542 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



For two and-a-lialf mortal hours that fish dragged the boat all over the 

 place. I had hooked him well up in the inner harbour, but he went straight 

 out to sea, took us down past the light-ship, then changing his mind, crossed 

 over towards Little Aden anri finally turned sharp round and went back up 

 the harbour. 



Never once did he stop for a breather, but went straight on from start to 

 finish, and it was only at last in sheer desperation I butted him severely and 

 got him for a moment alongside the canoe. That moment was enough 

 though for the Arab ; he leaned over, and in another second tJie steel was 

 entered, he was dragged bodily in board, and the fish, so far, of my life was 

 safely landed. Two hours after when weighed he scaled 73 lbs. He was a 

 bonito, a well-shaped fish, not long for his weight, and I remember at the 

 time being struck by his extreme breadth and depth. Furthermore, that 

 day I got three more fish in the same way before knocking off, but none of 

 them were to be compared with my first, all three of them being under 131b. 

 apiece. On this occasion I was using an 18 ft. 6 in. Salmon rod, 5 in. reel 

 (ship made, by the bye, which 1 have hardly ever used since that season), 

 220 yards of Arab-made cotton line, dressed with fish oil, brass wire 

 twisted trace, with single wire end, and a 3/0 Limerick hook ; bait, a young 

 mackerel, about 7 in. in length and 4 oz. in weight. I believe I could have 

 killed my fish much more quickly, but I found myself sadly handicapped in 

 a narrow crank canoe with so long a rod ; and it was chiefly this that deter- 

 mined me not to use a longer than 13 ft. rod for boat work, for at the last, 

 when it comes to gaffing, a long rod is terribly in the way. 



Once since that day have I found myself fast in a bigger fish, but on that 

 occasion I got worsted, and the fish got off. In Berbera Harbour, on the 

 African Coast, I was trolling one day, also from an Arab Somali canoe, when 

 I got an offer, struck to it promptly, and very nearly got pulled out of the 

 boat in consequence. The fish went straight away at right angles, causing 

 the boat to heel over, and it took us some time to get strnightoned and 

 tidied up, and to realize that we were in for something out of the common. 

 I have never fished for tarpon, nor have I ever hooked by accident a Mark 

 II, 18in. torpedo going at thirty knots ; but I don't believe that either of 

 these could have beaten the first rush of that brute. He, like my former 

 friend, took us all over the shop, and at the end of one and-a-half hours 

 he seemed quite as fresh as when he first started, which was a great deal 

 more than I was. I had canght sight of him once or twice, and had dis- 

 covered that I had hold of a shark, apparently about 8ft, long, and also had 

 made up my mind that I should eventually have to cut myself free, but I was 

 loth to do so until I could do it with the least possible loss .of line. It did 

 not come to that however. In one of his mad rushes he turned round, and, 

 coming to the top of the water shot ahead close to the boat. The Arab in 

 the bows saw him coming, and stood ready with a heavy paddle, and as it 



