, three little otter pups dili-

• The common English otter is Lutra mtlgaru.

t For the Sanscrit, my authority is A. C. Burnell, Esq., of the Madras Cml
Service, whose scholarly attainments are well known.

Chaft. xx. Jack and Ott,r Fight. 261

gently sucking away at a pariah hitch, though they made
difficulties at first on the score of the dog's teats being not so fine
as an otter's nipple. 'When their eves open, I trust that they will
awake to the fact that they arc dogs after all, and should comport
themselvi h. They ate not " unlicked cubs," for the pariah

takes tii them in this respect, and it is hoped that the educa-
tional career that is before them will form their minds, and make
them morally all that tan be desired. And now I will let the
following extracts from "land and Water" speak for them-
selves : —

Fight between a Jack and an Otter.

" Sir, — Much having been lately said in ' Land and Water ' about
•• Otters, I beg to offer a contribution.

" Many of your readers may not be aware that these very sagacious
" animals are capable of being tamed, indeed I may say domesticated,
" or, in other words, that they can be trusted to go free about the
" premises, to which they become quite attached, like cats or dogs.
" In some parts of India they have long been used, not only for
" fishing for their masters, but for driving fish into nets. Having had
'" such interesting pets, and having been instrumental in others
" keeping them, I could give quite a curious history of them ; but at
'• present this is not my object, which is to try and describe a glorious
"battle, which came off on the 21st instant, between a trained otter
" and a very large pike. I was summoned to the 6cene of action by
"the otter's master, Mr. Hnlse, of the Rifle Brigade, who brought it
'" from India about a year since. The pond where the fish was is a
" small but deepish one in Stoke Park, near Guildford. The otter,
•• following its master to the place, entered the water and immediately
" dived, when we could follow his track as he hunted below by the
'• long string of bubbles (' bells,' as otter hunters term them), which,
•• coming from his nose, marked his passage. In a short time there
" was no doubt as to 'a find,' as the rush and troubled state of the
" >urface too plainly indicated, for it was like two express trains in
" full chase of each other. All this lasted but a short time, say, about
" half a minute, and the exertion and coldness of the water, etc., seemed
" to take a good deal out of the animal, for he not only came up to
■ breathe, but landed, and after rolling himself, which they delight in
" doing, 'time being up,' in he went again at the word of command.
"Many rounds like this took place, the pike always breaking away.

262 The Tame Otter. Chapt. xx.

" until it was varied by the capture of a carp, the head of which he
" was allowed to eat. His appetite seemed whetted by this, for he
" became very eager, and, whenever he came across the pike, a great
" struggle took place, but the big fish seemed such a monster that he
"could not worry him, yet, by the aid of his feet, he turned him over
"once, but never brought him to the top, though the otter's tail often
'" waved above water. Up to this time behind the fish's head was the
"part attacked, his great and powerfully armed jaws being avoided,
" but now the fish was evidently growing weaker, and the otter
" changing his tactics by attacking the enemy in the rear. Each
" round told in favour of the otter, and, finally, ' the sponge was thrown
"'up' by the beaten fish being towed to land by its tail, amidst the
" loud and hearty whoo-whoo-ops ! of all present, the doubtful battle
" having lasted above half an hour. The fish, which proved to be a
" female, weighed 20 lbs. 11 ozs., and the weight of the otter (a female)
" and very like an English otter, is only 18 lbs. Thus ended as well-
" contested a battle as I ever witnessed, and a sight I would have
•' gone any distance to have seen. Surely all true Englishmen must
" admire the bull-dog pluck of this animal, and endorse Mr. Benson's
" sentiments, as given in your last impression, which clearly is that it
" is a disgrace in this enlightened age of progress and civilization to
"allow ignorant keepers and watchers to exterminate the poor otter.
" Otters will travel any distance, and I have no doubt that some of those
" which have lately been so cruelly murdered are from the Wey, in my
"neighbourhood, and consequently I particularly regret their loss, for
" I know they do much more good than harm, and this knowledge I
" have gained by studying their habits for years, both in the wild and
" tame state. I have plenty of fish, and I cannot see that they
" diminish ; and yet I am seldom without an otter or two, and some-
"times a brood of them, for they are sacred here, as well as all rare
" birds, etc. Occasionally I find t lie remains of a small jack or an eel
" which they have caught and partly eaten. I know they scent these
" a, i,]er water, and bring them up from the mud : indeed, they prefer
" tin-in to every thing. Then they are very fond of frogs, and they
" will kill water-rats, water-hens, and even rabbits occasionally.
"They certainly seldom kill large fish in the wild state when they
" can get smaller more easily. Otters appear to grow for about two
" years, and they seem to differ considerably in weight. I once saw
" one killed in the Lune, near Lancaster, by Mr. Lomax's otter hounds,
"which whs 28 lbs., and that excellent sportsman told me that the
" largest he had ever seen was a male, which weighed 80 lbs. It was
" found in a hollow willow, in Warwickshire, and was evidently a

Craft, xx. Taming Otters, 263

■• patriarch, Erom its teeth, [hope Borne day t<> hoar of a salmon being
"presented to Mr. Bnokland'e Museum of Eoonomic Pish Coltare,
•• killed by Mr. H*s. otter."— P. 11. S.u.vix.

The more thoroughly to convince my reader of the practica-
bility of utilizing tin- otter for sport, I add still another exti
which is taken from " The English Cyi lopadia."

"But it must not Ik- supposed that the common otter is, as it has
" been asserted, confined to the fresh waters.

" That the common otter is capable of domestication and attachment
" we have ample testimony. Albertus Magnus, Aldrovandus, Gesner,
" and others attest this. Every angler will remember the passage in
" Walton, where good Mi'. I'iseator is anxious to possess himself of
" one of the young otters which the huntsman, after the death of the
" ' bitch otter ' had found : — ' Look you,' says the huntsman, ' here-
" " al' rats it was she kennelled ; look you, here it was. indeed, for here's
" ' her young ones, no less than five ; come, let's kill them all.' ' No,'
"exclaims Piseator, 'I pray, Sir, save me one. and I'll try if I can
" ' make her tame, as I know an ingenious gentleman in Leicester-
"'shire, Mr. Nich. Seagrave, has done; who hath not only made
" ' her tame, but to catch fish, and do many other things at pleasure.'
" Buffon, who could be as hard of belief in some points as he was
" credulous in others, disbelieves the otter's capability for domesti-
" cation. The testimony above noticed has been confirmed by a cloud
"of modern witnesses. Goldsmith mentions an otter which went
'• into a gentleman's pond at the word of command, drove the fish
" up into a corner, and having seized on the largest, brought it out
" of the water to its master. Daniel, Bewik, Shaw record instances
"of the animal's docility in this way. Mr. Bill ami Mr. Macgillvray
"both corroborate the fact. The latter has collected the following
"anecdotes: — 'Mr. M'Diannid, in his amusing "Sketches from
" ' Nature," gives an account of several domesticated otters, one of
" ' which, belonging to a poor widow, when led forth plunged into the
" ■ [Jrr, or the neighbouring burns, and brought out all the fish it could
"' find. Another, kept at Corsbie house, Wigtone hire, evinced a great
" 'fondness for gooseberries, fondled about her keeper's feet like a pup
" 'or kitten, and even seemed inclined to salute her (heck, when per-
" ' mitted to carry her freedoms so far. A third, belonging to Mr.
" • Montcith of Carstairs, was also very tame, and though he frequently
" ' stole away at night to fish by the pale light of the moon, and
" 'associate with his kindred by the riverside, his master, of course,

264 Tin Tame Otter. Chapt. XX.

" ' was too generous to find any fault with his peculiar mode of
" ' spending his evening hours. In the morning he was always at
" ' his post in the kennel, and no animal understood better the secret
" ' of keeping his own side of the house. Indeed, his pugnacity in
" ' this respect gave him a great lift in the favour of the game-
" ' keeper, who talked of his feats wherever he went, and avowed,
" 'besides, that if the best cur that ever ran "only daured to girn "
" 'at his protege, he would soon " mak his teeth meet through him."
" ' To mankind, however, he was much more civil, and allowed himself
" ' to be gently lifted by the tail, though he objected to any inter-
" ' ferance with his snout, which is probably with him the seat of
"'honour.' They are, however, dangerous pets, for, if offended, they
" will bite grievously.

" L. Nair,* has the fur deep-chesnut, lightest on the sides ; lower
' part of the neck and cheeks, as well as the throat, reddish bright-
' brown ; above the eye a ruddy yellow or yellowish-white spot.

" This is the Nir-nayie of the people of Pondicherry, and is probably
' the species seen by Bishop Heber, who passed a row of nine or ten
' large and very beautiful otters, tethered with straw collars and long
' strings to bamboo stakes on the banks of the Matta Colly. ' Some
' ' were swimming about at the full extent of their strings, or laying
' ' half in and half out of the water ; others were rolling themselves
' ' in the sun on the sandy bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise as if
' ' in play. I was told that most of the fishermen in this neighbourhood
' ' kept one or more of these animals, who were almost as tame as dogs,
' ' and of great use in fishing, sometimes driving the shoals into the
' ' nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish with their teeth.'
' Another proof, if any were wanting, of the feasibility of taming these
• animals and rendering them useful to man."

Of a different species of otter the writer of this article
continues : —

" D'Azara further states that a neighbour of his purchased a young
" whelp, which at six months old was 34 inches long. It was
" permitted to run loose about the house, and was fed with fish, flesh,
" bread, mandioca, and other food, but it preferred fish. It would
" walk into the street and return, knew the people of the house, came
'' when called by name, and would follow them like a dog, but its short

" The common otter of Europe is Lutru vulgaris.

CHAPT. xx. Tin Indian Otter.

" legs soon failed it, and it soon grew weary. It would amuse i1
'• with dogs and rats as well as with their masters ; but it was a rough
" play-fellow, and required to bo treated cautiously, for it bit sharply.
" It never harmed poultry or any other animal excepting sucking-pigs,
" which were not safe within its reach, and it would have killed them
" if it had not been prevented. It entered all the rooms, and slept
" always below the bed, was very very cleanly, and always visited one
" particular spot for the deposit of its excrements."

Lastly. I must -ive the reader an extract from our eminent
Indian Naturalist Jerdon's work on "The Mammals of India,"
where he treats of •• The common Indian Otter " which lie calls
Lutni ii'tir: —

" Accepting the synonymy as above,* then, this otter is found
" throughout all India, from the extreme South and Ceylon, to the
" foot of the Himalayas, and from the Indus to Burmah and Malayana,
" frequenting alike rivers and salt water inlets, and from the level of
" the sea to a considerable elevation. It has its lair under large rocks,
"among boulders; and, in alluvial countries, excavates extensive
" burrows, generally in some elevated spot close to the river,
" with numerous entrances. It is almost always found in parties of
" five, six, or more, and, though partly nocturnal in its habits, may
" often be seen hunting after the sun is high, and some time before sun-
" set. I have seen a party out in the sea, on the Malabar coast,
" probably making their way from one backwater to another, but as

• Fam. Mustelidce, Weasels and Martens. Lutra Nair.

F. Curier — L. chinensis and L. indica; Gray — L. tarayensis ; Hodgson — Elliot,
Cat 15. Blyth, fat 21k Pom-tufa, H. ; Nir-nai, Can.; Xeeru-kuka, Tel. ;— all
signifjing water-dog. — Jal Manjer, Mahr., i.e., water-eat. Ud or Hud, Udni
rdbillau, Hindi.

The Common Indian Otter.

" Description. — Above hair brown, or light chestnut-brown, in some grizzled
" with hoary tip*, in others with a tinge of isabella yellow ; beneath yellowish-white,
" or reddish-white ; upper lips, sides of head and neck, chin, and throat, whitish,
'• the line of separation between the two colours more or less distinctly marked ; in
" some the throat tinged with irange brown; paws, albescent in some, simply of a
"lighter shade in others; tail, brown beneath. F. Cuvier, in Ins description,
"mentions some pale facial spot-, but these arc indistinct, though there is some-
" times a faint pale eyebrow.

"Total length up to 46 inches, of which the tail is 17, and 3 inches wide at the
• base

" I have followed Bljth in joining L. Voir and /- Indira, thongh at one t i-n.- 1

266 Tlit Tame Otter. Ciiapt. XX

" they are very numerous on this coast, they may now and then hunt
" in the sea. This otter is trained in some parts of Bengal to assist in
" fishing, by driving the fish into the nets. Young ones are not
" unusually caught in the fishermen's nets, and are very easily tamed.
" I had one brought me when very young, whilst at Tellicherry, on the
" Malabar Coast, which I brought up with a. terrier dog, with whom
" it became very friendly. This otter would follow me in my walks
" like a dog, and amnse itself by a few gambols in the water when it
'• had the opportunity, and now and then caught frogs and small fish.
" As it grew older it took to going about by itself, and one day found
" its way to the bazaar, and seized a large fish from a Moplah. When
" resisted, it showed such fight that the rightful owner was fain to
" drop it. Afterwards it took regularly to this highway style of
" living, and I had on several occasions to pay for my pet's dinner
" rather more than was necessary, so I resolved to get rid of it. I
" put it in a closed box, and having kept it without food for some time,
" I conveyed it myself in a boat some seven or eight miles off, up some
" of the numerous backwaters on this coast. I then liberated it, and
" when it had wandered out of sight among some inundated paddy
" fields, I returned by boat by a different route. That same evening,
" about 9 p.m., whilst in the town, about one and a half miles from my
" own house, witnessing some of the ceremonials connected with the
" Mohurrum festival, the otter entered the temporary shed, walked
" across the floor, and came and lay down at my feet !"

The peculiar formation of the otter's tail is not without interest.
It is not round like that of a dog, cat, or rat, but flattened, and
specially at the base, where it is 3 inches broad, It is flattened
horizontally, too, as in the Cetaceans (whales and porpoises, etc.),
and not perpendicularly as in true tish. Were it meant only for a
propeller in swimming it would have been most useful had it been
put on like a true fish's, but the advantage of having it flattened
horizontally is that the otter, like the whale and the porpoise, is
thereby enabled to come rapidly to the surface for air. Ordinarily

"was strongly inclined to believe them distinct. My impression ires thai the com-
•• niuii otter .if most of the rivers ••(' Southern India, al all events, was distinct from
■ ■ the generally larger, and more robusl otter found in such numbers along the
" Malabar ooasl , and in Lower Bengal ; and thai the latter, besides being larger, had
"the Bur more reddish or yellowish-brown, and with the two colours much more
"distinctly divided; in fart, more resembling Lutra vulgaris; hut in the absence
"of authentic specimens, I can only draw the attention of observers for future
■• verification."

CHAPT. x\ Otters' Habits. 267

it is used like the whale's tail or "flukes" to bring it to the surface
head foremost, bat from Captain Salvia's letter above quoted, it
would seem thai when the head of an otter is forcibly kept down
by a struggling fish, the tail of the otter is still a power to bring the
otter to the surface tail formost, and it is readily intelligible that
when holding on to a fleeing fish, the otter can put on a very heavy
drag by simply curving its tail. On the few occasions which I
have as vet had of being near a Bwimming otter, since I wished to
observe it with this view, I have never seen it use its tail in
swimming; the tail trailed idly behind, while t lie otter swain with
its feet only. I can understand the horizontal compression of the
tail being very useful and necessary to tin/ animal in diving, as
well as in rapidly coming to the service. In a long-continued dive,
when giving chase to a tish, how could the otter regulate the depth
of its dive sufficiently rapidly, without its horizontally flattened
tail.

The otter always comes to the shore or a rock to eat its prey, or
to shallow water in which it can stand, and sits up and looks about
it like a dog, and, when eating, holds the fish down with its sharply
clawed feet just as a dog holds a hone on land, and growls over it
in somewhat the same fashion ; but when standing in shallow
water it holds the fish up in air between its two fore paws, and
every wild otter that I have noticed always commenced eating the
fish by the tail, like a wise general cutting off the retreat. When
wishing to travel with its capture, however, it always retakes it in
its mouth, so as to have the use of the fore paws for swimming.
When lapping milk, however, it is much more like a dainty cat,
and it spits much like a cat. How neatly it picks up or catches a
fleeing frog! Active minded though it he, ami taking quick and
1 * » 1 1 _; leaps, and more slippery than any cricket hall, the frog is
Gelded in the best style of " Lord's " and is " well held " too, and no
mi-take. And then what a quantity of them an otter eats. My
bahes, which have grown while this Chapter has been with the
printer, require a regular commissariat of frogs, and my major-domo
complains that frogs are more expensive than sardines:: But then
veracity compels me to admit that the price of fresh sardines is
here from 300 to 600 for an anna, say Anglice from I'nu to 400 for
a penny. For the present I confine my little otters to frogs, as the
only meat diet besides their cnnjee or pap ; for I lost an otter by let-

268 The Tame Otter. Chapt. XX.

tiug them take too early to fish. When they are old enough to cost
me no more anxiety in re diet, I must try to find out by experi-
ment whether they prefer fishes or frogs, and how much of each they
voluntarily eat. It is beyond a doubt that otters are useful, in
destroying frogs, which are again great eaters of fry certainly, and I
think of spawn too; but the question is whether the good they do
in this way preponderates over the havoc they commit on fish. The
weight of general opinion is against the otter: but what of that,
who has not been misjudged ? He has a staunch friend above
quoted, and he is certainly entitled to an impartial trial.

I have been asked to say what became of my otters. They
grew, and their numbers were added to, and they had a dog-boy
all to themselves, and went out walking with him, answering to
his call and following him, and playing round him, the admira-
tion and amusement of many, as they went out for their daily
walks. But I could not give them as much personal attention as
an experiment of this sort requires, and 1 had to lie away on
circuit for months at a time, and coming back, found my personal
intervention resented, and the dog-boy's authority lapsing. In an
evil moment I added to their number an otter puppy that had
been weaned by its own mother, and had thus seen a little too
much of the world. This one went about with a collar and chain
trailing to prevent its escape. But it taught my little .innocents
bad ways, till, having established the leadership of age, it one day
save a shrill whistle, which was a call to the others to follow'and
dashed into a well. All followed, and all were entangled in the
chain, and all were drowned together. It would have been better
if I had tried a single otter, with only dog companions to help in
its education ; and it is useless to attempt such a task by native
proxy as I did ; you must be able to u'ive much personal attention,
and to bring up the animal almost entirely in your own company,
and have hini much alone witli you. Numbers 'are against
you.

CHAPTER XXI.

SPAWNING.

I marvel how the Bah live in the sea.

Why, as men do aland ; the great ones eat lip the little ones." —

Pekici.es.

A few general words will suffice to show how much room there is
for interesting enquiry in connection with the reproduction of
fishes, and to what good use information on the subject can and
has been turned. Most readers will be aware that is the case of
salmon and trout the female produces eggs without any connection
with the male, and when they are ripe within her, scoops out a
hollow in the gravel to receive them, and as she exudes them the
male or cock salmon, who waits upon her, ejects over them a milk-
like fluid called milt, which fertilizes them, and in which the
spermatazoa can be detected by the microscope. It has lately
been ascertained* that the ova of trout are covered with an
adhesive matter which makes them keep more or less together, ami
therefore more within the influence of the milt, than if they were
separated, and which makes them adhere to stones, so that they are
not in danger of being washed down, even by a strong stream, and
do not need to be covered as was formerly thought. Again the
spermatazoa are observed under the microscope to radiate in the
most regular order, so that nothing escapes them. Tliis manner
of breeding makes it comparatively easy for man to capture male
ami female fish, express the ova of the latter when ripe into a
backet of water by very gentle pressure of the stomach, and then
similarly cause the male to emit milt, and stirring the two up
together to fertilize the eggs, and hatch and rear them under pro-
tection. It has been calculated that, when exposed to the ordinary
vicissitudes of nature, only one in a thousand salmon ova ever

• C. C. Capel, in "The Field" of 15th January, 1881; and, previously,
Ilr Frank Buekland.

270 Spawning. Chapt. xxi.

becomes a fish fit for the table ; whereas man lias learnt by
artificial means to bring about three quarters to maturity.

The Mahseer and many other fish breed in the same way, with
this difference, that the Mahseer appears, as already shown (page
27), to lay its eggs not all at one time, but in several batches.
The Mahseer might, therefore, be artificially multiplied in the same
way as the salmon and the trout.

In India, however, we have another means of culture in the
rice-fields, which are filled at times with the fry of all sorts of fish,
the Mahseer, I believe, amongst others. As it is the instinct of
some mature fish to ascend the rivers for the purpose of spawning
in small waters calculated to suit the puny strength of their tiny
fry, and by their shallowness to afford them protection from preda-
tory fish, so is it the instinct of their fry to descend, as they grow,
to deeper, wider waters. In India, moreover, they are compelled
to do this by the decreasing in the hot weather of the rivers.
Down ^the river these fry dawdle, therefore, feeding as they go.
But as the rivers are frequently dammed up and turned off for
irrigation purposes, they naturally go with the stream down the
irrigation channel, and consequently find themselves in a rice-field.
In the shallow water of the rice field, and under the shadow of
the growing rice, they would do very well, were it not that death
awaits them at every turn, in basket traps placed at every drop
from rice-field to rice-field, into which they fall by still following
their natural instinct of descending the stream. It is hoped the
day is coining when these rice fields will, some of them, be utilized
for the preservation, instead of the destruction of fry, and others
have their connection with the river guarded with gratings.

While some fish, like the Salmon, the Trout, and the Mahseer,
lay their eggs in hollows worked out in the gravel, others lay them
in the sand, where it is pretty to see the tiny fry still nestled
together after birth, so closely that they look like one black spot,
in a hollow like an inverted cone of one or two nnhcs in diameter,
with their umbilical sacks still unabsorbed. Other fish, again, like
the perch, lay their eggs in long strings like beads, and adhering
by a glutinous matter to bushes. The stickle-back builds a nest
among the reeds and keeps tierce guard over it. It is the male,
stickle-back that builds the nest, and that unaided by the female,
for in due conformity to the rule- of modern society he makes no

Cii a it. xn. .1 Very /' igement. 271

matrimonial overtures till he has provided for the becoming main-
tenance of a wife, and do girl stickle-back with any self-respect
would think of accepting him without a furnished house. The
murral takes up it- quarters in a hollow in the bank, and protects
oung bj keeping them in a crowd, and swimming under them
till about - inches long, when, like cither predatory animals, it
kills them if they do not separate. Some sharks bring forth young
alive, some deposit them in a purse with tendrils for attachment
to seaweeds, and their young flee for refuge into their mouths.
in cat-fish, Arius, I have observed, hatch their ova in their
mouths, and keep them there ever after being hatched. Dr. Day
and I examined over -"tin of these fish in company on one occasion,
besides the observations we had each made at other times
separately. The conclusions we came to were that the female
seemingly holds the eggs as she extrudes them in her two large
cup-like ventral tins, where apparently they are fecundated, and
whence they are taken by the male, who thenceforward keeps them
in his mouth, never eating till they are hatched. The eggssink in
water, and are about half (-5 and' 6) an inch in diameter, consequently
the males were found on an average to carry not more than
16 ova each; and the female laying about 50, she seemingly
occupies three husbands. Some friends were going over my little
museum with me one day, and a lady, hearing how the bringing
up of the children was. in this case, left unreservedly to the
devoted husbands, turned reproachfully to her husband, "A very
" proper arrangement." Thus was the poor hen-pecked Arius held
up as an example. Some Bea-fish spawn in the open sea, leaving
their ova, which float, to he hatched on the surface, some in the
sand, some among the rocks and seaweed.

As a gem red rule the ova of fresh-water fish sink to the bottom,
and the ova of Bea-fish float It is a wise provision that it is so.
The ova of river-fish require to reach the bottom to prevent tl iei i
being washed down by the stream, that would otherwise soon carry
them to the salt water and destruction. If the ova of sea-fish
similarly sank, they would, at the bottom of the deep sea, lose the
life-giving influences of that heat and light which they gain by
floating on or near the suit

Remembering this great leading fact, and remembering, also,
another matter in connection with the sea which, though well

272 Spawning. Chapt. xxi.

known, we are apt to lose sight of in connection with sea-fisheries,
I think we are in a fair way to discover the causes which govern
the migrations of certain sea-fish. We are accustomed to look
upon the sea as one vast pond of still water, differing only from
other ponds in being salt, in having tides, and in being more
moved by winds than other ponds or lakes, by reason of its having
a larger surface exposed to their influence. We are not ignorant,
by the way, that there are currents also, and that there is one
mighty one called the Gulf-stream, and we can understand
mariners having to know something about them ; but that they
should affect fisheries is not, I think, commonly considered. So
many and various, however, are the sea currents, that it would be
a much more accurate starting point for thought, if we looked upon
the ocean as an agglomeration of vast salt-water rivers of varying
depths and velocity, of greatly varying temperatures, with banks
and courses as well defined as fresh-water rivers, with counter
currents or back sets along those watery banks, some of them
flowing on the surface, some at the bottom. From their widely
varying circumstances, these vast sea rivers naturally support
different sorts of insect life, or, in other words, different sorts of
food for fishes. These currents or sea rivers, their strength, their
length, their depth, their breadth, their course, their tempera-
ture, their saltness, have been laboriously ascertained; the mariner
has them all well laid down in charts, and studies them care-
fully. The sea pisciculturist should do likewise. I hold that he
can expect to make little progress in his science till he studies
it from this point of view. What should we know about the
salmon and its propagation if we had always watched it in one
particular pool, and not taken into consideration the flow of the
river, and its varying circumstances in different parts of its
course? The same remark applies equally to the Mahseer, which
is migratory only in fresh water. Similarly, how can we expect
to understand the migrations of herrings, mackerel, pilchard, etc.,
unless we study them with special reference to their rivers, the
salt-water rivers of the sea.

Having then floating spawn and flowing rivers in the sea, it is
easy to conceive that the former is earned great distances by the
latter, and frequently taken out of our ken. But if we identified
the sea rivers in which particular spawn was shed, we might, by

Chaft. xxi. 278

referring to their known courses, have a clue to where that spawn
was carried; and be in a better position to trace out why the
mature fish Bought certain portions of certain sea rivers wherein to
spawn at certain times, where the fry are hatched and reared,
and by what counter currents, and wherefore, they return.
Mackerel) herring, and pilchards are usually in spawn when caught
in England ; it was, therefore, thought that they sought our shores
for the purpose of spawning. But as it has been concluded that
the ova of all these fish float, I beiieve the shore itself has no
connection whatever with their spawning, except in so far as the
land affects the sea currents ; and my impression is, that it is the
character of the sea current or sea river that must be looked to for
an explanation of their wanderings. Taking this clue, it would
seem feasible, after sufficient research, to map out the journeying
of a mackerel or a herring, as particularly as that of a salmon. If
there were not salt-water rivers in the sea with well defined courses
and banks, how could fish know their way about it. They would
be liable, one would think, to lose themselves in the trackless vast
expanse, instead of coming hack year after year with punctuality
to certain shores at certain seasons. There are reasons for
concluding that a salmon knows his way about his own particular
river, knows every snag, and stone, and "pool, and run, in it from
mouth to source, just as well as an old fox knows his own beat.
And I can readily believe that a herring knows his way about his
sea rivers just as well, and has a regular round which he goes every
of his life. The thing is for us to ascertain it and make use
of it. both for ashing and piscicultural purposes.

In the hope that this book will fall into the hands of some few
who are not only fishermen, but naturalists also and pisciculturists,
1 take the opportunity of repeating an idea thrown out by me in
18G8, but which, from being in an official report, never got any
further than the Government shelves, and the few newspaper
columns in which it was reprinted; and I repeat the idea in the
hope that it may be worked out, and brought if possible to some
practical use, not only in India, but also in Australia, Burundi,
and the warmer parts of China and America, in short, in any
tropical clime in which there is more of sun than ice. I emote,
therefore, from my own report: " Long before the commencement
"of pisciculture as a -deuce. Aristotle, ami subsequently Mr.

THE KOI) IN IMHA. X

■_'74 Spawning. ('hut. xxi.

Vanvl. aud Sir J. Emerson Tennent,* had observed that ' the
" ' impregnated ova of the fish of one rainy season are left un-
" ' hatched in the mud through the dry season, and from their low
" ' state of organisation as ova, the vitality is preserved till the
" ' recurrence and contact of the rain and oxygen in the next wet
" ' season, when vivification takes place from their joint influence.'
" It would seem, therefore, that we need not be disheartened at
" being met with the objection that ice and moss are not as easily
" procured in India for the transportation of ova as in England.
" We have at least reasonable ground for entertaining the hope
" that in the tropical heat of India there is placed readily at our
" command an equally potent, much more simple, and much less
" expensive, means of suspending the animation of ova encased
" in sun-dried mire. There are numerous instances on record of
" vivified fish also (of particular sorts) both as fry and as mature
" fish, being thus kept alive in the drought, and the crocodile
" sestivates in the sun-burnt clay of a Ceylon tank in the same
" way as the alligator of the Mississippi hybernates in the frost.
" This interesting fact in Natural History may be made of
" practical use in pisciculture, and the experiment would seem to
"be at least worth a trial." If the suggestion prove practical,
pisciculturists of tropical climes will be at no disadvantage, but
rather the contrary as compared in this respect with the piscicul-
turists of Europe.

It may be that this manner of treatment will only suit certain
sorts of fish ova, it may be that it will suit more than we find
ordinarily using it in nature, for the manner in which the
animation of various insects is suspended, when encased in mud
by the carpenter wasps, and by certain ichneumon Hies, is somewhat
analogous and suggestive.

And I since find Buchanan also.

CHAPTER XXII.

STOCKING PONDS

Bui we'll take do oare when the mother prom fair;

11 ill we vex though it rain ;
We'll banish nil sorrow, and sing till to-morrow,
And angle, ami ai in." —

\/wk Walton.

Excellent fishing might frequently be had in ponds close to
one's owu residence, ponds to which you need make no expensive
pilgrimage, as for the mountain-loving Mahseer, ponds to which
you might easily resort any morning or evening that you had an
hour or so to spare. Golden opportunities for creating excellent
sport are thrown away through want of knowledge, so 1 shall
venture a few words on stocking ponds in India.

First, I will tell you of a little experiment which 1 made
myself. Close to my house at Vallam.in the Tanjore District, was
a rain-fed pond of some three to five acres of waterspread, as my
memory runs. It ran very dry in the famine, and the opportunity
was taken to clear it out for sanitary purposes. Thus it had been
cleared of all predatory Bah, and this was my opportunity. When
it refilled with water, I put in about 2 lbs. weight of well sel<
try of non-predatory fish. Their intrinsic value was about 2 annas,

Zd., but, by reason of my living 7 miles from the river, 1
actually paid 2 rupees, Bay 4&, for them. I threw in a handful
of small snails, ami 1 prohibited any sort of fishing for eighteen
months. I soon saw the banks lined with young and

rved that the fish were doing well At the I the

eighteen months' rest, I made it known that any one might fish
with rod and line as much as ever they liked for nothing.
The banks soon showed increasing numbers of native anglers.
When they had got well accustomed to it. and were thoroughly

1 III: BOD IN INDIA. I -'

276 xking Ponds. Chapt. xxii.

happy about tlieir takes, I said, one day. " you get all this good
" fishing for nothing, because the watchman prevents netting."
(He was the municipal watchman Mdiose business it was to see
that the drinking water was not befouled or stolen, and nothing
extra had to be paid him on account of the fish). "Will it be a
" great thing for you all to give hirn one fish in ten of what you
" take, so as to keep alive his interest in being your protector ? "
" Not at all," they answered, with willingness; and so it was
arranged that the watchman was to take tithes, and henceforward
I called him the " Hector" in my notes. I gave him a few days to
fall into grooves, and then I told him to keep an account of what
he got daily. He did so, but he complained that the anglers stood
very rigidly to their one in ten, never giving him one in nine or
two in nineteen, and never giving him a good sized fish when they
got one, but always the smaller ones. I thought this was better
than encouraging him to be grasping, so joined with hini in de-
ploring the depravity of mankind, but did not interpose in his
behalf. The result, you will see, was that his tithe was very much
less than a real truth, was probably much nearer one-sixteenth or
one-eighteenth of the real weight of fish caught. This was more
satisfactory for my calculations than over-estimating. He kept
this account for a month in an average sporting period. I fre-
quently weighed his tithes to arrive at a fair average of the weight
corresponding to his numbers, and here, again, I erred on the side
opposite to exaggeration. I found that anglers were taking fish
out of that one pond at a rati' which amounted to 4,000 lbs. weight
of fish a year. As time went on, anglers rather grew in numbers
than otherwise, and some of them took to it, not as a pastime, but
as a profession, selling their takes ; and as the fish grew bigger, they
started country-made reels and running line, as I taught them, and
always met me with a pleased look as I strolled round to ask what
sport, and look at their bags : and after more than a year had
passed, they declared that not only had all the fishing made no
impression on the fish, but the total takes were continuing to
increase. As there was no netting only angling, I let them fish all
the year round without any close time.

Among the fry that I put in were some Labeos. The natives
were very positive that they never bred in ponds, but needed
running water. I thought they might be induced to try breeding

• hut. xxn. Batultsai Vallam. 277

in a pond when they found it impossible t<> gel to a river, and the
event proved 1 was right After a time, Laheo fry were caught
very much smaller and more numerous than 1 had put in. When

these fish began to grow in size and multiply, the total weight of
the takes increased very much, and this did not take place within
tlif eighteen months, when I took my fish census.

From the above little story 1 think I may fairly be allowed
to say that my 2 lbs. weight of fry yielded, after 18 months,
4. Him 11k. weight a year, and in subsequent years yielded at a
much greater rate.

This was the result of careful selection of species, species that
would not prey on each other, and that would more or less feed
differently. The native fishermen brought me pots full of fry, the
majority of them dead as usual, ami, pouring them out ou tin'
ground, I cast the predaceous ones on one side, and saw them
killed, and the desirable sorts I selected with my own hand, and
put them into the pond myself. Some people, in stocking a pond,
put in any fish the natives recommend for size and flavour.
Foremost among their recommendations are the Murral and the
Freshwater Shark. As well might you expect to raise a flock of
sheep successfully by turning wolves and wild dogs into your fold
along with your lambs.

The first thing to be done in stocking a pond is to be sure you
have no predatory fish in it. It is very hard to be sure of this,
while there is a drop of water there. The Murral also is one of
those fish that can live in the mud of a sun-dried reservoir. It is
best, therefore, to dry your pond, and clean it out, using the silt for

manure, for g 1 manure it is, and raising a crop in the bed of the

reservoir. This cultivation .if the bed of the pond should not only
consummate the destruction of any fish fry or ova left in the mini,
but leave the bottom more full of insect life to form good feeding
for fish when the water is turned in.

Then water turned in should not \«- brought by a channel from
a river, or by overflow from another reservoir, so that fry ofallsorte
of t i — 1 1 might indiscriminately find their way in. You should be
able to be certain that no fish can get into your pond, but era '
vmi select and put there If your source of water-supply i- at all
doubtful in these respects, yon must be very careful with gratinga
First, throw in a few water -nail- to make f 1 tor your coming

278 Stocking Ponds. Chapt. xxit.

fish ; the small black one, Tamil, Ummachi,ia the most common and
the most useful. They will soon multiply astoundingly, and the
minute young snails, smaller than any pin's head, form excellent
food for fry, while the full grown ones are taken by the mature
fish. If you like to take the opportunity of breeding some in a
glass tank, it is very pretty to see how they feed. Crumble some
biscuit powder very fine between your fingers, and let it drop
quietly on the water, and it will cover the surface like scum. You
will then see how the stationary snail feeds itself thereon.
Remaining quite stationary on the glass, it creates a current which
draws the fine biscuit powder to and past it in a continuous
stream; and if yon watch closely, you will observe that there is
much less biscuit powder in the stream that leaves it than in the
stream that comes to it. I thought to breed snails for my fish,
and put some in a large bathing tub in my garden. They did
famously, till an observant old Turkey cock went bis rounds one
morning and ate them. Similia similibus curantur, sol ate him.
I should think it would not be a bad plan if you are preserv-
ing fish very closely, so closely that you want to feed them for the
table, as in stews, to have a separate very small pond in which
to breed snails free from being preyed on when minute, so as
to have a constant and large supply of mature ones wherewith to
feed your fish. Snails are excellent scavengers, and rapidly clarify
water.

A few water-weeds will help to clarify your water, will give
food and harbour to both fish and snails, as well as numerous
larva? which make fish food; and some fish will lay their ova
on them. But if your pond is frequented by bathers, you must
be careful what you put in. I have known a poor fellow
drowned by having his legs caughl by weeds, and I had a most
narrow escape of it myself, when swimming home after snipe
shooting, in preference to walking a long way round a long
tank. There is a weed which grows from the bottom by a Ion-
stem, about the thickness of your Mahseer running line, with
small hairs at long intervals on each side of the stem. It is
very brittle, and easily breaks away from the swimmer, and it
is belov.d by the fish, and snails, and larvae, and easily remove-
able when excessive, and it does not die down and make the
water offensive at times, as some other weeds do. In Tamil, it
is indifferently called perwnypi&shi, kodipashi, and ilaipishi.

>

I

i ' i ' r ; : f

3

a
w
o

Q«

< M \ii \xii. The Oourami. 279

Then, as to the fish to put in. This must ilepend on your
object. If ymi are stocking for native fishing, you may put in
any number of the small carps that never ^mu beyond G 01
8 inches in length, for they will multiply more rapidly than
any others, ami natives like catching those little fish fast with
their small rods, which break with a big fish. But if you are
stocking for European fishing, exclude them, or they will mono-
polise the food supply. The several Labeos, the White Carp,
and the Olive f'arp. all introduced to you above, may be put in
in any numbers. The two first are bottom feeders, the last more a
mid-water feeder. The (,'helas may be added as surface feeders.
The Gourami should be added if possible, as a chiefly weed-
feeder. These will not coiilliet with each oilier, in eating each
other, or in eating each others' food to any great extent

The Gourami, Osphromtnus olfax, Plate XXIV,* is a most
desirable fish to breed in ponds. It is a native of China, where
it a fleets the still places in rivers. It attains 20 lbs. in weight,
is said to take a fly and a paste bait, and is so highly esteemed
for flavour, and is so easily cultivated in tropical climes, that
it has been naturalized in Mauritius, Cayenne, and Australia.
In Hatavia, the Dutch rear Gourami for the table in earthen
pots. Coinnierson said that nothing that he had tasted amongst
tish, whether marine or freshwater, was more exquisite. They
are said to feed chiefly on water-weeds, particularly the Pistia
nutans. They were introduced into the Calcutta Botanical Gar-
dens, but I am told that they were so neglected that, in 1841,
only one was found to be still existing. I am not sure that I
did not hear that they had been re-introduced there, sir William
Denison, when Governor of Madras, introduced them there, at bl-
own private cost, and the following record of their subsequent exis-
tence is worth preserving: —

'• I beg to give you the following, information obtained from
Mr. Thompson, respecting the Gourami tish : —

"The fish, 20 in number, were imported from the Mauritius,
■ and arrived here in the earlj part of Lord Napier's stay. They
"were taken to Guindy, and half of the number put into each

• This plate is copied, bj kind permission, from Dr. Day's " Fishes of India. "
The scales are incorrect in number, because Dr. Day's plate was blurred, and too
■t to follow them, and I had no natural «p«*imen.

280 Stocking Ponds. Chapt. xm

" of the two tanks in the garden, about 18 months after they
" were captured by nets, and ten put into the tank at Madras, and
" ten sent to the hills. Of the latter number, three died in transit.

" About 20 months ago eight young fish were caught in a
" bucket when drawing water, and these were taken to Guindy
" and put into the tank in which you saw them lately.

"There must lie a good many in the Madras tank, unless
" they found their way out through the sluice running out of
" Government House during the heavy rains.

" Government House, Madras, (Signed) J. Coombes.

" 8th September, 1875."

It will be a thousand pities if the Gourami in Madras are from
neglect or any other cause allowed to share the same fate as the
( laJcutta ones. I am told that one of the ponds in which they are
holds Murral also, which, of course, is against their propagation.
They should be put out without delay in suitable waters, where
they will be free from natural enemies, protected from poachers,
and secured against floods by gratings. There, carefully propa-
gated, the fry could very soon be spread all over the country. The
Tanjore District particularly abounds in thousands of perennial
ponds set aside for drinking and bathing purposes and attached to
temples. More than a million of similarly suitable ponds are
doubtless to be found in Southern India, and the amount of highly
palatable fish that might be added to our food supply by means of
these Gourami is incalculable.

For commencing the experiment, Madras has excellent facilities.
Attached to the Government Central Museum there are two good
sized ponds, fed by a pipe from the Red Hill reservoir, and free
from any other supply except local rainfall. In these ponds there
are now unfortunately some Freshwater Sharks and Murral, besides
other fish, so that they would have to be cleared of them first.
But by the aid of the Railway Company's steam-pump this would
be no difficulty, and the water and the mud clearing might lu-
spread over the adjoining grass with profit to it. With watchmen
to prevent night netting, these ponds in Government grounds
might easily be made the nucleus of a supply for the Presidency.
Considering the value of the culture to the Presidency, the Govern-
ment might well sanction the few pounds necessary to carry to

<'ii ait. xxn. Ttu People's Park. 281

completion the nndertaking commenced by sir William Dcnison,
and forwarded by Lord Napier.

In the People's Park at Madras is a most perfect system of
numerous ponds of all sizes, fed by pipe from the Ked Hill reser-
voir, and connected by slight overflow through long channels.
Similarly treated, with the connecting channels carefully guarded
by gratings, they afford opportunity for the most perfect breeding
System that COnld possibly he desired. Something was thought of
in this direction at <>ne time, but all sorts, wolves and lambs, tigers
and calves, as fish go, being turned in together indiscriminately,
with pelicans, swans, and such like birds by way of encourage-
ment, of course the results are as barren as might have been
easily anticipated. Those who have mainly benefited by the
arrangement have been the Freshwater Sharks. The ponds are so
many that one might be allotted to gold fish for ornamental and
sale purposes, others for native fishing for the smaller carps, which
they specially affect, and for bait, others for the larger non-pre-
daceous fish particularized above, one for Gourami alone, and the
large one at the end of the system for all sorts of fish, the larger
predaceous fish included. In that you might have Indian pike
fishing without injury to the fly fishing and bottom fishing in the
other ponds. The connecting channels, if protected from birds by a
little bamboo work or wire netting, would make excellent breeding
places for snails. From the Gourami pond or ponds, the whole
country might be supplied, not only the Presidency, but as far
north as they were found to flourish. With sign-boards attached it
would be easy to know what fish were in each pond, and thereby
how to assay them. Excellent fishing might thus be had for all
classes in the midst of the town of Madras, and a small fee for
fishing in certain ponds, a larger one in others, while others were
left free, would go far to remunerate outlay, and the fishing would
afford healthy amusement to the soldiers by whom the park is

ely frequented, as well as the numerous " poor whites "and
East Indians who have little enough to solace their exile in India.
Amongst the natives, fishing is generally confined to the poorer
classes, who fish for their dinner or for sale, except in a native

ment. where they not unfrequently take to it kindly enough.

In these ponds very much greater results could be obtained
than in my Yallani pond above-mentioned. If my 2 lbs. of fry

282 Slocking Ponds. ( Ihapt. xxii.

there became 4,000 lbs. of fish a year at the very lowest calculation,
and more probably 6,000 lbs., or 7,000 lbs., what might not a fair
start with some 20 lbs. weight of fry do ? and greater results might
also be expected from ponds that are so much larger.

But any pond well stocked with fish is a standing temptation
to professional poachers with nets. Such gentry have a way of
coming by night when honest men are in bed. They have ways,
too, of intimidating and buying up your watchman, especially in
India, where your watchman is of their creed., colour, and lan-
guage, not yours at all. I do not see any reliable way of prevent-
ing netting in India, but covering old casks or boxes with strong
tenter-hooks, and sinking them all over the pond by half filling
them with stones. Let it be known that you have done so, and no
fishermen will adventure their nets in your ponds. Anglers tackle
may sometimes be caught in them, but not often, and it cannot be
helped. Pyrimidal stones used in England for keeping nets off the
bottom, and thus letting the fish escape, without endangering
tackle, would be perfectly useless in India, where the native
fishermen are accustomed to dive and follow their nets under
water, helping them over every rock and snag. Such tenter-hook
armed boxes would, of course, be against your own netting of your
own ponds when you wanted to supply fry. But you would have
to throw a casting net in the spaces between the boxes, which
spaces would in the daylight be well known to you.

I ought to have mentioned that the Gourami bears transport
excellently, and that all fry are best transported when about 4
inches long. At night they do not suffer from the sun. The
water in which they are should be changed occasionally, and
constantly aerated by taking a little water out, and pouring it in
from a height, or by blowing air in with a bellows or syringe.

If you protect your pond against netting it is obvious that you
must put in no sorts that are to be caught only with nets, as they
will have perfect immunity from capture, and will be likely in the
end to outbalance the other sorts.

I have spoken of fish as predaceous and non-predaceons, whereas
almost all Indian carps of any size are, to a certain extent, prone
to prey on fish, but they are so only with reference to fry ; they do
not destroy the parent fish as do Pike in England, and Freshwater
Slunk and Murral in India. The destruction of a few fry more or

CHAPT. xxn. Protecting the Overflow.

less, in this manner does no practical harm, for their name is
legion.

A point "ii behalf of the fry, which is bj do means to be
neglected, is, however, the overflow. The tendency of fry is to go
downstream; when, therefore, you have a heavy rainfall, and a
decided overflow, their natural instincts will impel them all to
follow it out of your pond, and so you will lose them. Tiny will
moot in shoals. The first idea that occurs to one is to bar
their way with a grating. But a grating that will prevent the
passage of fry must be very fine indeed, and such a grating on the
surface is liable to be very sunn choked with the debris that always
floats down with a flood. Let A B be a section of your bank, and
A the point of overflow, A II the outfall. You will, of course, be
guided by circumstances in the amount of
height you allow at A C for overflow,
and in diminishing its height and force

O O - - —

by lengthening it. Bun out a plank C D
V. 1 one foot or more, continuing E F 2
feet or more below the surface of the
water, at the lowest level of the outfall.
At F <i have a fine wire grating. Then any debris floating
down towards the overflow must necessarily come against the
] plank at the surface of the water at E, and the grating F G
is left clear and unchoked for the flow of water, and F G being
well below the surface, the draught of water is not enough to
■ome the buoyancy of the debris, and draw it down so far.
Similarly the instinct of the fry is to escape by the surface, never
by the unnatural course of the arrow, and if any stray curious one
should accidentally find the unusual nutlet, yon have a fine wire
grating F G. If the pond be a small one, and the overflow slight
A ( 1 15, instead of representing the bank, may be a pipe let through
the bank as a syphon, and lead anywhere into the pond, and sur-
rounded by a box, K I DF, as shown in dotted line. If the
overflow be considerable, the strength of it may be minimized by
breadth, and C D E F may be formed of masonry,
and at any slope, and turfed over for appearance sake.

Fish breed much more rapidly in I m lit than in England ; they

come to maturity sooner, and the young commence breeding sooner.

t life in ome form i .1 think, more rife than in England,

284 Stocking Ponds. Chapt. xxir.

though one does not see so many flies on the water as in an English
trout stream. Fish are preyed on by more and larger animals in
India than in England, which indicates that it is necessary to make
greater provision to prevent their over increasing ; in other words,
the scale against them has to be more heavily weighted to maintain
Nature's balance. The greater, then, is the advantage to man when,
by excluding predatory animals, he monopolises the preying. Both
countries have otters, but England has no crocodiles, and its Pike and
Perch can bear no comparison to the numerous and large sized species
of predatory fish from Freshwater Sharks, of sorts, of 136 lbs.
downwards through Ophiocepaii, Macrones, Callichrous, Arius, and
many others, down to the little Ophioccpalus gachua, and the very
legion of frogs that prey upon fry, all which run riot in Indian
waters. Salmon, it is true, despoil a river when they take posses-
sion of it, but even they are a trifle beside the armies of predatory
fish to be found in Indian rivers. Even its very carp run in the
Mahseer to as big as a man, and live largely on other fish.

CHAPTER XXIII.

MISCELLANEOUS.

" Hamlet. — A man may Bah with the worm (hat hath eal of a king j an<l

eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
KlNO. — What ilo'st tlmu mean by tins?
Hamlet. — Nothing hut to sliow you how a ting may go a progress through

ill. uuts of a beggar."— Shakespeabe.

Did you ever watch amadavats going to bed ? It is a provoking
sight, because they take such a long time tucking themselves in.
F( s, they tuck themselves in, it is a fact ; and they do it in a very
provoking way, provoking to their neighbours as well as to
spectators. They all perch huddled together in a row, and seem
to be arranging it comfortably enough for all parties when just as

" Tired nature's sweet restorer ' balmy sleep,'
• * • his ready visit pays,
Where fortuue smiles,"

the unfortunate amadavat at the outside awakes to a sense of
his weather side, which is exposed, being colder than his lea
side, which is against his neighbour's ribs, and suddenly jumping
up runs along the backs of his sleeping neighbours, and wriggles
himself in, in the middle. This half wakes and annoys every
one, and they all Look cross about, but shortly get over it, and
are just comfortably off to Bleep again, when amadavat No. 2 at
each end discovers that the absence of an outside neighbour, and
consequent exposure to the elements, have similarly seduced his
weather side of its caloric, and convinced him thai amadavat No. 1
was Dot such a fool as he looked after all, so he, too, jumps up
impulsively, scuttles along the backs of his fellows, and tucks
himself in, in the middle. And BO the tucking-in process goes on
as one outsider after another cools down, and wants a warm place
in the middle of the row, till it is too provoking to look at any
longer. Fancy fellows with long claws running over your head
all night long at intervals of a quarter of an hour, and your being

286 Miscellaneous. Chapt. xxra.

blandly asked the next morning if you " bad passed a pleasant
night!" It would be too exasperating. But that is just what
these arnadavats do every night of their lives. And that is just
what several of my ideas want to do, they keep on wanting to tuck
themselves in, in the wrong places. But I cannot stand that, so
these anradavatish ideas are allotted a perch to themselves, whereon
!",i'>stl<\ and wriggle, and tuck themselves in higgledly-piggledly,
just as they like. Between ourselves, I verily believe that, even
after they have been arranged for the night by the printer, they
will fidget about and change their places. 1 therefore disclaim all
responsibility for their order.

Crocodiles are very shy, and not to be caught, except by night
line. A simple way of setting this is to get a bamboo of full
thickness, and 10 or 12 feet in length. To one end of it tie a
hook with only a foot of line between hook and bamboo. The
line should not be a single cord, which the crocodile can bite in
two, but fifteen or twenty pieces of common twine tied together at
the ends, but not twisted at all. These will get between his teeth,
and escape being bitten, and their united strength will hold him
fast enough. Bait the hook, which must be a large and very
strong one, with a bull frog, or a fowl's entrails, or a couple of
crows, or any meat, and push the whole out into the lake, pool, or
ditch in which the crocodiles are, and leave it for the night. If
there is a slight current, it is easy enough to attach a stone, by
way of anchor, by a long string to the other end of the bamboo, and
to drop it in. The line between the bamboo and the hook being so
short, the bait is kept near the surface, and is not liable to be
concealed amongst weeds, etc., at the bottom; when the crocodile
takes the bait and turns down with it. the shortness of the hue,
and the ready opposition of the floating bamboo, quickly strikes
the hook into him, and the more he tries to gel down the more
stoutly the bamboo resists him. for it is full of air from end to
end, and is a very powerful buoy. As long as \w keeps to the
water the bamboo plays him well, ami it' he tries the land he
will soon be brought up with a round turn by the bamboo getting
hitched amongst bushes. As far as my experience goes they
always take to the land eventually.

I have been told that good fun can be had out of the
crocodile by baiting as above in the day time, and setting a man

C'HAPT. XXIII. odiUs and Alligators. 28'

t" watch from b distance in ooncealment The man must be
very still, and weU concealed, and at a distance, or not a crocodile
will be booked, for they are very wavy. Directly one is hooked
he gives the information, Then into small boats quick, one
man in each prow with a hog spear, start fair, and " ride " or " off"
for first Bpear. As he sees the boats coming, down goes the
crocodile, and up stands the bamboo, more and more upright
the deeper he goes, so that the more he tries to avoid you, the
more conspicuous becomes his emir.se. Follow him np, for if the
bamboo is a big one, as it should be, it will be so strongly buoyant
that he must come to the top soon. There, now, the bamboo is
beginning to slope, showing that he is coining to the surface.
Now is your time for a spear. But look out for his tail — it is
eery powerful If he upsets you, he has big brothers about, and
they may reverse the sport.

What is the difference between a crocodile and an alligator '.
sir J. Emerson Tennent, in his interesting sketches of the Natural
History of Ceylon, makes it clear enough : —

" The Portuguese in India, like the Spaniards in South America,
" affixed their name of lagarto to the huge reptiles that infested
"the rivers ami estuaries of both continents; and to the present
"day the Europeans in Ceylon apply the term alligator to what
" are in reality crocodiles, which literally swarm in the still
" waters and tanks in the low country, but rarely frequent rapid
" streams, and have never been found in the marshes among
" the hills. The differences, however, between the two, when
" once ascertained, are sufficiently marked, to prevent their bein»
" afterwards confounded. The head of the alligator is broader,
" and the snout less prolonged, and the canine teeth of the under
" jaw, instead of being received into foramina in the upper, as
" in the crocodile, fit into furrows on each side of it. The legs
" of the alligator, tOO, are DOt denticulated, and the feet are only

mipalmate,"

The Gangetic Gavial has a lengthened beak which marks him
unmistakably.

I>" not deem crocodiles to be unmitigated evils. They have
redeeming points like the rest of as. I have found in the stomach
of one, beetles which eat spawn, tortoises which eat fry, otters
which eat fish, besides tisb which it had taken itself. Doubtless

288 Miscellaneous. ( lHAPT. xxm.

their chief use is to keep down the larger predatory fish till man
comes in and dispenses with their services.

Have you ever had a porpoise in a boat or net ? He is like
a bull in a china simp, is difficult to kill, and will stand a good
deal of cudgelling. The natives have a very simple way of
disposing of him. They just plug up the blow-hole with a lump
of clay, and he is soon suffocated.

I once had a young whale on shore. What brought her
ashore, whether mistake, or fright of enemies, T know not. She
was in full health and vigour. We got hold of every rope and
every man we could muster, and tried to pull her further up,
but we might as well have pulled at Regent Street. Ropes broke
like pack-thread, and the tail, pardon me, the flukes, kept banging
on the rising tide, and making reports like a pistol. Men produced
knives and made great incisions in the poor thing's sides, so that
the whole arm passed in after the knife right up to the shoulder.
Every wave that came up went hack dyed with Mood. But to
no purpose, the tide was gaining on us faster than the whale
would die. It was clear she would soon have water enough to
float her, and then she would laugh us all to scorn. The above-
mentioned way of killing porpoises occurred to me. Sea-sand
was the only thing available. 1 took up handful after handful,
and reached up and poured them Into the Mow-hole faster than
she could blow them out. The effect was very rapid, and the
approaching tide, instead of helping her, helped us to get her
huge carcase higher up the shelving shore, and secure.

Have you ever been in a boat that leaks in the bows, or in any
particular spot, and noticed the ready means by which the native
boatmen confine the leak to its own locality, and thereby keep the
rest of the boat dry, till such tunc as they can conveniently get it
caulked. Just fore and aft of the leak they run up a little wall of
dabbled clay as high as the water-mark. The consequence is that
the leak cannot spread. If you want a well for live bail it is easy
to apply this cheap and ready plan. Bore in the bottom of the
boat a hole or two of a size that you can easily plug with a cork
at other times : and fore and aft of this leak run up your mud
walls, making your well just as large or as small as you like.

But if you want to keep bait alive at your house for any time.
and have no! a running stream, you must oxygenate the water by

Chut. xxm. Fish Begaming (ht Water. 289

growing water-liliea in it; by having a fountain playing in it,
which is very easily arranged ; by blowing into it with a bellows
bom time to time; or even by taking up some of the water in a
tumbler, and pouring it in again from a height.

If you turn a tish belly upwards, he loses his power in the
water. It is like putting salt on a bird's tail, hut natives can
do it.

lias it never surprised the angler that he seldom ratches a lish
with a single scale wanting in its whole coat, though those scales
come oil' all too readily in his hands. It is because scales are
renewed like feathers; and it is believed that a salmon exfoliates
its whole coat of scales every year, in the same way as a bud
moults, and that this is the reason why a foul salmon looks so dull
and dirty with its skin minus scales ; while a clean run salmon is
resplendent with a brand new set of silvery scales.

Fish have a marked line, somewhat like a pencil mark, on each
side. This is called the lateral line, and its position and course is
very carefully noted by naturalists. It is formed by minute
perforations in each scale, and it is supposed by some that its use
is to allow of the exuding of the slime, or mucous matter, with
which a tish's scales are covered ; by others for allowing the escape
of a fluid which lubricates the skin beneath ; by others to be organs
of sense, connected with nerves, and sensible of several forms of
vibration.

It is not commonly known that sea-fish can be acclimatized to
fresh water, but it has been done again and again. The salmon is
an instance of a sea-fish taking kindly to fresh water of its own
accord. The Sable or Hilsa (CI h pea Uisah) is another, and
instances might be multiplied. But besides those fish that by
nature resort at times to fresh water, those also that never go
of their own accord into fresh water, have been acclimatized
to it.

Pish, like the tench, which are bred in muddy water are im-
proved for the table by being kept a few days in stone troughs, in
I night spring water.

" Like a fish out of water " is a common saying, the drift of
which mills no expounding. I venture to question its accuracy in
its full acceptation. I venture to think a lish out of water is not
quite so much abroad but that it has still a sense of where the

THL Bi.I) IN INDIA. U

290 Miscellaneous. Chapt. xxiii.

water is, and that it makes as good efforts to regain it as a man
that cannot swim does to gain the shore ; makes as good efforts, in
short, as could be made by an animal of its formation. Crocodiles
travel long distances to water. Eels, too, are well known to cross
meadows in the night, and not to fail to find their way back to the
water. The climbing perch (Anabas scandens) intelligently retraces
its way to its own element.

Why should not all fish have a sense of knowing, by smell or
otherwise, where the water is, and making their best endeavour to
regain it ? It is true they are generally aided in their efforts by the
shore ordinarily shelving down to the water, and it is thence con-
cluded an accident that their jumping about resulted in bringing them
nearer to their own element. But the shore does not always so shelve,
and yet the same result has taken place so often with me, that I
could not help observing it. When considered without prejudice, it
is more natural that the fish should have this sense than that it
should not. Savages and other animals seem to have an intuitive
knowledge of the points of the compass to aid them in selecting
their direction. Why should not fish have a similar power adapted
to their needs ?

I do not believe that a fish suffers more pain from being caught
by a hook than from being caught by a net. We all know the
well-worn story of the angler, who, hooking a perch foul by the
eye, so that the eye came out and he lost the fish, would not be
troubled to rebait his hook, as the fish were taking so fast, but cast
it in just as it was, with the eye on the hook, and immediately
caught the owner of the eye on that very hook. That perch can-
not have suffered much ophthalmically, his appetite must have
been his chief trouble. I have myself seen a shark hauled half out
of water, when his weight was such that the chain attached to the
hook broke; within a very few minutes, however, he was again
following the ship, and in the clear ocean water we could see the
chain hanging out of his mouth. A new hook was rigged, and on
his being hooked and pulled partially out of water, a sailor swarmed
down tin' rope, and slipped a noose over him, because of his great
size. We soon had him on deck, and recovered the old hook and
chain. That shark cannot have suffered much pain, even from the
hauling of several sailors. How do you account then, you will ask,
for a fish dashing away directly it feels it is hooked. I say it is

Chait. xxm. Angling Not Painful. 291

not Gram pain, but from fright at the sense of restraint. If it were
from jiain it would give in sooner. Fish are equally frightened at
the same feeling of restraint in a net, and struggle hard to break
through the meshes. They will do the same from your hand.
Fish were created for capture and fond, and I do not suppose that
it is as unpleasant to be caught with a hook as to be masticated
by a Freshwater Shark. We have no records of the sensations
undergone in being masticated, whereas we do know that drowning
and hanging, forms of suffocation, are rather pleasant than other-
wise ; so those say who have tried, and I suppose you would rather
take their word for it than try yourself. There is a vision of green
fields. True, they didn't complete the experience, but they liked it
well enough "as far as they'd got" as Brigham Young said of
matrimony. And fish are killed by suffocation. They begin by
being out of breath as mentioned above, those which are hooked in
the mouth more so than those that are hooked foul, because you
interfere more or less with their respiration. It is said, too, that
a fish is drowned by water entering through the gills. When out
of water they are still more suffocated unless, as some do, you kill
them with a blow.

Mr. Henderson, in his "My Life as an Angler," writes that he
had just lost a fish with more than half the casting hue, and im-
mediately after caught a 9 lb. salmon in the same he : —

" What was oar surprise," he adds, " to see hanging from its mouth
" the lost line with a long array of heavy shot attached to it. On
" examination we found that the first set of hooks was planted far
" down in the stomach ; and yet though the long heavily weighted line
" was hanging in a strong stream, and therefore tugging at that most
" sensitive organ, our salmon's appetite was equal to a second break-
" fast. Surely this bears out the comfortable theory that fish have
- little feeling."

In " The Moor and the Loch," by John Colquhoun, London,
John Murray, Albemarle Street, there is the following further
testimony to the same effect : —

" Having tied a cast rather hurriedly in the morning, I hooked a
" good fish upon my bob .... when the single knot slipped.
" Two days after, when fishing the same place, I again hooked and
'• killed a fine trout, upwards of a pound weight, and to my a.stonish-

TI1R HOI) IV ixdia. U 2

292 Miscellaneous. Chapt. xxiii.

" ment my own handiwork, with two inches of gut, was sticking in his lip.
" One of the fraternity, sedulously employed on the opposite bank,
" remarked, that ' it must have been an honest trout, for it was not
" ' for want of temptation that he kept the hook for the right owner.'
" . . . . The insensibility to pain, which an angler can scarcely
" fail to notice in these cold-blooded creatures, is a point which happily
" redeems from cruelty the necessary inflictions of his craft. I re-
" collect catching three fine trout one evening when trolling on Loch
"Lomond with a friend, and we discovered hanging out of the mouth of
" one of them a strong hair line. On opening the fish we found a large
"bait-hook fixed firmly in its stomach, the wicker and part of the
" hook being nearly digested. The creature had evidently been caught
" and broke away from a set line, and though hooked in so vital apart,
" not only took our bait greedily, made a most capital fight for a
" quarter of an hour, but was in the very finest condition, having
" fattened on his hard fare instead of wasting from torture."

In connection with the power of language, vocal or non-vocal,
in fishes (pages 02 to 65) I omitted to mention that I have had
trout emit distinctly audible sounds in my hand, perhaps mechani-
cally produced by the unavoidable pressure of the hand, but
seemingly not so. I grant that it is very rare to hear a trout make
a noise with its mouth, but that is no argument, for it is equally
rare, if not more so, to hear a fox utter a sound when run into;
only once out of hundreds of kills have I heard a Deccan fox cry
when picked by the silent greyhounds. The fact that sound is
uttered at all, if, as it seems, it was voluntarily not mechanically
produced, is a strong argument for the general power of utterance,
and that, again, is an argument for the concomitant power of
hearing, which some have denied, though, without an external
orifice, the car is internally traceable in fishes.

Do fish sleep ? If you can solve the enigma you will be clever.
It is a question worthy of a competitive examiner of most malig-
nant type.

A fish's means of progression lias interested me much, and may
similarly interest some of my readers. 1 therefore make the
following extract, and copy the drawing from the English Cyclo-
paedia:—

" Tho whole of tho fins aro more or less employed in certain kinds
"of movements. In order to ascertain the true use of the fins in

Chapt. XXIII.

Tin Swimming of Fish.

293

swimming, Borelli, having cut ofi the central (ins of a living fish, pat

it back again into the pond. It then rolled from Bide to side like a

drunken man, and could not keep an, upright position. When the
fish move with greal velocity the pectoral fins are laid close to the
lxuly, in order that they may not retard its motion ; and in rapid
motion the tail becomes the great propelling organ. We shall
therefore now investigate its mode of action. The first move-
ment of a fish from a state of rest is produce. 1 by a flexion of the
tail (as seen in Fig. at a) ; during this movement the centre of
gravity (e) is drawn slightly backwards. When the tail has arrived
at (i it is forcibly extended by its
muscles in the direction a i, per-
pendicular to its plane; the force
"f its action npon the water in a i
is translated to the tish in the direc-
tion of i a, causing the centre of
gravity (c) to move obliquely for-
wards, in the direction c h parallel
to i a. The tail having reached the
central line c d, its power of urging
the body forwards not only ceases,
but during its flexion on the opposite
side in the line a o, it tends to draw
the body backward in the direc-
tion o e. Having reached the point
o it is again rapidly extended in
the line o e causing an impulse
on the centre of gravity in c b
parallel to o e. If the two forces
c It and c b acted simultaneously
we should obtain the resultant cf;
bnt as they do not, the point (c)
will not move exactly in the right
line c /, but in a curved line

which lies evenly between d o f and a line drawn parallel to it
through h. The fish being in motion while the tail moves from side
to side, according to Borelli, it describes an ellipse instead of a
circular arc which would be the case if the body were stationary
and the tail only moving. The velocity with which fishes move, and
the continuance of their movements, are enough to give us an idea of
the great strength of their muscles especially when we reflect on the
density of the fluid which is opposed to their speed."

204 Miscellaneous. Chapt. xxiii.

This is doubtless the manner in which the tail is used when
the fish swims rapidly forwards in a straight line. "When it
wishes to turn abruptly to any side, successive strokes of the tail
are made on one side only, and the body curled round as much as
possible, and the pectoral fin on the inside of the curve is, I think,
thrust out, and the one on the outside of the curve worked. The
pectoral fins are certainly used for turning slowly, but the tail seems
to be the great motive power when turning rapidly, as, for instance,
when passing a fleeing fish and turning round so as to take it in head
foremost. Every ray in the tail, and in any other fin, is under as
much separate command as each toe in a duck's foot, and in drawing
up the tail for a blow, the fish can contract the tail as a duck does
its webbed foot, expanding it again for the blow ; or it can shape
and use it like the cross-fanned screw of a steam vessel. As the
ventral fins enable fish to maintain a horizontal position in the
water, so does the dorsal fin. I have noticed a gold-fish which had
no dorsal fin, and though it had been hatched thus it could not
well command its position in the water, but rolled slightly. Gold-
fish are unusually subject to deformity, not unfrequently having
two heads or two tails. The pectoral fins are used to swim slowly
backwards. The anal fin also seems to be used in maintaining the
horizontal. It and the dorsal fin are much prolonged in the
Murral, which, in accordance with its bottom-seeking habits, has not
so much of the ordinary compressed shape of a fish, but being
more than ordinarily depressed seems to need this additional pro-
vision. It is the same with the extensive anal fin of the bottom
feeding Wallago attu (Freshwater Shark).

We may stay pleasurably for a moment to note a peculiarity in
the locomotion of fishes. It is based on principles markedly dif-
ferent from those which govern the locomotion of birds and beasts.
The flight of birds is in the midst of a highly elastic element, the
progression of beasts on the outside of an inelastic, immobile
substance, the swimming of fishes is conducts! in the midst of an
inelastic but easily-displaced element. Again, the locomotion of
both birds and beasts is dependent on the law of gravitation,
whereas fish may be almost said to dispense with it, at any rate
relatively to the element in which they move. It is not so with a
bird ; it could not move in the air if its superior weight therein
did not supply it with a fulcrum whence to apply power, and with

Chut. win. Tin- Locomotion offish. 295

the means of utilizing in Borne the principle of the inclined plane.
The fish, however, is suspended in the midst of an element of very
nearly the same weight as itself, so nearly the same weight that
the dilation or contraction of the little air bladder, which most
fishes possess, suffices to make it heavier or lighter than water, and
consequently to fall or rise quickly therein. To solve the problem
of locomotion in such widely different circumstances would have
sorely puzzled man surely. Even with the secret laid bare before
him, and availed of in steamers, what a very poor approach has he
made to the rapidity of the motion of fish, a progression so rapid
that the eye can scarcely follow the trout that has darted up stream
like a vanishing shadow. What is 1G or 20 knots an hour to 160
or 200 ? And why should not the latter speed be attained in
vessels by following more closely the fish's method of swimming,
and utilizing the unlimited powers of stored electricity. Surely
the " open secret " of the locomotion of birds and fishes may serve,
and be meant to serve, to show us how to utilize like powers, and,
with stored electricity as a motor, we may well vie with them
both in their own elements.

To some this may seem grandly chimerical; but to them we
will say that stranger things have happened ; such, for instance, as
this little book coming to a Second Edition ! With such extended
means of communication the widely scattered and divided Empire
of Britain could be consolidated into far the most powerful nation
in the world. But I beg pardon that a follower of " the contem-
plative man's recreation " should have dared to be contemplative.
Those fishes set me on.

Kingfishers do not eat fish and fry only. I have seen them

doing good work in killing tadpoles, and when the rivers are

discoloured with monsoon floods, in which they can see nothing,

they desert the rivers and go miles inland, feeding on young

and other things.

When the Bassia, the tree called in Tamil illippe, and in
Telugn and Canarese //</«•, sheds its flowers on tin; water I
have seen the Burlus.L nlom and the B. Chnjsopoma, and I suspect
others, feeding on it with avidity.

Riding at a foot's pace after a guide on foot is tedious. If
you press him you only lose time in the end by his getting
out of breath, and it is cruel. Send a peon that understands it

296 Miscellaneous. CHAPT. xxiii.

with him overnight, with instructions to lay a paper scent.
With posted horses, G. and I did 30 miles across unknown
country, in this way, country in which it was easy to lose one's
way, and got in comfortably for breakfast. With guides at a foot's
pace it would have taken us all day.

When white ants are on the water, they are said to be
like the May fly in that the fish will look at nothing else. I
can well believe it. But their flight is very short lived.

I tried white elephant's hair as a substitute for gut. When
dry it seemed as tough as a wire, but when well soaked it
became very elastic, and broke at a tension of 6 lbs.

Size in a river affects both the feeding and the lifetime of
fish. Regarding the feeding we may say that size in a river
ordinarily implies a greater quantity and a greater variety of
food ; and in India, where rivers are so liable to suffer from
drought and from the supply of irrigation, it implies also greater
constancy of food supply. Each one of these three items of
quantity, quality, constancy in the food supply has a marked
influence on the growth of fish; all three combined have neces-
sarily a much greater effect. As to quantity it is marvellous
what an amount a fish will eat, and the rapidity of its digestion
is extraordinary. You may see trout quite poor in condition
alter a long drought, and a single flood in the afternoon leaves
them markedly improved in condition the very next day.
Their food sticks to their ribs in no time. It is a good thing it is
not the same with you and me. And then the quantity they
take. I have caught trout full to the very mouth of food, at one
time of flies, at another of small slugs, at another of young eels.
There was no necessity to apply pressure to make them disgorge.
Their stomachs were distended, and their last food still unswullowed.
.And yet they showed no signs of surfeit, for they took my bait
and made a much more active fight than a fish in lower condition.
1 expect a fish with a surfeit is as hard to find as a contented
man. I know it is said that over feeding on sewage makes the
roach at places in the Thames so gross that they lose their fertility,
bul I should think it wai highly questionable. All other experience
is in favour of rapid growth accompanying liberal feeding in fish,
and of maturity and fertility being proportioned to the size of the fish.
The best fed salmon-par return to the sea and come back as salmon

Cii.vit. xxiii. Staffing Fish. 297

a whole year before others. As to quality of food, it may lie noted
that three batches of trout having been fed experimentally, one
batch exclusively on ilies, another on worms, and another on
minnows, it was found thai the trout fed exclusively on flies showed
the most growth and weight, those dieted on worms the next, and
those on minnows the least of all. The Loch Leven and other
trout might he instanced as profiting by the quality of their food.
Constancy of food supply means freedom from periods of starvation,
and my belief is that such periods permanently stunt growth in
fish as they do in everything else that has to keep awake and in
active existence the while. I put out of the cpuestion hybernating
bears, and activating crocodiles.

If you have a particularly fine fish, or a new specimen, and
want to preserve it hy stuffing, it is not a difficult matter, hut you
must then he more careful about getting it home uninjured.
Having washed it clean outside, commence by entirely covering
both sides with a piece of paper each, pasted on, and allowed to
dry. The object of this is to secure the fish from losing any scales
in the manipulation of skinning and stuffing. With a knife and
Stout pair of scissors cut from the top of the gill-opening down to
the tail, keeping about half-way between the lateral line and the
hack. Arrived at the tail, or rather within a quarter of an inch of
it, cut down at right angles. Turn down the flap thus made, and
thoroughly clean out the fish, not neglecting the head. Remove
all the bones except those of the head. Paint the inside freely
with arsenical soap. Stuff tightly but shapely with cotton, re-
membering that fish shrink dreadfully. Sew up the opening with
needle and thread. Wash off the paper j spread out the tail and
the fins on the good side and back, with pins and cardboard, so
that the rays may be easily counted. Paint over outside with
spirits of turpentine, dry in the shade and finally give two coats of
varnish.

For arsenical soap the following recipe may be lelied on.
Take—

36 Tolas of bar soap.
30 „ white arsenic in powder.
12 „ camphor.
■I „ carbonate of potash.

Put the soap in one pint of water, and let it simmer slowly for a

298 Miscellaneous. Chapt. xxiii.

quarter of an hour. Then add the arsenic flour and well mix it.
Avoid the fumes, they are banefid. Pound the camphor in a little
spirits of wine, and add it when the soap mixture is lukewarm, and
the carbonate of potash when it is cold.

This recipe is in a convenient form for Indians, if it is
remembered that the unit of weight, a tola, is exactly the weight
of a rupee. It is equivalent to 180 grains.

I add another recipe, however, in English terms : —

Arsenic. . . . . . . . . . 2 pounds.

English bar soap . . . . . . . . 2 „

Suit of tartar .. .. .. .. .. 12 ounces.

Camphor .. .. .. .. ..12 „

Cut the soap into thin slices; put it, with a pint of water, into a
pot over a gentle fire, stir it with a wooden spatula ; when the
soap is dissolved, add the salts of tartar, take them off the fire, add
the arsenic, and, when lukewarm, the powdered camphor, mixing
the whole well together.

Put the compound into a conveniently wide mouthed jar, or
glazed earthen pot, taking care to secure it well with bladder and
twine.

I have given the above recipes for making arsenical soap,
because it is what I was taught to use as the only and accepted
preparation fur preserving fish. I should not, however, fail to add
a caution about its use, which I may as well give in the words of
that eminent naturalist Waterton, as they have frightened me into
trying his solution of corrosive sublimate. He lias evidently found
it answer with snakes; I conclude, therefore, that it ought to be
equally successful with fish. In the cases in which 1 have already
tried it I have, as yet, no fault to find.

" A preparation of arsenic is frequently used ; but it is very
"dangerous, and sometimes attended with lamentable conse-
" quences. I knew a naturalist, by name Howe, in Cayenne, in
" French Guiana, who bad lost sixteen of his teeth. He kept them
"in a box, and showed them tome. On opening the lid, ' these
"'fine teeth' said he 'once belonged to my jaws, they all dropped
"'nut by my making use of the sav<m arsenitique for preserving
" ' tin' -kins nf animals.' "

[, too, have sacrificed sound teeth on this shrine, and lately
came across a gamekeeper who was, of course, strong, and active,

Chapt. xxiii. Arsenical Soap. 299

and healthy, aa such men haTB to be. His sound teeth were
dropping out The cause was found to be the same. He was
staffing birds, and using arsenical soap. If you take my advice
you will have nothing to do with it.

With reference to a long and thorough trial of the solution of
corrosive sublimate, Waterton says : — "The result has been aston-

- ishing success, and a perfect conviction that there is no absolute and
■■ lasting safety for prepared specimens in zoology, from the depre-
'■ dations of insects, except by poisoning every part of them with a
"solution of corrosive sublimate in alcohol. I put a good large

- tea-spoonful of well pounded corrosive sublimate into a wine-
" bottle full of alcohoL I let it stand over night, and the next
"morning draw it off into a clean bottle. When I apply it to
" black substances, and perceive that it leaves little particles on
" them, I then make it weaker by adding alcohol. A black feather,

• dipped into the solution, and then dried, will be a very good test
" of the state of the solution. If it be too strong it will leave a
•■ whiteness upon the feather."

Once more I will quote Waterton:— "You must not use
" arsenical soap, for two reasons. First, as it cannot be applied to
" every part of the skin, inside and out, it is not efficient. Secondly,
" the frequent use of it would injure your health. Last year,
" seeing poor Mr. Johnson, of the Royal Liverpool Institution,
" broken down in health, I asked him to Walton Hall, and he
"accepted the invitation. On questioning him what had brought
" him to his present state, lie said, he had been for weeks preparing
'• skins of lions, etc., and that he had been working up to the elbows
" in arsenical soap. He returned to Liverpool and died. Now
"there is no danger whatever in using the dilution of corrosive
"sublimate in alcohol, because, being liquid, no dust or small
"particles can be taken into your system through the medium of
"breathing. Moreover, although corrosive sublimate be the most
"deadly poison known to insects, it is 'not so deadly to other
" animals, and I can assure you that, although I have used it most
"copiously for above forty years, I have never experienced the
"smallest inconvenience from it. I once read of a Turk who was
•' in the habit of taking sixty grains of corrosive sublimate pel
- diem. But do not misunderstand me, I never use the sublimate
" in pastes or powder.

:;iii) Miscellaneous. Chapt. x.xur.

" Alcohol is cheap ami plentiful abroad. The corrosive su hi i-
" mate must be very finely pounded. Highly rectified spirit of
' wine may be diluted with water equal in cpuantity. Thus, to one
" quart bottle of alcohol, I would add one quart bottle of water.
" Into this, I would put a table-spoonful of corrosive sublimate, and
" nothing more is required."

Here in India I use the country arrack.

With reference to preserving in spirits, I can hardly do better
than add the following : —

Rehunted from the "Natural History Review," April 1862.
Directions for Collecting and Preserving Fishes.

1. Collect fishes of every size. The eel-like fishes ought not to
exceed 36 inches in length ; the broad kinds not 18. Six specimens
of each species will lie quite sufficient.

2. Tie to each specimen a label of parchment or of tin foil,
on which the name of the exact locality where the specimen
is procured is written, or a number referring to a list of
localities.

3. Cut a small slit in the belly of the specimens, so as to admit
the spirit, but do not remove the intestines.*

4. Put the specimens into a large jar or tub containing spirit to
extract the water, mucous, etc. This spirit may he used fur any
number of specimens as long as it is strong enough to preserve
them from early putrefaction. Leave the specimens in this spirit
for from 8 to 10 days.

5. Transfer the specimens into other spirit, stronger than the
f. inner, ami leave them there ha- another fortnight.

6. Pack, finally, the specimens in spirit which is strong enough
to be inflammable with a lighted match. In spirit like this the
specimens may he shipped, and will keep for six or eight months.
Hum or arrack of the strength indicated, answer very well for
this purpose, hut spirits of wine, if procurable pun', are best

7. The best way of sending specimens is in a tin box fitted into
a wooden case. Wrap each specimen in a piece of fine linen to
prevent the rubbing off of the scales and other injuries. Tack the

» In tropical dimes, decomposition sots in so soon that I think it is bettor t"
remove the intestines, notwithstanding the loss.

Chut, xxiii. /'.■• ing Fish in Spirit, :'>ol

specimens as close as herrings, and do nol leave any free space at
the top or on the sides of the box. Kill the box with spirit, taking
care to drive ont the air which may remain between the specimens,
and close it hermetically by soldering down the cover. The best
waj of closing the box is to make a small round hole in the cover of
the box. First fix down the cover of the box, then pour spirit
through the small hole, until the box is quite full This hole may
then be easily closed by another small square lid of tin.

8. Turn the DOX upside down and see whether it keens in the

spirit perfectly.

9. Reptiles of every description may be preserved in the same

way. However, as they naturally contain less fluid, it will be
sufficient to change the spirits once.

in. The list should be prepared in duplicate, one copy being

retained till the receipt of the other is acknowledged. The list
should contain the native names of the lish, and any information
of their habits, qualities, etc., that may be procurable. It should
state in particular whether the fish was caught in a tank or

river.

In India I have found it an advantage to add 1 in 40 of
carbolic acid to the spirit, and on one occasion on which I could
not get any spirit in the forest, the same solution in water
preserved the fish till I could get them to head-quarters, and put
them in spirits. Too great a strength of carbolic acid will shrivel
the scales. Any of it is objected to by some as injurious to the
colour; but as the colour of a dead fish is no guide at all to the
colour of the live fish, but rather misleads, 1 do oot consider that
objection a weighty one as regards fish. Your spirit may be as
strong as you like, there is no fear of overdoing that for either
your first, second or third bath. In tropical India it is safer to
have it strong enough and to spare.

CHAPTER XXIV.

FISHING LOCALITIES.

I am, Sir, a brother of the angle." —

Izaak Walton.

In my first edition I wrote: — "This appendix is necessarily a mere
" skeleton, because it is unavoidably the result of only one
"individual's knowledge, and public officers in India have not
" leisure and express trains in all directions to aid them in explor-
" ing different fishing localities. In full knowledge, however, of its
" meagreness, it is, nevertheless, introduced more as a provocation
" than any thing else, for other fishermen to throw together their
" local knowledge, and perhaps some day make up a useful com-
" pilation like ' The Angler's Diary.' " And recently I sought the
aid of the " Asian," the editor of which was good enough to support
my request to anglers most cordially. Kindly have anglers responded,
some in its columns, some direct to myself. I must commence
this Chapter, therefore, with acknowledgments, especially to
"Doon,"and the editor of the "Asian," and I would mention others,
but that I am not quite sure that I am free to publish names.
With the kind permission of the editor of the "Field" I have
gleaned also in those pages. The list of fishing localities, though
much amplified by these means, is doubtless capable of being more
than doubled in so vast a continent as India, and if anglers will
continue to help, and my book lives to a Third Edition, they shall
find the advantage of it in an ampler record of localities. I shall
be glad, too, to be set right wherever I have made any errors in
spelling, etc., through want of local knowledge.

The best maps that a stranger can buy for his guidance as to
whereabouts are the Government Survey Maps, always procurable
at very cheap rates from the offices of the Surveyor-General of
India, at Hehra Dhunand at Calcutta; and proba bly through any
liookseller, 1 nit —

( ir Air. xxiv. Bellary. 303

The following are named as agents: —

Calcutta. Messrs. Thaoker, Spink and Co.
Allahabad Curator of Government Books, X.W. Pro-
vinces.
Nagpore. Curator of Government Books, Central Provinces.
Lahore. Curator of Government Central Book Depot.

Madias. Messrs. Higginbolham and Co.

Poona. Superintendent Government Photozincographic De-
partment

London. Messrs. Allen & Co., Waterloo Place.

Mr. Edward Stanford, 6, Charing Cross.

India Xo. 2, is a sheet about 2 feet square, neatly doubled up,
of course, giving in one view the principal places and rivers of all
India, Burmah, and Afghanistan. The price is 1£ rupees, uncoloured,
2 rupees coloured.

For more detail, a stranger should have also the same on a
sheet about 3 feet 6 inches square, entitled " India without Hills."
It is a good clear map. Uncoloured, 3 rupees ; coloured, 4 rupees.

When he has fixed his locality, if he wants to kuow his
immediate surroundings, and every bend in the river, and the
cross cuts, etc., he can get a sheet of " The Indian Atlas," on a
scale of 4 miles to the inch, at 12 annas a quarter sheet, the sheets
being 3 feet 4^ inches by 2 feet 3£ inches. An index to the sheets
of "The Atlas of India," on a scale of 128 miles to an inch, may
be had for 1 rupee, and will enable him to decide what sheets he
wants.

Madras Presidency.
Bellary District.

It is as well to know sometimes where not to go when places
look tempting on the map. The Toongabadra runs within 40 miles
of Bellary. W, H. went by rail from Bellary to Toombadra
Station, and worked up the river nearly to Hampee, and in the
whole of that portion of the river there is not a single good run, or
likely place for Mahseer. There are one or two deep pools in
which there are probably fish, though these are netted constantly ;
but the bed of the river for the whole of that distance is simply
a broad, flat, sandy plain, with some half dozen small streams

304 Fishing Localities. Chapt. xxiv.

winding through it. It is nearly a mile broad in many places.
Hardly a tree to shelter a goat all the way. N.B. — The writer,
W. H., is a good fisherman.

From the map, I should think that the hilly part of the river
above the junction near the corner of the Bellary District should
show g( Kid water. Will anyone stationed in Bellary have the
energy to try ?

South Canara District.

All the fish were comparatively small, that is, ordinarily under
15 lbs. I have never known one taken over 20 lbs.

Charmady. — Here there is a District Officers' Bungalow. This
place is only good early in the fishing season, as the stream here
soon gets too small. Mahseer may be killed exactly opposite the
bungalow ; but I would recommend walking down the stream to
where the hills close in on it, and then fishing downwards. Take
a guide, as there are short cuts from which you can ride home.
Time, September, October, and November, and probably later also,
till the fever sets in in January and February. Here are bison,
spotted deer, and an odd snipe or two. Otters too;

Ncriya. — Near Charmadi, and good for Mahseer similarly early
only. Fish the larger of the two streams and below the junction.
No accommodation. Fish very plentiful, but small, running from
5 lbs. to 7 lbs.

Karhd. — There is a good stream about 2 miles' walk from
hence. It is the river into which runs the tank surplusage. It
is good early in the season only, say September and October.
You will want a guide.

Kircbaij. — A very good place early in the season. Shoot-
ing also good. But difficult of access, and no accommodation.
Mahseer.

Sampajc. — There is a travellers' bungalow here. Do not fish
the stream in front of it; it is too small to do much in for
Mahseer. Take the mad to the coast for about a quarter of a
mile beyond the bridge, and with a guide strike through the
wood on your left to the main river. There used to be tigers,
but I think they are pretty well thinned now.

Siradi. — There is a travellers' bungalow here at present, but
supplies are somewhat scanty, so go provided. The river may be

( 'hut. xxiv. South Cemara. 305

fished bom the shore, both above and below the bungalow. From
close above the bungalow there is a long gap of still water which
can oidy be got at by a boat. Above this the river is full of
runs. There are fine pools below the bungalow. The Cubbinali
stream may also be ridden to, and fished. Time, September to
end of December. Beware of fever in February till 15th June, and
then of monsoon floods till September. I never could do any-
thing with the fish in the cold east winds of January. There
are other fish besides Mahseer. Burbus ferdoni is very numerous.
There are Bison and Sambre about. The place is densely forest-
clad, and a great favourite with me.

Uppiitangady. — The place was praised to me, but I did no
good there, that is with the fishes, but much in the way of
business doubtless ! ! !

S branumi. — Good till December or January. The Subramani
river, which is the Comardtiri, may be fished both above and
below the ferry and ford ; and its ailluent the Yennakal-holle
may be ridden out to. There is no accommodation. Avoid the
time of the Jatra, a lunar festival occurring about the middle of
November, because the thousands (50,000) of cattle brought for
sale discolour the water by their trampling, and the pilgrims
befoul the approaches, and are everywhere washing at the river's
side. Mahseer.

II ' ndse. — Not far from Coondapur by road or river. There is
a District Officer's empty bungalow, about the use of which no
objection is ever made ; but no supplies. There are no Mahseer
here, but the river holds some lesser Barils and Chela, and is full
of " Black spots " (Barbus filamentosus and B. mahccola), which
give excellent sport by their numbers. Leave the road a little
south of the police station, and ride by foot-path about a mile up
the river. Time from October to January inclusive. Being so
near the sea, the place is probably free from fever, eve:: in
March and April. Nowhere in South Canara can you go far
from the coast later than the end of January without getting
malarious fever, of which, however, there is no danger whatever
from within a month, say 1st July, of the commencement of
the monsoon, about 5th June. But the monsoon makes travelling
(piite out of the question till September, and the rivers are in high
Hood and discoloured.

THE BOD I>' INDIA. X

306 Fishing Localities. Chait. xxiv.

Jadkall. — A similar bungalow, only "Black Spot" fishing, but
that is very pretty.

Mala, — No accommodation. Capital Black Spot fishing.

Cooloor. — Stream very small indeed, and fishing even for small
fish indifferent. No Mahseer. A rough bungalow like that at
Wondse.

Nagawadi. — A bungalow. JTannar, none. Only small Chela
hoopis. Good snipe at the latter.

Biranthadaka and Biramangalam. — Not easy of access. No
accommodation. Some fair Mahseer water.

Dharmastala. — No accommodation, but a very good station for
Mahseer. Try the river, both above and below the ford from the
shore. Also take a guide and walk, it is unrideable, through the
forest, etc., down to the junction of the two rivers. Try them both
from the shore. Also try the grand pools below the junction from
a boat. There is plenty of excellent water. Time, September,
October, November, December.

Mangalore. — The only place is the Salt Kotars, and the fish the
Cock-up, with an occasional lied Perch. I had excellent sport at
times, but numerous disappointments. I never could make out
their times. I expect Colonel Osborn is right about their being
taken only in coloured water. Never saw any lia-min there.

Cicilly. — Do not touch the tame Mahseer. You will find
plenty more further down the river.

Cimdapoor, — Close to the sea. A beautiful spot. There are
plenty of estuary fish close to the bungalow, if you can catch them.
They beat me. Others have done better with prawns. In the
pond within a ride, the peculiar fishing for Chanos Mlm<mrus is
worth seeing. The Red Perch is also to be taken in that pond.
Also a Horse-mackerel {Caranx).

Mudrhdi. — In a pond attached to a Jain temple at a place
called Warranga, near Mndradi, there is excellent Black Spot
fishing. At Mudradi there is a District Officer's bungalow.

Coimbatore District.

The Bawainiy and the I'avery rivers, which run through and
skiit much of this district, afford excellent sport, and at many
places heavy game can simultaneously be got.

Mitapolliam is well known from being on the way to the

CHAFT. xxiv. Cuimbatore. 307

Xilagiris. Then are bungalows and supplies here. You can do
some fishing In mi the bungalow, by riding out, but not much, for
it is so netted. There is an easy bridle-path to Nellatorai, 4 miles,
whence 1 have fished down to the Metapolliam bridge, killing all
the way down to the junction of the Kallar River, which was so
muddy that I took no more below that point The Coonoor and
Karteri stream gets muddy very rapidly under very slight rainfall
because it is so steep, and comes through so much cultivation,
carrying its wash. There was plenty of excellent water. The fish
were the Carnatic Carp, but they run small, none being over 3 lbs.,
doubtless on account of the netting.

You may also fish from the bungalow as your head-quarters, by
fishing down stream from the bridge, and sending your horse down
the Erode road to ride back on. Nothing can be done without a
boat. Basket-boats are plentiful.

But it is far better to camp higher up the river at Tekampatti,
where is a forester's hut, available, I daresay, if you can make
love to the Forest Officer. Tekampatti is the highest place up the
river at which it is safe to sleep. It is well situated half a mile
away from the river and malaria, and ttn the plain side. From
thence fish the river, the Bawanny, above and below the Puthur
turd. What we concluded was the best way of doing it, was to be
up in the dark, and ride down to the river, across the ford, and
along the bridle-path up the other side, the Neilgherry side of the
riwr till dawn, taking our basket-boats with us at a foot's pace. It
is too rough a road to ride any faster in the dark. Directly it dawned,
we called a halt, and put the boats in, and fished alternate pools
downwards bo the ford, to which our horses meanwhde walked,
ready to carry us thence to a late breakfast about twelve. In the
afternoon we fished the river downwards from the ford till dusk,
and rode home. In December, the river is fordable in one place
near the Tekampatti camp, and that is the Puthur ford, but you
must take it circuitously the way you are shown.

The distances, as nearly as we could ascertain and judge by
timing ourselves, were : —

From Metapolliam to Nellatorai, 4 miles.

„ „ „ Puthur, 4i „

„ „ Chengal, 8 „

,, „ „ Shittugunie, 9

III! BOD Oi INDIi. ;

308 Fishing Localities. Chapt. xxiv

From MetapoUiam to Pillur stream, 9J miles.
■i „ n Kadukai, 10i „

,, „ „ Nirali stream, 12 ,,

„ Nirali Hill, 12J „

„ Perali viUage, 13J .,

The Taimalai brook is crossed just below Perali, on the
Nirali side. Thence the road ascends a steep incline, and crosses
cultivation at the top of the hill, which belongs to Perali.
Thence the road strikes down by an easy path to the most
magnificent pools and runs you may wish to set eyes on. They are
in the midst of the wildest, forest-clad, rocky country, and the
water is crowded with grand Mahseer, as Paddy would say, " the
" wathur's stiff with 'em." But don't dream of sleeping there. I
slept as high up as Sittuguni, we being a jolly Christmas party of
five Europeans, but every man John of us, black and white, got a
thorough going fever, some being very seriously ill indeed, and we
lost one poor fellow of our number from it, in spite of all the good
doctor could do for him at Madras. We had been told it was safe
at that season. Don't you be tempted to sleep higher up than
Tekampatti; there friends and self, and natives, have slept again
and again with immunity.

Just a little above Kadukai or Kadavu, which means a ford, is
the lowest large pool, just below a waterfall, where you will find
Mahseer. Above that pool they swarm, below it you will get
splendid pools in abundance, but only Caruatic Carp. At least the
Mahseer below it seem to be so comparatively few, and the
Carnatic Carp so many, that below that point we always put aside
our spinning tackle, and took the fly. If you want to fish for
Mahseer, therefore, you had better go on past Perali ; though I have
struck the river at Kadavu, straggled up the river to this pool — an
awful strusde, — fished it for Mahseer, and then fished the river
down to the Puthur ford, and so back for breakfast at Tekampatti.
The natives were very reluctant indeed to show us the river above

this] 1. We only found it by most persistent clambering, and

thai is why I have put it down so particularly for you. Below
Perali you can do nothing without a boat, above it you can do a

little iii. in the shore, but to do the river justice, you ought to have
a boat. The Mahseer here are, as nearly as 1 can tell you. " as big
" as a portmanteau."

Chajt. xxiv. ribaton. Madura. Malabar. 309

Higher up the same river arc Attapadi, Shermangundi,
Gopaneri, found mentioned in the Malabar District. From
Karamadi railway station carts can go, a native of the locality told
me, to Gopaneri, 15 miles, which is 1,'> miles from Attapadi, the
straight road being by Tholampolliam.

S ';//. — There is a public bungalow here, within a ride OT

drive, In miles, of Metapolliam, Between it and the Kanayam-
paliam anient, 5 miles, there is nice water, in which yon will find
(arnaiic Carp, but not nearly so many as at Ti-kampatti. A boat
is necessary.

The Bawanny ordinarily clears from the monsoon floods in
September.

Aninialtiix. — M. tells me he has caught a ."> lb. fish with paste
in the river at Animalai, and that the river is full of runs ami
rapids higher up, but that falls prevent the fish getting to the
higher river. Beware of fever.

Minium District.

The Vygay being generally a dry sandy bed only, you cannot
expect any Mahseer in that ; but you may get sport at the Pamben
channel with the Ba-mln, which see.

Periar. — M., an K.E., tells me he caught any number of fish with
a fly in the Periar, near the site of the Periar project. My note
does not say what fish, unfortunately.

On the Pulney hills in this district is a lake. I believe some
pains has been taken with the stocking of it, and much might be
done as suggested for the Nielgherries. I have never heard of any-
thing being caught in the Kodikanal Lake yet but a small sort of
Murral, under 1 foot in length, Ophiacephalvs punctatus, and 0.
gachua,ssiA in Tamil, I think, Korave. Of course they are not worth
catching. They are only fit for small native boys with a worm
and a pin.

Malabar District.

For this district I have had a memorandum kindly prepared for
me by W. L. I should premise that the Mahseer are seemingly
small, like the Caiiara Mahseer, and that the country, being Subject
to the same monsoon, the time is the same. The country being
Hatter than Caiiara, the lengths of tidal estuary are greater.

310 Fishing Localities. Chapt, xxiv.

" Malabar Rivers.
" Ordnance Survey Map, SJiect No. 44.

" 1. Tidlipurmbn River, tidal as far as Clmparapadu. West of
" 75° 30' east longitude. Small Moplah village, above which there
" is a moderate sized stream with pools.

" 2. Billipatam River, the largest river in North Malabar, tidal
" as far as a mile above Sukukundapuram on the branch joining at
" Kogem, and as far as Eroocur on the main stream. At Eroocur,
" a considerable Moplah village, there is a good road running up
" the right bank to Iratti bridge, when the Perambadi Ghat road
" into Coorg (not shown in the map) crosses the stream immediately
" below the junction of the two main branches a little to the north -
" east of Kishur. Above Eroocur, and on both branches joining at
" the Iritty bridge, there are fine deep pools and streams swarming
" with fish. At Eroocur there is a D. P. W. hut : at Iritty bridge
■' there are a native travellers' choultry and a good Amshom
" cutchery, used also as a police station ; and at Gamoth there is a
" good travellers' bungalow close to the riyer.

" 3. Anjeracundy River, tidal as far as Anjeracundy, a cinnamon
" plantation, belonging to Mr. W. Brown, above which it is a
" moderate sized stream with pools. At Canooth there is a
" travellers' bungalow.

" 4. Make River, tidal as far as Tarakudu, above which it is a
" considerable stream.

" 5. Cootyaddy River, tidal as far as Cootyaddy, where there is a
" travellers' bungalow near the foot of the ghat of the same name
" leading into Wynaad. This is a large river in the monsoon, but
" in the dry season there is very little water.

" 6. Between the Cootyaddy and Beypoor rivers, there are a
" number of streams of inconsiderable size, except in the rains.

" 7. Beypoor River. — The mouth of this stream appears on sheet
"No. 44, at hit, 11° 10' W. Turning to sheel No. 61, it will be
" seen that in length of course, this is the largest of the Malabar
" rivers proper It is a tidal stream as far as Aveaeode, but in must
" seasons small boats can go up as tar as Edda, Mummah, and
" Maumbat. The whole of the upper branches of this river, which
" spread out like a fan from the Government teak plantations at

ChafTi xxiv. Malabar. 31 I

" Xt'llanilmr, are interesting from an angler's poinl of view.
•• There are bungalows at Areacode, Eddamnnnah, Nellambur, and

- Feddakura, all on the main mad leading from Bouth-east W\-

" naad by the ('armor Ghat to the coast.

8. Tvrvangady Mm considerable stream, the upper waters
"of which would repay investigation. There arc bungalows al
1 M allapuram, where a detachment of European troops is stationed
•■in the heart of the Mopish country: and at Munjary and
" Angadipnram, an# there used to he another at Alanaloor. The
" country in this Btream and its branches to the west of Alanaloor
" and Pandekad, is highly cultivated, there is therefore little likeli-
" hood of good fishing, except in the upper waters.

" 9. Ponani/ River, which runs parallel to the railway from
" Palgat westward, is a large stream with a broad shallow sandy
" course. At Cudalloor a large stream comes in from the north-
" west The head waters of this branch can be reached from

- Meonaur, where there is a bungalow on the main road from
" Palgat to Calicut via Angadypuram. Another branch comes in
" from south-east of Cottompally, and, turning to sheet No. 62, it will
" be seen that the head waters of one branch can be reached from
" Wunacnnchairy, where there is a bungalow, and of the other
1 branch Colungodi, — neither of these streams can, however, be
" considered promising.

" 10. The upper streams of the Cubbany, Noogoo, and Moyaur,
'• feeders of the Cavery, lie in the Wynaad Taluk, and those of the
■ Bawanny also in the WallawanAd Taluk (all in sheet No. 61). The
" former can be reached from Manantoddy, Bawally, Oaukancotta, in
" Mysore, Gunnapaddyvattam (Sultan's battery) and Guddaloor, at
h of which places there is either a bungalow or other accom-
" modation. The latter can be reached from Munaur (No. 9) by
"ascending the Attapadi (misspelt as Allapady in sheet No. 61)
'■ ghaut, hut this is an out-of-the-way place with no local supplies."

Of Attapadi, which means the hamlet of leeches, H. writes that
he saw fine fish there. I can well understand that there should he,
for it is on the head waters of the l'.awannv, in fact above I'erali,
mentioned in Coimhatore district, II. writes that Attapadi was
healthy in the monsoon, and the water clear even in July and
August, evidently because it came through grass and forest, whence
there was no befouling wash. All the Mahseerin the river seemed

312 Fishing Localities. Chait. xxiv.

to have gathered up there, and he caught two Carnatic Carp of
about 1 lb. each, that were scarred from fish bites, probably bites
from Freshwater Sharks, for I do not think a Mahseer bite would
leave a scar.

Shcrmangundi is on the Bawanny ; the river is clear there in
the monsoon, and holds Mahseer. H. will answer for it. Gopaneri
is on a feeder only.

Eddawarra, on the Nilambur Paver. D. saw a 5 lb. Mahseer and
Murral and Freshwater Shark caught with live frog suspended on the
surface from 5 feet springy bamboos stuck in the bank, 20 such
baits being simultaneously set by the natives.

Nadghhny. — I), writes again, there are no fish in the pretty river
one mile below the bungalow, but following down stream one mile
another river joins and the Mahseer commence there from the
waterfall at the junction. The fish we got were small, 1 lb. and
under ; they took your small sized fly (i.e., the smallest one I have
mentioned for Carnatic Carp) and were greedy and violent. He and
L. got eight Mahseer.

In the Malabar District is also the Ba-min (Polyncmns) fishing
of which the localities are given in the Chapter on Estuary
Fishing.

K. G. had sport with Ba-m'm at Mahe in November and
December.

Xi llore District.

The Muri. — E. gpt some good sport, writes C, in the Muri with
Freshwater Sharks.

Kistnapatam Estuary. — C. had tackle broken. Thus there is not
much to be said for poor Nellpre.

Salem District.

Hoginkal, or the Smoking Bock, which is about 5 miles' ride
from Pennagaram, mis-spelt Pengugaram in the Ordnance map, is
a very picturesque spot, on the Cavery. Its grand falls and rocka
are well worth a visit Tents axe required. No supplies except
from Pennagaram.

H. writes me the water is 65 feet deep. About March the

fishermen drive the fish for 20 miles up the river to the long ] 1

below the falls, which are impassable, and Mock the river below

cii.vpt. xxiv. So ,i. Tanjor* TvimtveUy. 313

with not*. They cannot net the pool because the water is too deep,
ami the li<>tt"iii too rocky, but they fish with lines and catch "tuns."
There are Carnatic Carp, Freshwater Sharks, and Murral, but no
Mahsecr hf thinks. I should think there must be Mahseer there.
Sholapddi, 30 miles from Salem. 11. writes the river is so

beautiful for fishing, such rapids and j Is, and all open, but he

chronicles no b

Tanjore District.

There is not a ghost of a Mahseer in the district, but I
have had good fun with Labeos in a pond about 6 miles out of
Tanjore, on the Combuconum road ; in fact, the 31 £ lbs. mentioned
in the Chapter on Bottom-fishing.

Also in a pond attached to a small temple, half a mile off
the road, at a point about a mile from Negapatam, on the
Karekal road, one rod got 52 lbs. weight of Labeos and Fresh-
water Shark in a day.

The Tanjore District abounds in Temple tanks, and tanks
kept for bathing and drinking, and washing clothes promiscuously.
These are mostly fed by small channels from the Cavery and
Coleroon, and as their supply comes to them only when the
rivers are in flood, it generally brings them fry of all sorts of
fish, notably the Labeo, the Freshwater Shark, the White Carp
(Cirrhina eirrhosa), the Chela, and sometimes the Hilsa. The
last-named is a sea fish, Clwpea ilisha, vainly endeavouring to
regain the sea. Some of these ponds cover several acres, and
are never netted. Fates, and very little soul for bottom fishing,
and the publicity of most of these tanks, combined to prevent
my investigating them; but any one so inclined might doubt-
less get much fun out of them.

Tinmvrfhj District.

CoTirtallvm, the sanitarium of the district, has water near it.
A writer in the " Mad] - Mail," 3l8t August. 1874, says: —

"The milk falls are situated in the Pulliary Pass, and about 14
" miles of an easy road to the north of Courtallum. . . . The
" Pulliary Pass is a charming place when it does not rain hard, but
" during the Courtallum season t lie rain is almost incessant, and in

314 Fishing Localities. CiiArr. xxiv.

" the dry weather the place is hot and feverish. The pass connects
" Tinnevelly with Travancore. The road rnns for a long way by the
" side of a babbling picturesque mountain torrent, in which there are
" places for good fishing. The Mahseer is among the fish found.
" Comfortable bungalows, situated at convenient distances, are met
" with throughout the pass. The vegetation is luxurious, and any one
" delighting in ferns, orchids, etc., game, and scenery, will find the
" pass a very paradise of pleasure."

This has been confirmed to me on many hands.

B. caught small Mahseer of 5 lbs. at Paupanassam, and in
the Arienkavu Pass. The season is June, after the monsoon has
set in, July, and August, and others declare it healthy till the
cud of January, as I can well imagine.

Paupanassam (properly Papavinasam — the forgiveness of sins ;
there are many places bearing the same name). P. writes : —
Paupanassam, where the Tamberapoorny, the irrigator of Tinne-
velly, debouches from the hills by a splendid fall. There are
(harming streams, pools, etc., about there, and lots of fish.

Travancore.

With its good rivers, ought to be as good for sport as Malabar
and Canara.

Anglicoorchi. — H. writes, November, 1875, that in the river
Toracadu he has caught J lb. Mahseer with a fly, but did not stir a
Carnatic Carp.

Trich inopoly District.

There is business to be done at the Anient, I am told.

B y writes, that at the Anicut the Freshwater Shark

(Wallago attv) run very large ; that he had good fun with
Kilathays (Tamil for Macrones), things with feelers, flat under jaw,
lurked tail, lie caught them 5 lbs. and over, with a small fish
live bait, :iinl they gave very good sport, being very strong for
their size, lie stood on the rock when the stream was running
slightly through the shutters of the Anicut and making the
water just as it should be lor trout fishing. They required line
tackle.

lie caught Laheos also there

Ohapt. x.xiv Mysore. 315

Mysore.

Somewhat recently I have had an opportunity of giving the
Toongabadra a trial, and was grievously disappointed, for though

the water was in the places named below all that could be desired,
and though I did run a few really big fish, the fishing was very
poor indeed. Not only did I see the rivers very thoroughly netted
by men who understood their business right well, and travelled in
gangs netting all the rivers all their lengths, but I saw also cruives
set for fry, and was told that poisoning was practised. This seems
to be the fate of all rivers in much inhabited or easily accessible
localities. Only in out-of-the-way jungly tracts do the fish get a
chance. I tried the following places in Mysore, which I may,
perhaps, most fairly describe by calling them worth wetting a line
in by those on the spot, but not worth making a pilgrimage to as I
did :—

Tirthahalle.
Malur.
Mandagadde.
Sacrabyle.
Shimoga.
Balehannur.
The last place is not very far from Calasa, where, in former
years, I had excellent fishing.

Mr. Sanderson, author of " Thirteen Years among the Wild
" Beasts of India," also gave me the following list of likely places
in Mysore, but it was in 1873, when he was not so great with the
rod as the rifle, and I should attach more weight to it if I could
send it to him to be revised with his present knowledge. I
should think the forest-clad Cubbany should be good, negotiated in
a boat.

Hoonsoor should be your first place ; from there you can go to
t hunchincuttay, on the Cavery, about 16 miles, where there are
considerable falls in the river. There is lots of accommodation in
the temple, and a Channel Department hut; but take supplies for
a day or two, till you can get into swing from Hoonsoor. There is
a good cart road.

About 50(1 yards below the fall there is a small pool with big

316 Fishing Localities. CHAPT. XXIV.

fish. You will probably see them rolling in the evening. From
the fall to this point are several grand runs, but rocky. All this
holds fish.

Mwndegh rry on the Hemavutty, about 12 miles across country
from Chunchincuttay, you might try if you find Chunchincuttay
answer ; there are fish ; lots of fine water.

Hansogee and Eamnathpoor, 9 and 18 miles respectively up
stream from Chunchincuttay, with a good road, and accommodation
at both places, might be visited. The first has lots of big fish, but
only pools. At Eamnathpoor you would see the temple fish. They
don't mind your fishing 100 yards or so above the temple bathing
steps, where there is good water.

Keturning to Hoonsoor you could run down to the Cubbany,
near Heggadevencottah, 20 miles ; there is a fair road. Should you
do so, you should camp at a village near the mouth of a tributary
river called, I think, the " Sartee," which you will see on the map ;
there axe fish, and Moormen who know their whereabouts well. I
caught my 150-pounder there.

There is nothing in the river at Hoonsoor, the Lutchmenteert.

I have always had a great opinion of the chances of good
sport in the Cubbany, but have never had proper appliances.
It is a treat to see the fish rising and feeding about in the runs
near Carkencottah.

The rivers I now have fishing on, are the Cavery and
Hemavutty. I do not know the Toongabudra from personal ex-
perience, but have heard from natives that it is inferior to the
former two. But the river for monsters, and lots of them, is
the Cubbany. This comes from about Manantoddy. It is A 1
for all kinds of fish from Caukencottah, in Mysore, downwards
to its junction with the Cavery. The fishing is varied and
handy. It is certainly the best place, and for 20 miles down, in
this part of the country. I presume your most convenient way of
getting there, would be ri<i Meivara and Manantoddy. Cauken-
cottah is about 12 miles from Manantoddy, with good shooting
if yi m care for it.

Coorg.

Coon/ has, 1 am told, good fishing grounds in the Cavery, Dear
Verajendrapet ; and Sampaje is easily accessible from Mercara.

Chapt. xxrv. Coorg. North Canara. 317

Sport may also he had before the coffee pulping begins at
Wottakuli, half way down the Sampaje ghaut, but at Wottakuli
the Mahseer are rary small, running to about 2 lbs. or 3 lbs.

Matuerabad. — S. writes of a lovely little golden brown
Mahseer, beinu: taken with a black palmer fly, about the size of
a No. 5 Kirby hook, in a rocky little stream at the top of the
Bfanzexabad Ghat. Also at a tank Bomewhere about Manzerabad,
J, mites that he killed, with a black palmer, and subsequently
with gaudy flies, on No. 6 Limerick hook, my sizes, fish of some
s. lit. averaging i lb., but sometimes running to i lb. and 1 lb.

Mdranhally. — I caught fish of some sort, description not given,
of 3 lbs. and 4 lbs., ro\ iiiL,r with a dough bait.

Bombay Presidency.

North Caiuira District.

soppa. — This far-famed fall, which beggars all description,
ought to be visited by every lover of the grand and beautiful, but
not without a salmon rod. There is fair fishing above the falls.

Bleep the road from the bungalow towards Mysore till you
come to the bridge and stream at the bottom of the hill. Just past
the bridge a bridle-path will conduct you about mile to the head of
the big pool. Thence upwards there is one succession of pools and
runs. But the fish are not plentiful or large. I never tried the
big pool, but towards the tail of the big pool above the falls, where
it first begins to have eddies on it among the rocks, fish are said to
have been caught. The water below the falls is recommended by
some wag in the bungalow book, but do not you go on such a fool's
errand I have struggled barefoot where natives would not follow,
and could not get to any decent water there.

I also waded through the bungalow book, and though " fine
" fish" arc talked of tin-rein, nothing definite is recorded over 5 lbs.
In the rapids far above I saw S. kill one of 20 lbs. weight, and we
got others of 6 lbs. and 8 lbs., but the majority of the Mahseer
were very small, say 1 lb. and 1A_ lbs., and the river seemed rerj
bare of fry and of all sorts of small fish. I fancy the river must be
very much poisoned, netted, and cruived like the rest of the risers

318 Fishing Localities. C'HAI'T. XXIV.

in Mysore of which I have seen anything ; for the river rises in
Mysore.

The Kiilamiddi. — W. says that A. (a dark horse) fishes much in
the Kalanaddi from Bommanhalli down to about Ancholi, and he
thinks for Mahseer.

Bengal.
An Extract from the " The Field " of 9th October, 1869.

' Having had some excellent sport, Mahseer fishing, in the previous
" years, A. and I determined upon seeing what the capabilities of the
" Poonch river really were. A trip of this kind of course requires
'■ considerable preparation in a country away from tackle-makers, and
" where gut rots almost as soon as it arrives. Strong lines also are
'• absolutely necessary; they must be 200 yards long, and have a reel
" capable of holding that length. We knew by experience how fatal
" these monsters were to tackle — even treble gut — and to hooks, which
'• they managed to break, bend, or straighten in a most mysterious*
" way.

" We were prepared and equipped for a start on March 1st, 1867,
" and had our Murree cart at the door for our 60 mile drive, which we
"accomplished in five hours. These carts reflect great credit on Mr.
" Faichnie, Inspector of H.M.'s Mail at Rawul Pindee, who invented
'• them. They have four seats, back to back, fore and aft, placed just
" above the axle-tree. The shafts run through the whole length of the
" cart, which is substantially built, and has the centre of gravity so low
" that it would be next to an impossibility to overturn it. Two horses
" are always used, one in the shafts, and the other attached to an out-
'' rigger; and keeping the horses at full gallop is by far the most
"comfortable motion for passengers. Nothing can be simpler than the
'• harness. One horse carries a saddle to support the shafts, a crupper,
" and a padded chest strap, to which are fastened the traces ; and the
" other has merely the chest strap. Horses are changed every 6 miles,
" and, as the coachman blows his horn as soon as he gets within earshot
" of the changing place, two fresh horses are ready by the time the cart
" is brought to a standstill. Two minutes effect the change, and off the
" cart is again at a hand gallop. A 15 mile ride from the trunk road,
" where we left the cart, took us to our destination, the junction
"of the Poonch and Jhelum, about 20 miles north of the town of
" Jhelum.

" The Poonch rises in the Pir Punjal, a Himalayan range to tho
• See rumurks on compression, page 36.

t'livrr. xxiv. Tfie Po&neh and Jhdum. 319

"aoath of the Kashmir Valley, and after a course of li!" miles or so,
" falls into the Jhelum. lu spring time, the Poonch is about I he siae of
"the Tweed at Coldstream, but the pools aiv deeper, and the streams
'• more rapid ; 1 fancy they run about a mile an hour quicker than in the
"Tweed. We reached our camp about five in the evening, in high
"spirits, the weather looking very promising, though the water was
" lower than we quite liked. Our tents wire pitched close to the
"junction. Our servants had all arrived, and were busily preparing
"dinner; so we employed our time in putting our rods together (Irish
" rods, preferable to all other, when ready, but troublesome to put
"together), aud strolled up the river to view the scene of our exploits
" of the previous year. As fishing from a boat was more effective than
•" wading, we were made a little anxious by the non-arrival of a native
" boat from some 0 miles up the river, as we had sent a man for it several
" days before.

" Early to bed and early to rise was the order of the day, and next
'" morning we were both up by daylight. A. commenced fishing in a
" grand deep pool, with a high bank on one side, and I began at the
" junction a quarter of a mile below him. Neither of us had even a
" rise; so at nine we returned to breakfast, and after our meal, to our
" great delight, the boat appeared in sight. It was a huge, cumbersome,
'• flat- bottomed, square ended machine, with two enormous oars, roughly
" hewn out of a tree. We had two men for each oar, besides a steerer.
'• We were soon on board and at work. My third try with spoon in the
" pool was successful, hooking a fish of 30 lbs. or so; but after playing
" him for some minutes, and just as I was about to land him, a swivel
" broke, and he was seen no more. When I had somewhat recovered
" my equanimity, 1 began again with a phantom minnow, about the size
" of a ^ lb. fish, hooked another, and had him a short time, when after a
" vigorous run, the rod straightened, the line slacked, and I discovered
" the hooks drawn, an instance of how silk and cobbler's wax dry up in
" India. No sooner had I put on another phantom than I lost it, and a
"whole casting line, by fouling a rock. This last disaster most eflectu-
" ally disgusted me, for our supplies of phantoms, lines, etc., though
" very ample, could never last at my rate of expenditure. However, I
" persevered, and our bag for the day consisted of five fish, of 35 lbs.,
"29 lbs., 17 lbs., 7 lbs., and 3 lbs., respectively, which was not bad, as
" we had not a rise before three in the afternoon, and it was dark by
"six. The water was rather thick, especially in the pool. At dinner,
'we discussed the failures and successes of the day, repaired our
" damaged tackle, devised fresh schemes for capturing the wily Mahseer,
" and then turned in, so as to be up and ready by daylight.

320 Fishing Localities. CiiArT. xxiv.

" Our custom was to fish from daylight (about half-past five o'clock)
" till nine or ten, and not start again till between two and three, when
" we fished till dark. Our time between breakfast and our start in the
" afternoon was always fully occupied in repairing tackle, whipping
" fresh hooks, or making entirely new lines, so that the time never hung
" heavy on our hands.

"Next morning, A. tried the junction with fly, as the water was
" somewhat clearer, but without success. At times, however, Mahseer
" rise well ; by far the most deadly fly — indeed, the only one that
" appears to tempt them — was Madras jungle-cOck feathers in the wings,
" if with silver body all the better. While A; was Wading at the
" junction, I fished from the boat in the pool, and landed one of 18 lbs.
" Shortly afterwards we changed places — A. fished from the boat, and I
" waded. I first tried fly, but not getting a rise, put on a phantom.
" Hooked one, played him for some time, and lost him; so then, as it
" was quite breakfast time, I walked back to camp, where I found A. in
" great glee, having just brought home a splendid fish of 40 lbs. In
"addition to this monster he had hooked five others, all of which got
" away. As the day turned out cloudy, and our keenness was redoubled
" by the sight of the 40-pounder, off we started soon after breakfast, and
" made a brilliant beginning by landing a 30 lbs. and -10 lbs. between
" us. Then came a lull, and we did nothing till the afternoon was
" well advanced ; then we had sport indeed. On our return to camp
" there was laid Out before our admiring gaze, as the result of our
" day's sport, seven fish, of 44 lbs., 40 lbs., 36 lbs., 18 lbs., and 14 lbs.,
" making a total of 210 lbs. — a feat as regards actual weight for num-
" ber of fish seldom, if ever, surpassed in rod fishing, and as regards sport
" certainly unequalled. I have never seen salmon run as vigorously or
" as long as these fish ; they are game to the backbone ; and, bearing in
" mind that we were fishing with treble gut, it will be seen that their
"powers of endurance are very great, for I never spare my fish — in
" fact, I fear, I lost some by being over-severe with them. During
" their run they take out the line so very quickly, that one has the
" greatest difficulty in preventing it from hanking on the reel, in
" consequence of the bar on which the line is wound revolving after
"(he fish stops running. At first I fished with reel and rings under
"the rod, but 1 found that did not answer, as some of the rings
"were cut through in a couple of days by tin- friction of the line;
"so I was speedily converted to the Irish fashion of reversing the
" rod as soon as a fish was hooked, thereby having the reel and
" rings uppermost, and so placing all the strain ami friction on the
"rod itself. Another advantage was, that by so doing one was

Chut, xxiv. The Poonck and JJidum. 321

"enabled to p he line hanking in the reel by pressing one's

"fingers against the line. This plan was effective, but not always
" agreeable, as I found to my cost, occasionally having had the tips
"of my fingers blistered. While on the subject of reels, I might
"mention thai no reels of English manufacture that 1 have ever seen
"have hard enough metal in the cog or cog-wheel of the check. I
"was using on this fishing expedition a new reel of Farlow's, and in
'"six days the teeth of the cog-wheel had almost disappeared, the
"space between the plates being filled with brass tilings. In a reel
"intended for Mahseet fishing, all the parts that have to bear friction
" should be made of well-tempered steel.

"At sunrise next da}' I again tried the pool, but did not even get an
"offer ; so I strolled up the river, attended by my shikari — who, by-tho-
• hye, was quite new at this kind of sport. He took to it very keenly,
" however, and soon became very handy at landing fish, which was
" done in a way rather surprising to a man accustomed only to the gaff
"or landing net. When the fish is nearly exhausted, the man walks
" quietly into the water, gets behind the fish, gently runs his hands
" along his back until they reach his gills, then slips his thumbs into the
" gills, and lifts the fish out of the water. This mode of capture sounds
" very simple, and it is so if the fish does not see the man ; but if ho
" does, off he goes for another run. Mahseer have no dread of being
"handled; they keep perfectly quiet daring the time the man runs his
" fingers along their back, and even remain motionless while the hook
'• is being taken out. as long as they are held up ; butno sooner are they
"• placed on the ground than they commence kicking and jumping in the
" most violent manner.

"When 1 had walked two miles I came upon a very likely-looking
" piece of water by some mills, which I fished diligently with fly, spoon,
"and phantom, till I was pretty well tired out by the exertion and the
••sun, which was well up by this time; and the day promised to be very
" hot. So I turned homewards; and when I had finished my two-mile
" walk over boulders and deep sand, I was quite prepared for my break-
" fast, which I found all ready, and A. very anxious to begin. His
" morning bag was but little better than mine, for he had only succi
"in landing an 18-pounder. In the afternoon, when the day had got a
'• little cooler, we set to work again. I took a few casts in the pool, but
•stirred nothing, so went down to the junction. Here the Poonch
"divides itself into four or five very tolerable streams. I fished them all
"with every conceivable bait, but the only result \\:is a miserable
" 3 pounder, and that I hooked by tli«- stomach, A., however, was much
" more successful. He had resolved to persevere in the pool, and by so
the bod in until. V

322 Pithing Localities. Chapt. xxiv.

" doing was rewarded by landing two, of 14 lbs. and 39 lbs., bat, with
" his usual bad luck, lost an enormous one. He had played him fur
" more than half an hour up and down the deep water, when he lost him
'" by the hooks drawing.

"Though, for some mysterious reason, I never had good sport in the
" early morning fishing, still I was up again next morning by sunrise,
" and we both tried the pool from the boat ; I literally did nothing — did
"n< it even stir a fish ; but A. landed one of 19 lbs. At 3 p. m. I went up
" the river and fished the head of a small pool, with a glorious stream
" ranning into it, close by some jutting rocks. Here I landed a 4
" pounder and a 22 pounder with phantom and spoon. I then tried a
" stream a little higher up. I suspect the water was rather too heavy —
" at least, I stirred nothing ; so, having given the lower stream an hour's
" rest, I returned to it, and put on a natural bait. I soon hooked and
" landed one of 14 lbs., when I put on a fresh bait, intending to have a
"few more casts before it got dark, it being then a quarter to six, and
" rather clondy. The bait had just come across the stream and was
"entering the backwater, when I felt a vigorous tug, and a monster
"rushed off down stream, with nearly 100 yards of line before I
" managed to stop him.* Then he tried a run up stream to nearly
" opposite where I was standing, then down again, then opposite me
"again, baton quite the further side of the river, an. I there he sulked for
" the best part of an hour, all of which time I was keeping a very severe
" pull on him. Unfortunately, I was fishing from a point of rock, and
"on my left hand, downstream, was what is best described as 'a long
" ' bay ' of dead water, 50 yards or so across, and between it and the
" stream was a bar, consisting of huge rocks rising to within 2 feet or
"3 feet of the surface, but with intervals varying from 2 feet to 6 feet
"between them, so that getting below the tish was quite out of the
"question. At last I managed to move him, ami he dashed down
"stream 70 or 80 yards, and sulked there. Now commenced my task.
" I soon found that merely keeping a steady pull (in him had no effect,
" especially as he was now below me. The pressure I kept on him was
"so great that attempting to wind up line simply caused the line tosink
" between the coils already on the reel ; so my only plan was to draw in
" an inch or so of line \\ ith my hand, and then wind it up on the reel.

" By dint of perseverance I succeeded in getting him up to within
" 20 yards or so, and then not another inch could [gain ; but I managed

" lc> rile him apparently, for oil' he rushed to the butt! 'in ill' the stream
' in. Of course liy this time it was pitch dark, or else I should havo

* Tina goi pporl in) i > l« ■:» thai 120 yards i- enough. S'ee'Winch, in

i- Will.

Cn.vrr. xxiv. A Orcm I Fish. 323

" been tempted to try and effect a passage across the bar, with tho
"almost certainty of going in over head and tars. As it was, prudence
" carried the da}-, and I sat down on a rock, put tho butt of my rod
" bet ween my legs, and lit a pipe. I then sent my fisherman off to camp,
"about 2^ miles over very rough ground, to order some dinner to be
"brought out, besides dry slims and socks, and a great coat. By the
"time the welcome sight of a lantern appeared it was near ten o'clock,
" and all the time I had been lighting for every inch of line. There was
" a splice in my line, and the struggle I had to get it on the reel is
"almost incredible. Time after time 1 felt it pass through my fingers
•' and just reach the reel, when the fish would shake his head, and pull it
•' half-way down the rod again.

" After some little delay in collecting sticks and lighting the fire, I
" managed to make a very tolerable meal, keeping a tight hold on the
" line with one hand while I used the other for dinner purposes. Fcel-
" ing much refreshed by my hasty repast, I devoted all my energies to
" my enemy with redoubled ardour. After one or two runs, I fancied
" there appeared to be something wrong with the reel, so, calling for a
" light, I examined it, and found to my discomfort that the two screws
" which connect the reel with the bar that was tied on to the rod were
" gone, and, of course, on the same side as the handle ; the consequence
"was that the mere act of winding up caused the reel to gape very
"considerably at this opening. I tried various methods for remedying
" this mishap, such as getting my fisherman to hold it as firmly as
" possible in his hands while I wound up line, etc. ; but I found none of
" them so satisfactory as crossing my legs as I sat on the rock, and
" pressing the reel against my left knee. This answered tolerably well,
" but it was a somewhat awkward position to remain in for long. To
" make a long story short, however, about 2 a. m. I prevailed on my fish
•' to cross the bar and have a swim in the deep, still pool. He gave two
"furious runs up and down, [ luckily just preventing him from ret urn-
"ing to the stream, and then I hauled him into a nice little shallow
"creek. The fisherman carefully handled him, and he was secured. I
"made my man carry the captive some yards from the water, and
" deposit him in a safe place, and then a most pleasant sensation of
" triumph filled my heart, as by the light of the lantern I gloated over
" the splendid fish which had fought so bravely and plucMly for eight
"hours and a half. By this time it was 2.30 a.m., so my ser\
"shouldered the fish, pots, and pans, and we started "IV home, fionnder-
" ing about over the two miles and a half of boulders and shingle in
'• pitch darkness, as the lantern had burned out. On arrival I. of course,
"routed up A., and we weighed the fish. He just turned the scale at

TUK KOD IN I ■* J

324 Fi.s/ii hi/ Local. Chapt. xxiv.

" 52 His., ami was 1 feet .". inches in length, which I must confess rather
" disappointed me, as I had landed in the previous year one of 57 lbs.
" that had not given anything like the sport of this one.

"A. had most patiently waited three hours for dinner, and then in
" despair sat down to his solitary meal. My fisherman's appearance with
" my dinner order was a great relief to his mind, as he was on the point
"' of sending out natives with lanterns to search the banks and pools of
the river, fearing that I had been carried down a rapid and stranded
"in some uncomfortable place, even if nothing worse had occurred.

" On the following day we did not start till twelve, and had very
" poor sport, only catching one of 7 lbs. each — attributable, I think, to
" there having been a thunderstorm in the hills during the night. We
" had serious thoughts of moving our camp a few miles up the river.

" Two friends arrived next morning in time for breakfast; though
" we had fished in the early morning, we had bagged nothing. Tn the
"afternoon I went 3 miles up the river, and caught three in a beautiful
" rocky stream, losing a phantom ; then, finding that a small boat we
"had ordered from higher up the river had arrived, I tried a deep
" narrow pool from it. I soon hooked a fine fellow, certainly over 14 lbs.,
" played him for nearly an hour, when he sulked ; and, as no amount of
" stone throwing or pulling would move him from his position behind a
" big rock, I got into the boat to go across. That started him, but mi-
"luckily he passed a sharp rock, and cut the line. This drove me
" nearly frantic — not only losing the fish after having played him for so
''long, but on account of its being the Becond phantom I had lost that
"day; and besides, if I had only had a little more patience, and not
"crossed the river, 1 probably would have bagged him. Afterwards I
" caught four small ones with spoon. A. had a blank day, but one
" of our friends, M., landed a 21 pounder.

"Our next five days' fishing was much in the same style as 1 have
"described. We moved our camp some 3 miles up the river, between
" two pools. Every day we made good bags, averaging about luu lbs.
"a day. A. was al\\a\s very unlucky with big fish; somehow, they
" invariabh came to me. Once a 43 pounder that I had hooked, after a
" good deal of phiy, sulked in (lie most determined way; nothing would
"move him. Hearing in mind how my line had been cut a few days
"previous, I was very patient with him, but it struck me as being
•' rather odd that I could not stir him at all. So at last A. went over
"the place in the boat ; and. finding that the line was round a rock, he
"very cleverly cleared the line. Luckily, the lish was nearly drowned,
"and became an easy capture; but, from the amount of slack line that
" flew back in my face the moment the lino was freed, though I was

Number of
fish caught.

Total
weight.

lbs.

5

91

7

210

4

73

5

111

o

11

6

56

11

81

('hut. xxiv. Sal hi, ,n vert/us Mahsew. 325

•■ winning back from the shore ami winding up as East as I conld, that
" very disagreeable sensation of ' He's off,' which every fisherman must
"know, came over me. In this instance, however, my alarm was
"groundless, as the fish still proved to he on. Another day I lost a fine
•• fish, that 1 had played for the besl pari of an hour, and had completely
"tired out, by a swivel breaking, making the second good fish lost in
•• that way.

"The accompanying table shows the particulars of each day's
•' sport :

March. Respective weights of fish in pounds.

2nd. 86, 29, 17, 7, 8 (Tost 8 fish)

3rd. 14, 40, 40, 36, IS, Is. 1 1 float 6 fish)

lili. 38,18, 11, 3 (lost 3 fish)

5th. 52, 22, 19, 11. t (i-t 2 fish)

6th. 7, 7 (lost 2 Bah)

Ttli. 17, 16, 10, 8, 3, 2 (lost 3 fish)

M!i. 30, 18, 10, 8, 5i, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1 (lost 3 Bah)

9th. 26, 21, 18, 16, 11, 10, 8, 8, 8, 7, 7, 5, 4, 3

(lost 2 fish) 11 154

10th. 43, 28, 24, 18, 11, 9, 8, 8, 7, 7, 5, 14, 4, 3, 3,

2,2,2 (lost I Bah) 18 221

Uth. 33, 13, 10, 7, 5,5, 5, 4J, t, 31, Si, 2} 2 (losl

3 Bah) 13 98

12th. 30,3 2 33

" In eleven days 87 fish were caught, weighing 1,145 lbs. ; being an
•■ average of rather more than 13 lbs. 2-J oz. each.

'• I hope I have been able to convey to your readers some idea of

'■ what splendid sport Mahseer fishing is in India, especially in a g I

•'river. For gameneSS ami vigour the Mahseer, to my thinking, is
•' .-uperior to any salmon ; his rushes are grand. His not taking fly as
'• readily as bait is, of course, a drawback. A friend has landed a 63
"pounder in splendid condition with fly ; but still it is undeniable that
"a man fishing with bait, natural or artificial, will make a heavier bag
"than one fishing with fly only. As far as my experience
" phantom minnows, natural bait, and spoon are all equally good, and I
" invariably gave them all a try over the same water. I used to weigh!
"my line very heavily, putting on at least the weigh! of an Enfield
"bullet, and to that* I attribute my catching heavier fish than A. The

• Because the Ifabaeer i» mainly a bottom feeder, and » great Bah eater. See
page 1:9, el leq.

326 Fishing Localities. Chait. xxiv.

" jiliantoras wo used were at least 6 inches long. Big fish, however,
" have been landed with much smaller ones. The principal objection to
'• the small phantoms is the difficulty* of being able to use hooks strong
"enough. My favonrite spoon was the size of a dessert spoon.

" The sun in the day time in March is powerful, the nights are very
" cool — almost cold. The previous year we fished in April ; even then
" living under canvas is bearable ; but the great objection is not so
" much the actual heat as the constant dread of the snows melting, for
" when that happens an end is of course put to all sport for the
" season f

" Our two friends landed 330 lbs. of fish, but caught none of any very
" great size. They were fishing five days. In the previous year three
" rods (of which I was one) caught 700 lbs. in five days, averaging over
" 18^ lbs. each, in this same river, the Pooneh. In one day we landed
" 358 lbs.— K."

An Extract from " The Asian," of 2nd September, 1879.

" In most localities, it is quite out of the question going out in July,
"August, and September. The rain is one hindrance, muddy} water
" another, fever, etc., a good third. The consequence is, no one ventures
" out, except perhaps once or twice during what should be ' close '
" time. The only true fishing months may, therefore, be confined to
" October and November, and from February to the rains.

" First, then, Mirzapore is the railway station, and thence some
" 25 miles down the Rewah road is a dak, or rather a road bungalow,
" to which, whilst I was stationed at Mirzapore, the courteous engineer
" never refused entry ; supplies and servants mnst be taken, as no estab-
" Iishmentis kept; permission to occupy the bungalow miw In obtained.
" In the hotter months and rains the shelter is a necessity ; and in the
" cold weather tents are preferable. The river, the Beylun, is about
" 300 yards from the bungalow, and tlio best fishing is just above and
"just below the bridge, an ' Irish ' one. Here, on 11th October, my
"diary reminds me of the capture of a full 1- lb. (isli, and with the

* This difficulty is got over by a hook made specially for Malisecr. — See
page 220.

t Colonel I'ursoiia has now shown us Unit we amy still continue fishing liy liis

in. -I I od. Chapter I X.

X This difficulty is now overcome. -s" Chapter IX.

Chapt. xxiv. "Boon's Contribution. 327

" recital I </wv the description of two flies used before tlic Muhseer was
" landed.

•• It is four years ago now since I first camped at Buroundah, where
"the road bungalow is. The river had just cleared, and ray bag with
"a medium-sized fly, yellow all round except a black feather tail, was
"three good Bah, the largesl Bcaling 3^ lbs. This wasSJ lbs. Thw
"encouraging, because I have been told I should get no fishing in the
"district. I ohanged my fly for one of a larger size, with a dark blue
iy, broad silver tinsel, no hackle, wing of peacock harl and ' ruffed '
" with buff-coloured silk. Three pools below the bridge I was into a
"good fish, but after the first rush the line came away slack. He bad
" gone, quite a yard of good stout salmon gut and a good tly lost. It
'• was late, so we (a friend bad joined me) went back to camp.

" Next morning we shot. In the evening my double-handed trout
" rod, a beauty, with treble gut, was sailinga fly over the first pool under
" the bridge. The fly was a large one, as I now knew heavy fish were to
" be got, but until close on dnsk there had not been a rise. Three good
" pools fished from both banks resulted in blanks, but I sat down and
" chose a fly as nearly as possible similar to the one I had lost, and soon
" felt myself safe in something good. I shouted with joy, and my chum
" S. soon came up. We had to light a lantern, and by its aid at last 1
" landed my first, and, alas, my l:i ~ t 1 - lbs. in the Beylun. Unhooking
"him, we found the fly he had carried off the day before firmly fast in
"him, and the gut trailing. I have never seen such a thing happi □
"before. It was rather curious, too, that a fish should, after being
'• struck the day before, remain about the same rapids ; but I am one of
"those who do not believe the finny tribe are very sensitive about the
" mouth. I wish I could give coloured plates of the flies that are
"killing, but I cannot even draw. From Buroundah we returned to
" Lallgunj, and here a pretty fair bag of trout rewarded us. The little
" -t ream is ' little indeed.' Sometimes almost running dry. but half
" pound trout on a very li'_rht Castle Connei rod was not bad fun, and
" over six brace was our reward.

" Let us return to Buroundah. The rapids below the bridge end in
'' a very deep pool and long one, full of alligators, but if you have
" follow it down and you enter the Allahabad district, — famous for pig
"sticking, good for gaiety, and noted for a charming club and a
"charming secretary. .Many runs have I bad with him. I would they

" could be multiplied indefinitely. Hut in those days we bid a 'col-

" lector.' The 'glory' is departed ; yet in good hands Allahabad will
'•still show sport; I believe now is showing it.

" I have sadly digressed. As I have said, go below the big pool m

328 Fishing Localities. Ciutt. xxiv.

"the rapids of Buroundah, anil from thence to ' Pathurpore ' near
" ' Koolsara.' A 1 fishing, but the water must be clear, and the angler
" keep well out of sight ; dark flies are the best, and I always used
"them. Let me describe one that will take splendidly. But why
" should I ? ' The Rod in India ' has christened it the Blackamoor.

" Then, again, we are now in the Allahabad district, Sohra to
'" Khurkha is splendid fishing ground the whole way, and there is a
" place I do not quite remember, but think it is called 'Mai,' and is
" close to ' Kohrar; ' here I caught my best fish in nearly still water,
" fishing just the break of the rapids; all these places are best reached,
" I think, from the wayside railway station of ' Sirsa.' Any friend in
" Allahabad could give information. The Beylun joins the ' Tons,'
" and the fishing from Sohra to Khurkha and at ' Mai ' is on the Tons.
" In this latter river I was indebted to a brother sportsman for one of
" the best flies I ever threw. We had to make them up, and he showed
" me how.

" Body Austrian grey, silver tinsel, tail of two bustard feathers and
'■ wings of the same. II is a splendid fly, and I am much indebted for
" good sport to my friend. Here my experiences of Mirzapore and
" Allahabad end. " DoON."

Extractfrom " The Asian," of October lUh, 1879.

" The next district I touch on is Jhansi. It is a fine sporting
"district, deer, hares, grouse, and ducks are plentiful. Snipes
"are not very plentiful, but still thej arc to be got with a little
" trouble. Leopards are very numerous, but owing to the rocky
" nature of the country not easily driven, and very wary. The fishing
"is excellent.

" I am not quite certain of the distances, but the Pahooj river runs
" about 3 miles from Jhansi, and holds some of the tincM trout I have
"ever seen. The Babarie, about 4 miles on the opposite side,
"almost beats it. and the Bctwa and Dessaun Lri\e line .Mn'iseer.

" Everything, however, in these streams must be taken at 'the

•■•tide;

"The Betwa and Dessaun an1 raging torrents till October, and
•■ then you must he down ami eel all you can of fishing or i he streams
"simply 'dribble,' and ' still- water ' fishing is all that can lie bad.

"The Babarie and Pahooj clear rather rapidly, especially the former,
'■ and 1 bardly Know prettier trout-fishing than the Babarie affords.
•■ As both these streams arc minor ones, the besi fishing is to be goi m
"a break id' the rains. 1 I18ed always to go past the cavalry lines,

•ihroueh a e'ate in the t'ustom's hedge, and down to the .stream

Cll.Vl'T. XXIV. " / button.

" where it cute the Oorcha or Tehree road. Fish down stream. You
"gel splendid ran. Do nol despise the water because ii is rather
•• Bluggish at places, and does aoi lo tk deep. Lower and aboul 1 miles
•• from .lli;msi ofi the Burwa Sagar road, is the besl and deepest pool;
•• tmt though there are numbers of iisli in it, I do not remember ever
"to have taken there one good trout. No reason why others should
" not, but it was puzzling.

"Oorcha, the ancient capital of the Raja of Teekumgarh or
" Tehree, has a wall aid and It.. ken, in parts made of loose rocks and
"boulders piled up, and 1 fear to say of how many miles in circurn-
" ference. It is 7 miles, probably. A Gazetteer would simplify
"matters. The ruins are grand. Here we had many a merry party,
"and many a jolly day. The Betwa runs close under the old temples,
" and fish are fairly numerous, though I have never seen one above
"8 lbs. The rapids are splendid, and there is a dam below the old
" city, which was once unbleached, bnt has been neglected, and now
'" has one or two rifts in it, and the waters pour through in wild
" disorder. Many a good fish have I taken there.

" Most successful was a fly I describe now. Body orange wool,
"gold twist, yellow tail and yellow wings, with a 'taste' of red on
"the shoulders. It is very killing.

"Another. Body dark yellow, tag of peacock hail, wings black
" with a few peacock harl in it. I found, however, bright English
" Salmon flies take well too.

" Then the country above Oorcha is splendid. The scene rv all the
"heart could desire, and the Betwa winds through forest lands, now
" one united stream, and now through several channels, sometimes
ir of trees, and more often bordered by them thickly. Fishing
" is grand, and so is it all on to the bridge over the Jhansi and
" Lullutpore road. I would like once again to camp up the Betwa's
" bauks from Oorcha to the bridge on the road, and fish the old pool s
" Just above the bridge, too, is one of the finest pools in the river. It
"is a 'still' pool, and requires fishing, but has given good sport. I
•• have given no fly for the Pahooj or Babaries, but here they are, and
"I am indebted to a knowledge of the first to a friend about those
" parts : —

"1. Body red, silver twi>t, wings black, tipped with white (the
" common .Mvna will furnish this or the Turkey), hook rather small.
" 'J. The ' red spinner.'

"3. The 'black spinner,' with silver twist. 1 found gold twist
" answer too.

"The ah probably the best flies, but there inaj be others.

330 Fishing Localities. Chapt. xxiv.

" My experience of Jhansi dates only over a year. There are others
" there who, if they would, could give better information. Then the
" Dessaun. I hate the river ! There are lots of fish in it, though I do
" not think so many as in the Betwa, but I never could get a bag
" ont of it.

" The ' Ghat ' off the road from Jhansi to Nowgonjj, about 38 miles
" from Jhansi, and 15 or so from Nowgong, is the place I wonld choose
" to try my luck. From thence one can fish some rapids about a mile
" and a half down stream, and some two miles up stream, besides what
" fishing one could get immediately above and below the Ghat itself.
"Very fine trout are to be had above and below the 'cold weather'
" bridge. There is a good pucka road from Jhansi to Nowgong, and
" on both banks of the river, bungalows, permission to occupy which
" has never, to my knowledge, been refused.

" Then there is Mow, near Raneepore, about 30 miles from Jhansi,
"and 8 miles from the Ghat. Yon must pass Mow, if my old friend
" will let you get to the Ghat, and there, though there is a dak
" bungalow, with a ' call ' or without one, the chances are you will
" not be allowed to occupy it, but be most hospitably entertained, and
" vielcomed by as good-hearted a man, and as jolly a sportsman as ever
"stepped. "What is more, he would beat most fellows into ' fits,' with
"a gun, and just pride himself on showing you the best sport to be
"had all round his place, so one cannot do better than visit Mow, if
" thereabouts.

" Chirgaoo. is about 18 miles, if I rightly remember, from Jhansi, on
" the Jaloun road. There is here a road bungalow, but the good
"fishing ground on the Betwa, which is about 3 miles from Cbirgaon,
" is at and about a place called Goolara, some 3 to 4 miles on the
" Jhansi side of Chirgaon.

" The fishing from Goolara to Dhunna is magnificent, but you
" must ' tent ' it, and remember, that though your ' rises,' and probably
" 'takes,' will bo numerous, the fish will very seldom exceed 7 lbs. I
"do not remember ever trying spinnlmj, but from what I saw of fish
"in the pools from high banks, my impression is, they do not run to any
"greater size in the rivers of Jhansi and Lullutpore than 12 to 15 lbs.
" My experience of these districts is respectively about a year each,
"and therefore I am open to correction, but I think that the instances
"of fish caught over 10 lbs. (Mahnsir) are rare. But after all, there
'' is more fun and greater enjoyment in playing a 10 lb. or 6 lb., with
" a light rod and fine tackle, than wurkimj and worrying on for a big
" tisli with rods and tackle that might ho described as ' Piscatorial
" Woolwich Infants ! ' No more now from yours. "Do

C'iiatt. xxiv. " Boon's" Contribution. 331

/' Wad from " The Asian," of 28th October, 1879.

"It is licst now to journey up country, and before going elsewhere,
"let us take the Eastern Doon. Many know it well, and will
" remember happy hours along the banks of the Ganges, the Song, and
" the Sooswa.

" The Song flows behind the Kalunga Hill, once crowned by a
" fortress, famous for its defence by the Goorkhalies. From Dehr.i
"you go to Kalapani, and thence over the hill to a tributary stream,
••following which down its junction with the Song, gives the first
•' | 1 I have tried.

" Here in August, September, and a part of October, good fish are
" to be taken, up to 8 lbs., at any rate, though larger are in the waters,
" and may be got by spinning. I once saw a fish certainly over 30 lbs.
" in this stream, but nothing would tempt him.

" All down the Song the fishing till October is good, but after
" thai there is but little water in it, and, indeed, it almost dries up
" altogether.

" The Sooswa flows past Kansaras, a place once famous for all
" kinds of game, but now its glory has departed. Fine Trout and
" Mahseer fishing is to be had all down the Sooswa, and where the
" Song and Sooswa join is a splendid pool with heavy fish.

" Jamun Khatta, below the junction, is well worth staying at.
" Good trout and good Mahseer, and plenty of them. Down the river
" some few miles, you get to the junction of the Sooswa and Ganges,
" and here are splendid fish, as large as any river in India can furnish ;
" but here spinning pays beat.

" Up near the hills, where the Ganges leaves the Himalayas, is
" Tuppobun, with its splendid scenery and grand pools. Lower down,
" Rickee Khase, with equally good water, and so on, till you come to
"Hurdwar, with its ' Myapore Bridge,' the 'Bund,' and ' Dam,' all
" well-known ground.

" The fish, though, are getting more and more shy, and it is not
"always a 'bag' to be made. Under the Myapore Bridge, hundreds
" of swallows have their nests, and many a large fish has been caught
" with a swallow, or rather martin (as I believe they are) tied on to a
" hook, and used as a bait.

" I rigged up a very large hook in imitation of a swallow, and
" tried it, years ago, but only bagged one fish. They do not seem to
"take freely now. The 'escape' (I called it the 'ham') is a fine
" piece of trolling water, but one has to be careful spinning, as there
' ' arc' snags,' or were — 1 speak of days long ago.

332 rishimj Lonili/iis. ClIAPT. XXIV.

" Below Hurdwar is Kunkhal, but unless the escape is open, few
" fish will be risen, though lower down, the pools deepen, and just
"above the bridge of boats at Jheesumwalla Ghat, in one morning
" before breakfast, I happily landed two fish over 20 lbs. each, and
" three others, none under 10 lbs. ; a good morning's work !

" Lower still, down towards Asufgurh, one day's bag readied
"146 lbs., the best fish weighing 27i lbs. This water is splendid
" fishing, and once again may I tread its banks. Further down yet
"Mahseer are to be got, but only one ever rewarded my efforts with
" fly. Bait fishing must be resorted to. The places to fish are the
" 'Kooties.' Fakirs build themselves small habitations on the Gansres,
"and they generally wash their grain in the river, even if they do
" not throw the remnants of their dinner into it ; but often they feed
" the fish, and a hook baited with atta is sure to give sport.

" But at the Ghat, over the Ganges between Bijpore and Meerut,
" another kind of sport may be had— very exciting in its way, and
" hard work too.

" When the bridge is ' up,' in the cold weather under the oldest
"boats, the ' gonch ' may be seen clinging on by feelers to the bottom.
" It struck me they could be speared, so a friend and myself sent down
" our canoes, armed ourselves with barbed spears, made so that the
" heads should slip off the handles, and drove down to the Ghat. The
"spear heads had about 20 yards of stout cotton string attached, and
" to the end of the rope an inflated (bullock's) bladder. When we
" saw the gonch, the spear was sent ' home,' and the shaft withdrawn.
" The fish at once went off, and the bladder keeping on the surface
"showed his course. We followed in canoes, and taking extra spears,
" gained the bladder and pulled up our prey, finishing him as best we
" could. One morning my friend and myself killed three gonch thus,
" all about 80 lbs. If this sport can be got at one bridge, I see no
" reason why not at every one on the Ganges and Jumna, and other
"streams too, for gonch abound down country, but I must say I have
"never tried it anywhere else but at that one bridge.

"Mahseer are to be got down the canal too. The falls toward
" Koorkee are good places, and especially to Puthri Bridge. Here,
"trolling with ' Chnlwas,' I have caught 18 lb. fish, never anything
" larger. But Mahseer are to be had lower still. In the Meerul

" district, uinler t lie falls, I have taken t hem w ii li I hey///.

" Mahseer have been taken, too, with bait at Katigarh and Cawn-
" pore, and lower, I believe; but at the two places named, 1 have
I hem caught.

■• At Bijpore, and at all the bridges lower down, the bntchwa take

Cm \it. xxiv.

" /.. J.'s" Fishing.

:::::;

" the fly freely, Mid are to be taken up to -J lbs. in weight. A dark
'• fly seems the besl .

" Doon."

/' traetfrom tin' "Asian" of December 23rd, 1879.
" Fishing in Laow.

" I liave jnst got back from Laour, wlieiv I went on .1 fishing trip.
"and bad very fair sport.

" Extract from my diary: —

November 19th, got nil, lost 4 fish.

20th, „ 1, lbs. 19, loal :*.

82nd, „
88rd, ..
24th, „
25th, „

2, „ 30,36.

6, „ 46,31, 11, 25, 13, 12
2, „ 44, 30.
2, „ 21. S2.

nil, gave the good ]«Ji a re-i ,
and tried some new water.
26th, got 3, lbs. 18, 58, 55.
27th. „ 3, „ 29, 20, 62.

16, 54, 20, 33, 7,* 32,

28th, „ 8,

33, 26.
29th, got 2,

„ 1<
December 1st, „ 1.

28, 26.

28, tried new water again.

21.

"Of course, besides these fish, I lost several, of which I kept no
account. I got them all trolling with spoons 4 inches long. I tried
' the fly, but without success.

" The river is called the Punateet, and runs out of the Khasia
' Hills at Laour. To get to it, you have to branch off at Soonam-
' gunge (on the Soormah) and go by boat to a village called Elamgao,
' here you can get dingies and boatmen to take you up the gorge
' where yon must rough it in a grass hut. It is a beastly unhealthy
' place. Every time I go there, all my servants are knocked over with
' fever. I got it once myself, but on that occasion I was there for six
' weeks.

• " I never saw a Mnhsser like this before. Back and fins perfectly black, a game
"little head, and very thick through. He astonished me, as before weighing him I
"took him for a fish of about 4 lbs. He fought lik'- a little devil, and showed as
"great a disinclination to be landed as other fish of 12 or 15 lbs. — I. J."

334 Fishing Localities. Chapt. "xxiv

Extract from the "Asian" of 25th May, 1880.

" Fishing from the Bimoor Territory to the Nepal Boundary.

" I have fished all the rivers in this tract, except the Sarda, which
" is the Nepal boundary.

" To begin : On the west, there is the Bata stream that runs from
"below Nahan to join the Jumna at Bata; abuut 1 mile from the
"junction up stream are two holes that used to be capital fly-fish
" places. I have known 80 fish taken with a single rod in one day
" out of these two holes. My largest take from there was 36 fish, but
" I only tried for the larger ones. 1 once saw a 6 lb. Mahseer caught
" there with atta, but from 2 ozs. to 2 lbs. is the usual thing with fly,
" and both Mahseer and trout are caught. The trout (so called) is
" also a species of carp, but he is a very game, handsome fish ;
" occasionally fish of other sorts are caught that look like roach.

" We used to have our fancy flies, but I am of opinion that
" Indian fish generally take a fly in mistake for a young fish or
" fry ; I say generally, as I have seen them taking an insect often
" such as locusts, larva of insects, and flying ants.

" Red and black palmers are favourites, and a sort of red palmer
" with a tail is my especial. He is made of a single hackle feather
"of the jungle-fowl or red game; that and a black one and a fly
" with white body, dirty yellow tail, and floriean or houbara wing.

"The Jumna is a splendid river for fly or spinning. 1 have
'• been told that pure white and pure yellow flies are the best in
" this river, but I have found the ordinary* ones do very well indeed.
" This river seems a favourite one for Mahseer; when the dirty water
"of the melted snows come down in May, making the Jumna as dirty
" as the Thames, large bags are made. The river is shallow in the
" parts mostly fished over, and perhaps the fish see the lure more
"readily than in deeper streams. The old town of Simoor. said bo
"have been deserted 1,000 years, is on the banks close to the lake.
" Portions of the paved streets and many gods, etc., are still to be seen
" lying in the jungle. The Jumna is a good river for monsters. The
" Tons very bad fishing always. I have not gone in much for the big
" river fishing, as to be successful, you must have Mullahs with Sinai's
" (inflated skins), and I never fancied this mode of fishing. The Arson
" has yielded many fish to my rod, and all with By. I prefer the first

* I do not understand what i* meant ; I have a shrewd suspicion one is as good
as another, and perhaps ■■< good deal better. 1 have already said my say us au un-
believar in the matter of Balmon Bus.

Chapt. XXIV. "Pal !■'■ '- Fishing Grounds. 335

"Mini last mentioned By for this river; upto51bs. is thensnal weight,
"ba( fisli of L5 to 20 lbe. have been oaughj in it. Snipe are very
"fond of tlii' edges of this river when going np or down country. I
"havi n tin' large fish at tin- I'ounta tomple on the Jumna;

"they are to be had with atta 1 believe. This is a Sikh temple, and
"so is thr llm-si' ilwiini at Dehra. A large trout 4J lbs. was oanght
" in the A r the mouth, when I was there; it was the largest

" by 1, lbs. thai I have ever seen.

" The Luswa is a splendid stream for By, and also the Song. I
"have taken many dozens out of these two streams, the average of a
"good day in the cold weather, is from 15 to 25 fish, average 1 lb.
" each. I once bagged in ono hole 18 trout, averaging nearly a pound,
' and one small Mahseer; 5 lbs. is about the largest one can hope for,
" until May, but during -May and June, large fish are caught in both
" streams, but lever is said to be very prevalent in those months. The
" Song is the only decent sized stream I know of in these parts
"that is not subject to floods; it principally drains Jhils, so the
" supply of fish is steadier than elsewhere, and the water even in
" the cold season is comparatively warm.

"The Ganges, 'The Mighty' has the monsters. Ask ' Moun-
"taineer' to tell you how to catch them, as he manages to fetch
'"them out when others don't. He tells me the great art is to
" pitch the bait as far out as possible. He also uses only small
" Mahseer, about 2 ozs., when he can get them, in preference to any
"..tlier bait. The natives catch large fish with a very cunning
"dodge; the line is wound on a roundish wheel; the end of the
" line is weighted with a small stone, say 2 lbs. weight ; the hook is
" tied to a snooding about a yard long, and baited with a small lisli ;
" sufficient line is unwound, and the stone swung round and round
" until let go with a jerk, it flies into mid-stream ; the line is then
litened, and tied with a bit of thread to a forked stick, and all is
dy, the snooding allowing the bait to lay down stream. The fish
" when taking the bait has to break the thread before he can run, and
" that hooks him, and he is left to play himself, as most fish are caught
"in this way at night.

"Fish may be caught with atta in the Granges readily, Mahseer
" generally, but at times another fish, something like a cross between
"aSauliand a Goonch, is to be had. I saw ' Mountaineer ' catch
" time at Rikhikaro. Trout can be taken with fly and Mahseer also.
'• Trout in all rivers like a muddy bottom. One year I saw tho
nges dry opposite a village, except in the pools, and I had great
"success with the fly. Mahseer aro caught by the natives as

336 Fishing Localities. Chapt. xxiv.

" far down as Nagal Ghat, and I had one a short distance above that
" place.

*****

" The Rarngunga I have fished a good deal. The largest taken
" in that river by me with fly, is 5 lbs., and the largest when trolling,
" 29 lbs. I wrote to your paper at the beginning of the season to say
" that fish hail been killed, now there are a plentiful supply of young,
" but nothing over 8 lbs. has been killed this year with the rod and
" line as far as 1 know, but I saw a few big fish in one hole. I had
" a fine morning last month at the smaller fish with fly. There were
" shoals of the small climbing fish goiug up the river, similar to those
" seen on the bank at Myapur ; they are brown above, and white
"beneath. I put on a home-made fly of these colours, and got 13 fish
" weighing 23 lbs. in a short time ; this I consider very good with the
"fly. 1 lust a long time with the first fish, as when hooked a large
" (iooneh and a hie^e Mahseer ran at him in turns, but he was about
" 1 lb. in weight, ami the water very rapid, and they made a mess of
" him, never getting a fair hold. 1 don't suppose I could have done
" much, if cither had hooked themselves, as I had only a light trout
" rod and line tackle. I have made some other good bags, bnt none
"so heavy in proportion. A native boy taught me how to catch Sauli
" the other day, ami we bagged 18 in about one hour. I could not see
" that my fine tackle had any advantage over his coarser line.
" The plan is to bait with a bit of meat, and lower the bait to the
"bottom, near a weed, and sit still until the fish runs away, then
"strike, and out with him. The fun was so fast, that I did not
" even open a sketch book I took out with me. The fish were of two
" kinds, one a very ugly big-headed beast, of a uniform dirty olive
" green colour, with the two side fins barred brown and black; the
" other a mottled chap with not so large a head. Both have the fin
" extending from the vent round the tail to the shoulder, and they
" are very good eating; the}- were all small. Next time I will try
"for bigger ones in deeper water; they have large mouths with strong
" erect teeth, and often dropped off the hook when landed.

"The Kosi is a good river for tish, but bad lor fishing, as con.
"tracts are gives yearly to the natives to poach it. There are
"many other small streams with large holes in them, that have
"good fly fishing with light tackle. The Commissioner's Hole at
" Kaninagur, on the Kosi, is a good place for fishing. A few ma_\ be
" had daily with atta, a few with live bait, and in the evening a
" fly, but the By must look something like a young fish, as the time
" to catch with fly is when the young fish that have been kept back all

Chapt. xxiv. Contributions by " Pale Face" and " F. Jf. .U." 337

" day by the people from the town coming fur water, try to pass round a
" rocky bluff in the hole, when the stream strikes them, and carries
" them out a short distance, then the Mahseer rush at I hem, and make
" the water boil. I have seen this at other places, and if yon can manage
" to get a fly there just as the boil is ceasing, you probably get a rise.
' Watching the proceedings from a high bank above, after the rush is
" over, three or four of the small fish will be seen twisting about in
" the water, injured by fins or tails, I suppose ; and quite old stagers of
" Mahseer will be seen gleaning the injured ones, and I always imagine
" in these cases that fly is mistaken for fish, — at all events it is a sure
•' time to catch.

" Pale Face."

» # « * *

Sialkot. — N. tells me the Poonch is within a night's run. and the
Cheenab, where Captain caught i"J4 lbs. in one day's fishing.

Poonah. — 0., from Poonah, speaks of running out to the Koomow-
iie, a small river, but extraordinarily deep, averaging (50 feet deep,
with the bottom honeycombed with rocky cells and grottos, and hold-
ing Mali-eer of 50 or 60 lbs. Dav too, is spoken of by the same
correspondent as near Poonah. He caught some sort of carp-like
fish there up to 25 lbs., with the ground-nut for bait. Another day,
in three hours, he caught there six fish, weighing 75 lbs. I cannot
trace the places on the map, but they are probably easily discover-
able by people in the locality.

Mahseer Fishing, near Roorkee.
Extract from " Tlie Anon," of 25th November, 1879.
" A few words now about Roorkee, and how to get there. It
" is situated on the Ganires Canal, 21 miles from Saharunpore, a
" station on the Scinde, Punjab, and Delhi Railway. Daks are easily
" procured for going and coming. The head-quarters of the Bengal
" Sappers and Miners are always at Roorkee, also the head-quarters
"and a wing of a European regiment. The Thomason Civil Engineer-
"' in:,' College is also located there, likewise the Government Canal
"Workshops and Foundry, where you can gel anything from a sewing-
" machine needle to a wrought iron bridge. The angler can also get
" artificial baits, gaff hooks, landing net rings, check winches, and other
"metal fishing appliances made to order there. The dak bungalow is
"a comfortable one, within a Btone'fi throw of the canal, and all
"supplies are easily procurable. As all the fishing is either in the

THE HOD IN INDIA. Z

338 Fishing Localities. I 'iiait. xxtv.

"canal or close to it, a small tent is useful for camping out in. There
" are bungalows all along the canal bank, and leave to occupy them
" can usually be obtained. There are no boats procurable to fish out
"of, — at least there were none when I was there, but at nearly all the
" falls there are long piers stretching out from the main piers of the
" bridges, on the down stream side, accessible by steps from the road-
" way of the bridge. At the end of these piers the angler is in the nest
" possible place for spinning, as he is just at the end of the broken
"water made by the fall above, and just above the places where the
"big fish usually arc. The best time to fish is during the cold
" weather. I did not get there till March, but even then I had quite
" as good sport as I had hoped for. As the canal water comes from
"the Ganges directly the snow water comes down from that river, it
" also gets into the canal, and puts an end to the fishing. It made1 its
" appearance at the time I am writing about, on the 25th March. I
" certainly got several fish after that date, but no large ones, and by
" the end of the month the fishing was quite at an end.

* # » * *

"I rode on to llurdwar, and my tent was pitched close to the
"camp of the Royal Engineer Officers, who were out there making
"pontoon bridges for the pilgrims to cross the river. The dam
"across the Ganges (for the purpose of turning the water into
" the canal) is about a mile below llurdwar, and the place is called
" Mirepoor.

*****

" I was at Mirepoor seven days, and during that time I caught
" 25 Mahseer, varying in size from 2 lbs. up to 15 lbs. I did not fish
"all day, or every day either, but had quite as much sport as I wished

" for.

*****

"F. M. ML"

l!l KM Ml.

Extract j " .1/./ Iras Times" of 29th July, 1878.

"On page 85 the author invites 'contributions, which will be
■''thankfully received.' I am thus emboldened to offer the following
"remarks, premising that my experience is confined to fishing in
" Bnrmah, Ajssam, and Sylhet. . . . There is capital shooting
"and fishing in Cachar; moreover, the Cossevah and Jynteah Hills
•■ are easily got at, and the climate dure is equal to Coonoor.

"The late Dr. Jerdon assured me there were some twenty-seven

CHAPT. xxiv. " Phoonghee'a" Contribution. 339

"varieties of Mahseer; bat in general only three arc recognised in
'• Assam ami its dependencies. They are called the Deed Mahseer (the
" true Mahseer), tin- Boga Mahseer, and the name of the third I forget.
". . . The upper part of the body to the central meridian line is
" almost a golden brown, the litis red, whilst the lower part is bluisli-
" silvery : the lips, especially the upper, are very thick, the upper can
" be uncurled. It is out and out the handsomest of the Mahseer, and
"gives the most sport. . . . Mr. Thomas appears only to have
"fished for these, fish from the bank; a far more killing mode is to
" trull out of a boat. Whither the Madras boatmen are capable of pro-
" pelling a boat up rapids 1 don't know, but the Karens, Burmese, and
" Cosseyahs will take a light boat up frightful rapids with perfect
"safety. The plan is to trail yonr bait a good 51) yards behind the hunt,
"and the sport is thus very exciting. As Mr. Thomas justly remarks,
"the large Mahseer are bottom-feeders and in clear streams, whilst the
" smaller fish can be seen swimming about midstream, the small fry
KT the surface ; the monsters keep near the bottom, so if you want
" big fish, fish deep. The fly is most killing in shallow rapids ; a man
"should wade in pretty deep, and, if a practised hand, he will kill
"many fish, but few of them will be above 10 to 14 lbs., and the
" greater number a good deal less. In the Dehra Dhoon, they are the
"most gaudy flies, but where I have fished, the most killing fly was a
" medium sized No. 4 or 5 semi-circle hook, dressed like the cock-o'-
" thi-walk as described by Mr. Thomas at page 101. For smaller fish
"the smoky dun was most killing.*

" For spinning I have found nothing equal to a large spoon. . . .
" In the waters of the Upper Burhampootra — especially near Suddyah —

* These two flies, Cock-o'-the-walk and Smoky Dun, were mentioned in my first
edition j the former on the authority of " K," whose letter about fishing on the
Pooncli will be found among the extracts on fishing localities, and the latter on the
recommendation of a fisherman who had killed many Mahseer before I had ever
seen one, and who, while admitting certain merits in the Blackamoor, still fancied
the Smoky Dun much more.

The Coci-o'-the-Walk.

Of this fly all that K. says is " by far the most deadly fly — indeed, the only one
"that appears to tempt them — was Madras jungle cock feathers in the wings, if
" with arret body, all the hitter." K. does not say anything about size, so I will
tiik.- the liberty to suggest the same as for Blackamoor, to wit, a No. 2/0 and 2
Limerick hook, but especially No. 2.

This fly may be the more readily believed in, as the tuck feathers of the Madras
jungle cock are general favourites, arc used more or less as a setoff in many salmon
Hies, and aro at the head of the poll in Norway ; even those Norwegians who know

TUE KOI) IN IM'IA. '/. 2

340 Fishing Localities. Ciiapt. xxiv.

" Mahseer are very plentiful and run to a very large siz.e. Tbe best
" fishermen in Assam, in my day, were the late Capt. Hood — Robin
"Hood of the Field — and Col. Combes — 10-bore of the Oriental
" Sporting Magazine. Tbe latter especially made very large bags,
" but he preferred the fly, and he has caught with it, I believe, fish
" up to 40 lbs. in weight, but he is the only one I ever beard of per-
" forming such a feat, whilst with the spoon and dead bait they have
" killed fish up to 70 lbs. in weight. For some years I carried on an
" active warfare with Farlow ; he would not make his treble hooks
" strong enough ; at last I got him to make the hooks Mr. Thomas
" alludes to in his book. Many a fish have I lost, and many an
" anathema have I hurled at Farlow's head because he would not credit
" that a Mahseer is capable of doubling up the strongest Salmon or
" Pike hooks. I have had the hooks straightened, too, many a time,
" but at last we came to an understanding, and Farlow is now by
" far the best man to go to for not only hooks, but for every descrip-
" tion of tackle.

" Besides the Mahseer, we used to catch what the Bengalees call
" Bassah, and the Burmese Nga Memein. It is allied to the cat fish,
•' and has no scales ; it is delicious eating, and takes a fly or a spoon
" readily. This fish can be caught in great numbers in the Shoayghein
" river ; it does not give much play alter being hooked. As for murrel
" I have seen thirteen varieties exposed for Rale in the market at Terriat
" Ghat, at the foot of the ghaut, leading up to that moist place Cherra-
" poonghe, with its fifty feet of rainfall in the year. . . .

"My first trip towards Sylhet was in 1869, when General Blake
" was with us. My journal of this trip is not here, so I speak from
" memory alone. He, Ommanney, and I started in November. We
"went first to Nurting, where we shot duck, teal, and snipe; then to
" Jawai (.lynteah Hills.) and so on across the Hills to the Darning
" river. ... In the depths of the pool below we could see in the
" clear limpid waters not one Mahseer, but literally thousands. . . ■
" Ommanney caught a couple of fish. . . . The Cossyah boats
"are very roomy, very buoyant, and are easily propelled by the

no other English, being still able to introduce the word jungle coek, or yungle cock
in their Norse recommendation of the right fly to use.

Tht Smoky Dun.
Tills fly is of our colour all over, a smoky dun colour, the colour sa\ of smoke
ascending from a damp wood tire, a dusk) fisherman's blue or ash colour with just
a perceptible touob of light dull yellow or dun in it. Wings and bod; the Bame,
with a tut; and three or four turns of silver tuist. and a tail of peacock's back
Feather. Hook No. 2/0 or 2 Limerick, particularly the latter.

i'iimt. xxiv. " Phoonghee's" Contribution about Burmah, 341

" mnsoular arms of these Cossyahs. I got hold of a capital follow,

•' the Only word of English he know w;is ' wiml up,' which ho
••kept repeating whenever we came to a rapid, where there was
••danger of losing the spoon, or when 1 Btrnck a fish. We tried in

■' the vicinity of our encamping ground, hut though we could sec the
•' ti>h in dozens, they would not look at our haits. We could ascend
"the river only abont a mile, and were then stopped by waterfalls. I
•' went up as far as I could without getting a bite ; I had to go through
■' these rapids. Coming back I struck a trout-like fish at the edge of
'• the rapid, and it was drowned before we got into smooth water.

"Below our camp, towards the plains, the river was navigable for
•' about two miles, -when it was partially dammed up by the Cossyahs.
" There were alternately rapids and readies of deep water. In one
•• place which we called the gorge, it was at least 50 to 60 feet deep,
" with the steep hills rising abruptly out of the water's edge. I went
■• down to the obstruction without a bite; coming back I put on my
" largest spoon, weighted it heavily, and in the centre of the gorge struck
• a large fish which immediately took out 50 yards of line. After
" several rushes, I got the boat moored in a sandy nook and gradually
•■ drew the fish towards me. General Blake now joined me and stayed
•' with me till the fish was killed. We could watch its every move-
"ment; it did its best to release itself from the hooks, it would be
" almost on its side, and rub its mouth into the sand. Presently a fish,
" every bit as big as himself, came by to see what the commotion
•• was abont, the hooked fish went at him like a tiger, taking out some
" forty yards of line. The sun was well up, the glare very unpleasant,
" and the perspiration pouring down my face and almost blinding me ;
'• vet I stuck to my fish, and, after upwards of an hour's struggle, got it
"into the shallows, where 'Wind up' cleverly relieved him. It
" weighed just 28 lbs., and was, perhaps, the handsomest fish I ever
■■ caught, and gave the most trouble to kill. The next day I went below
" the weir, and, amongst other fish, caught one about 35 lbs., but killed it
•• in about a quarter of an hour. Lightfoot, of the 14th, and Charley

■ Wilson, of the Artillery, an old school-fellow of mine, joined us, and
" we remained fishing in these waters three more days, and then went,
" partly across country, and partly by water to Jynteeapore, and thence
■• back oid Jowar to Shillong, putting up some woodcocks en >;>ulc.

" I cannot give full particulars of this trip, because, as I have said

■ before, my journal is not by me. But in 1870, early in September,
•■ Col. Hicks, Ommanney, Baurne, of the I 1th, and I, started for these
"diggings oid China Poonghe. I need not enter into details of our
" march. At Jerreah there is a river, which used to be, some years

342 I', hi wj Localities. Chapt. xxiv.

'• ago, full of Mahsccr, but it has been so poisoned of late years by the
" Cossyahs, that very few fish are left. The river is full of limestone
'• rocks, and it' yon strike a fish, you cannot afford to play it, as it is
" more than likely to get into a hollow rock, when you have to cut
" him adrift. "We commenced to fish on the 14th. O. with a spoon
" only caught two fish, 1 = 3 lbs., 1 = 2i lbs., and 14 small fish with the
" fly ; I got one 3 lbs. only. On 15th, Baurne caught 1 = 5 lbs.,
"1 = 3 lbs., and 1 = 2 lbs. Col. Hicks, 1 = 8 lbs. and 1 = 3 lbs. I
" had to cut one adrift that got under a rock, but caught three
" weighing respectively 20 lbs., 9 lbs., and 2 lbs., all on the same spoon.
" Ommanney 1 = 3 lbs., 1=2 lbs., and a lot with the fly.

" On Saturday we moved towards the Darrung river, and tried a
" cross cut. Owing to the dams constructed by the Cossyahs we had
" great difficulty in getting into a branch river, which was connected
'" with the stream we wished to get to. After an infinity of trouble to
" get to Lakat, we sent for boats to take us on, and put up for the
"night on a sandbank. During the night we heard fish jumping
" about, but never thought for a moment that there were Mahseer so
" far down in the plains. Early next morning, on starting, I threw out
" my line, without thinking for a moment I should hook anything, but
" in a second I had struck a very heavy fish. The others crowded
" round my boat, some declaring I held the fish too taut, others that
" I gave it too much line ; I paid no attention, but worked the fish my
" own way. At last it kept turning over, belly uppermost, and a
" beauty it looked too, with its large red fins and tail ; it was reduced
"to the last gasp, and was almost within striking distance of my two-
" pronged spear, whin it gave a last convulsive struggle, and, in
" turning over, got its body across the line, one beastly hook snapped,
" and the other two straightened, and off went my monster ! Om-
" manney and I were together, fishing with exactly the same tackle,
"which was in fact mine. We all got our lines out at once, I kept
" having all the luck. It began to rain, Baurno had gone on ahead,
"with Colonel Hicks. As our boat approached a rapid, we saw
" Baurne coming down it, fast to a very big fish, with all his line out.
" As he passed us I struck a heavy fish which I bagged in half an hour ;
" no sooner was my spoon in, than I had another fish, a 22-poundrr, which
" I also landed, Baurne passed us in a very despondent mood, having
" lust his monster. Our hut this lime, thanks to Major Stewart, also
"a good fisherman, was bail! on the plains side of the gorge, near (he

" weir. We arrived here at lit A.M. with the following bags : — Colonel

•■ Sicks '.' iish weighing 43 lbs., largest L3 lbs. : Baurne 6 fish, 27 lbs.,
•• largest 11 lbs. ; Ommanney I fish, 6 lbs. : I with ■> fish weighing 66 lbs.,

CHAPT. xxiv. " Thoonghn "on Burmah, 343

"the largest •"•- W». The Biae of tliis fish was 3 feel 9 inches!
"2 feel in girth. In the afternoon Colonel Hioks caught 1 = 16 lbs.,
"2 = 4 lbs. each. 1 caught 1 = 9, 1 = 2, 1 = ;, 1 = 5, 1 = \\ lbs.
■• It 1 = 4, 1 = lu His. Ommanney 7 lisli = 47 lbs., the largesl 26 lbs.
- Monday morning Col. II. 1 = 4, 1 = i lb. I, 1 = 12, 1 = :<!,,
-■2 = 4 each, 1 = 3 lbs. Baorne 1 = 81bs. 0.1 = 8 lbs. In the
•• evening I caught 1 = 41 (4 feet 3 inches long, 2 feet 3 inches girth),
"1=4 lbs. Col. H. 1 = 7 lbs. Tuesday morning, 0., 1 = 30,
• 1 = -JO lbs. Col. II., 1 = 1\, 1 = £. I, 1 = 7, 1 = 5 lbs. We
" then moved buck to the sandbank near Lakat, fishing our way back.
•' It was almost dark, that is night, when wo got there. There was a
"bright moon, if I remember aright. Opposite to the sandbank,
"another river joined the Lakat stream. Always remember when
" fishing to fish a little below the junction of two rivers ; if one comes
"out of the hills close by, and the other through a stretch of plains, so
"much the better, the fish will assemble at the mouth of the warmer
" stream in search of food. As fast as wc conld throw in our lines,
'" though dark, we had a fish on ; for a while my spoon was jammed
•" without my knowing it, and as it did not spin I caught nothing, but
the others were catching them as fast as possible, I carefully
•• examined my bait, put it to rights, and at once hooked a whopper.
" We caught altogether off this bank as follows : —

" Om, 2 = 17 each, 1 = 6, 1 = 8, 1 = 10£, 1 = 11.

'•I, 1 = 25, 1 = 3|, 1 = 14, 1 = 6, 1 = 3, 1 = 81.

- IS , 1 = 14, 1 =4, 1 = 2, 1 = 11, 1 = 3i, 1 = 2J, 1 = 10.

"Col. H., 1 = 10, 1 = 3£, 1 = 11, 1 = 1,\, 1 = 7.

" Could any one wish for better sport, and the greater part after the
"sun set, and in a place where it was thought no Maliseer existed?
•■ 1 w.m't weary your readers with further details of sport. Baurne
'■ and the Colonel left that night, and Ommanneyand I followed early
"next morning. My tackle, for a time, was again jammed. Om-
" manney killed in a couple of hours, 1 = 20, 1 = 22, 1 = 20, 1 = 14,
"1 =4, whilst I got 1 = 14, 1 = 6, 1 = 4. So much for sport
" within a day and a half's journey of Cachar, a few hours from Silehar,
" two days from Shillong. May this be of use to your readers, and to
•' Mr. Thomas in particular, whose acquaintance 1 have not had the
"pleasure of making, except through his excellent little treatise.

" Pboonghxe."

344 Fishing Localities. Chapt. xxiv.

Afghanistan.

K a i- r a hi. — There is Mahseer fishing in the Kurrum Valley.
W. T. F. ("Asian," 25th Nov., 1879), took them up to 5 lbs., knew
others who had killed them up to 10 lbs. and 12 lbs., and does not
think they run over 15 lbs. there. He considers the river to be full
of fish. It is easily commanded by an 18-ft. rod. He killed with
gilt spoon and black fly, and had other flies carried away. The
fishing stops as soon as the snow begins to melt on Safaid Koh,
about March.

1)., in the " Field " of 26th June, 1880, gives a long de-
scription of fishing in this valley.

The following from a friendly fisherman, the killer of the huge
freshwater shark, has reached me too late to be compared with the
manuscript and put in its proper place. I can only throw it in at
the end of this chapter in the hope that it may prove useful to
some.

Localities in th<: Punjab.

Delhi District. Olia Weir 7 miles from Delhi. Jumma Bridge.

ffcml of i ',i,i, 'I iscujie, 'A miles from Delhi.
Ambala District. Dadopur (head of "West Jumma canal) there is

a dak lmngalnw at Jagadri on S. P. & 1). Railway, 5 miles

distant.

Bopar (head of Sirhind canal) canal and dak bungalows.
Simla District. Various places on the Girl, Sirtti, and (■'

Rivers. It will be necessary to take a tent.
JuLLi'Ni'KH District. Eastern Beijn, 4 miles from cantonments.
HOSHIARPUB District. Mokerian, on the Beas, police bungalow.
Gi kdaspur District. Bat&la tanks (private). Various places on
Beas. Tent required.

Lahore District. River Ravi and old bed of the same near the

town.

Gt'jRANWALA District. The Chenab near Wazirdbdd where there is
a diik bungalow. It is a Station on the P. N. I. Railway.

Jhelam District. Several places in the Jhelam River. The
junction of the Poonch and Jhelam Rivers where K. fished is
best, known. Near the fishing ground is Tangrot bungalow,
8 miles from Ratyal Station, P. N. I. Railway.

en u-i. xxiv. 4her Contribution. 345

EUwal Pind] District. The hill streams at Ohird, Kirpd, Kah&ta
(police bungalow), and many other places. Also the River
Bohdn,

K \siimii;i . Haiti, on the Murre Route, bungalow.
i pur, exit of Wnl&r Lake, bungalow.
/.'•///■, Marshy ground where the Jhelam falls into the Wular

Lake, :! miles from Qajan, where a tent may be pitched.
I dritav. - miles above the visitors' bungalows ai Srinagar.
K t miles from Islamabad, where there is a bungalow.

P wagam. 'A miles north of Aishmakam encamping ground.
B i r Liddar. C. S. Kiekpatbick.

CHAPTER XXV.

A PLEA FOR RIVER FISHERIES.

Sctli Green, the noted pisciculturist, Bays: "Expend one thousandth
part of the sum spent in tilling the land iu tilling the water, and fish may
be sold in our markets at two cents a pound. — Report of the Commis-
sioners of Agriculture. — Washington, 1870.

I had intended in the foregoing pages to embody, in a move
pi i] mlar form, all the piscicultural information contained in my
Official Report of 1870 ; but finding that I have failed in some
respects, I subjoin extracts from that Report As the Report dealt
primarily with my own then District, South Canara, its name
(•nines frequently in; but the reader will recognize that the remarks
on the peculiar formation of the rivers have equal applicability to
other rivers of the West Coast of India ; and that almost alb the
other observations have a general, quite as much as a local, perti-
nence in India : —

Rivers.

6. It will be convenient to treat first of the rivers and then of
the sea, and in elucidation of remarks that will follow, it may be

well to seek attention to the general features of the rivers of South
Canara. The district lies between the sea and the high plateau of
Mysore and Coorg; most of its rivers consequently take their rise
in those provinces, and, as long as their course lies therein, the]
beyond the jurisdiction of the Collector of South Canara. Though
rapid and rocky at their sources they are tortuous at then- mouths,
and subject to much tidal intluence. They would seem to be the
natural result of the marginally noted formation of the district.
Furthermore, Canara and its boundary hills are

Hindu mythology . '

says that the «i»'i<' the tn.-t land that meets and receives the full
i^l'ZC:':l *™» °* &» south-wesl monsoon, and the

ocean, the boundary annual rainfall on the coast is l;ii) inches, (in

oJ which was the

edge of the Mysore the hill sides id' the interior it is probable that

i'ii.ut. x.w. Poisoning of Rivers. 347

plateau j ud that it is considerably heavier. Almost the whole

• arid up .... . .. „ .,, • ■ . .. ..

bi ■ naming .irrow of this rain tails within a period tit tmu
rarixua llSmrn months, e< >iis«-ipii'iit 1 y the rivers arc subject to

oe robs the fable Verv marked fluctuations, mighty and lasting
of its poetry, but ' , . , , ', ,. ,.

i it it- ground- swellings to which the freshes on huglish

awrihuw the ed? Btreams bear ii" comparison. An approximate

tenoa of Oaaara j,l,.a 0f the size of these rivers may perhaps

to roloamo net ion.

Hun are also ox- he best conveyed to the English mind, by

heaving* of eridentfi Btattng that of the two rivers which debouch

recent date. at Mangalore, the Xetntvaty alone owns several

tributaries, each of whicli is as large as the Thames above tidal

influence, and many of the salmon rivers of England are puny

indeed in comparison with those treated of in this report.

Poisoning of J! in rs.

7. It may be interesting to commence this subject with a

notice of the substances used for poisoning the rivers. They

arc : —

Croton tigliwm,

' Anamirta coecufots,

Capsicum frutesaii*,

and Kare A'W (Tulu), a Posoqia rin, probably nutans or

longispina.

8. Though very considerable progress has been made within
the last two years in Btopping the annual wholesale poisoning of

the rivers, much still remains to be done. As
87th Nor., 1868, No. long as fish can be easily captured in large
. 82, para. 8. quantities by this means, so long will this

species of poaehing be popular. In the wilder forest-locked parts
of the interior it is not easy to observe and check it, and when the
sympathies of the village authorities ami police are with the people,
it is doubly difficult.*

11. The destructiveness of poisoning is more extensive than
at first sight appears. Though there may be many pools in ariver,
there are a few, at intervals of four or five miles, which are specially
affected by the larger sorts of fish. These are gem idly the deepest

• In district* in which it h not discountenanced by the authorities, it is openly
inhabited parte.

348 A Flea for Biver Mshe/i Ciiatt. xxv.

and longest ; they are sometimes as much as twenty feet deep and
a quarter of a mil'; lung. They are generally cooler from being
overshadowed with trees and more or Less overhung with rocks.
Their very depth also would keep them cooler than the wide
shallows, extending for miles together, and in the height of the hot
season, of a few inches only in depth, under a tropical sun. Their
depths afford also concealment, and probably greater facilities for
escape from otters. To bottom feeders, which the large fish mainly
are, thev must also yield more food than the

Paras. 51, 52. ' " J

shallows. J hey are natural resting places for
the spawners, as shown below.

12. These pools are well known to the villagers, are all distin-
guished by local names, and are selected as the ones for poisoning ;
consequently the poisoning of one of these pools is pretty nearly
equivalent, as far as the bigger sorts of fish are concerned, to the
poisoning of four or five miles of river.

13. Thus, whatever may be the cause of larger sorts of fish

congregating in the deepest pools, the fact remains that they do so,

and that it is taken advantage of for their
Para. 53. _ ,

poisoning. It may also be taken advantage ol

for their protection.

14. But the chief sources of most of the Canara rivers are on
the western ghats of Mysore and Coorg, and to these it is that the
best fish migrate for spawning purposes. Efforts to stop poisoning,

and to protect the fry, must therefore be incomplete, till the Si

measures are adopted in Mysore and Coorg. It is obvious that, to
lie treated successfully, the rivers must be treated as a whole, no
matter what territory they run through. It may seem unreasonable
to object to the Coorgs and Mysoreans destroying the fish within
their own countries ; but it should be borne in mind that they
cannot stop the effects of their poison abruptly at their boundaries :
the tainted river will roll on. They also will benefit, as well as
Canara ; for if they spare the fry which are to descend and stuck
its rivers, those same fry, when grown, will not fail to revisit them
annually, crowding up in increased numbers to spawn. In short,
Mysore, Coorg, and Canara possess, more or less in common, one
water farm, which, to be cultivated to advantage, must be worked
in unison. At present, however, these people poison the fish and
way-lay the descending fry in innumerable cruives.

Ciiai't. xw. Fry in Rivers. 349

Fry in Rivt

20. But whether the poisoning of the waters, or the capture of
the fry, he the more fertile source of ruin to the rivers it is hard
to decide. Dr. Day and I have already urged that too much
importance can scarcely be attached to the suppression of the
practice of destroying fry wholesale, it has not been possible to
obtain an exactly accurate account of the number of small-meshed
cruives used in the district of South Canara, bnt there are sufficient
data for concluding that there were at Least 1,050 on the one river,
the Netravaty, with its affluents. If it be calculated that every
one of these crimes captures on an average 3,000 fish in a day
then there are as many as '.U.oOO.OOO tiny fry destroyed for no
adequate purpose in a single month in one river alone. To Bay
what may be the total number thus destroyed in the course of a

Ln all the rivers of Canara would he beyond my arithmetic.
These closely-woven bamboo cruives then have been forbidden and
vigorously hunted out of the rivers. It is not to be concluded
that they have been entirely got rid of, far from it; there are
rly many remote places where they are freely used, and the
water bailiffs sought are wanted as much for this purpose as for
stopping poisoning. Still a considerable impression has already
been made.

21. The consequence has been that the most ignorant, and
therefore the most obstinate, opponents have been convinced by
the testimony of their own senses, and have exclaimed, to use their
own words, " truly, the river is everywhere bubbling with fry;" and,
what is still more to the point, their practice has not belied their
words, fur they have taken to fishing on grounds that were before

-id. nd profitless.

22. Though this is nothing more than in my former paper 1
anticipated would be the natural result of the simultaneous
Btopping of poisoning and prohibition of the use of closely-wo\ en
cruives, still the actual sight of the result has surprised even my
sanguinely expectant self. Two years' discouragement of poisoning,
and one years' discouragement of fine cruives, have worked such a
change that it lias been demonstrated, beyond the cavil even of
the ignorant and of the interestedly opp tsing, that marked advan-

350 A Plea for River Fisheries. Chapt. xxv.

tages can bo reaped from the adoption of these two simple measures
alone.

27. An outspoken critic gave it as his very decided opinion
that pisciculture in west coast rivers, that are at one time in high
flood, and at another a mere driblet, was " all gammon." He is
probably not singular in his opinion. His objection, therefore,
ought to be answered. This very variableness in the rivers, instead
of being an insurmountable difficulty, would seem to be the most
convenient arrangement that could possibly be desired. When the
south-west monsoon commences, the rivers are at once in flood and
continue so for four months, subsecpiently diminishing by slow
degrees. This enables the grown fish, Mahseer, to ascend to new
feeding grounds in the forests, which are quite inaccessible to them

at other times, and ten-pound fish are to be

Say 2,500 feet high. r

found half way up the Mercara Ghat. In the
high waters the big fish linger till the gradually subsiding streams
warn them to drop gently downwards. The early spawners linger
the longest to secure shallow waters for spawning ; this done, they
keep dropping gently downwards with the continually decreasing
waters, and before the spawn they have deposited is hatched, they
are probably completely cut off from their fry ; so that till the
commencement of the same monsoon in the following year, they
cannot return to devour them. The fry thus not only have the
heads of the rivers securely to themselves, but they have them
also beautifully accommodated to their puny strength, the impas-
sable torrent having become a mere driblet of an inch or so in
depth.

28. Though the variation in the size of the Canara rivers is
much greater than the changes in English rivers, it is at the same
time much more regular. Though Canara lias in a year 130 inches
of rainfall to swell its rivers, and a tropical land and irrigation to
waste them, yet they each conn ■ in their regular season. Almost
the whole of the 130 inches falls during the prevalence of the
south-west monsoon, which commences with June, and lasts about
four months. This monsoon ended, there are only such moderate
rains as cannot affect the rivers. This monsoon ends, then, with
September, and from that time the rivers continue to subside
steadily till the following June. The fish, Mahseer, spawn in the
interim, and the spawn is safely hatched, and the fry are somewhat

cii.vit. xxv. Fry in Bice Fields. 351

grown, before the recurrence of the annual floods in June There

are thus qo unseasonable Hoods coming clown as in England, alter
the spawning time, and carrying away the spawn ; and when they
do come in June, they seasonably sweep away the obstacles, in the
shape of temporary irrigation dams, which
would otherwise prevent the spawning fish
from ascending.

29. In respect, therefore, both of the extremes of change, ami
the regularity of the change, the Canara rivers have an advantage
over the rivers of England

30. But while Providence has thus beautifully arranged to
shield the fry from their voracious parents, they are by that very
arrangement placed entirely at the mercy of short-sighted man,
and the i for prohibiting all closely-woven cruives can

lv be too strongly insisted on.

Fry in Bice FiclJ.-t.

33. But the beautiful arrangement spoken of in paragraphs 27,
28, and lI'.i lays the tiny fry at the mercy of improvident men in
yet another way. While the south-west monsoon prevails the
ample rainfall on this coast supplies abundant water for irriga-
tional purposes, and the rivers are the while too turbulent to he
diverted. But as the dry season commences, and water is wanted
Eor the irrigation of the second crop of rice, the rivers have settled
down to more manageable proportions, and near their sources it
becomes an easy matter for the farmer to collect the boulders in
the stream, lay them in a line across it, and after tilling in the
interstices with shingle from the bed, to stop the whole with clay
and bushes from the banks. A temporary and inexpensive, yet
effective, dam is thus run up annually by every farmer who has
ground conveniently situated for irrigation. Though it is com-
pletely swept away by the first flood in the next south-west
monsoon, it lasts throughout the hot weather, throughout the life-
time of the fry, and the river or rivulet being thus completely cut
off, is diverted entirely into an irrigation channel. As it is the
instinct of the grown tish to ascend the rivers to spawn, so is it the

instinct of the try, as they grow,to allow them-

The frv of four- .

toon sorts' have boon selves to drop downwards with the stream to

3."2 A Plea for River Fish ru s. Chapt. XXV.

identified. How deeper wider waters. Down they glide there-
many more there .,.,,.,
may' be that enter fore, day by day a little way, feeding as they

the riee-fields eannot , ,i ,1 i j •

be as yet said. §°> anc* unconscious that they are already in

an irrigation channel which can end only in a
rice-field ; and thus it is that the channel-fed rice fields swarm
with fry of apparently all descriptions.

34. This would be no misfortune if even here the fry were
left to themselves. The rice grows in fields which have been
carefully levelled by man, and partitioned with narrow and shallow
embankments, so as to economise the water, and spread it over the
largest possible area. From a piscicultural point of view the
whole stretch of rice-fields has the appearance of a vast and
admirably constructed nursery. A whole river or rivulet has been
turned on, a river too which has been stocked with ova, the water
has been economised to the utmost, the depth regulated exactly to
suit the fry, large predatory fish thoroughly excluded, the whole
manured, ploughed, and planted, so as to
Frogs, however, provide the maximum of insect life, with the

find their way in in

great numbers, and desired modicum of varying shade under the

are destructive. See • , ., ,. ,,

i>ara. 8i. growing rice; and the area 01 the nursery is

measured, not by the inch or foot, but by the
acre or square mile. In this extensive nursery, therefore, which
costs the pisciculturist nothing, the fry thrive admirahly, and
still following their instinct go feeding dawdling downwards with
the stream. This takes them leisurely from rice-field to rice-
field, and in the direction of the waste water; which of itself not
unfrequently runs into the river again, or might almost always be
contrived so to run. But at each drop from rice-field to rice-field,
the cultivator places a basket made of finely split bamboos, having
a wide mouth, a narrow neck, and a wide bottom. It lets the
water pass but stops every single fry ; and what was an admirable
nursery, becomes one vast trap for destroying the majority of the
fry in the river. So highly are these juicy morsels appreciated
thai no peasant fails to place a basket at every outlet*

The area irrigated under all the river dams in the district is

* The fry of thai valuable sea fish, the Hilsa (Clupea THsha), which, after the
manner of the Salmon, ascenda Indian rivers to spawn, shares the same fate when
seeking in Xanjore to gain the Bea by descending the Cavery.

t'li.vi'T. xxv. Destruction of Fry. 35:5

estimated at 39,962, or, in round numbers. in.000 acres, or more than
• in square miles of nursery. Calculating from a very low average
of tin' Dumber of fry contained in oil acres, this area must contain
in all probability considerably more, and certainly not less, than
283,500,000 of diminutive fry, which are annually destroyed for a
comparatively insignificant number of juicy curries.

36. This is the d< -miction of fry under the river dams alone,
without taking any account of the numbers which enter the rice-
tichls from hill streams, from the annual overflowings of the river
in certain localities, ami which enter marshes from the rise u|' tin-
tide in the estuaries. The numbers of these two latter there are
no means of computing, hut they may safely be put down at about
the same as in the dam-fed rice-fields. These also are destroyed,

most of them, in the same way as the fry of the

Pan. 128. . ' . , J , , ., ,

rivers, and some m other ways to be described

in connection with sea-fish.

37. The almost innumerable hosts of fry which enter the rice-
fields from the hill streams have been excluded from the above
calculations, because they are the fry of small fish, for though every
rill of a foot in breadth teems in the season with minute fishes
they are apparently only the fry of minnow, loach, and such like
small fish, the destruction of which is, perhaps, not of much con-
sequence, as there are probably enough of them intermixed with
the larger sorts of fry from the rivers. Si ill it is worthy of note
that the smallest sorts of fish seek the smallest rills to spawn in,
and struggle up them to astonishing heights at the commencement
of the monsoon; and it may remain a question whether the larger
predatory fish would not be benefited by any protection extended
to their natural food.

38. Omitting these, however, the annual destruction of fry in
tin- rice-fields and marshes may be fairly put down at not less than
."'ii7,000,000. This is not unavoidable or accidental destruction,
but it is wilful, reckless, and preventable. Some of these fry, it
will be remembered, are capable of becoming li-h of 10 and 20
pounds in weight* Many more will run to two and three pounds,

• This is in Canara rivers. In larger rivers like tin- C'.'ivery, the Toonga-budra,
and the affluents of the Ganges, we ini^ht safely say that many grow to 50 lbs.,
100 lbs., 150 lbs., and 200 lbs. in weight, though there i» no difference in their tize

when fr>.

the uoo in imo v 2 \

:;:'i A Plea for River Fisheries. Ciiapt. xxv.

and very few comparatively to less than two or four ounces. It
seems fair to assume for the purpose of calculation, that on an
average the fry weigh at an early age not less than a grain each,

Though every owe an'1 are Oxidated to grew to one pound

has been taken to weight. Is it worth while to turn these grains

make the numerals .

in this paragraph, ot meat into pounds, or, in other words, to allow

and fcTSES as tlw?m t(> ^^1 themselves by 7,000, for that

possible under the is the number of grains in a pound. Is it

circumstances, and

to err on the side of worthwhile to turn 507,000,000 grains, or

StaTof^ob^ Sl>{m V'^uh, of meat into 567,000,000

eration,stai large pounds, or 253,125 tons, of good food ? Though
multiples of com- * .

])!irutivciv small mul- the average weight attained, and consequently

rally more^or^less tne multiple employed in this calculation, be

Fruitful i f error, and reduced by a half or three-fourths, to meet the

these Qgures >hould j

cons.N|urnii: i.,. re- destruction by fish preying on each other, the

lied on only for the „ . . , ... . ... .... , ...

purpose for which ngures which will remain will still be siith-
thej je !'!"''.' '", ciently indicative of the largeness of the results

troduced, that of J °

presenting an n]>- obtainable from the protection of fry. And

proximate idea of ..... , , , .

the amount of food against this reduction may he advanced the

argument that, by maturing so many more fish,
the number, which are to produce ova in succeeding years, will
also be greatly increased.

39. This, be it remembered, is the destruction of fry computed
to be still continuing. It was much greater before the discoun
ment of the finely-twined cruives in the rivers, which alone must

have destroyed vast numbers. If the calculation

Parn. 20. , • ,

made in the preceding paragraph were applied
also to the fry spoken of in paragraph 20, there might ho conveyed
a move adequate idea of the extent of the destruction foolishly
wrought.

40. If, then, the machinery for destruction is so great, and it is
possible not only to stay its destructiveness, but even to use it as a
machinery for propagation, should not the opportunity be availed
of?

-11. In the matter of pisciculture something has already been
gathered from the Chinese. This intelligent, though uncommuni-
cative, people have long practised it. and as they also have rice-
fields, it is probable that they have thoroughly studied how to
overcome irrigational obstructions. On this, the main Indian

i 'hut. xxv. Legislation for Fry . .".."..">

difficulty, much valuable informatioii might probably be obtained

IVoiu thrin. It is not likely to be found in books, for they are not
the class of difficulties to attract the attention of a European or
American. Personal enquiry on the spot, by one interested in the
subject, is what Would seem to be required. Such an one can
probably be found among the regiments or residents there
stationed.

Legislation for Fry.

42. But private interests are concerned in the rice-fields, and
the question arises, how they will be affected \ The agricul-
turists will doubtless be much discontented it' they are prevented
from enjoying the juicy morsels which they have been accustomed
to obtain with such ease, and they will certainly think it very hard
that they should not be allowed to eat even the little bits of fish in
their own fields. But will they be right in thinking themselves

ieved ? It would seem that they will have very little, if any,
more right to complain than has the English miller. They are
like each other in diverting the rivers for their own benefit, and
of each of them the request made would be the same, namely, that
they should do it without injury to the fisheries. The Indian
farmer may, like the English miller, claim that he has a prescrip-
tive right to the water, and that it is no part of his business to
protect the fry. It has, nevertheless, been decided against the
English millers, equally with the companies or persons in charge
of artificial channels for navigation, or for supplying towns with
water, that they shall put gratings so as to prevent the passage of
salmon fry to their destruction, and that, tailing to do so, " they
" shall incur a penalty not exceeding 51. for every day " of delay
and " a penalty not exceeding 1/. for every day " during which
they may tail to maintain them when erected. Would it be un-
just in the public interests to make the same demand of the Indian
agriculturist?

43. But the Indian farmer cuts off the whole stream, and leaves
no downward passage at all, except through his own fields. The

option, therefore might be given him, "either

Para. 33.

•' you must leave a fair passage in the river for

- tin' fry and put a grating before your own artificial channel, or if

THE HOD IN 1NIHA. 2 A L'

35G A Plea for River Fisheries. CHAPT. xxv.

"you must have every drop of water in the river and make
" the only passage run through your own fields, then you must
" leave that passage unobstructed to the fry." Whichever alter-
native is accepted the result is the same, fry are not to be entrapped
in the rice-fields. As with salmon in England, therefore, it should
be made illegal to " place any device for obstructing their passage."

44. It may be argued that the analogy of the Indian farmer

and the English miller is faulty in one respect, the former having

the use of the water itself, while the latter has a right only to its

passing power. But the principle at the root of both cases is the

same. The real question is whether or not private interests are

to yield to public advantages; whether it is necessary that they

should yield, and what amount of hardship the yielding will

entail. As regards the hardship involved, the expense to which

the Indian agriculturist will be put will be as nothing to that of

the English miller; the loss of much appreciated morsels will be a

vexation, and the fact of their being replaced by fish becoming

more plentiful is not likely to be taken into account. On the

other hand, the necessity for the measure may be judged of by the

destruction now carried on in the rice-fields.
Para. 35 to W. ....

Though in the case of freshwater fish it might

be possible to arrange, by gratings at the commencement of the

channels, to keep them in the river till the monsoon came and
carried away the temporary dams, still they would be in many re-
spects very unfavourably placed ; and in the case of sea-going fish,
like the Glwpea Uisha, there seems no other way of protecting their
fry from total extermination, for reach the sea they must, and they
have no other way but through the rice-fields. Therefore it would
seem unavoidable to prohibit the entrapping of fry in the rice-fields.

45. It will further lie desirable to make provision for a way
being kept open for the fry eventually to rejoin the river by menus
of the waste water. This will frequently be found to have
arranged itself, though in some places it will be susceptible of
improvement bj a very little labour, while in others it may be a

little •'■--] O ■ 1 1 i\e In o|.i-ll ;l ! II!. .1! I. 'II Most of

these places again are liable to get a little out of order from u
trodden by cattle, and Erom other causes, and may at the com-
mencement of the monsoon require the mosl trivial repair to keep
them in order. In those eases iii which the labour entailed is

t n ait. xxv. idationfor Fry. 357

really nil, 01 next to nil, the responsibility of maintaining them in
order might 1"' thrown on the cultivator. In other eases a contract

Could be made with the cultivator to make ami maintain any

desired communication. Which eases should be thrown on the
cultivator, and which should not, might be decided under the

orders of the ( 'ollector of the district, as such subordinate matters
are by conservators and commissioners in England. The Col-
lector's decision might also be subject to appeal to the Board of
Revenue, as are the decisions of commissioners to the Home < Mliee,
or in their place to an Inspector Genera] of Pisciculture for the
Presidency.

46. It may at first sight seem arbitrary to east this labour on
the farmer, but it is not requiring more of him than is exacted of
the mill-owner in England. The latter is railed on to make repairs
to prevent leakage, when such wastage of water from the main
stream is considered to interfere with the safe passage of the
salmon. The chief ground of the demand would seem to be that
the necessity for it arose out of the action of the person on whom
the call is made. In the case under consideration it is the
diversion of the water by the tanner that has caused the necessity
for providing other passage for the fry.

47. In maintaining the channel, practically no one can have
less difficulty than the person always on the spot, to whom also
there will not he wanting enough of opportunities for throwing
seemingly accidental obstacles in the way. For instance, what is
easier than to remove a plank and lay the blame on the force of
the stream ; what is easier than to scrape the shingle together in
a mound across the waste water so that the little stream shall
percolate through it, and none of it be able to run over. By this
means the fry would be effectually prevented from getting down
to the river. The fanner deprived of the fry to which he had
been accustomed would be not at all unlikely to retaliate in some
such manner. And who is to fix it upon him ? It would be

rally impossible. It is therefore necessary to make him
n sponsible for tin' maintenance of the passage for the fry.

48. It will be similarly desirable to li\ tin; same responsibility
on the man who contracts to do the same for a consideration, for
if a suit is to be filed in the civil courts for every breach oi such
contract, the fry will not -ur\ ive " the law's delay."

358 A Pica for River Fisfu i I 'haft. xxv.

49. These, and other things necessary for the protection and
improvement of the fisheries, cannot be done without law ; a rough
sketch of a draft* Act is therefore enclosed in Appendix F. It
need hardly be mentioned that it would be impossible for such a
draft to be made complete and legally accurate by one who has not
at command for reference the already existing Indian enactments
on matters which must be provided for, matters such as jurisdiction,
commutation of fines, collection of taxes and rents, together with

provision against abuses therein. All that
!,. slilmoirV'.'-iHTiVs has been aimed at, therefore, has been to aid
in Great Britain &c, those whose proper duty it may become to

by Ihomas Baker, ' ' .

Esq.,B.L.,&o. Lon- draw up a law on the subject by a sketch

don : Horace Cox, .... „ , . .. ,

"Law Times "Office indicative of such requirements as strike the

I O.WeUington Street, writer and might not strike the reader. The

btrand. °

little work, marginally noted, may also be
found useful as showing what has been done in the matter in
England, Scotland, and Ireland.

50. Apart from the question of legal accuracy and complete-
ness, it will be remembered that the subject of this report is the
fisheries of the South Canara district alone, and thai consequently
it is beyond my province as well as my opportunities to make
proposals about any other; though the proposals contained in this
report will probably be found to have applicability to other weal
mast rivers also, and other seas and estuaries. It is obvious that
in the Madias Presidency alone, Eurthei provision will be required
for differing circumstances on the east coast and in the interior.
In reference to these, the opinions of the several Collectors, and of
Dr. Day, who has visited their fisheries, are doubtless OTrore the
Board In connection with the innumerable reservoirs therein, it
may be allowable, however, to throw out, in passing, the suggestion,
that instead of constructing them as our engineers do with the
sluice so placed as annually to drain out the very last drop of
water, it might be wiser in all fresh constructions, and when
possible in repairs, to follow the example of Eyder, who so placed
the sluice that after all 1 lie water a\ ailaUe for ill iuatioiial pur-
poses had been drawn off, there was still left in the reservoir some

* Some of these proposals have been slightlj modified in ■ letter submitted to
the Madras Government in November, is":1, which is nol public property, so I am
nol at liberty to quote ii

Ciiait. xxv. Fry in Pooh. 359

six oi ten feel of water at the embankment, and this water served
in the dry season, and more especially in times of drought, the
treble purpose <>t' feeding wells and thus supplying drinking water
ti> tlic inhabitants, of watering tin- cattle of the agriculturists, arid
of keeping alive a nucleus of fish wherewith to re-stock the *
voir by natural breeding mi its refilling at the commencement of
the rains. The manner of constructing and repairing reservoirs,
and the restrictions necessary to prevent netting when they are so
tew that it is next to impossible for the fish to escape extermina-
tion, are among the matters to be considered in any legislation
calculated to meet the requirements of the east coast and interior,
equally with those of the west coast.

Frii in Pools.

51. Before quitting the subject of fry, it will be well to guard

against misconception on one point. It lias been said that the whole

river is frequently diverted into the rice-fields,

and that none of the fry in the rice-fields

escape destruction. It would be a not unnatural conclusion that

it is meant to be conveyed that all the fry in

Para. 34. " J

the river are thus destroyed ; and so it would

be if the spawning places alluded to were the only ones, and if the

fry had not sometimes intermediate water deep
Parse. 87, 38, 29. ' . , . , ,. . .

enough to satisfy their descending instinct.

Hut fortunately the fish do not all spawn by one rule, so as
to make their fry all dependent on the accident of the suc-
- istrous issue of a single arrangement. The Mahseer
apparently go on spawning at different localities for three
months. Many will thus be below the dams when spawning,
and many again will be below the upper dams, and have miles
of deep water in -which to live between them and the lower
dams. This is the case It. There are four miles above and

12 miles below it. altogether 16 miles, without a dam across the
river. Within this space there are many deep pools, which tempt
the big fish to stay, and which ahelve gradually up to very shallow

water running over sand, gravel, or shingle. The shallow water

at the tail of these pools is lmt, after the spawning time, liable to

any great fluctuation in depth; for, however low the water in the
river, the water in the pool must necessarily rise to the same Level

360 A Plea for River Fisheries. Ciiait. xxv.

I" fore it can flow over at all Consequently the tails of pools form
favourable spawning beds, and being not unfrequently followed l>y
a long .scour, the fry have a very fair chance of escajnng their
devouring parents, who, after spawning, have returned to deep
water nearer the head of the pool, a furlong or a quarter of a mile,
more or less, away from their fry. These are
para. 11 oftny for- tne &7 tnat' having kept out of the rice-fichls,
mer Report in Pro. usej to ])e caught in the numerous basket-
Madras Uovernment, °
Revenue Dept., 27th work cruives set in the river. These are the

001^506. fry which have peopled the river since those

p „„ cruives have been removed, and since the

poisoning of these pools has been checked.

52. Seeing, then, that the larger pools are not only the hot-
weather resorts of the larger fish, but frequently the birth-place of

the fry also, the mischief done by poisoning

Para 11. , , . . , , , .

ilirin and tainting the scours below, is greater
than at first sight appears ; for fry as well as big fish are poisoned.

Stack Pools.

53. But though poisoning be reduced to a minimum, the fact
of the larger fish being driven out of the rest of the river by the
lowness of the water in the dry season, and compelled to mass
themselves in the pools, will still be taken advantage of for net-
ting them. At that time parties of Moplahs make expeditions as
far as Shady, 50 odd miles from Mangalore, prepared with boats
and sets of large nets to fish all the pools ; and so great are their
takes that traders come down from Manzorabad and the neighbour-
hood to purchase, slightly salt, and carry into the interior, the fish
that are in excess of the local demand. Weavers, and other's who
are aot fishermen by trade, turn out in force, unite all their in ts in
one, and sweep these pools. There is the danger, therefore, of the
river being over-netted, and an insufficient stock left to supply
spawn the next year. It would be well, therefore, to select a lew of
these pools, and in them to prohibit netting altogether.

54. That there might be no needless anxiety as to which were

,. ... prohibited pools, and no idle excuses of having

I lie 0081 01 thU ■ r

precaution is estima- netted them by mistake, they might be dis-
mated at l' 0 rupees, . , , , ... • , ,

and entered in Ap- tinetly marked, at a trilling cost, with the

i"'"'ilN ' • Queen's broad arrow, cut on the rock. An

Chart. xxv. '■ Pools. 361

arrow on each side pointing up stream from the tail of a i 1, and

an arrow on each aide pointing down stream from the head of the

1 1. would indicate that all between them was reserved from nets.

55. The pools would have to be selected not only with a view-
to their being convenient to the fish and fry, but also with s

reference to their being convenient to protect. Pools in the
neighbourhood of the land or house of the head of the village
would be preferred ; and for the extra duty of throwing his Begia
over them a trifle might be added to his very meagre pay. Six
rupees a year for each head of a village thus employed would
probably come to somewhere ahout 300 rupees a year out of the
fishery rents. 'Without some payment it cannot be expected that
the duty will be well done for a continue

56. Fortunately there are already two places on tributaries of
the 1'uiswany and Netravatty where the fish have, in the priests of
the temples at Thodikan and Cicilly, friends as stout as were the
monks of old. They have a legend that their god [shwara per-
formed a journey from Kailasa to Thodikan on the hack of a
Mahseer. These fish, therefore, which are fortunately the best
fish in the river, are considered sacred, and no man is allowed to
harm them in any way, and the priests and pilgrims feed them.
The consequence is that they are exceedingly tame and numerous.
They crowd together till, for 20 yards round the temple steps, fish
of all sues, from eight pounds downwards, are packed as thickly

Note. — This feeding and protecting of Mahseer at Hindu temples is, I find,
a common practice. I have observed it in other places in the Madras Presi-
drntv, and in the Mysore Territory, and have heard of it in more places again, and
also in Northern India, notably at Jubbulpore. The fish are alwav- Mahseer, for,
the simple reason that the food given by Hindus is always grain, and the Mahseer
being the largest fish that feed on vegetable matter, soon assert their strength over
the smaller Bab, which you may see giving place to them.

It may be interestingly noted here that, as a friend points out, Martial had
observed similarly fed fish,

" Piseator fuge, ne nocens recedas,
Saoris piscibus ho? natantur andffi," 4c
and that Xenophon mentions the sacred fishes of the river Chains, a tributary of

the Enpbrati —

■' xriXov Trorafiov 7rXijpi} ixOvw

ltt-fu\it/t' Kin TTpaiujv, ins til 2i'rpot
0*Auc ivofiiZav Ktti tUiKtiv 6uk iiwr."

icr Chains full of big tame fish, irbicb the Syrians held as Qods, and would
do) allow to be ill-use I.

3*52 A Pica far River Fisheries. Chapt. XXV.

in the river as sardines in a tin, scrambling over each other's backs
into the air, and up the stone steps, and taking food out of the
very hand. One was caught for identification in a saucepan, and
inmiediately released again.

Close Season.

73. The Board has desired to know whether a close time should
1 « enforced. The circumstances of the South Canara rivers differ so
widely from those of English streams that it does not seem necessarj
to follow the home example in this inspect. The monsoon floods
render it practically impossible to net for four months in 'lie twelve,
and the body of water still in the river makes it scarcely worth
while to net for three months more. Netting is generally delayed
till the large fish are driven by the general hiwness of the rivers
to congregate in the pools. If a few stuck
pools are reserved, and fixed engines prohi-
1'"ril- 72, bited, a close time may, as far as the fisheries

are concerned, be safely dispensed with.

Size of Mesh t.

75. The meshes of the nets now used in the rivers and in the
sea are of all sizes, from three-quarters of an inch to twenty -four

inches in circumference; the Government has

3,823 dated 2sdi ordered the prohibition of nets with meshes

Way, 1869, Govt. j less than four inches in circumference: but
( Irder thereon) Both

June, 1869, No. Vcrv many sorts of fish, both in the rivers and

b812. . ,

in the sea, never grow to a size to be entangled
in such nets. To prohibit smaller meshes, therefore, is to prohibit
netting for these fishes, and to cut off from the people a large per-
centage of the food in the waters. Properly to appreciate the
effect of this order, it is only necessary to observe how large a
fish can escape through a mesh 4 inches in circumference, and
how many sorts of fish there are that are seldom or never large
enough to he caught in such meshes, and how numerous those sorts
of fish are.

76. The ultimate effect on the fisheries would probably be still
more unfortunate. The smaller sorts of fish having immunity
from netting must disproportionately increase on the larger netted

Nature has arranged that the larger predatory fish shall

( Iha.pt. XXV. Sue o/Meahea. 363

balanoe the smaller, and thus maintain due proportions; but if one

Bort is aetted by man. and the other sort has immunity, theba] «

is disturbed, and the larger fish are no longer

l':ira. 25.

able to maintain their position. It is true thai
the predatory sorts of fish are not few in number; hut their
numbers must none the less have been calculated by nature with
reference to the number and prolificacy of the smaller sorts of
fish. But, however well calculated they may be to keep the
latter within due bounds, they must cease to be able to do so
when their relative position is as altered as it must be, by net-
ting the larger fish and not netting the smaller. The balance
is disturbed by the netting being thrown into one scale only.

The mischief of the balance being disturbed lies in the fact of
much of the insect life in the waters being the common sus-
tenance of both large and small sorts offish. If the latter dispro-
portionately 111016886 on the former they monopolize this food;
and the larger fish, and especially their young, are starved. Min-
nows have starved out trout. It has been a question whether it
would not improve the Thames fisheries to allow again a certain
amount of netting of the smaller fishes. If this can be a question
mi a river which is crowded every day with hundreds, and perhaps
thousands, of professional and amateur anglers, armed with the
best of tackle, it must surely be beyond a doubt in a country
where there are no amateur anglers, and the professionals are few
indeed, and very rudely equipped,

77. On both these grounds, therefore, it would seem that the
size of the meshes t" !»e prohibited should be reconsidered. The
object should be not to interfere with the netting of fishes which
are always small, and only to protect from premature capture the
young of such as are calculated to grow to a large size. Two
inches in circumference is found to be the size of mesh most con-
venient for the capture of several sorts of small
rats numbered :<, S, tisli which are the most abundant in the t'anara
i!'-1."/,1':,'; "',.'■ "' ",'!' livers. These are fishes, that when at the size

£/, ou, ol, Jo in the

li-t iiiven iii A.ppen- to which they ordinarily attain, would escape
through a mesh 4 inches in circumference
Their ordinary size is, nevertheless, such that but few fish are able
to prey on them There are no sorts, it would seem, but those
given in the margin, that would be large enough to prey on

3G4 A Plea for Riv&r Fisheries. Ciiapt. xxv.

them when mature; and of these sorts even
Nos. 17, 18, 24, , .,..,,. , , , , ,

25, 26 in the same only one individual in a thousand would be

grown enough to make of them a comfortable

mouthful. Furthermore, even those fish which can eat a larger

fish than their neighbours can, not unfrequently take smaller

ones by preference. There would be few indeed, then, of the

predatory fish that would habitually prey upon the fish which ran

be taken by the 2-incli mesh and escape the 4-inch mesh. As they

are not only not required, then, by the larger fish, but would also

be likely to injure them by out-numbering and starving them,

and especially their young, if given immunity from the netting to

which the larger sorts are subject, would it not be advisable to add

them to the food of the people, and to that end to permit a mesh

calculated to catch them ? Such a mesh, it is repeated, is one

2 inches in circumference.*

78. While advocating the allowance of a mesh <>f this size in

rivers, it would seem undesirable to allow any smaller ones ; for if

there be no restriction placed on the size of meslies, it is probable

that the fry of large fish will be captured along with the smaller

kinds of fish ; for below a certain size it is not always so easy to

recognise the young of large fish, at least not so easy as to be able

at once to pick them out and return them to the water alive, not

easy enough to be able to detect them at a glance in the fisherman's

or salesman's basket, not sutliciently easy to justify the magistrate

in presuming mala fides against the destroyer thereof. It' no

meshes less than 2 inches in circumference be allowed, there will

be no difficulty about recognition, and the fry of the larger sorts

can In; returned to the water. Again, the restriction of smaller

meshes will have the effect of leaving the smallest
Para. 79.

sorts of fishes as food for the bigger ones. These

will scarcely be able to increase on and injure the larger ones
l>\ competition for food, for the fish that never grow large enough
to be captured by meshes of 2 inches in circumference are more
easily kept under by the predatory fish, because there are more
iish that are large enough to prey upon them, and because more of
them are required to satisfy the Largest, It is not likely, more-
over, that they will prove unequal in numbers to feed the larger

* In larger rivers, perhaps :i inches would be better, because the predator] fish

an 1 irgi r.

Chaft. xxv. Spawning Time. 366

lis]), for they are very numerous and as prolific as they are small.
and in addition to them there will always be the immature ash of
the Borts proposed to be surrendered to the two-inch meshes.
Moreover, if both these tail to Buffice, it is still easy to multiply
ad infinitum the supply of these smallesl fish by

End of Tarn. 37. , ,,,-,,

protecting the produce ot lull streams.

79. [f, then, meshes of all sizes from two inches in circum-
ference upwards are allowed for the capture in the rivers of small

of fishes, provision will have to he made fur the protection of
the larger sorts of fish liable to be caught therein, ami this might
be done by making it obligatory to return to the water all the
fallowing fish : —

In tl
Those numbered in the list in Appendix <;

1.1

2,

5,
fi,
7,

-A' [-When of '.) inches in length or under.

24.
85,

L'»;.

33,
34J

80. The objection may be raised that few tish once caughi are
likely to be returned to tin.- water, and that consequently it will be
more practical to prevent their being ever i aught. But a sweeping
prohibition of small meshes will, it ha- been urged, be more bane-
ful than advantageous to the larger sorts of fishes, and the system
here advocated is the one followed in England, and by the aid of
punishments for offenders and rewards for informers might soon be
aet working in India.

Spawning Time.

81. The spawning times of all fish are probably subject to some

variation in different years; the observations of a single year are,

therefore, not to be implicitly relied mi. though carefully made.

Then- has also been considerable difficulty with
Appendix O. . .

some tish in capturing them at all times tor

examination. But of the tish shown in the following table sufficient

3G6 A Pica for River Fisheries. CHAPT. XXV.

numbers have been caught and examined from time to time to

make the seasons set against them very fairly reliable.

82. Not only do some fish of a sort spawn early and some
late, but the same individual seems to spawn two or three times,
and, perhaps, oftener in a season. In October or November a
Mahseer generally contains three distinct sizes of roe, and the two
larger sizes are mostly shed before .January. Whether they have
been laid in two batches or from time to time as they became
mature, cannot be certainly stated, and it remains to be seen
whether the minute ova which are still in the fish in January are

matured and laid before the monsoon, or are
cr^Tof roeTt one the nucleus of the next year's crop. It seems
time, and a laying probable that these fish do not accomplish their

fowl, it will be re- r r

numbered, contains spawning operations in as short a time as
ofVmydayBtoM^ salmon, but lay a few eggs from time to time
m different degrees as t]ley ripen, anti that this lengthened siiawn-

of advancement. j l i

ing may be a provision to meet the variableness

iu the rivers. Several Indian fish have also been ascertained to

spawn twice a year at distinct periods, with an

Particularized in intervai of severai months between, and more
Appendix G.

fish may do this than we are aware of. Here,

then, is unusual fertility, as well as adaptability to changing

rivers.

83. It will be seen from column 11 of the accompanying table,

that though there are in the rivers some fish
or other spawning in every month of the year
except August, the very great majority of the small fish spawn
in May, June, and July (a few of them repeating the pernkmance
iu October, November, December and January), and that the
spawning time of the mass of the big fish extends over September,
October, November, December, and January, but is chiefly confined
to December and January.

Spavming.

84. The quantity of spawn contained in each fish has been but
slightly tested. As far as examination has been made, Indian tish
seem to be as prolific as others.

Chapt. XXV. Spawning. Food of Fishes. 367

\ M thaear of &i Iba. contained 13,219 eggs, which is 2,11.'. to the pound.

II ; „ 10,587 „ '.Ml

6 ., '.Mil „ i.:,:i

18,440 ,. 2,lfi3

3 J .. 4,350 „ 1,848

5 „ 8,084 „ 1,206

Average . . . . . . . . 1,510

85. It may 1"- interesting to know that hero as elsewhere some
fish 1 m ili I nests among the rushes at the margin of the water,

deposit their eggs therein and keep guard over
mS *'"■«» lik" :> stickleback. Others exhibit pa-

rental affection, swimming always close below
their offspring and attacking everything that comes near them.

This they do till the fry are about three inches

Ophioceph

ttria/us. long, when they turn on ami eat them them-

H1,„.f,';. selves if they do not disperse. Others, again,

aeeplalut spawn in the sand, in the gravel and even on

dipUyramme.

rock. But all that lias been ascertained will

be found particularized against the different fish in column 11

of the list of fishes in Appendix G. An

Para. 91.

attempt to discover the period of incuba-
tion is also noticed below.

Food of Fish. s.

86. What has been ascertained of the food of different fishes is
also shown in the accompanying table. This has been gathered,
not from hearsay, but from the contents of the intestines. This is
interesting as showing the sustenance necessary for their increase
and their influence on each other. Some fish seem to be almost
entirely herbivorous, and they tind an ample supply of freshwater
weeds * on all the rocks in the rivers. Others prey on their
brethren, and others again are omnivorous, and none more so than

the Mahseer. For the purposes of this report

Appendix F.

the fish are classed in the accompanying tahle

with reference to their food, and consequent influence on each

other.

87. The teeth in the throat of the Mahseer seem unusually

• Six different sorts of podotfemacetv !ia\ .■ 1 n gathered in flower and seed, but

the nnmes of only two of them have been ascertained. These ore Itoriopti* hookeri-

ana and Dalztllia pedunculoia.

."■i'iK A Plea for River Fisheries. Ciiait. xxv.

powerful. They are required to be so to crush freshwater snails, and
crabs the size of the palm. They would make

Ampullaria glauca , , . , , . „ , _,,

L. very short work of breaking a finger bone. They

nhn";'"'a Ben are a^S0 somewhat more pointed or carnivorous

One of Uhio species, than is usual with the Carp species. This pe-

Limnea stagnalis. .. . .

Pianortis Indian. culiar formation of their teeth accords with the

ddina" Coroma"~ observation that small fish also form a large por-

„ tion of their food. Specimens of their teeth

Two of Corbwula

species. are submitted. The gall-bag, too, is unusually

large. It is much prized by the country people
as a remedy in cases of stomach-ache, cholera, and puerperal fever.
88. Except in the neighbourhood of the coast, the rivers are
generally fringed with forests, the foliage of which yields no scanl
supply of insect life ; the overhanging bamboo swarms with small
moths, and a bush that springs up in the bed of the river as it

dwindles teems with various flies. The dhoop

vSS£t32Z£ dr°Ps 8eeds «■ biS m * bantam's egg, which.

with the different seeds at different season*

of many descriptions of trees and the bamboo rice, are greedily

devoured by the expectant fish. The Cyanite rocks, with which

the rivers abound, are covered with many sorts of water crickets,

and the freshwater weeds are alive with
Podostomacia.

shrimps and beetles. The tender roots of trees

and the leaves of the lilies in the shallows are freely found in

the intestines of some fish, and others are filled

I'lllisill'l'ill Kjnj-dl/X.

to repletion with the simple green leaves of
certain overhanging trees, well known to the natives, and used as
ground bail before netting. Here in the tropics vegetation by the
waterside is rank, and insect life is in profusion, so that the food
supply of the Canara rivers can well hear comparsion with the best
waters of colder climes; and there seems no limit on this score to
the number of fish that these rivers are capable of sustaining.

92. Frogs do some mischief anion- the fry, but they have

themselves enough of enemies. In the water

lli/lorana malaba-

rica; fylorana flo- the Murral (Ophiqcepkalw) feeds almost en-

^zriz:fz ti,vh ap°n iWm- *wvMy ^ dose u,uW

unnamed Bpecies of the banks for this purpose, and on land, nion-
polypedate?,

gooses, snakes, kites, crows, and paddy-birds
assist in suppressing them, while water-snakes follow them in

I '11 lpt. x.w. Em miea of Fish. 3G9

both elements. The frog is, however, mentioned here as a creature
to he carefully excluded from artificial nurseries.

The most troublesome is the common brown one (runa cyano-
phtyctis.)

!»."•. The ova also have their enemies here as elsewhere. The

small insect forwarded in spirits was, when taken, very busily

engaged tossing the ova up, and turning it round and round, and

apparently tearing it open. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon the

had evidently been only just deposited, for the. male was seen

moving away, and the milt had not yet cleared off. Not one of

these insects was then visible, but early the
This was teen by
two nam,- ael to m'xt mormng the hollow was full of them.

rntob .ill .i:.v in ]Ic)W keen, then, must be their sense for dis-

turns. 1 hry ilul not

re unobserved, covering ova. In three days not an undes-

nor suHieit'iitlv intel- , ,

Ugently, end so did troyed egg was to be seen, the empty egg cases

totodloTT«ehei * "nlv were there- Tadpoles and small fry and a
ta"te- crab and the larvae of other insects were also

there on the second and third days.

94. Some ova were speedily removed from the river, and
carried in an earthen pot of water to a place where they could be
kept under the intelligent observation of a gentleman, and there
they were transferred to a finely-woven basket which was partially
immersed in shallow water, so that there was a constant gentle

m through it from percolation, but no access for intruders.
The same insects quickly gathered round the basket but could
not find ingress. The mouth of the basket was also covered with
muslin. Mr. J. Russel who conducted this experiment, has
sent word that these ova also failed. This opportunity for dis-
covering the period of incubation of the ova of Mahseer has
therefore been unfortunately lost.

95. Men search in the rivers for hillocks wherein spawn has
been left, gather the ova and make it into cakes, which are con-
sidered a delicacy. The eggs of the kari and kalmuri are highly
prized. (Sob. 1 and 3 in Appendix G.)

9G. Here also lice-like parasites are found adhering to the gilla
I was informed by and scales of the Canara Mahseer. Specimens

Dr. Day tliat tlii'vero

a vanity ,,!' fresh were preserved in spirits, but the bottle met

water A!ii<t, hitherto •, , ■ ■

not met by him, and With an aceldeilt.
a* yet unnamed.

i hi bod ra nroi \ z \i

370

A Pica for Hirer Fisheries.

Chut. xxv.

Molluscs.

105. But fishes are not the only food contained in the rivers.
There are tons and tons of molluscs which are
collected with great ease by the women and
children. The}' are not to be despised in this
country while similar articles of food are prized
in England and France. There is a growing
demand in England for limpets and peri-
winkles, from 150 to 250 bushels of peri-
winkles being sold in a day in London alone.
A farm for the artificial propagation and sale
of edible mussels has been worked for seven
centuries in France, and it must have been
profitable or it would scarcely be in existence.
But whether these shell-fish can be artificially
propagated, or in any way protected at certain
periods, with advantage, is a matter yet to be
ascertained. The Velorita, which is the most
numerous, and the most substantial eating, and

is eaten also in Japan, has no byssus wherewith to attach itself;

and the mark on one side shows that it lies on the mud with one

edge upwards. The method followed for propagating oysters and

mussels would therefore seem inapplicable.

Ci/cJatt.

Cerithium ; two of
the species.
Nerita.

Corbicula ; one of
the species found
within ti.lal inllu-

si , and two others

in the fresh water.

l'< Inntii ctfprinoi"
des (Gray), of the
Family Ct/n nidce.

I' a in.

XAmnea stagndUs.

Ampullaria cflau-
ca L.

Planorbis Tndicus.

„ Coroman-
delimt.

Paludina Bengal
ensis.

Practical Water-
farming, by William
Peard, M.D., L.L.B.,
pages 239, 211.

The Preservation of 0 en in Mini.

106. The possible utilization of sun-dried mud for suspending
the progress of incubation in ova in tropical climes, was proposed
in my last report. It is a Bubject, the investigation of which would
have been particularly interesting to me; hut it lias nut been fairly
within the scope of the experiments sanctioned by Government.
The process could only be tested by collecting fecundated ova, and
batching them Bide by -side with Other exactly similar eggs that had
been enclosed for varying periods and in various ways in mud;
and as the propagation of fish by an artificial process was expressly
excluded from the experiments sanctioned, the amount of time and
attention thai would have been required for the collection and
treatment of ova could not be withdrawn from other subjects,

Cha.PT. xxv. Sn Fishi 371

107. It is hoped, however, that it will be considered <■ proposal
of sufficient importance to warrant its thorough investigation and
application to practical [imposes as the study of pisciculture

advances in India, and in this hope the paragraph mi this subject
i- extracted from my former report and placed in the appendix in

order that it may be consulted if desired by any one inclined to
make the experiment. Australia, lhirmah. and the warmer parts
of China and America also, are probably in latitudes equally
suitable to the trial, and in these places there is no lack of per-
ring and successful pisciculturists.

Sea Fisheries.

110. The observations hitherto made in this report have had

reference only to the rivers. But the sea fisheries of this district

are more fruitful and more important. It has been computed that

an acre of uncultivated sea bottom yields
Ri-nort of Sea . . , . „ , .

Fi-htrics Commis- every week a larger supply of food than an

equal extent of good land carefully tilled

will produce in a year. The weight of fish and of beef annually

consumed in London is in no great dispro-

Para. 26. & f

portion. In Canara, fish are almost the sole
meat food of the people.

122. There are marshes by the riverside that are flooded by
every high tide. The fry of sea-fish frequenting the estuaries are
in the habit of coasting along the very edge of the rivers, and
running into all shallow places. When the tide rises over these
marshes the fry go in with it, probably finding more insect food
amongst the swamp grass, and on the freshly inundated land. But
when they think to return with the ebbing tide, they are met by
long lines of close wattle and fine leaf basket work, that allows the
water to pass, but not the fry. At every tide in the day time the
fry are thus waylaid, and left high and dry, thickly strewn in long
lines, whence they are carried away in basket loads. The mullet
suffer much in this way. They are a desirable sea-fish, and the
wholesale destruction of their fry in this manner should be pre-
vented.

123. It has been thought in England that the numbers of sea-
fish frequenting a shore were greatly affected by the over-fishing of

TUB ROD IS rNDIA. 'i. li i.

372 A Plea for River Fiskerit i. CHAPT. xxv.

their natural food, the shrimp. Tlie mullet lives largely on shrimps
ami sand-worms. A small plot of some four or five acres in the
Mangalore estuary was therefore buoyed off, to be left undisturbed
for shrimps to breed in. This might, perhaps, be done with advan-
tage in every estuary.

Pisciculture to be made a Separate Department.

1 53. If the receipts obtained by the above proposed means do
not equal the expenditure, exception cannot fairly be taken on that
ground, for it is not reasonable to expect that a Government, any
more than an individual, can commence a new undertaking
without some outlay at the first. The only proper question is,
what amount of outlay is called for, and promises a reasonable
return. This amount being placed to the debit of pisciculture in
India, there is good ground for confidence that at no distant period
it will be repaid with interest. It will be much more satisfactory
that pisciculture should be fairly put upon its trial by the keeping
against it ofa strict profit and loss account, much more satisfactory
than that the proceeds should be lost sight of as hitherto, by being
merged in the general revenues, and that every outlay required for
its proper advancement should be so sparingly doled out as to defy
success, and should be looked upon as an encroachment on the
Imperial revenues. If piscicultural accounts had, as now ad-
vocated, been hitherto kept separate, there would be now a weighty
balance in their favour, for large sums have been annually taken
therefrom from the very commencement of our rule in India, and
have been applied, without any return whatever, to other purposes;
have been absorbed into the Imperial revenues.

CHAPTER XXVI.

A PLEA FOR SEA FISHER IKS.

" And Oo<l said, 'Let tin' water* bring forth abundantly.'
And God blessed them, saying, ' lie fruitful and multiply, and
(ill the waters in the seas.'

' And have dominion over the fish of the sea.' " —

Genesis i, 20, 22, 28.

To those who have travelled with me thus far from a love of
the subject the following plea lor Indian Sea Fisheries may prove
not uninteresting. I quote it as I do the previous Chapter, in the
hope, moreover, that there may rise among my readers, others who
hereafter may succeed in forwarding the cause of pisciculture in
India. Dr. Day has laboured much and left the scene with
in 'thing set on foot for practical pisciculture. I have done my
little all for 12 years, and am not sanguine of anything being done
before my retirement. Though it come not in my time, still I
cannot abandon the hope that come the day will. If these two
< !hapters aid in any way in advancing it either by instigating others
to take an interest in the subject, or by aiding ever so slightly any

that may hereafter take it up, they will not have burdened my 1 k

to no purpose. The report to be now quoted was written mi the
receipt of the thousand and one questions circulated by the late
Famine Commission.

A Proposal for Making Indian Fisheries a Means of
Alleviating Indian Famines.

Numerous and exhaustive though the questions arc which
search and probe for information valuable to the alleviation and
prevention of famine, nevertheless there is a source of food supply
for millions which has altogether escaped attention, and that
although it is a source of food supply which,

( i. i Has a special relevancy to the famine enquiry, in that it is

374 A I'h <i for Sea Fisheries. Chait. XXVI.

utterly uninfluenced by the severest and most protracted
drought ;
(ii.) It yields a very large supply,
(iii.) A throughly wholesome one,
(iv.) A self creative one, only needing harvesting,
(v.) An inexhaustible one,

(vi.) One not confined to any particular locality, but surround-
ing the whole peninsula of India,
(vii.) One that provides also its own highways for carriage,
(viii.) One that is incomparably more fertile than any land,
(ix.) And spreads its harvest over a longer period ;
I mean the sea.

2. There is another source of food supply that has all the
recommendations of the above, except the 5th and 6th,
and in those also it falls short only in a very minor
degree,
(x.) Whde it has the further special advantage that it pene-
trates miles inland,
1 mean the estuaries.

o. In the rivers and lakes we have,

(xi.) A less reliable, less extensive food farm, but one capable,

nevertheless, of supporting millions, one by no means to

be neglected, one still immeasurably superior to the

land ;

(xii.) And one to be found spread over much of the interior

country.
(xiii.) This whole water farm requires imcomparably less out-
lay, incomparably less time, to bring it into bearing than
any kim\\ n land farm.
(xiv.) This fertile food farm further yields in its very refuse,

the means of fertilizing land farms ;
(xv.) And adds to the non-edible yet food-purchasing products
of the country.
4. Though they may fail possibly from the treatment they
receive at my hands, these broad assertions are, 1 believe, capable
of irrebuttable proof. Many of them seem, however, to be so self-
apparent thai 1 hesitate to dwell on them for fear of idle prolixity
calculated to weary rather than convince. Still these very truisms
have not been practically acted on as if they were believed. 1 hope,

Ciiait. xxvi. S Food Supply. 375

therefore, that I may be forgiven the following remaiks, although
they may contain nothing new, and aim only al putting well
known facts in such juzta-position aa to convince and move to
action.

5. I -lull h"i>e to establish every one of the fifteen propositions
above set forth, and if this is done successfully, I shall, I trust,
enjoy the satisfaction of seeing a Government which is in down-
right earnest to alleviate and prevent famines, availing itself of a
means at once so potent and so inexpensive,

6. That the sea is not assailable by drought even in the tropics
is a point not likely to be contested. The same will be conceded
of estuaries. These are my main points as regards famine.

7. As regards the non-tidal rivers and lakes it may be safely
asserted that there are in India hundreds and thousands of square
miles of them, millions of acres of them, that have never been
known to succumb to the severest longest drought that ever visited
India. They, as well as the sea and estuaries, are a perennial
source of food supply, unassailable by drought.

8. There are rivers and lakes again that dry up, some of them
annually, some only in famine years. For even these this much
may be advanced, that in their very drying up they yield their all,
and that if the land farmer will abandon the cultivation in
favourable years of every field that is barren or in danger of being
barren in time of long continued drought, I too will throw all my
like fields out of the category. He will not do it. He will take
his risks and try his best with them. 1 will be more liberal as far
as the data at my command will allow me. I will throw out of my
calculations such uncertain sources of supply, for I am not dealing
here with pisciculture generally in ordinary or favourable years, but
wish t<> keep strictly to my subject — famine alleviation and the
sources of food supply that may be relied on at all and the worst
seasons. I wish further to eliminate all objects of suspicious
doubt, objects which might cast a shadow larger than themselves,
and thus injure the rest of the argument. I wish to be well on
the safe side of reliable truth. I would rather sacrifice the larger
half of my p'sitimi to secure a thorough working belief in the minor
half than i ndanger the whole by endeavouring to establish the
whole. I am satisfied that, if the minor half that I shall pul
forward is accepted, the rest must in coun E time lone its own

376 A Plea for Sea Fisheries. Chapt. xxvi.

acceptance. Belief in the subject will come by seeing. I only use
the parallel of the land to aid the appreciation of the value of the
water farm.

9. This much, as to my first and main point, unassailablenesa
by the severest drought, reliability in times of the worst famine.

10. If instead of taking my remaining propositions in the
exact order in which they stand, I turn next to the fertility of the
above sources of supply, I shall hope the better to gain an
interested reading for the minor conclusions ; for I must show the
productiveness of the farm before I can hope for a contemplation of
its extent and accessibility and cheapness of working, &c.

11. I begin with the sea, I shall quote from the very best
authority, from the Commissioners selected by the British Parlia-
ment to report on the sea fisheries of the United Kingdom,
selected presumedly for being previously the best informed persons
on the subject, and persons whose judgment was to be most relied
on by the nation in such a matter of public wealth. They, after
having further informed themselves by enquiring of the persons best
qualified to give them information, and alter having laboriously
recorded the answers to no less than 61,831 questions, give the
following as one of their conclusions : —

" The produce of the sea around our coasts bears a far higher
" proportion to that of the land than is generally imagined. The
" must frequented fishing grounds are much mure prolific of food
" than the same extent of the richest land. Once in the year an
" acre of good land, carefully tilled, produces a ton of corn, or two
" or three cwt. of meat or cheese. The same area at the bottom of
" the sea on the best fishing grounds yields a greater weight of food
" to the persevering fishermen every week in the year. Five
" vessels belonging to the same owner, in a single night's fishing.
" brought in 17 tons weight of fish, an amount of wholesome food
" equal in weight to that of 50 cattle, or 300 sheep. The ground
" which these vessels covered during the night's fishing could not
" have exceeded an area of 50 acres."'

L2. Not without careful consideration can such an astounding
insertion have been arrived at by such men to be printed in a
Parliamentary P>lne Hook, and presented to the scrutiny of the
numerous experts and the far more numerous opponents of
pisciculture throughout the country. I claim for it, therefore, that

Chapt. xxvi. T/e Neglected Food Farm. 377

it shall be accepted in its entirety without any reservation, and I

shall base my calculations upon it as closely as I can. I have not
quoted piecemeal to suit my own argument, but exactly as the
passage stands.

L3. Her.- we have broadly the conclusion that certain favour-
able acres of sea bottom, though wholly unfilled, onmanured,
unprotected by man, but habitually despoiled by every contrivance
that skill and wealth can bring t" hear on them, and that for years
and years past, still continue to yield an inexhaustible annual crop
of food fifty-two times as heavy as good land carefully tilled can he
made to hear — still continue to yield fifty-two tons of food per acre
per annum.

14. It has been objected here that it requires to he known what
proportion of the sea bottom these favourable acres constitute. I
reply that it is not known even in English, much less in less-fished
Indian seas. In England fresh localities are constantly being dis-
covered. A sandy bottomed shallow is the general desideratum,
and it will be seen from the liberal reductions made below that I
have confined my calculations as far as possible to such localities
(para. 35). It will be seen, also (para. 52), that while advancing
this calculation as not unworthy of thought, I am still content
myself to rely definitely for the strength of my position on the very
much lower and, I conceive, unchallengeable calculation of 332,683
tons of fish per annum, an amount of life preserving food equal to
the support of three and a half millions of men for a year. And
when all is done I have further shown (paras. 56 and 57) that I
have used figures, as I have used parallels, only to draw exact
attention, to gain a definite working belief in the real magnitude of
the neglected food farm at our doors. If in the end that broad fact
is heartily conceded as a great reality, then it matters little what
minor deductions several thinkers may make at ditlerentplac.es.

1 5. The one night's special fishing above recorded gives a
produce of one ox or six slice]) per acre per diem. Where is the
acre of land that could yield the same ? If calculated for the year,
omitting Sundays, it would show 106 tons per acre per annum.
Neither is it bo extravagant as it would seem to extend the daily
catch over the year by a multiple of days, [or the weight of evidence
is in favour of trawling not being exhaustive, but rather the reverse,
improving the fish by stirring up the insect life at the bottom, and,

378 A Pica for Sea Fisheries. Cli.UT. XXVI.

perhaps, also by capturing the predatory fish, which are less fertile
as a rule, than those on which they prey, and consequently suffer
most by equal capture.* If one trawler is known to be making a
good catch, other vessels do not avoid that ground as fished over,
but follow over the same ground by 'preference. There are other
methods of fishing also which, being specially applied to the
capture of predatory fish, are, in their results, specially beneficial
to the fishery generally.

16. A friend objects to this calculation, saying that because five
boats were employed, the total should be divided by five. I say, as
well might you divide the produce of an acre of land by the
number of men it takes to reap it. The present question is not the
reaper but the acre ; to the reaper we will come hereafter.

17. However, it is not my intention to rest at all on this
special night's fishing, which shows 10G tons per acre per annum.
I only put it fen ward as the Commissioners have done, just to
show that the previous calculation of 52 tons per acre per annum
is not an exceptional, but an average one, on the most frequented
fishing grounds. On the contrary, I shall further subject even this
average calculation to liberal reductions, as will be seen hereafter.

18. Nor will I turn aside to calculate the cost of fishing an
acre of water so as to show the profits of sea fishing. Exact data
are wanting. It is enough for our present purpose, the feeding of
the masses, to adduce that the Commissioners thought it highly
profitable, as will be seen in the next paragraph : and this their
conclusion is based on ample grounds found in the body of their
report.

19. But before passing on to my own calculations, I will quote
the next paragraph, the conclusion which the Commissioners them-
selves draw from the facts which they have arrived at :

" When we consider the amount of care that has been bestova id
" on the improvement of agriculture, the national societies which are
" established for promoting it, and the scientific knowledge and en-
" gineering skill which have been enlisted in its aid, it seems strange
' that the sea fisheries have hitherto attracted so little of the public
" attention. There ate few means of enterprise that present belter

* In tlic Si m I'i-luT\ Report for Great Britain, 1879, predator] Befa ar u-

mated, If I n member rightly, to destroy fifty times :i* many li^li :is man does.

Chart, xxvi. Profitable. 379

•■ chances of profit than our sea fisheries, and no object of greater
" utility could be Darned than the development of enterprise, skill,
■■ and mechanical ingenuity, which might be elicited by the
riodical exhibitions and publications of an influential society,
1 specially devoted to the British fisheries."

20. These are the same conclusions in the main as I shall draw
hereafter; but I quote the Commissioners for conclusions as well
as facta, for deductions as well as data, in order that I may gain for
my subject the superior weight of such authority.

21. On this basis I pass on to apply the data and the conclu-
sions as closely as I can to our Indian position. To apply them
exactly is not possible, for they are not sufficiently full and
accurate. If there were data that the sea fisheries of England
yielded so much on an average per lineal mile of shore, the calcu-
lation could be readily transferred with some degree of accuracy to
India. If there were even information as to the whole take of sea
fish in England there would be no great difficulty in drawing a
parallel. But there is not. The Commissioners themselves, in
their report for 1866, deplore the deficiency and suggest means of
supplying it. Whether this has since been done I have at command
no means of knowing. They write: "With the exception of the
" statistics of the northern herring fishery collected by the Scotch
" Fishery Board, there are no means of ascertaining even approxi-
" mately the annual yield of fish on the coasts of the United
" Kingdom. The only facts we have been able to obtain were returns
" of the fish traffic on several of the great lines of railway, by which
" the tish is transported from the fishing ports to the markets."

22. Then there are twelve lines of rail carrying, in 1 864, 122,813
tons of fish.

23. We have elsewhere, in the same report, the statement that
at Scarborough, so plentiful were the herrings sometimes, that
from 700 to 800 tons were said to be sent thence into the interior
of the country by railway inasingle day. This.it will be observed,
was over and above the local consumption, and Scarborough would
surely eat more fish in a day than Madras. This, too, was seem-
Lngly over and above the takes of the French and Dutch boats.
And this represents between a half and a third of the weight of
grain carried daily by rail from Madras to the interior in the time
of (amine; the average carried from L 7th February, 1877, to the

3 mi A Plea for Sea Fishers Chapt. xxvi.

end of December, 1877, the famine time, being 1,817 tons per
diem.

24. In another place we have the calculation that trawl vessels
alone, " irrespective of the vast quantities of herrings, sprats, shell-
" fish and of other descriptions of fish, which are supplied by other
" modes of fishing," annually supply to London alone about 80,000
tons of trawled fish.

25. Of beam trawlers it is said : " Leaving out of consideration
" the minor ports then, and taking account only of the Thames, Yar-
" mouth, the Humber, Ramsgate, Brixham, Plymouth, Liverpool,
" Fleetwood, and Dublin, not fewer than 955 sail of trawlers of
" between 40 and GO tuns are employed in the North Sea, the
" Channel, and St. George's Channel. These vessels are manned by
"at least 5,000 souls; they represent a capital of, at the very
" lowest estimate, £1,000,000, and they supply the daily market
" with probably not less than 300 tons of fish, valued at from £1,500
" to £2,000."

26. Thus we have 300 tons a day, which, omitting Sundays,
means 93,900 tons a year, and this from beam trawlers alone, and
from English trawlers alone, and from nine localities alone.

27. Thus one single mode of trawling supplies 93,'.HMI inns ;i
year; several modes of trawling supply London alone with sii,imiii
tons a year, without taking any count of any of the other methods
of fishing, though one alone of them, seining, is so successful, thai a
single port, Scarborough, sent inland a surplus for a time of 700 to
800 tons a day. Twelve lines of rail carried in a year 122,381 tons
of fish. These calculations take and can take no note of the
numbers carried inland by carts from every fishing village, of the
numbers taken off by French and Dutch boats, of the numbers
consumed on the coast.

28. These numbers, though a palpably deficient return of the
fish farm of our English coast, still serve to open the mind to its
magnitude. "Without some such preamble, I could not expect a
moment's faith for the figures that 1 shall have to set forth with

reference to India. 1 may add that, had 1 wished to show large
figures, 1 might have quoted from other sources; but they do QOt
seem to me to be so precise as the official report, so I have confined
myself to the l'.lue Hook.

29. But, 1 may be asked, what ground have you for drawing a

Chapt. XXVL Fad S is Prolific as English S 38]

parallel I How do you know that the [ndian seas are as prolific ol
Bab as the English ! Eave you herring, pilchard, or sardine,
mackerel, and cod fisheries as in England? We have not the
fisheries to any extent, but we have the fish ; and I take it upon me
to assert that, as Ear as our knowledge goes, there is every reason to
believe that the [ndian Beas are as prolific as the British The
presumption is rather that they are more so. As regards fresh-
waters I think there is no doubt that the balance is heavily in
favour of India.

30. To enter into much detail would be wearisome. It will
probably sutliee to say that while the Carp runs in England with
difficulty over 20 lhs.. it is to he found of 200 lbs. weight in India
[Barbus tor). The Sardine or Pilchard is on our Indian coasts in
plenty (Clupea Neohowi). Herrings too we have, the one that

ads our rivers {Clwpea Uisha) is incomparably a finer fish than
the Yarmouth celebrity. In Mackerel, Scomber kanagurta, and
Bome thirty Carangides or horse-mackerel are more or less relatives
and represent quantity if not quality. Against the Cod we may
fairly pit the Seir (Cybium lineolatum, and C. Commersonii) and
several others, as well as the excellent salting fish Polynemus
teiradactylus and Polynemus Indians and others; but I surely
Deed not go further into some hundreds of varieties of Indian fish,
They are sufficiently set forth in the works of Dr. Day, and I do
not think it cm Beriously be doubted for a minute that our Indian
seas are quite as productive of fish as the seas of colder climes.

31. I had written thus far when a friend objected with
pertinence that the natural enemies of the fish here, as compared
with those in England, should he taken into account. I must
admit it. Setting aside porpoises, dog-fish, and other sorts common
to both, we have in India large predatory animals which they have
not, in the form of sharks and crocodiles. But 1 do not think this
is an argument that our fisheries compare badly with English
fisheries, but rather the reverse. I think the presence of the e
monsters indicates that their functions are necessary to the main-
tenance of the balance of nature, or, in other words, that the Indian
seas and rivers are more prolific than the English, and that when
man enters on the field more fully and diminishes these, his
competitors in the work of slaughter, the yield of other fish will be
still more favourable.

382 A Plm for Sea Fisheries. I iiai'T. xxvi.

Sharks are largely eaten as it is, and they might be much more
freely caught and utilized to the benefit of both the capturers and
the fishery.

32. Given their fertility, the next question is then fertile area.
Taking the lineal measurement of our Indian shores, how far out
may they be held to be' fertile ? As they are untried fields, 1 can
only go back to the analogy of our English fisheries, of which more
is known. There they have near-shore fishing and deep-sea
tNhing, net and line fishing of every description from the very
shore outwards. The question is how far out ? Trawlers of different
descriptions fish at different depths, and I find it in evidence
in the same Blue Book that deep trawlers fish in water of 23 to
24 fathoms, and the Dogger bank is girdled in their Chart by a
20 fathoms line of soundings.

33. On this I have taken a marine Chart of the Indian Coasts,
and commencing from above Kurachi on the West, going round
Cape Comorin, not Ceylon, to beyond the mouths of the Ganges
on the East, I have at every degree taken the distance out to sea,
at which I find marked sounding from 20 to 24 fathoms. I have
generally been nearer 20 than 24 fathoms, always erring on the
side of moderation. Then adding up their total and striking an
average, I find it gives me an average distance out to sea of
26 English miles. But as I found my average very much swollen
by certain exceptional localities, in which for about 250 miles in
length it was necessary to go 46, 57, 80, and 89 English miles out
to sea before the 24 fathoms depth could be reached, I considered
it fairer to a general average that these exceptional localities should
be thrown out. This reduced my average to 14 English miles.

34. These measurements are from latitude 8° to latitude 26°
on the West Coast, and from latitude 8° to latitude 21° on the
East Coast. I have no means of carrying them further ; but the
area is sufficiently extended to make it fairly applicable to all India
and Burmah.

35. But trawlers ply on soft sandy bottoms not rock, and
though I believe that with few exceptions there is Bandy bottom all
round our Indian Coasts, still 1 prefer to be rid of the possible
objection by a liberal concession. On the bare possibility I will
throw oil' a belt of two miles all round the const, which amounts
to an area of 9,222 square miles ; albeit, this should not in fairness

Ciiapt. xxvi. A id possible Harvest, :;x:;

be tliu< summarily discarded, for rocks yield crustaceans and shell-
fish and iiisect life-rearing seaweed. This leaves me with still an
average belt of 12 miles of fishing ground.

36. To find the length of this belt, an opisometer has been
run round the coast at about a mile from shore, so as to take
no count of indentations. The result is a length of 4,611 English

miles.

37. Then 4,611 miles long, multiplied by 12 miles broad, gives
fishing area of 55,332 square miles, which, reduced to acres,

gives 35,412,480 acres of sea bottom good for fishing.

38. We have above (paras. 11 and 17) allowed an annual
produce of 52 tons an acre. But that was " on the best fishing

lunds," though they were at the same time" the most frequented
" fishing grounds." How may I obtain a calculation for all fishing
grounds ? I have already stated that I believe the Indian seas
are better for fishing than the English, being almost all sandy
bottom,-, l. However if 1 consider that half of them are utterly
barren, and so reduce my average from 52 to 2G tons an acre, I
shall surely have satisfied the most exacting.

39. Then 26 tons an acre will, over :.'>.">, -112,480 acres, give me an
annual possible produce of 920,72 1,480 tons of fish.

40. But India has its monsoons, so that for two and a half to
three months in the year on the West Coast, and for a less period
on the East Coast, it is dangerous for small boats to put to sea. I
will take a three mouths' cessation of sea fishing all round both
coasts, and reducing my calculation by one quarter, claim only an
annual harvestahle produce of 690,543,360 tons of fish.

41. But if 1 am to draw an exact parallel, I am entitled to
claim that the the water farm of which I speak, the sea, as being
Utterly Unassailable by drought, shall be compared not with the land
generally, but with only so much of it as is in a like position, as is
not liable to be affected by drought. In the Madias Presidency I
find that 4,004 square miles, or more exactly 2,535,063 acres, are
put down as irrigated in a manner that makes them sale from
drought

42. This i> not my calculation, but that of the department
whose business it is to indicate it. It is arrived at as follow- ;

384

A Plea for Sea Fisheries.

CiiArr. xxvi.

ft

o" ^

a

02 o

~- ~Z Ti

District.

•S si

Irrigation System.

I -2s

o

Area

Irrigi

M

Malabar
S. Canara

6,002 J
3,902 1

There are no permanent irriga-
tion works, but there is a trust-
worthy monsoon • ■

604
f 302

I

J

Tanjore

3,654

Cauvery Delta

1,175

Trichinopoly

3,515

Cauvery Channels

121

S. Arcot

4,873

Coleroon Channels. .

111

Coimbatore

7,432

Bowanny Channels

+2

Godavery

.

6,224

Godavery Delta

836

Kistna

S.IP36

Kistna Delta

367

Tinnevelly

5,176

Tambraparni

164

Nellore

8,162

Pennar Anicut

8-1

North Arcot

,

7,139

Palar Anicut

33

Kurnool

.

7,358

Irrigation Company's Canal

115

Cuddapah

8,367

do. do.

87

Chingleput

,

.

2,753

Chembrambaukum and Red Hill

Tanks

Total

23

Total ..

82,893

4,004

43. These rough calculations of square miles reduced to acres
would be 2,562,500, but the exact amount is 2,535,003 acres of
land in the whole Madras Presidency so irrigated as to be safe from
famine. The reported yield on this acreage, both from 1st and
2nd crop cultivation combined is, I find, 1, ."24, 5S(i, 180 lbs. This
is the yield in the Famine year when there was an enormous
stimulus to cultivation on safely irrigated acres, a stimulus so
great that the cultivated area under the Lrrigation Company's
Canal increased eight-fold. Nevertheless, I take it as the best case
that can be made out for rice. This weight above given, is the
weight of unhusked paddy, and if we make the usual deduct inn of
one-third for husk, we shall have 2, SS.">, (153,458 lbs., or, say,
1,287,077 tons of rice per annum, against the safe water farm of
which I speak, which for no culture whatever bears from the sea
alone 0(.H>,5 13, .".Oil tons of tisl).

44. If'l wished to be more particular, I should be entitled to go
still a step further and examine what is the comparative value as
food of the tons of fish and tons of rice. The following percentage
table will give it : —

( 'II AIT. XXV!.

The Nutriment in Fish.

385

Ki-h
nice

Quantity of
Nitrogenous
Bean-forming
ingredients.

14-00

6 IA

Quantity of
non-asotiied

lir.it .gil mi;

print

700
H465

Quantity of
mineral

* ter.

100
0-62

Quantity of
Carbon.

9 1 .">
3600

4.". It is obvious that in nitrogenous alimentary matter fish is
a little more than two aud a half times as rich as rice, or, in other
words, will Berve, in this respect, to support two and a half times as
many human beings.

46. This table indicates also that fish and rice are good com-
plements of each other for mixture towards the composition of a
dietary, the one being rich in what the other is poor in, and I put
this forward to meet the objection that men cannot live on fish
alone. True : but it matters not to my calculations whether a
certain amouitt of fish will suffice by mathematical calculation to
alone support a million people, or mixed in practice with nine
times as much other food to keep alive and in working health ten
millions. The result is the same ; an additional amount of food
representing the lives of one million has been thrown into the
supply market, and it serves by so much to make the other food go
further, let alone that it also cheapens it.

47. I may add that in a country where the diet is chiefly of
vegetables, salt is more required than elsewhere, so that salt-fish
would meet a want. In practice there is a call for it. In Trichi-
nopoly, for instance, as well as other places, it sells for twice the
price of cheap butcher's meat. If in demand even as an expensive
luxury, much more should it be so if made cheap and plentiful.
That it is nut cheap at present is attributable, I think, to the
supply being unequal to the demand ; for in the fish-curing yards
salt is given by Government at cost, not monopoly, price. Curing,
however, as well as fishing, stands much in need of development,
while it must fairly be admitted that if salt-fish cannot be made
cheap, it fails as a i'amine-piv\ vntive food, still it is contended that
with plentiful cheap fish, cheap salt, cheap labour, and cheap rail and
s.m carriage, the presumption is that it can be made cheap. It may

be admitted that if salt fish are only an appetizing relish rather

THE BOO IN INDIA. 2 C

38G A Plea for Sea Fisheries Ciiait. xxvi.

than a hunger-satisfying fund, they must again be held to be a failure
as regards the object of the present paper. But it is contended
that there is no insuperable difficulty hi the way of salting fish any
more than there is in the way of salting pork or beef, so as to fit it
to form a substantia] part of a health and strength and life
sustaining meal. The several manners of curing form only one of
the minor difficulties to be overcome. The manner of curing is
call ulated very much to follow the demand.

48. I am told there are parts of India in which the fish-eating
portion of the population is comparatively small, almost nil, ami 1
think the general idea is that it is so in this Presidency also. But
it is not. The majority are vegetarians by compulsion of circum-
stances, not by rule of creed. Taking the last Census report, and
going very carefully through the castes, I find that more than
90 per cent, are of castes that may and do eat meat when they can
get it.

The total population of the Madras Presidency, including the
Native States of Mysore, Travancore, Cochin, and Poothocottah, is
given as 39,5G5,777. Of these 35,903,807 are meat eaters, which
is a proportion of 90-7.

The way in which the calculation has been arrived at is shown
in an enclosure.

49. But I may be told my calculations are purely theoretical
The fish are in the sea. You cannot count and weigh and eat them
there. True. That is the very point of my argument. I say the
harvest is there, and we will not reap it. I will go further, I will
admit that the calculation indicates only the vastness of the farm
standing there before us ready to be reaped. It ttands as vast
impenetrable forests have stood in times past, inviting the axe
and the plough of the settler to utilize their wealth of produc-
tiveness. But it differs from them in not needing so much outlaw
and in being inexhaustible. It stands as a sea of corn inviting j ou
to put in the sickle, aye, to turn in all the reaping machines you
can, and do nothing but reap ; for clearing, tilling, sowing, are all
unneeded. It may take years bet',, re you are able to reap a tenth
or even a fiftieth part of it, still it is as well to run the eye over

the standing crop, estimate its value as approximately as possible,
and consider in earnest whether it is not worthwhile to make a
real commencement at harvesting it, an effort worthy of the crop

Chapt. wvi. A C Km based on Actuals. 387

before us. Halve, quarter, decimate, nay figures, make what
deductions you like, and still the food Earm is Burely large enough
to attract the attention of Government. That is my object

50. Having thus scanned prospective possibilities, and not im-
probable possibilities either, but a calculation carefully reduced at
i very turn to bring it within reliable limits, 1 turn now to a
i dculation based on a wider range of actuals, a range taking in

y adverse circumstance possible, and utterly excluding all
grounds for casting on it any suspicion of being a sanguine or
theoretical calculation. The same Commissioners write: "Wehave,
•• however, a more full return for the last three years, embracing
" nearly the whole line of coast from the Firth of Forth, on the
" North, by the Fast, South and West Coasts of England to the
" Solway on the West, which is of a very satisfactory character."

This is a return of the quantity of fish forwarded by twelve
lines of railway in 1 S < '. 12 , 1863, 1804. The object of the Commis-
sioners was to know whether or not fisheries were declining from
over fishing, and the return showed very satisfactorily that they
wcii' growing rapidly. The return, though very satisfactory from
that point of view, is far from complete for the purpose of the
present enquiry, as will be shown below, and as the Commissioners
themselves regret in the following words: — "With the exception cf
" the statistics of the northern herring fishery collected by the
" Scotch Fishery Board, there are no means of ascertaining, even
" approximately, the annual yield of fish on the coasts of the
" United Kingdom." Incomplete, and evidently far below the
truth, though they are, I take the figures. The return of these
twelve lines foi the last year (1864) was 1:22,381 tons of fish
■d inland The distance of tliis line from Solway to Firth of
Forth, taken in the same way as I have taken it for India, is, I find,
1,G9G miles. The return of 122,381 tons being divided by 1,G96
miles, gives 7215 tons per lineal mile of coast. Taking the coast
of India and British Hannah at 4.G11 miles, and multiplying it by
72*15 tons, we have a yield of 332,683 tons. This is a ver]
different conclusion certainly from the 690,543,360 tons at which
we arrived before. But the larger calculation represented the total
harvest which the sea is seemingly capable of yielding. The minor
calculation represents the equivalent to the actual yielded in

England for transport inland by rail, alter deducting — (1) all not

Tilt It ID IV IM'IV 2 C 2

388 A Plea for Sea Fisheries. C'hait. xxvi.

caught for want of fishing stations along the whole coast, for
want of sufficient and good implements of capture, from the
presence of non-fertile acres, from stress of weather ; (2) all caught
by the French and Dutch boats and taken away; (3) all taken

inland to intervening towns by cart or any means other than rail-
ways ; (1 all consumed on the coasts; (5) all exported in salt to
foreign countries; and (6) all used as manure.

51. Thus, it will be seen, that this return, however satisfactoi .
and sufficient for the enquiry prosecuted by the Commissioners, is
glaringly incomplete for the present purpose. It is obviously very
far from representing the whole actual take of fish, which is what
is here wanted. It is palpably much within the mark. In never-
theless accepting these figures just for the sake of the argument, it
must he admitted that they are so accepted only in lieu of any
more approximate data, and that they are well beyond any further
depreciation.

52. If even this calculation, alter all these deductions, be
applied as a parallel to the average of the Madras Presidency,
which is considered safe, then we have ."..'li'.iis:; tons of fish against
1,287,077 tons of rice, which is a little more than one-fourth ; or,
if the comparative nutriment of the two sorts of food is taken,
more than one half. This 332,683 tons of fish, he it remembered,
is all for inland carriage by rail, and is equal to more than half of
the amount of rice carried inland by the Madras Railway during
the Famine pressure of 1877. From 17th July, 1877, to 31st
December, 1877, 585,233 tons of grain, almost without exception
lire, if, indeed, it was not all rice, was the amount carried inland
from Madras. If the relative nourishment of this 332,683 tons of fish
he considered, it is the equivalent to Si'.l,707 tons of rice, or more
than all that was carried by rail from Madras, more by 246,474
tons of grain. Who will say that such an additional supply of
food for the country would not have saved many lives. At H lbs.
ol -lain per man per diem, it would have sufficed for 1,380,018
working men for a year ; or if it he allowed that fish is 2-J times
as nourishing as rice, for 3,450,043 working men for a year — say,
lor nearly three and a-half millions for a twelvemonth.

53. 1 would wish 1 1 ' ■ x t to turn to the estuaries, but am deficient
in definite proof of fertility, and utterly at a lo>s for data of their
area. As regards fertility, I should point for analogy to the salmon

( iiait. xxvi. /', rtility of Estuaries and Rivt n. 389

fisheries, whose value is patent to all But 1 am met with the
objection that we have not, and cannol possibly have, any salmon
fisheries in India. We have, however, a very valuable sea fish,
the Hilsa (Clupea ilitha) which, like the Shad of America, ascends
our rivers after the manner of the salmon in England Now I find
i om Government Order, 28th June, L878, No. 984, thai one single
locality on one estuary of the Ganges supplied of this single fish
alone, the Hilsa, and that within three months, and salted, for the
return refers only to the fish salted at a single curing yard, no less
than 1.9,300 inaunds. It is also mentioned that there was a large
simultaneous demand for fresh Hilsa carried by rail to Calcutta
and elsewhere. What it was is not given, but if we put it down
at not less than the salted supply, we shall have .">S,r>un inaunds,
say 1.41S tons.

It may fairly be thence concluded that the tonnage of fish to
!"• annually taken of all sorts, specially such as Mullets and
Megaflops Cyprinoides, and at all times, and from all the estuaries of
India, must Vie very considerable indeed; but I have no data
whereon to arrive at the roughest approximation. I can only omit
it, merely drawing attention to the fact that the quantity of food
here omitted from the calculation must lie very large indeed.

•VI. As regards such of the rivers and lakes as are unassailable
by droughty I am again unable to give such accurate data of the
fertility of an acre as may serve whereon to base calculations. I
can only show generally extreme fertility far in advance of any
land. The American Pisciculturist Seth Green, writes : "Expend
" one thousandth part of the sum spent in tilling the laud in tilling
" the water, and fish may he sold in our markets at two cents a
" pound." Dr. F. Bucklapd says, that a salmon worth about as
much as a prime fed sheep can be bred for one farthing. As
regards India, I may instance the following experiment of my own.
Taking advantage of a pond, of about two or three acres, being
cleaned in 1875, I re-stocked it myself with carefully selected soils
offish. I spent 2 rupees. I put in not more than 2 lbs. weight of
fry. I gave 18 months' rest. I Hung in half a handful of snails to

br 1. I did nothing elsa More than 4,000 lbs. weight of fish

are now annually taken out of that pond without making any
impression on it. I should mention that the 2 rupees spent
included also the carriage of the fry from a distant river, fntrin-

.".'.hi A Plea/or Sea Fisher, Cii.ut. xxvi.

Bically what I turned in were worth about l annas, say three
pence. This result came of judicious selection, of not trying
to rear predatory and non-predatory fish, wolves and lambs, on the
same farm.

55. What multiple, then, may I l>e allowed in comparing the fresh-
water farm with the land. Mr. Green says, 1,000. Dr. Buckland's
calculation comes to much the same. My experiment to about
250. Dropping hundreds and thousands, I might surely ask a
modest ten, and, multiplying the acres of fresh water, thereby show
again some millions of tons of fish producible from them. But in
their ease some trifling outlay would be necessary on legislation
and protection. They are not (piite like the seas waiting only to
be harvested.

5G. And, after all, of what avail are figures ? They serve only
to reduce platitudes to points, hazy notions to definite conceptions.
And figures, too, lie under the suspicion of being misleading under
large multiples. 1 have therefore studiously endeavoured at every
turn to steer so far within the truth, that the very figures which I
have put forward, are only to be considered as roughly approxi-
mate estimates. Every multiple has been unfairly reduced. The
Length of line, as taken by an opisometer, is rough in the extreme,
and hundreds of miles within the mark. The depth to which the
breadth of coast bne has been taken is far within the mark, the
favourable localities being without reason thrown out, and undue
allowance made for possible rock, and again for possible barrenness,
and again a liberal allowance for stress of weather. In the second
minor calculation for the sea all the deductions, obviously existing
in the return have nevertheless been accepted. The fertile
estuaries have been taken no count of; and the hundreds and
thousands of miles of perennial fresh water have been allowed to
drop out, while the areas of fresh water not unassailable by drought
have been altogether discredited, though they, too, might be made
lo yield no mean returns in ordinary years.

57. I bad thought to compare the produce of the sea, the
estuaries, and the rivers unassailable by drought, witli the whole of
the produce of the land, both that considered sab' against famine
from being reliably irrigated, and that also that could only be
relied on in ordinary years. 1 had meant to throw in also the
rain-watered "dry lands." Bu1 of what avail are further calcula-

CllAPT. xxvl Tin I Famine on Fishermen. 391

tions ' They would onlj weaiy. Such calculations as have been
brought forward, 1 have felt compelled t<> adduce for the purpose
of reducing platitudes that make no impression to points that
b ave a mark.

How else could I draw exact attention, how else gain a definite

working belief in the real magnitude of the food farm at ourd 8 1

There is food for millions.

58. While quoting from the report of the Sea Fishery Commis-
sioners passages that suit my argument, I must in fairness not
omit t" quote also the one single passage thai seems to militate
against sea fisheries being a preventive of famine.

With reference to Ireland, where the fishermen are mostly
farmers, who fish only when not farming, the Commissioners
write: "The great decline in the number of the fishermen we
" believe to be wholly due to the effects of the famine in 1848,
" and the subsequent emigration. It might have been anticipated
" that during the famine the fishermen at least would be secure
" from its ill effects, and would not only have plenty of food them-
" selves, but would be the means of diverting starvation from
" others. But such was not the case ; it was found that the people
" would not live wholly on fish, nor would they, out of the small
"means remaining to them, buy fish in preference to meal or
" ] '< itatoes ; the fishermen, therefore, suffered, not only from the
" loss of their own crops of potatoes, but from want of a market for
" their fish. They shared to the full extent in the sufferings of the
" famine, and as most of them became physically incapable of
"going to sea, it was frequently found that men were starving,
" while fish wire in abundance on the coast. In many parts of
" Ireland, the fishing population has not yet recovered from the
"depression and ruin caused by the famine; and the subsequent
"emigration, by taking off the youngest and ablest of the fisher-
"men, and leaving behind the old, the feeble, and the incompetent,
"has still further operated, not only in reducing the numbers,
"but in lowering the average condition of those who remain
- behind."

59. These axe awkward facts and unexpected. All 1 can do is
to set against them the equally stubborn fact that our experience
during the present Gamine in India has been the While
other classes have been starving, the fishermen have done well I

392 A Pica for Sea Fisheries. Ciurr. XXVI.

have enquired of the Collectors of the Maritime Districts of the
Madras Presidency, and they have obligingly supplied me with
information of which the following is an epitome. The Maritime
Districts are Ganjam, Vizagapatam, Godavery, Kistna, Nellore,
.Madras, ( 'hingleput, South Arcot, Tanjore, Madura, Tinnevelly,
Travancore, Cochin, Malabar, South Canara. Of these, Travancore
and Cochin are Native States, from which I can get no information,
and from South Arcot, I have no reply as yet ; so that there remain
twelve districts, the reports from which I epitomize. Above they
arc in their coast order. Below I will class them according to
the tenor of their replies ; two unfavourable ; two depending on
the grain trade; and eight favourable on fishery grounds proper.

Tinnevelly. — -It is conceived that there were fewer fish in the
sea than in former years, and that consequently the fishermen
suffered as much as any other class.

Vizagapatam. — The sea fishermen suffered as much as other
classes, especially from the proliibition of the use of earth salt#
Efforts to induce a use of Government salt failed. They emigrated
largely.

Madras. — The sea fishermen in this District profited in large
measure by the liberal hire given them for landing rice, which was
a more lucrative avocation than fishing. This, however, is scarcely
an objection, for it points in the direction of the usefulness of a
body of seafaring men to our mercantile marine as will be seen below.

The take of fish was probably less from the fishermen beinu
otherwise occupied, but the price of fish seems to have remained
unaffected, in spite of the high price of grain. This might naturally
be expected to result from the non-salting of fish for the interior,
in consequence of the' highly profitable employ of landing grain
having absorbed all energies ; and the quantity of spilt grain, \\ hich
the boatmen daily got in their boats, was so ample, that the
fishermen themselves did not eat as much fish as in ordinary
times, and the surplus thus saved, was left to the local public.

Chinglepiit The sea fishermen flourished, but it was probably
more from hire and -leaning in landing grain than from actual
fishing.

Ganjam — The fishermen, it is said, are certainly better off than
the ordinary coolies.

Godavery, — The sea fishermen of the District have certainly

< n ait. xxvi. The Effects of Famim m fishermen. 393

not Buffered during the present famine. They have, they Bay,
derived uo benefit from it, and the Collector is inclined to think
they have not benefited much.

Kistna. — The Collector thinks the .seafaring fishermen have not
Buffered so much as others, though at the same time the distress on
the coast was not so great as it was inland.

NeUore. — The fishermen flourished, and there was little or no
distress amongst them during the famine, but there was an impor-
tant tiling to help them, the Canal was being made, and at one
time there were as many as 41,000 coolies on it distributed all
along the coast. This gave the fishermen an unusually good
market, and when their fishing failed, they could always v..-t ;i day
or two's earthwork on high wages.

Tanjore. — In this District there was never real famine, hut very
nearly famine prices in the midst of plenty, because the grain was
going as fast as it could he carried to famine Districts. Men who
had heen used to add to their daily meal, the luxury of a little salt
tish as a relish, were compelled by the price of grain to abandon
the tasteful dainty. The fishermen bad to pay the same prices as
others for grain, and complain that they suffered equally in that
they had to barter a full meal of fish for a mere pittance of grain.
But this seems to be an admission that to those who were content
with it, fish-food was cheap, and an admission also that the
fishermen could afford to exercise a preference in the food with
which they sustained life. They and their children were in better
case than their neighbours.

At Negapatam they were largely used as in Madras for land-
ing grain, but the above remarks refer to the coast line of the
1 »i-nict generally.

Madura. — The Madura Collector says that the sea fishermen
escaped the great distress felt by the inland population, owing
this escape to the facility with which the)- could take fish, and
Ins Salt Deputy Collector says, that from his personal knowledge,
and from enquiries, he is able to say that they prospered ami
benefited their neighbours, though be adds that fishing was not

necessful in parts of the coast as it used to lie at other tines,
implying that the famine has affected, not the take from, but the
very tides in the sea. This same conclusion is drawn in Tinne-
velly also. But it is a conclusion difficult to accept, and Deeds
some proof.

394 A Plea for Sea Fislieries. Chapt. xxvr.

Malabar. — The fishermen did not suffer as a class during the
famine. Though the captures were not as abundant as usual, they
fetched good prices. Fishermen were not to be seen begging.
'J'ln nigh it cannot positively he said that they nourished, yet it i an
lie said that there was no distress aim nig them, such as afflicted the
Irishmen. " The fish supply undoubtedly helped as through our
" difficulties in the famine. The Collector dined on fresh sardines
"brought by rail, 80 mile3 inland, and the inland fish trade carried
" by porters, got a great impetus." The fishermen were also advan-
taged by employ in landing grain.

South Canara. — The sea fishermen profited by the increased
sales offish, though the article was cheap, but they lost, owing to
the high prices of rice and other necessaries of life, so that on the
whole they were not more prosperous than ordinarily, hut were
perhaps less pinched than others of the poorer classes.

60. I take the general result of this to be that they saved them-
selves and aided their neighbours. There was the same result
when I was Collector of that District myself in the scarcity in
1867. It is reported thai Pilchards were more than usually
plentiful 1 can state from my own knowledge that they came in
the same unusual numbers in 1SG7.

61. Thus we have briefly two districts from which come reports
unfavourable to the usefulness of sea fislieries during the famine,
and ten districts from wdiich the reports are favourable. Of these
ten two may be eliminated on the ground that the welfare of the
fishermen is attributable rather to the grain trade than to fishing,
the remaining eight can report more or less favourably, some very
favourably.

i'iL'. The curious statement coming from Tinnevelly, Madura,
and Malabar, that there were less fish in the sea that year, is met
by the exactly opposite experience in South Canara. I presume
that the scarcity, or plenty of fish, was in no way influenced by
the drought on land, but resulted from the habits of migratory
fish.

63. On the whole, I think, the Indian experience during the
famine, sufficiently neutralises the fears to be entertained from the
experience in Ireland, and that if our Indian experience is so far
favourable even with the present appliances, and almost utter
absence of salting, much more favourable results maybe looked for

*'ii ait. xxvi. '' Oil. Fish Manure. 395

it' we can induce an improvement, both in the fishing and the curing,
with, perhaps, also some additional means of carriage inland in
branch railways likely to be started in connection with the grain
traffic from the coast.

64 It is not to be forgotten thai in salting fish, large quantities
of oil can be saved and added to the wealth which represents the
means of purchasing lend.

65. U is not to lie forgotten that the offal of fish, the refuse
which is otherwise thrown into the sea, and only serves to si
the better fish, and draw the predaceous ones, makes excellent
manure. It is prepared and used in America, under the name of" fish
chum." It is also prepared of the fish condemned at Billingsgate
as bad, OT, as it is there called, diseased. It is already sent in an
offensive unprepared way to our coffee estates. It could easily
be prepared so as greatly to increase its value. 15y this means

the refuse of the seas be made to fertilize, and add to the yield
lit' the land.

66. It is not to be forgotten that fish are' captured on the very
highway for carriage, the sea, whence they can most cheaply be
transported to any rail-fed or road-fed port. They are also
captured where salt is made, or easily earned to them. So that in
both these respects they are better situated than food grown in an
Ulterior district not tapped by rail or canal.

67. It is not to be forgotten that by improving the fisheries,
we shall improve the fishermen also. In England this is a very
important matter as aiding the manning of our naval and mercan-
tile marine. As we have used Indian soldiers, it is possible we
may be glad to have Indian sailors available. They are already
used in the merchant service. In the famine their aid for landing
grain was found indispensable, and their numbers all too small:
impn fisheries would provide against such a difficulty.

6S. My third proposition is that fish are a wholesome diet.
This is surely about as well known as my first one, that the sea
cannot be dried up by a famine.

69. The fourth proposition is, that the supply of fish from the
sea is inexhaustible. This is the burden of the whole Blue Book
from which I have been quoting. This very question was the
origin of the appointment of Parliamentary Commissioners. Men's
minds were exorcised by the fear that over-fishing and injurious

396 A Plea for Sea Fisheries. CHAPT. XXVI.

modes of fishing were destroying our fisheries. The Commissioners
have heaped up a mass of incontestable evidence to the contrary.
Briefly their conclusion may he summed up in their own words :
" This return shows, in 1863, an increase of 11 per cent, over 1862 ;
" and in 1804 of 12 per cent, over 1863. It is particularly interest-
" ing as hearing upon the alleged i'alling-oif of the take of fish on
" the Eastern Coast of England, where, instead of a decline, there
"is shown to be an annual increase exceeding L0,000 tons."

70. But fish decay, I am told, and will not bear carriage in this
tropical clime. This difficulty can be remedied by salt in India, as
it is by ice in England. The question is further discussed in
remarks on fish curing in connection with the experimental farm
proposed.

71. Again, I may be reminded that there are already fishermen
in India, and that their takes are considerable. May be they are,
but comparatively they are perfectly insignificant, grains or ounces
against tons. It would take too long to examine in detail their
means of capturing. It will suffice to say thai, as tar as I am
aware, they do not even know what a trawl net is ; their neaj
approach to it is very poor; and to speak antithetically our steam
launch is represented by their catamaran or raft, formed of four or
five logs lashed together. Still they are a hardy race of win mi
much might be made to the advantage both of themselves and their
neighbours.

72. In the above remarks I trust the fifteen propositions set
forth at the commencement have been supported.

73. Time and space forbid me tn dwell on the profits to the
fishermen, and especially to the capitalists. It would be premature
to dwell on the details of the measures to be adopted. It is also
too large a subject to be worked out in the scraps of time toil-
somely saved from the pressure of current duties, which same
want of time is submitted as an apology for the shortcomings of this
paper. Suffice it here to say that undivided, consecutive, untiring
attention and study will need to lie given to the subject, if practical
useful results are to be expected for the benefit of our fellow
creatures: a fitful policy of general interestedness can produce no
fruits. This, however, is no more than I had the honour of
pointing out more than ten years ago. It is earnestly hoped that
the present famine may suffice to induce the Government to take

Chapt. xxvi. The Subji ' Worthy of Government Attention. 397

definite action in this matter of food supply. Xot ■ f'ui tiling

will it aeed to advance for the purpose. The produce of the wrw
mismanaged fisheries, which is injudiciously merged in the general
revenues, is sufficient to build them up into an incalculable blessing
to the Empire.

74. But in conclusion I will once more strengthen myself in
the weight to be attached to the opinion of the Sea Fishery
Commissioners, requoting from them the following: "When we
■• consider the amount Bf care that lias been bestowed on the improve-
■• nunt of agriculture, the national societies which are established
"for promoting it, and the scientific knowledge and engineering
" skill which have been enlisted in its aid, it seems strange that the

fisheries have hitherto attracted BO little of the public atten-
" tion. There are few means of enterprise that present better
"chances of profit than our sea fisheries, and no object of greater
"utility could be named than the development of enterprise, skill
" and mechanical ingenuity, which might be elicited by the
"periodical exhibitions and publications of an influential Society
" specially devoted to the British Fisheries."

If they could write this of England, and that, too, at a time
when the general idea was that there was over-fishing, surely their
words apply with ten-fold force in far more backward India.

75. On writing the above, I am asked, and it is natural that I
should be asked, " What definite steps I advocate that the Govern-
'• ment should take to utilize the supply of food furnished by
•• the sea and rivers ? "

Such a question cannot be answered off-hand, or if it be. the
answer must be subject to so many qualifications as to make it
lack the required detiniteness.

I do not think it is possible for any man, or even for any
Commission of Experts to advise the Government ofl-hand without
a great amount of previous local enquiry, nor do I think that the
advice given can possibly be final. It must be progressive over a
course of years. I will indicate below the lines which I conceive
such inquiry should follow, and 1 think the conclusion will be that
the most advanced scientist in Europe of ichthyology and pisci-
culture must be incompetent, without much previous local inquiry,
to tend, i off-hand Bound practical advice as to the steps which the
Government should take; in fact, I am confident that a prudent

398 A Plea for Sea Fisheries. Chapt. xxvi.

hi, in would not undertake it. We have only to look around us
and read the record of so many English Companies started on the
most promising theories, seemingly well-considered by eminently
cautious experts, and yet ruined by some little unforseen hitch
inherent in the country ; we have only to consider this to he
satislied of the importance of having exact knowledge of the
native and the country, as well as of the fish. It is necessary that
we should have a knowledge, not only of the native of one
particular country, but of the several natives, the several nations,

] pies, and languages inhabiting India. A knowledge of their

fishing habits, present means, progressive capabilities— a knowledge
of their appliances, and the best way of adapting to them the
improvements to which Europe has attained, a knowledge of the
Indian seas, their depths, bottoms, currents, winds, ports, in order
to judge of the lines, nets, and boats most desirable to use — a
knowledge of the markets, how to reach, and how to influence
them — a knowledge of the existing methods of curing, and the
reasons therefor, together with the wisest way of improving them,
and of surmounting the difficulties offered by the salt monopoly.
These subjects of enquiry present themselves as primary con-
siderations with reference to the sea alone. Then the estuaries
and the rivers must be studied. To enforce the necessity for close
study and consideration of the peculiarities thereof, would require
th.it I should re-wrrite much that has been written by Dr. Day and
myself in our several reports. The natural peculiarities of tropical
rivers, the artificial difficulties introduced by irrigational .structures,
and they are many, fish-passes, wholesale fish-poisoning, indis-
criminate destruction of fry, varying regulation of the size of the
mesh, the use of cruives, and other fixed engines; and these points
require local study of the best method of meeting them. The tisli-
pass question alone is one of much greater difficulty in India than
it is in England, as the enclosed letter with its years of antecedent
correspondence may serve to indicate, lie must be a bold man,

therefore, who ventures to tell the Government exactly what it
should do before he has had the means of locally inquiring. Some
little opportunity for such inquiry 1 may have had, but it has been

very limited limited to the Districts in which I happened to be
employed in revenue administration, limited to the hours and the
seasons I could save from prior revenue and magisterial duties.

Cm ait. xxvi. Tin Measures Advocated. 399

limited therefore, verf limited, both as to locality and time. [f
such defined indnstriea as iron mines, cotton-mills, saw-mills, and
so forth, have repeatedly broken down for want of prescience of
' difficulties, much more is a like danger to be guarded againsl
in an industry which is to spread itself over so wide an ana as all
India, ami to be applied to Buch much less controlable elements as
natural forces, animal life, human beings.

76. My conclusion, then, is that the first Btep which the Govern-
ment should take is to appoint an officer who shall he able to

the whole of his undivided attention to the mastery of practical
difficulties; they are neither few nor insignificant, and the vis
inertia to he overcome at every turn is alone so great, that such an
officer will have before him a truly Herculean labour. If he is
resolved to leave marks of success within a reasonable time, he will
not tail to find hi- best energies and his patience taxed to the
utmost.

77. Whether there should at first be one such officer for all
India, or one for each Presidency, I am doubtful; but if there
!»■ only one, I think he should work in the direction of systema-
tizing a scheme by which each Presidency should eventually have
charge of its own fisheries, for if the industry grows as it should,
the Fisheries of a Presidency, like the Salt, the Police, the Agri-
culture of a Presidency, will be as much as one head can manage.
Each Presidency should also, for the purpose of extension, have the
(•( mtrol of its own funds, the proceeds of its fisheries. At the outset
it may be possible that some small allotment may be needed from
Imperial Funds, hut I do not anticipate it.

78. Any officer or officers appointed to the duty should, I think,
give attention to all the local peculiarities which I have above
indicated, to the drafting of a law, to the creation of an experi-
mental Farm, to the organization of so much Establishment as may
be found absolutely necessary for the protection of the Fisheries, to
the writing of the very simplest and briefest possible manuals for
the guidance of those employed in the advancement of Fisheries.

7'.'. With Ichthyology or the classification and nomenclature of
fish, I do not think we need concern ourselves; that is being well
done by Dr. Day, the late Inspector-General of Indian Fisheries,
and even in his retirement, and at his private cost. Not only
should no counter effort he made in that direction, hut any possible

400 A Plea/or Sea fisheries. Ciiait. xxti.

assistance in the supply of new specimens rendered, so that he may
make his work as complete as possible. Our business is the eating
of fish by the masses, and for want of a better term, I will call our
way to it practical pisciculture.

80. But I do not propose any fish cultivation in the sea, for the
sea needs no culture, only harvesting; and the harvesting properly
conducted is in itself a means of culture. It is a general and
obviously necessary rule in nature, that the predatory class* 8
propagate their species less rapidly than those preyed on. It
follows that improved fishing, if applied equally to both classes of
fish, must most affect the class that has the less power of recouping
itself, to wit, the predatory. The result is increased immunity and
multiplication of the minor species, and thus it comes about that in
large measure, man takes the place of predatory fish, or, in other
words, the Fishery is improved.

81. Neither do I propose artificial cultivation of the fresh-
water fish, but rather assistance of the natural reproduction by
protection from wholesale poisoning, by regulation of the size of the
mesh, and other protection of fry from indiscriminate slaughter.
The best practical methods of applying such protection, and
adapting their details to various rivers will have to be Studied.

82. For harvesting tbe sea, I think it would be well to have an
experimental and model Farm. It is found necessary in agri-
culture, and I think that in this country it is equally necessary in
aquiculture or pisciculture. I think it is necessary that we should
show the native fishermen what can be captured by our English
methods. We may talk as long as we like about trawls and tints,
and so forth, but they will not give practical heed to us till they
see the fish brought ashore. Then they may wish to know more
about them, and then we should be able to show them the impli -
meuts in work, and allow them to copy them exactly.

83. But 1 would wish to guard against the thoughtless plunging
into English, Dutch, or French means of capture, without first
thoroughly studying their suitability to Indian seas, and men, and
means. I am inclined to think that one reason why agriculture has
for ten long years made so very little progress in this Presidency ;.t
hast, if not in other parts of India, is that it commenced by too
little regarding the native and the country, and aiming at the in-
troduction of a too full blown and English stereotyped agriculture.

('ii.vi'T. xxvi. ' Hon of English Appliances. I"l

For instance, it is nol to be concluded thai because Bteam
launches are the must profitable means of fishing in England, they
must necessarily be so in [ndia

Fuel is more expensive here than in England, which is an
argument against steam, but winds and currents both run in the
same direction on the roast from which I write, so that working
against the current or getting hack to port againsl the wind, will
both be difficult, nay impossible, without steam. It is a question of
which the pros and cons must be worked out experimentally. A
small steamer could, perhaps, be lent for the purpose of a trial. I
believe all the Government vessels are Bcrew-steamers. Shift
could nevertheless be made for a trial.

84 But I do not think that one Fish Farm will suffice for all
India, any more than one Agricultural Farm. I think that at the
very commencement there should be one in each Presidency.
Considering the areas sought to be influenced, this is very little;
I will be valuable that they should help each other by com-
paring notes of progress ami practical difficulties from time to time.
This they will naturally do if they all report to, and are under the
eye of, one central officer equally interested in all. and keeping all
informed of the progress of the others. At the same time healthy
emulation will be encouraged, and a wider knowledge acquired.

85. The native craft used in fishing are of many sorts, from the
maran upwards, and it would have to he seen which could best

be adapted to the use of large English nets, and native nets them-
selves would have to be compared for the purposes of adaptation to
the boats, to the seas, to the men, to the fish.

86. The introduction of cotton in place of hemp in nets might
seem a minor matter, nevertheless it worked a perfect revolution in
English Bea-fishing, because a boat that used to carry '.hjo yards of
netting can now carry 3,300 yards. It might do the same in India.
We have now cotton-mills in India that could make the nets by
machinery even more cheaply here than they can in England

87. An equally important branch of the Farm would be to
teach how best to cure lish for the Indian market, how to express
and send to market oil, how to prepare fish manure. Each one of
these is an important industry in itself; the three combined are
still more so.

88. The chief fault of the present Indian curing seems to hi'

THB BOD re INDIA. -J |)

402 A Plea for Sea Fisheries. Chait. xxvi.

that it does not ordinarily commence till after putrefaction has
sel in. Fish are also dried in the sun rather than cured with salt,
so that with the Least moisture In the atmosphere they smell most
offensively. And they will not travel far.

Then, again, fish are cured so very dry and hard that they are
only eaten in very small quantities as a salt relish. Objections are
loudly raised to the insurmountable obstructiveness of the salt
monopoly. It is idle to run a tiltagainst that infinitesimal indirect
poll tax which, as such, has so much to commend it, and is far too
important a source ofrevenueto besacrificed. Let it lie a business
of the farm to show in practice that it is not an insurmountable
difficulty. The giving of salt cheap in curing yards has already
been conceded by Government. The difficulty is to bring the salt
to the fish out at sea immediately they are caught, for when caught
far out at sea, they must necessarily in this tropical clime be
putrid before tiny get ashore, and this difficulty prevents fishing
any distance from the shore. 1 have seen fish being brought in
covered with maggots. As fish are put into wells of waterand kept
alive, and into wells of ice and kept i'resh in England, so J believe
that they might !"■ put into wells of strong brine in this country,
and that brine may be given cheap under certain regulations with-
out any fear of salt smuggling. They could not evaporate il into
salt on board, ami it would be very nearly as difficult to make salt out
of it on shore as it is to make salt of the sea water or earth efflo-
rescence ; no that no new difficulty to the salt monopoly would lia\ e
been introduced.

89. The curing of fish stands very greatly in need of fostering.
It should nol be forgotten that there was a time when English fish
salting suffered from like difficulties. Adam Smith Bays, thai
before the repeal of the Salt laws, although salt a ed for curing
was exempted from duty, yet, to protect the revenue, so many
Regulations were enacted that manj of the fishermen chose to use
taxed salt rather than comply with the tales. The character ofour
salt fish had also to lie maintained ly Government supervision, and
a Government brand. It should not surprise us, therefore, thai
Indian fish curing stands in need of encouragement, especially when

i onsider the chronic depression firmly established by long years
of suppressive sail monopoly, and the very recentness of the one
concess made. It cannol be expected that an industry so long

< 'iiai't. xxvi. tinuous attention required. 403

daad will at once Btart into lift-' and vigour without something more
than simple Bufferance, without smut' active fostering. At present
there i- do one specially interested in watching its practical
difficulties and helping it over them. At most we have an orderof
Government, and a stray Native DeputyCollei a ully energetic,
ami that without knowledge, We have no one continuously
interested in it and watching, and steadily assisting it in the way
of progressive improvement and extension. I note, as shown in
my letter shove* quoted and enclosed in connection with fish-
s, that one single officer has in one place and in one season of
months brought about the curing of from 77,000 Rs., to
96,000 Rs.,say on an average 86,000 Rs. worth of fish. Does not this
encourage the hope that like fostering in many places might
contribute markedly to swell the amount of cured fish sent into the
interior.

90. At the very outset, also, I think it would be well to have
some statistics of how we stand now, so that we may test the
growth of our fisheries, the results of our measures.

91. As to whether any and what nominal or other tax shall be
put upon the fishermen whereby to find funds [or the advancement
of fisheries, is a question for consideration.

92. While 1 have insisted bo strongly on the value of local
knowledge, it will not lie concluded that I in the least undervalue
fish knowledge ; on the contrary, it is only on science that any local
enquiry can profitably be based. That proposition is. I hope, self
evident. It were easy to enforce it l>y install iiis injur]
already done in more places than one in India by misguided but
well-intentioned energies, and the extraordinary suicidal proposals

of friendly but ignorant supporters of pisciculture. It were easy
but unkindly, to particularize ; and as no practical good would be
gained by detail here, 1 trust the general position maj be granted
that any one entrusted with all the duties above indicated should
have a previous knowledge of fish generally, and of Indian fish in
particular, and a concurrent knowledge of the country and people.
This last would be a very great advantage ind 1 as indicated by

the stress which I lay on local knowledge and tic i I tain-

ment of it.

' Omitted hare

1 in: en i\ i\i.i * 2 D 2

404 A Plea for Sea Fisheries. Chapt. XXVI.

93. The officer or officers appointed to lav down the first lines
of Pisciculture in India should, in my "pinion, meet these requisites.
Those that follow, if well selected, can acquire their knowledge in
the course of their duties.

94. ISut no officer can do justice to the task without books of
reference, and as I am asked to give, an opinion what delinite steps
Government should take, I venture to submit that the first thing
it should do is to form in each Presidency a Piscicultural bookshelf,
containing a complete record of all that has been done and is being
done in the several branches of fish industry in different parts of
the world. We want all the information we can get about nets,

lini i ts, steam-launches, and all other appliances for capturing

fish in the sea, in the estuaries, in the fresh waters ; about the
different methods of curing and packing fish for human consumption,
and for manure ; about oil extracting ; about artificial fish breeding,
and in this respect the American experience is valuable; about the
Laws and rules made in different countries to suit different circum-
stances. 1 cannot find, and 1 have searched, that the Government

of this Presidency* has a single 1 k of any real value on the

subject, and never have I been able to get the smallesl particle of
help from any Government bookshelf in this matter. I have had
to be entirely dependent on my own private library, lamentably
meagre though it is. The officer charged with the task of organiz-
ing the Indian Fisheries should be given a very liberal discretion in
the formal ion of a library.

95. The existing museums, by devoting a section thereto, can do
something hereafter towards the education of those employed in
aiding the advancement of the industry, and the several Superin-
tendents will doubtless co-operate kindly when the time arrives.

* I hare since learnt that there ire omi boos about fish in the Madras Central
Museum, but whether fchej are of the uorl required, is the question. 1 fear thev

are not.

CHAPTER XXVII.

STRAY CRUMBS FOR THE NATURALIST AND
PISCICULTURIST.

•• And tlii* imr life, exempt from public- haunt,
Find in trees, books in the running brooks,

Scrinons in stones, and good i" everything." —

As lor likk ir. Act ii, Sc. 1.

Page
The superficial urea of the propelling power of t e Mahseer. "Trying to

account for," Ac.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

The Natural Historj of the Mahseer, Chapt. III. For particulars of which,

see Contents. See also Mahseer in [ndex.
The Mahseer a great fish eater, though a Carp. " To any one," &c. ■. .. 35
:'s extraordinary power of compression with a soft leathery
mouth. " But we have not," &c 35-37

, birds, communicate

te of the fish preyed on not neceesarily regulated bj th i
preying on them, the largest fish frequently taking small

Fish communicate ideas to each other
Fish have brains, and think with them
Monkey- converse
Dogs „

Bison „

Antelope, sheep, tigers.
\ ■ • communicate
Molluscs converse
Fish speak

„ hear

„ smell . .

A fish's different manners of ascending and descending streams
A fish's way of preying " Predatory fish," &c.
Social animals must con
Short-sightedness of fish under water

„ „ out of „

Distribution of Mahseer, last para, in
the same places

Barbux Camaticus ..

,, ,, acclimatized on the Nilau'iri U ills

size of the lish
baits in prefer-

62

.53 5o
55
56
58

5 i

6 I
r>o
61
64

64, 292

. 63

65

67

.( 72

64

73, 256

. 77

83

88

118,137

193

4 i(3

Cn

Chapt. X.WII.

Fish's manner of taking Eood

„ „ ejecting Eood

Chela

frogs rising to Bies . .

Barbus filamentoina and IS. Mahecola

Bariliwi Canarensis..

„ hola

I reinus wrongly called a Trout
Labeo . .

Cirrhina cirrhota
Wallago attu. ■

/In I .irirs )',irr, II ii . .

Hca . .
( 'alichrous

Ophi abodes of . .

„ food „

''V •■

head

., thrives in ponds . .

respiration of
exhibits parental affection
„ description of

Pro i eat i rj .

„ manner oi swallowing frogs . .
Sna' es ,. ,, ,,

Masiacemblus
'/■'

Loclileven Troul in [ndia
a stream not necessary to the breeding oi Troul
Frj of fish ascending bj backwater
Feeding times of sea-fish
Polt/nemus

calcarifer
l roaeiu

W - ilnpft cypriiin

Cybiwn

Frj in r i aar es

„ rivers . .

,, rice fields
Chanos s ilmoiu us ..
\, . inn.ii .'I se i-fish
i ,, i Pop ■ and An,,, -us Alias
The Otter hunts by scent ..

Habits oi the Otter..

/ i Tfiiir . .

Formation and use oi < otter's tail . .

Spawning and fry

Page
131

.. 132
.. Ul
.. 143
111 146
117, 153
.. 154
.. 154
159, 161, 165
164, 166
.. 167
. . 169
.. 170
.. 171
.. 175
.. 175
.. 176
.. 177
.. 183
.. 182
.. is.)
. . 185
.. 181
.. 182
.. 182
.. 187
.. 187
. . 190
.. 191
.. 197
196, 197
. . 198
.. 210
.. 218
.. 214
.. 215
. . 197
. . 349
270, 35 1
.. 217
219, 289
'S.V2
259. 262
.. 260
. . 261
. . 266
. . 269

Chapt. XXVII.

Stray < 'ruml

4n7

Spawning peculiarities of differenl
Ova in the i

. .
inding the animation of ova . .
tating and estivating
Btockii • bap. XX II

'•IX ..

I the overflow for fry

Tin- differenoe between !ne oroc idile and alligator
Manner of suffocating a porpoise or whale
Exfoliation of fish
Lateral line „
Pish jumping to wards water
Stuffing and preserving fish
Fish's manner of swimming
Snail's manner of feeding. .
Feeding of fish
Kingfishers useful
Shark's evidence of fertility
1 v-i rrn ■:-. ei ess of predatory fish . .
Advantage of Boode and droughts in rivers
Nature's balance
Poisoning rivers
d Bah

Index.
- of fish, see Size in Tndex.

J7"
-'71
272
273
274
275
279
283
287
287
28S
289
289
289
, 300
292
278
278
. 295
881, WO
378
350
362
347
361

297

INDEX.

Pa [i

ility of small fish ..

no

Acclimatization of fish

219, 289

Acknowledgment of assistance

5

1 . .

397

Address of tackle makers ..

L'lU

Adlington hook

114

A.) vaiitiLro of Hoods and droughts in rivers

850

. .

271

• -tan

34-1

Air breathing fish

182

Alanalur..

311

Allahabad

327

Alligators. See Crocodiles.

Alternating pools . .

129

Amadavate

285

Ambala Dial riet . .

844

lipuiam

311

Anglers, aiders of pisciculture

3, 4, 5, 6

„ cooperation of, sought

6

Anglers in [ndiaarefew

G

Anglers. Sea also Fishermen.

Anglicised names for fish ..

no

Anglieoorchi

314

Angling not pain-giving

290

.4 nguilor Bengalensis

187

Anjeraeoondy

310

Ankle boots recommended

255

Antelope communicating

GO

mi Pit ph ill . .

232

Anti-ealkmg taotice. .

11

Ants communicating

61

Apologia pro libro meo

1

Apparel . .

254

Areac ■ ' .

310

Arienkavu

313, 814

Arsenical Soap, rcei| c f.T ..

297

„ „ injnrionmeas of

298

410

Lull ■

Artificial breeding of Salmon, Ac.

200

,, gram suggested

10.3

„ minnow on limlisi -it hooks ..

223

,, „ size of

223

„ „ use of

44

„ otter

245, 259

" Asian " extracts from the . .

326 388

Asiatic trimmer . .

179

Assam ..

338

Assam fish

171

Asnfgurh

3:i2

, tttacua Allot

232

Attapadi. .

311

A vermis . .

188

Back fish, Mahseer not

27

Backwater

197

Bag, a good

325, 333

Bagariut farrellii. Its size, &e.

169

Bait for Labeos

L62

,, Puli/n' nua

200, 202

„ found in rice fields

53

Baiting a single salmon hook

I'.i

„ hook with gram

L02

live for Murral

177, 178, L79

„ dead fish for Murral. .

178

„ „ Mahscer

17

„ frog for Murral

178, 179

„ needle, use of

is

Bait-kettle, earthern pot as . .

211

Bait preserved in sail or spirits

65

„ size of fishes for

It. 53, 54

, sorts „ „ „

52, 53

Balehannur

315

Bd~m)n. See Pvli/m uuix.

„ committee..

206

Banair . .

345

Banyan fruit as bait

103

Barbel, Mahseer a. .

17

Barbus Comatuius

lis

„ chrgsopoma. See Olive Carp. .

i it;

,, curmuca ..

163

„ Jilamentosus, how to strike ..

138

Jilmnentosus

133, 1 M

„ filament osus. See Black Spot

lit

,, heiarjaiuili pis

139

,, jerdoni ..

138

., maheeola

111

Index. Ill

B.irhitx motai

lor ilcscript ion of bv Dr. Day
Burilius bold. Bee [lulirui Trout.
., bold, fly fishing for
,, Cd*'irensis „ , .
,, other
Baril- description of

una little fly-taken . .
,, placet for t'>
,. tlies for them

renl -mull sorts of . .
Basket seat in oomcle
B mo, or Pstudeutropius ganta

..
Batches of eggs

!y . .
Bawunny, the

intoxicating
Ballarj

Bengal gram as a bait br nfahseer
. .
re ..
Big fish . .
Billikallake
Bilnpatam
Biranthadaka
Birds oommaniaal
Bison

moor
Black flies preferred
Black spot Bah, how to strike
Blaekspots. See Jadkal. Mala. Wondse.
„ the habitat "f

manner of taking fly
,, need flned striking
„ swim in shoals

thrive in ponds . .
,, taking hours

,, description of
Boar spearing
Boat fishing
Bom-min. .
Bones, have it in my

best for wading
Boring, gram
Borelli ..

. feeding propensitic- .if Mahsoer

.

18

18

lot,

328

335
147

153

i:,:S
117
117
148

117

12!l
171
334

28
311
121

58
303

101

,4e.
344

205

310

25, 169,

325,

333
193

•

205,

310

306
60
60

03

96,

328

92

133

144
145
145
115
146
146
146
f, 13

86,

319

18,22

121

255

•■

102

104

293

30, 31,

325

41:

Index.

Bottom fishing for Chela
,, „ Labeos

„ „ Olive Carp

„ „ Mahseer. .

„ „ in the sea

Bowalis . .
Bmin of fish

ling more rapid in India than in England
Bri Ige, I he best side of
Bright water for Mahseer fishing
Buehanan
Buffalo rare, story
Buoyancy of ova of sea-fish
Durmah . .
Buroundah
Butler's Hudibras
Bypore . .
Cachar . .
Calasa
Calicut . .
Calculating size of Mahseer by length
Culhrrous limaculatus

„ pabo ..

Oanara District
„ fevers
„ rivers
Cannanore
Canoolli

Captain Cuttle's watch
Curinix at Cundapoor
Carnatie Carp

., brought to the Nielgherrics

„ places to fish for

„ congregate like Dace . .

,, wander like Dace

„ tin ir manner of taking the fly

Carped 'i in
Carp, Mahseer a . .
„ how to catoh the common
,, in the Ootaeaniund Lake
„ the white
Carrnlhoondy
i ! .it fish spawning ..
Caukencolta
Cawnpore

Central .Museum. S« Mustum.
Ohabeno . .

P !

1 12

15H

117

. . 106, 109

217

112

57

283

203

33, 51, 70, 112

18

26

271

338

327

174

332

338

315

21 5

26

172

172

304

. . 304, 305

346

. . 200, 205

310

216

306

118

193

121

122

122

131

82

.. 17,35

195

189

164

205

271

..311,316

332

104

Iiuli.r.

II:;

Ckano* Salmoneus. .

C'llMlklllll

Chatty h bail kettle
Characteristics of ro<ls
Cbannadj

Chela anjenlea
„ flies
„ a pond and river fish. .

. .
,, ten aorta of ..
fishing hours
lying places ■ .
floal i i ?■ 1 1 i 1 1 ir for
description of
„ at Nagawadi

vernacular names of . .
Chelmo rostratus, expectorating
Chira ..
Chirgaon. .
Chri/sophris berda. .

„ dalnia

Chrrslie, Major ..
Chub, a fish-eater . .
Chunchincnttay ..
Chnporapadn
Cidly ..
Cirrhina cirrhosa

„ ,, description of

trificatioa of Mahseer
Clearing the rod top

Clear water essential for Mahseer fishing
Clothes fur wading. .

.•uard
i k-O-the-walk ..
Cock-up. See Late* calcarifer.
Cock-up at Mangalore
Coloi, - method of fishing ..

Colonel Osborn's paper ..
Coloured water, fishing in , .
i I uring, manner of, fish ..
Colquhoun's Moor and Loch
Comfort in a corracle

Col ittee, K'iniiii

< '■ nuiiiunicating power of, in Antelope
,. „ „ .\ni-

„ „ Birds

■■ >, ii Bison

33, 112;

817,806
869
^ 1 1

135
804

1 II
111
1 II
1 II
1 II
1 18
11-'
1 12
U3
306
142
131
346
831 1
.196,214
196
101
35
316
310
306
164
166
17
9

32G, 328
254
187

320, 339

306

111

199

111

23

291

129

206

60

61

60

60

II I

Index.

Communicating power of,

n Dogs . . . . . . . . 59

» »» M

„ wild . . . . . . . . 60

M ii 11

Fishes .. .. .. 56 58, 62-65, 202

..

Monkey s . . . . . . . . 58

'1 ', |1

Sheep . . . . . . . . . . 60

•• 11

Tigers .. .. .. .. .. 60

'1 11 11

Wolves . . . . . . .. .. 60

('.impression, Mahseer breaks hooks by .. .. .. .. 3fi, 318

„ kill

- Bmall 6sh by . . .. .. .. 82, 35

Concealment, importance of, in gram fishing doubtful .. .. . 103

,, important in

other fishing .. .. .. 39-42,77-79

Contents of stomach of Mahseer, truthful index of food .. .. 37

ii ii

information to be gained by examining 29, 35-37, 40

Continuity of pressure in playing a fish .. .. .. ,.11,12

Contrarieties of Bfahseer

. . 33, 35

Contributions acknowledged .. .. .. .. .. 5

Coollon. See Lah

■ifer.

Cooloor

306

Co-operation of anglers sought .. .. .. .. .. 5,302

Coorg

316

Cootyaddy

310

Coracle . .

12H

,, seat for

129

Corrosive sublimate

29S

I Sosseyah Hills

338

Cottampally

311

( lotton, quotations from

90, 189, 220

Courtallum

313

( Irocodiles, useful . .

287

Crocodile and Alligator difference .. .. .. . .. 287

,, night line for

286

„ Bpearing. .

286

„ when trading

256

Crumbs for naturalists

405

Crumpled up spoon

35

Cudalloor

311

Cultivating a pond

277

Cundapoor

806

i yiium. See Seer tisli

215

Cyclopaedia, English

292

! ike manner of takinj

fly .... .. .. .. 131

Dadapur. .

155, 314

ng with a dead frog

178

Dai

387

Day, Dr.

198

Day's Dr., Fishes of India

18, 188, 148, 146, 117. 168, 167, 165, 166, 171,

185, 21o. 218, 21 1

•I 1 5

Pi i

I . .

68

r. lire bait

ll

Deep i:

87

Dehra

Delhi district

314

Delhi and - )'. R nlu.iv

155

Depth at which to fish for Mahseer ..

. 87, s7

Description of sereral B

1 63

oetionoffrj in rioe fields

353

rivers . .

868

pre latory li-li

378, l 0

Diagram of angle of vision ..

88

Dinner boll

216

i - iculturiat

4

water, method of fishing in

111

Distribution of the Oarnatic Oarp

137

stala . . . . . . . . . . . ,

306

Dhunna . .

330

oommonicating

. 59, 60

ication of Otter, Chap. \ \

Donne, quotation from

40

Doon

155

Doon's letters . . . . l'3H. ?39

, 326-339

flies. Sea Fly.

Double loop

224

Drawing of hooks . .

227

manner of. fish

22

■ *

254

Drop fly, tying on a

151

Drying a pond

277

Edda

310

Eddamunnah

311

Edilawarra

312

Edibility of Carnatio Carp ..

131

Eel ..

1ST

„ Mahseer

16

'•• 1 Trout

72

Education of Mai

104

Eels

112

,. night lines for

Ins

„ size, strength, edibility ..f

187

1 so ..

333

Klephanl hair

296

Mattnix

214

lia

2'.I2

1 IT . .

810

Estuary Ashing unsatisfactory

216

416

Index.

Etymology of Mahseer

Eulates religiosa

Evil tendencies of frogs

,, „ hook makers

Exfoliations of fish
Experiment at Vallam
Explanation of terms
Extracts from the " Asian"
„ " Field »

,, „ " Madras Times '

Eyed hooks rusting gut
FaUures in gram fishing
Famine, effect of, on fishermen
Fancy flits, the must killing
Fasting a mistake when fishing
Fategarh..
Feeding of fish
„ by suction
,, times
Fertility of t lie sea
Fever

„ in Bengal and \. W. P.
„ See Sirildi and Wondse.
„ See Sittuguni,
Fibre of Sago palm
" Field," extract from
Fight between Otter and Jack
Fine fish

Fineness of tackle important
Fine striking
Fins, names of
Fish communicating
„ compared with rice as food
„ for bait

,, jumping towards river . .
,, manure ..

,, no fools
„ oil ..

,, see before they are seen
„ short righted under water
,, slowly

„ bucI bail up oft the bottom
,, think

Fishermen, observant
Fishing deep
hours

Page
24

61

181

222

289

275

17, 19

238, 239, 326-338

318-326

333-3 13

113

103

391

92

137

832

297

31

.. 83, 108

371. 376

305

326

178

318

261

25, 16'.'. 823

. . 51, 57, 69, 7"

133

19

62 65, 292

885

.. 52, 53

289

395

57

B95

77

.. 73. 256

69, 98, ill

L68

57

3

87

83, 108, 137, 200, 212. 216, 320

I mli r

117

Piihing in duoolonred witer

looalitiee (Chapt. XXIV)
„ months „

Flaps on lips of Mahseer

Flight of hooks for Polynemus
Float fishing for Chela
„ fishing, the charms of. .

„ „ with live frog. .
Floods and droughts in riven
Fluke ..
Fly drop. .
,, Bahing generally
., „ for Mahseer

,, sea fish

„ small fish (Chapt. XI).

„ for Barils
„ Black .Spots

Climatic Carp
Chela ..
Indian Trout
„ Malisecr — Blackamoor

Coek-o'-the-walk. .
Smoky Dun

recommended by " Doon ". .
"K." ..
" Pale Face '
Olive Carp
" Doon's," yellow
dark blue
grey
orange
dark yellow
black and red
,, manner of taking the, by the Carnatic Carp
., sizes of
„ Ming

,, rertus spinning
„ spoiling in India
Food of Ifahaeer

Foul Fi-li, Ifahaeer not whin spawning
Franklin..

! water shark . .
„ „ three sorts of

Frog as bait for Murral
„ dapping with a dead ..
„ eating frogs . .
,, taking flies

THE BOD Ol INDIA.

Ill

83, 205, 210, 302

82, 108, 118, 810

21

202
112
158
179
350
215
151
90
90
209

148

lis

126

111

155

.. 9G, 328

320, 339

310

327, 32s, 829

320

334

146

327

327

328

329

329

329

131

97

. . 95, 97

. . 38, 325

242

29

16

92

112

ir.7

178

178

182

143

2 K

418

Inde

Frog, the bud habits

„ hard life and jollity of

Eviction of « inch . .

„ ,, from the rod

Pry ascend rivers by backwater
„ eaten by frogs
„ in estuaries . .
rice fluids . .
,, rivers
„ pools
Gairsoppa
Ganges, the
Gamoth..

Gimp, stout, for sea fish
Goldsmith
Good fishermen are good observers . .

,, ,, killing larger fish than indifferent Bsher

Goolara
Gopaneri

Gourami, introduction of ..
„ value of . .
„ propagation of
Gram fishing

" W. F. F.'s " method . .
,, " J. A. B.'s " suggestions

Gratings..

Grey mullet fry, as bait
Ground bait
Ground baiting for Mahseer in gram fishing ..

,, ,, in bottom fishing
Gndalur..
Gujranwalla District
Gunnapadivattam . .
Gurdaspur

Gnt, brittleness of , in India
manufacturing
,. of Tussa Silkworm
,, ru-t eaten
,, soaking
Gwalior . .

Baggadevai ttah

Hair elephant
Balln ..
Samlet's progress. .

H:\llip00..

11 md of a li>li is his mouth. .
II i Lng a pleasant sensation

Page

182

181
10
10
197
181
197
. . 270, 351
349
359
317
155
31(1
211
7
3
51
330
312
279
279
279, 280, 281
101
104
109
277
200
162
101
110
311
311
311
311
225
2:S2
232
226
225
156
316
296
19
285
303
132
290

I mil.

A 1 9

llansogec

Jiirli m)nu

Maui shikaree

11 trim: in fish

Henderson's " Mj Life as an Angler"

Heresy about salmon flies ..

Herring spawning..

Hiawatha's fishing

Highly educated Trout

Hindus are fish eaters

II -inkal
Hooka, Ellington

breaking under the barb
Hook drawing

flight of, for Polfinemu*
„ for gram fishing
Kendal seale of
,, Limerick, remarks on
>. ,, scale of . .

„ my flight of
,, peculiar eyed
ringed

single for Mahseer . .
Bneok bend, seale of
.. ■ Ifahseer

„ too many, depre
„ treble, seale of
Hoonsoor
HosbiapuT District
Hours for fishing for Ba-min

„ „ Black spot -

„ „ Carnatic Carp ..

Chela..

■I ii Oook-np

,. ,, Estuary fish

„ Indian trout . .

i< i, Labeos

., Lutianus Jloseus

,. „ Mahseer

n i, Murral

How to work the fly f,,r Mahseer
Hudibras
Hurdwar
Hutti
B sating

3l e Chano* . .

lebt1 ;.

THI Hot. I\ INDIA.

Page

316

19

189

. . 113, 292

291

91

273

41

72

386

312

1M

.. mi i:.G

. . 97, 227

202

. . 102, 105

94

.. 110,156

91

240

..113,114

114

49

94

..220,310

61

48

316

34-1

200

146

137

142

212

216

155

..160,161

109

83, 108, 320

175

97

174

155, 331, 338

." I.',

-71

-'17

119

L' !•: 2

4 1'U

Index.

Impromptu tackle disapproved
Indian entomology

„ Pike put in the Pykara Stream

„ pisciculturist, his disadvantages

„ sailors

„ seas as fertile as English seas.

„ Trout

„ „ description of . .

„ „ fishing places for

„ „ leap into the air

„ ,, the baits for . .

„ „ their colour and size
Internal evidence
Inventory of Mahsecr's stomach

„ information amassed by taking
Iratti
Izaak Walton

„ „ singeing gut
Jack and Otter fight

„ of 7 lbs. used as a bait
Jadkal . .
Iri . .
Jamun Khatla
Taw, powerful, of Mahseer
Jerdon's otter
Jhansi
Jhelum ..

Johnson's, Dr., definition
" J's" letter . .
Jubbulpore fishing
Julluuder District. .
Jumina Bridge
Jumna, the
.lumping, fish, towards river

„ into the air not the hal.it of Mahseer.

Jungle cock fly
Jynteah Hills
Kahuta ..
k.d inaddi
Kalapani. .
Kalhi river
Canara District
Eansaras. ■
Karkal ..
Kashmere

Eeen-sightednesa of lisli
K, aping bail alive. .

117

164, 155

17,

l in. n;;.

Page
220
148
193
4
395
380
328, 335
157
155
157
155
155

30

29

29

310

275, 302

2L»7

261

54
306
155, 344
331

35
265
328
318, 344

58
70, 333
104
344
844
155
289

14
320
338
315
318
331
205
317
331
804
345

77
288

Index.

121

Keeping out of right
Ktmbh'i see Lutianus rosem.

Hills
Khurkha
Killing fish l>v compression ..

,, Mahseer .

or playing a fish ..
■ fish alone
rf Bab for bait
Kingfishers useful . .
Kirebag ..
Kiqia
Ki-hur ..
Kistnapatem

1 , double loop. .
„ for drop fly . .
„ in fly tying . .
Kogem . .
Kohiai ..

k -ana. .

Kort, the, a fish ..
Korwinee

Kulanji see Latex ealearifer.

Kunkhal..

Kurp.un ..

Kuti

"K's" letter

"L. .1 - " left or ..

Labeos, bait for . .
„ distribution of

Dr. Day's description of
in Tanjore. SeeTanjore.
their sorts and rixes

„ Tlirietir- ..

cunning ..
., kill-..)' ..

the rod and tackle for them
thrive on the Nielgherries
used for stocking |K>nds
when to strike for ..
Lahore District
Laour

Landing a Mahww
■A line
,, ': in water

• . .
rise of

Page

:*'.' 12, 77 7:'. 328

88a

:i^7
17
.. Hi-
ll, 12, 13, 320
122
52
896
304
8-16
310
312
101
l.-.l
227
310
327
327
171
3 15

332
311
122, 125
318
70, 333
162
16-t
165

159

159
159
159
161
194
161
162
314
333
15, 321
289

73. 266

196, 197

210

422

Index.

Litis catearifw season for . .
„ ,, water for . .

., ,, tackle for. .

„ „ bait for . .

,, ,, peculiarities

„ ,, time for . .

„ ,, description of

Lead wire for weighting lines
Leeches ..
Limerick hooks, remarks on

., „ scale of

Limitation of the name Mahseer
I. ine cutting rings..

„ running
Live bait versus dead bait . .
„ „ picketed
,, baiting, native way of . .
,, ,, for Murral,

Local fishermen, need for ..
Localities for fishing (Chapt. WIVi .. .. .. 83-84,

„ in which different fish an found
Loeldeven Trout on the Nielghcrries
Locomotion of fish
Longfellow, quotation from. .
Loop, double
Lullutpore
1. illinium roseus .. .. . . .. .. .. 76

Lutra nuir and pulgaris. See Otter in Contents Chapt. \V Iso
Mackerel fishing ..
„ spawning
Mmliirii ir / ;/■ v culfurifi r.
.Magpies' feathers
Malui .. .. .. .. . .. 300, 205.

Mahseer, a Barbel or Carp . .

,, a fine . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

,, bait for ..
„ bottom feeder

chase prey
„ classification of
„ contrarieties of

description of by Dr. Daj ..
do not jump into the air
edibility of, when spawning. .
„ etymology of
„ flies for.. .. .. 98-86,320,327,828,829,884

„ By fishing for
food of

Page
210
210
211
211
211
213
213
161
255

116, 156

94

21

320

2^H

U

111

177

177 179

217

200, 205

. 83, 84
190
292
33
224
330

196, 213
2GI

-11, 815
273

96

310, 312

17, 36

325, 333

29

10 'i

70

17

33, 35

L8

1 I

16

24

839, 340

93

29

Index.

123

Page

Mahseer, habitat of

.. S3, SI

hooka for

820

how to spin for

. . 10, 80

kill- small fish by oompreaaion

.. 82, 86

landing a. .

.. 15, 321

limitation of the nams

21

,, migratory

26

misuse of the name

118

mouth of. .

30

name of ..

18

natural history of, Chap. III.

ovarii- of

27

pharyngeal teeth of

32

playing a

11, 12, 18

„ power of jaw of . .

sa

propagating

270

„ rod .. .. .. 9, 13, 45-47, 81,

284, 235, 286

size of ..

24, 2;.. 324

spawning in batches

28

spawning times of

27

spawn of. .

867

sport given b y

7, 8, 320, 323

surprise their prey

70

,, swimming power of

8

„ tackle for

221, etc.

taken in bright water

33, 112, 326, 328

„ coloured water

111

take the bait head-fbremosl .

69

telegrams beneficial

2

,, varieties of

.. 20, 339

„ vernacular name? of

.. 19, 22

Mai

327

Mala ..

306

Malabar localities .

310

Malapuraui

811

Malm- ..

815

ManantoiMv

311, 316

heater Cotton Twine Spinning Company . .

161

,, ., „ running lii

231

„ ,, .. whipping cord

244

Mandagaddc

316

Mandaghery

816

Mansion

306

Manjairy

311

Dning in face of the enemy

204

Manzer

317

MaranhalJv

817

424

Index.

Page

Martial's sacred fish

361

Mastacemblus

1S7

Maumbat

310

Mclvor, Mr.

190

M nt ..

332

Mcc/atops cyprinoides

214

Milt

28

Minnow. See Artificial.

M irepoor

338

Mirzapore

326

Mokerian

311

Molluscs

58

Monkeys atl raci ti-li

121

,, communicating

58

Morant. Sec OpMocepAalut gachua.

Morar, i ae

156

Mow

330

Mont as to fish in . .

82, 108, 113, 826

Mr. Weller

Hi

" M.'s " experiences

206

Mndradi for black spots on}j

306

M iillcl fry as bait . .

200, 202

Mummab

310

Murium- . .

311

Ahirtinidce

is;

Murral needs air ..

182

,, rearing fry

183

„ Sec OphiocepJialus

Museum, Madras

280

Music hath charms

12

Mussoorie

156

Myapore Bridge ..

381

" My life as an Angler " ..

291

Mynas ..

61

Mysore Territory .

315

Na Igh'any

312

Nagodi. See Nagavradi

306

Nagvd Ghat

33§

Nair fish. See Lates calcarifer.

Names of fins

19

Native fishing for Labcos ..

160

Native way of live-baiting ..

177

Nature's balance ..

862

Negapatam

313

Nellambur

311

Nellore 1 tistrict

312

Nerbudd i

106

Page

Nerija ..

304

Net poaching i<> prevent

282

New sent ition

82

Nielgherries, Oarnatio Oarp on the ..

L98

„ Bulling on the. .

189

., Trout on the . .

190

Nigh) Bahing for Labeoa

160

n . lii- Bah

103

Night-line for crocodiles

286

Bell

188

.. Bahing for Mahaeer

110

for Indian Trout

156

yotopterux chit at a

172

N jong

330

m', how t.i . .

78

Dbserring habits of fishermen

8

i rivers

272

Olfactoiy nerree of Otter ..

259

Omnrroronanese of Mahaeer

40

Oorc'ha

329

imund Lake, fish in ..

189

Ophiocephalus affectionate towarda ii- young . .

188, 271

breathes atmospheric air

182

,, appearance of

174

ijarhua as a good spinning b:iil . .

.. 53, 183

,. baiting frog for

178, 179

description of

185

gachua unsuited for live bait

117

habits of

180

live-baiting for

177

position of its eye

176

shooting

175

„ spinning for. .

175

Ordering tackle, hints on ..

221, 219

Oreinut, wrongly called a Trout . . . .

154

Osborn's, Colonel W., contribution ..

199

„ rod

201

Otphromenus olfax. See Gourami.

Otter and Jack fight

261

,, artificial

215

,, distribution .of

265

;. mology of

260

„ feeding of . .

2fS7

follow -

259, 263

1 ml 1.1 M

264. 265

., Jerdon'a

.

lire. See Contents, Chapt. X\

426

Tndex.

Pago

Otter pleads not guilty

268

,, tail of

266

,, tameable

260, 268

,, UM-I'llllll-" of

268

Ova in rivers and sea . . . .

271

„ Bun-dried mire

273

„ hatched in the mouth

271

,, proportion reared naturally and artificially

269

„ small fish eating

56

Ovaries of Mahseer

27

Overflow

283

Pace at which to fly fish

98

„ spin

.. 69, 75

Paddle your own canoe

41

Paddybird's wisdom

123

Pain giving by angling

290, 327

" Pale face's " flies

S3 1

„ letter to the " Asian," 25 May, 1880 .

334

Palgat ..

311

Pamban Salmon ..

208

Pandikad

311

Pamlritan

315

Paper scent

2'. 15

Parakudu

310

Parson's, Colonel, method of fishing . .

111

,, „ paper on the Bariliut bola . .

154

,, ,, snood

115

l'alhurpore

327

Paucity of Anglers in India..

6

Paupanassam

313, 314

Pawzgam

345

Peculiar eyed Limerick hooks

113, 114

Peculiarities of Mahseer

.. 33, 35

„ spawning ..

270

Pennagaram

312

People's park

2-1

Perch caught with its own eye

290

I'enival ..

19

Phantom minnow. See Artificial and. .

3L'.'i

Pharyngeal teeth of Mahseer

32

" Phoonghee's" letter

3:iS

Picket ted live bait. .

HI

Pike, 50 lb., caught on 7 lb. bait

5 t

Pike-like Murral

17 1

Pisciculture indebted to anglers

.. 2, 3, 4

Pi-oicidturist, disadvantages of Indian

4

Places for fishing

302

42

Playing a fi.»li

11-18, 820

Pliability of rod advocated ..

. 9, 11, i;> 17, 81

Plumbing the depth

1(52

Pom]

282

Poisoning rivers

849

Polynemus, flight of boo

202

,, manner of fishing lor

203

,, peculiarities

196, 198

rod for

201

strength and size of

205

„ striking a

206

tackle for

801

„ their food

200

„ where to find

199

Pond drving, cultivating, stocking

277

., Balling

159

Pools, fishing in ..

86

Poonah

337

„ river

109

Poongah, the, a fiah

171

inverse. .

6-1

i>e, killing a. .

288

. .

27

„ the rod in ilv fishing

99

Power of jaw in Mahseer . .

.. 32, 35

ICahi

8

Predatory fish affect sick fish

73

,, surprise their prej

70

Preparation _'ram

101, 104

Preparedness for first rush of Ifahsi e

8

Prepare for striking ..

163

Proscrred bail in salt preferred

65

1' rving fish by stuffing .

297

,, in salt

65

spirits .

.. 65, 300

aing net poaching

282

ntion belter than cure.

11

Prices of rod and tackle

a r.i

Profitableness of fish.

396

Prometheus

92

Propagating Mahseer

270

Protruding lip of Mahseer .

30

Provoking bed-fe!

286

:*-utropius garua, or Bata

171

Paddling ■ stream for trout

31

■h or Pabko ..

172

Pulliary Pass

313

428

Index.

Punctuality of estuary Bah in feeding

l'ntliri ..

Putrid .-ea water . .

Pykara ..

Quick-sightedncss of fish

Kamnagur

Rilmnilthpoor

R:\neepore

Rapid, shooting a . .

"Rasbora daniconius

Rationale of By fishing for Mahsccr ..

Rawal Pindi District

Reasons for writing this book

Receipt for arsenical snap ..
„ cobbler's wax . .

,, fly maker's wax

„ preserving fish in spirits..

Red Perch. See Iiutiamu roseut.

Reel. See Winch.

Krliaction aids fish to see ..

„ to be allowed for in shooting ii-li

Rcwnh ..

RhyncobdeUidtr

Rice fields, bait to be found in
,, frv in

„ f ry t o be reared in

Kiekeekliasee

Ringed hooks

Kivkrs: —

Anjeraeundy
\ 1-1 .ti
Babarie

Bate Stream

Bawanny
Beaa
Betwa
Beylun ..
Beypoor
I'.urrhampootra
Cavery ..
i henah ..
Coleroon. .
Cootyaddy
Cubbany, .
Dessaun . .
i lambar . .

•ianges ..

Tarrc
216
332

190

77
336
310
330
125
194
91
345
1. 2
297
243
243
(15, 300

78

176

326
187

53
351
270
331
114

310

335

328

334

806,309,311

344

328

326,327,328

310

339

306, 311,812,818, 315. 316

344

313

310

311,315,316

328

344

331

Index.

429

Riraa : —
Qui

H.mavatt v
In the sea
.Hi. luin ..
Jolian . .
Jumna ..

k
k.-i

Lidd&r ..
Lnswa ..

I.ulrlniKiiit.-frt

Malie

ICorai

y\"\ :iur

Muri

Nellambur

Efoogoo ..

i'i West Coast of India

Pahooj

Petite . .

I' i toning

Font\ny . .

Poouch . .

Punatfi't

Ramgungn

Baii

Baitee

Scinde

Sirsa

S,.!i_'

Soormah

Sooswa . .

Tamberapoorny

Tirvangady

Tons

Toongabudra

Toracadn

Tullipurmbu

Variablen

Vj gay . .
Robinson's ideas . .
Rod chanoterial
„ Colonel W. Osborn's
,, for Ba-niin ..
„ „ Barils
,. ,, Carnatie Carp
„ Estuary Bah

:;n
310
872
318
:s 16
165, L66
318
336
345
335
316
310
156
311
312
312
311
346
328
309
347
311
318
333
336
344
316
157
34-1
155,331
333
331
314
311
328
315
314
31l>
350
309
180
135
201
201
. 234, 251
. 126,261
.201,236

■wo

Index.

Page

Rod for Indian Trout

..23G. 251

,, „ Labeos . .

..160,161

,, „ Mahseer . .

..9,

43, 45-47, 81, 234

235, 236, 238

„ hints about . .

9, 18,

45-47, 81, 234

„ should be pliable

9, 45-17, 81

Roc. See Ova.

Books communicatiiig

60

Roorkee . .

. . 332, 337

Ropar

311

Kunning line

. . 228, 238

„ „ length of

. . 228, 322

Kush of Mahseer . .

8

Rust eaten gut

226

Sacrabyle

315

Sacred fish

361

Sago palm fibre . .

178

Bailing while fishing

215

Bailors ..

395

Salem District

312

Salmon compared with

Mahseer

. . 8, 323

„ By tying ..

97

,, hook, use of

49

,, knows his wfay

273

,, Pamban . .

208

,, like Chanos

217

Salt as a bait preserver

65

Saltwater rivers . .

272

Sampagi. .

..

304

Sanderson's Mahseer

25

Scale of hooks, Francis

Francis'

96

„ „ Kendal

94

,, „ Limerick

94

„ „ Sneek bend. .

91

treble

48

Scare, allowing, to pass

off . .

79

Scinde, the

156

Scropc's Btory

183

Sea, fertility of

..371,376

, fish, as food (Chap

XXVI).

,, ,, in fresh water

219

„ ,, knowing their

way in the sea

273

„ „ ova of

271

fishery inipniu'd h\ netting

;;;^

Ot ..

..

337

Season, best, of the yea

for fishing . .

S2, 108,

113, 217. 826

>• »» ii

„ for Ba-mln

.. 200,209

,, for fishing for (

zock-up

•> | ->

431

Season fur Balling for Mahseer

83, ins, 113, 32C, 33.N, 311

Season in Bengal and X. W. P.

826

■i oomcle

128

Beer Ush . .

214

8—UU ..

172

Selecting speciee . .

277

Sense of bearing in Ban

.. 68,291

pain

290

sight „

73, 77. 78, 256

Mliell „

65

Sll.'ll:

313

Bhennangandi

312

Shakespeare . . . . . . C7, 1

ls7, 196,

25 1. 269, 283, 405

Shark caught with old hook in it

290

Sharks evidence of fertility..

. . 381, 400

„ fresh water in Tanjore. See Tanjore.

„ „ Triehinopoly. Set Xrichinopoly.

„ spawn!

271

Sheep eommunicating

60

Shell-fish

370

Sharing the spoils . .

130

ling teeth

32

ring a fish

15

Shim.

315

1. a, work without scaring

121

Shooting fish

176

Bhort-flighte Lnees of fish

. . 73, 256

Shortt's, Dr., description of tussa silkworm

232

Showing him the butt

215

Bah in much fished waters

.. 57, 63

Siek fish..

205

Silkworm gut

232

Silundia Gangetica, its size, etc.

170

Simla

156

„ district

344

Sinkers

239

Siradi ..

304

Size of artificial minnow

226, 826

„ bait

1 1, 56, 54, 115

,, Ba-min

206, 210

.. Harils

117

,. Black spots

111

„ Camatic Carp . . . . .

119, J27

Chanos ealmoneus ..

218

.. Chela

141

„ Cock-up or Nair fish. .

210

Beta

112, 187

432

lllih '.

Page

Size of flies

97

„ „ for Mahseer

97

„ „ Freshwater Sharks

168, 169, 170, 171

„ ,, hooks . .

94

„ „ Indian Trout

117, 155, 335

„ in a river affecting size of fish

296

„ Labeos

159

„ Lates calcarifer

210

„ Mahseer

.. 25, 32-1

„ Megalops . .

214

„ meshes

362

„ Murral

171

„ Olive Carp . .

116, 147

„ Red Perch . .

218

„ Seer

215

„ spoon

. . 42, 326

„ winch

228

Sleep, do fish

292

Slowly fly fish

98

„ spin

.. 67, 75

Smell, sense of, in fish

65

„ „ Otter under water

259, 262

Smoky dun fly

340

Snails, breeding of. .

278

„ manner of feeding

278

Snood

224

Snow melting injurious to fishing

.. 82, 326

Sociable weaver bird

60

Sohra

327

Sone or Song, the

155

Soonamgunge

333

Sopur

345

Sorts of fish for bait

.. 52, 53

South Canara District

304

S. P. and Delhi Railway

155

Spanish Student

111

Spate ruinous to Mahseer fishing

33

Spawn, quant it \ of

367

„ small fish waiting for, and eating

56

Spawning in batches

28

,, the sea

271

„ Mahseer wholesome

27

,, ofCat-lish

271

„ Murral

271

„ Peroh

271

,, Salmon, etc. . .

870

„ Sharks

271

Index.

433

Page

Spawning of Si iekle-back

„ Trout

8pearii.g Oocodiles
Bpeeia] hook for Mahseer . .

stations all'. vtel li\ fish

Specimen-, preservation of ..
fjpeeoli, the equivalent of , in fishes ..

i in spinning. .
Spinning slowly up, down, and across stream ..

„ tackle for M:i],-ivr. See " It's " letter and

„ when followed

„ versus fly-fishing ..
Spirit as a bait preserver disoonraf
Spoon crumpled up

„ should be heavier than in Engl 111 1

„ size, weight, use of ..
Sport, glorious

„ might be created by stocking ]>onds

„ what is it ?. .
Sporting power of Mai
Stalk your fish . . . .

Stickleback spawning
Stocking ponds
Striking a fish

„ a Mahseer

,, a Polynemus

„ fine

„ preparing for
Strength and sire of Polynemus
Btafflng a fi.-h
Subramani

Suction, bait taken by
Suffocating Porpoise and Whale
Sulkii..
Sultan's Battery . .

t, ashing after, oi
Surukundapurani . .
Suspending animation of ots
Swimming, manner of

., power of Mahseer

Snivels

Sylhet ..

Symhranehida
Tkble irin'.te
Tackle breaking

„ fineness of important

„ fly-fishing for Mahseer

TH8 ROD IX INPIA.

.

270

.

270

.

286

220, 326,

340

.

88

..297

■300

66-58, 02-65,

292

.. 6!

, 75

67 6<1

, 75

220,

etc.

.

75

.

38

65

.

35

43

43, 223,

326

320,

333

275

7, 8

7, 320,

323

.. 79, 86

270

275

. . 98

206

133

206

133

163

205

297

305

31

288

. .

11

311

83

310

273

292

8

. .

226

338

. .

187

29

206, 236, 238

319

51, 69, 70

. . 93-97

2F

434

'

P»gC

Tackle, ay-fishing, for smaller fish, Chap. XT.

„ for Carnal ic Carp ..

126

„ generally (Chap. XVIII).

,, gram-fishing for Mahseer

102, 105

,, makers

221

,, making

222

„ spinning for Bainin . .

202

ii i, Cock-up

211

,, Mahseer

.. 43-47

222, etc.

Tail of Otter, peculiar formation and use of ..

266

Taking a rapid

126

Tangrot

115, 116,

156, 344

Tanjore District ..

313

Teeth in throat of Mahseer. See Pharyngeal.

Telegram from Mahseer beneficial

2

Tellicherry

200, 205

Teneh

190

„ how to catch

1115

Torment, Sir J. Emerson, on fish hearing

64

Theocritus

17

The moor and the loeh

291

Thinking, the fish a, animal. .

57

Tides, liesl time of

200

„ influenee of, on estuary fish ..

196

Tigers communicating

GO

Time, best time of daj for fishing. See Hour and

. 83, 108

,. ,, year „ ., Season.

„ „ tide

200

Tinnevelly District

313

Tirtlialialli

315

Tirrangady

311

Tons of food

383

Toongabudra Station

.

303

Toracadu. .

314

Tortoise . .

L65

Tracing migratory fish in the sea

273

Trailing spinning bait

21ii

Transfer of Trout to the Ootacamund Lake

191

Transporting fry ..

282

Travancore State . .

314

Trelile hooks

18, 220

Trichinopoly

314

Trimmer, Asiatic ..

179

Trout, Indian

1 17 155, 327,

328, 335

„ Lochleven ..

190

,, not needing a stream to breed in

191

„ on tho Kielgherrics ..

190

Index.

435

Tullipunnbu

Tnppol

Tussa silk-worm gut

silk line
Tying salmon t!y . .
Ti rannv among Trout

inangadi
Valiant ih>ik1 experiment
Value of fry destroyed

,, Indian sea tNhcries
Variableness of Indian rivers an a (vantage
Varieties ol Maheeer
Vrerajendrepel
Vengkendai
Vernacular names of Mahscer

V.rtfil

Vision, powers of, in fish

„ towards the aorfai
\ s of birds
Wadiog advantageous

„ clothes for

,, harmless . ,
Wallago attu, baits for

„ ,, size, skin, teeth, habitat, voracity
„ sight indifferent
Wariness of large Bah
Warruiiga. See Uudradi.
Water, clear, loured

,, for fishing

Water supply
Wax, cobbler's

„ ll\ maker's
Wa/irabad

later
Wi itrlit of Carnatie Carp
me, J. K., Mr.

„ silur

Weller ..

" \V. J. F.'s " contribution
Whale spouting ..
Whale suffocating. .
Whipping gut fastenings
White 'ants

„ Oarp
Wild dogs communicating ..
Wineh obaak
friction

1

310

881

232

288

'.'7

89

305

87B

351

383

350

20

31(!

164

.. 19, 22

118

7:1. 77. 78, 256

87

61

75

25 ^
234
L68
168
168
55

88

.. 33, 51

277
2+3
213
344
278
118
1 30
171

10
104
1 32

L'SS
■1 HI

29 ;
164

60

230

10

43G

Index.

Winch, sizes of . .
Wolves and lambs. .

„ communicating
Wondse
Wottakuli
Wurracuncliairy . .
Xenophon's sacred fish
i'eddakura
Yeri. See Chrysophris berda

Pago
230

•in

60
305
316
311
361
311

UAHRI80N AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO I1EB MAJKSTT, ST. MARTIN'S LAKE.

G. LITTLE & CO.,

FISHING ROD & TACKLE

manufacturers to

H.R H. The Prince of Wales. H.R.H late Prince Albert, & H.I.M. late Napoleon III.

PRIZE MEDAL, 1851, only Medal awarded out of 25 Exhibitors.

GOLD MEDAL & DIPLOMA OF HONOUR,
NATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION, NORWICH, 1881.

Highest award, these being our only exhibits.

At the opening of the Norwich Exhibition, 1881, H.R.H. tlie Princess
of Walts "was graciously pleased to accept a Gold-mounted Rod from the
Exhibitors, Messrs. Little ev Co.

NEW PATENT

SOLESKIN PHANTOM

The most NafureU, Durable, and Successful
Artificial Bait ever invented.

Can be had in the following sizes : — 1£ in., 1J in., 2 in., 2\ in.,

Price 2 6 each ; 2\ in., 3 in., at 3 - each ; 3i in., 3/6 each ; 4 in.,

4 - each ; A\ in., 4/6 each. Mounted with extra strong Hooks,

etc., for Mahseer, 6d. each extra.

15, Fetter Lane, London, E.G.

CATALOGUES GRATIS.

MAYNARD, HARRIS, & C0Y,

(Lrast Jntna, %xm% $ Shipping Agents.
MILITARY & GENERAL OUTFITTERS,

126, LEADENHALL STREET, LONDON,

Adjoining the Offices of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.

SUPPLIES OF ALL KINDS FOR PERSONAL USE OR INVESTMENT.

REGIMENTAL AND MESS STORES AT WHOLESALE PRICES.

MILITARY AND SPORTING ARMS AND AMMUNITION.

SADDLERY AND HARNESS.

Silver and Electro-Plate, Table Cutlery, China A. Glass Services,

Earthenware, <kc.

PRESERVED PROVISIONS, OILMEN'S STORES, GROCERIES, &c.

ileto spapcrs an ft iJcrto&tcalo,

PAY, PENSIONS, AND FAMILY REMITTANCES RECEIVED AND DISBURSED,
DIVIDENDS DRAWN, ETC. BANKING ACCOUNTS OPENED.

MILITARY ACCOUTREMENTS & UNIFORMS.

Indian Outfits of best Quality, and upon the most favourable Terms.

Overland and Bullock Trunks, Air-tight Dress Boxes, Portmanteaus, &c.

Priced Zdsis on application.

SPORTS AND GAMES.

TENNIS SETS, of Best Makers, from £3 to £6 complete, in

Polished Box.

CROQUET SETS, CRICKET SETS, BADMINTON, &c.

FISHING TACKLE, RODS, &c, of the most approved kinds.

PATENTEES OF THE CELEBRATED

DEVON TRICYCLE,

Well known and popular in India.

PRICE COMPLETE, landed at any Presidency, for £23.

Priced Lists on application to
Mr. A. McD. CLARK, Calcutta.
Messrs. ARBUTHNOT & CO., Madras.
Messrs. LATHAM & CO., Bombay.

EVERCLEAN COLLARS AND CUFFS,

Specially recommended for all Sports, Riding, &c.

CHAS. FARLOW AND CO.,

191, STZR^iisriD, il o nsr id oust, "w.o.

Hl;muf;utums of

FIRST-CLASS FISHING RODS, FLIFS, & TACKLF,

Suitable For all parts of the World.

MAHSEER RODS, WINCHES, LINES,

OF IMPROVED MAKE.

EXTRA STUOXSTQ

}jool?s, jsjwivels, ^race^, anil (JjagUng Jinep,

Made Expressly for Indian use.

FLIES, SPOON BAITS, ARTIFICIAL FISH,

And every description of Mahseer Tackle, in every variety.

RODS, FLIES, BAITS,

And every description of Tackle made to order, and promptly despatched on

receipt of remittance.

POST OFFICE ORDERS to be made payable to CHARLES FARLOW
& CO., at the East Strand Office. DRAFTS to be crossed "Messrs.
TWININGS [& CO."

IMPORTERS OF SILK WORM GUT.

Catalogues Gratis.

ALFRED YOUNG,
THE GOLDEN PERCH.

402, OXFORD STREET (between Duke St. & Orchard St.),

LONDON, W.

MANUFACTURER OF

FISHING RODS AND TACKLE

OF EVERY DESCRIPTION.

SPECIALITIES FOR INDIA AS DESCRIBED IN THIS WORK.

A profusely Illustrated Price List forwarded post free to any part of the World.

SIR BERNARD BURKE'S

PEE^GE % BMOPET^GE,

Xanbeb (Sentry

GENERAL ARMORY,

EXTINCT AND DORMANT PEERAGES.

These four Books form a complete and reliable register of all British subjects
bearing Titles, of Great Landed Proprietors and their Lineage, of Authorized
Armorial Bearings, and of all Peerages, Extini t. Dormant, and in Abeyance.

LONDON:

HARRISON, 59, PALL MALL,

Bookseller to the Queen and H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.

14 DAY USE

RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED

LOAN DEPT.

This book is due on the last date stamped below, or

on the date to which renewed.

Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.

m^m

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LD 21A-60m-7,'66

General Library

University of California

Berkeley