The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia i o i 



sliould strike. Williout a hall about a lumdrcil yards of line were taken at the 

 first rush towards the middle of the river ; he then stopped, and I waited for 

 about a minute and then fixed him with a jerk that bent my bamboo like a fly 

 rod. This he repelled by a splendid challenge; in one jump he flew about 9 

 feet above the water, and shewed himself to be one of the most beautifid fish 

 I had ever seen; not one of those nondescript antediluvian brutes that you 

 expect to catch in these extraordinary rivers, but in colour he appeared like a 

 clear run salmon. He gave tremendous play, several times leaping out of the 

 water, and shaking his head furiously to free himself from the hook, then dart- 

 ing away with So or 100 yards of fresh line, until he at last was forced to yield 

 to the strong and elastic bamboo, and his deep body stranded upon the fatal 

 shallows." 



This he names the " Baggar," i.c.^ the cow. From the figtire he 

 gives of it, it was undoubtedly the Lates Niloticus of Cuvier — the 

 latos of the Greeks, after which the town called Latopolis is sup- 

 posed to have been named — a perch, the largest and most esteemed 

 fish of the Nile. Sir Samuel naturally thinks he had caught a 

 stunner, a giant of the pools, a centenarian \ but it was only a 

 puny youngster after all. If he thinks so much of a 30 or 40 

 pounder, Avhat would he have said to one of 10 feet in length, 

 which is the size that St Hilaire mentions that they reach to. 

 Fancy playing a fish like a salmon, i o feet in length ; that would have 

 been a foeman worthy of Sir Samuel's bamboo. 



Another fish, described by Sir Samuel under the Arab name of the 

 Coor, is an ugly monster, of about 5oib weight, a species of Silurus ; 

 differing from the Silurus of Europe, by having a dorsal fin, like a 

 fringe, that extends along the back to the tail. This fish had 

 lungs resembling delicate branches of red coral, and if kept moist, 

 it would exist upon the land for many hours, like an eel. It smells 

 strongly of musk. This is, no doubt, the Heterobranchus bi-dor- 

 salis of St Hilaire. He says it is as rare in Egypt as the other 

 species of Heterobranchus is common. This species belongs 

 essentially to the Upper Nile, and it is only, therefore, as it were, 

 accidentally that they are met with in Egypt, where, for a reason 

 easy enough to comprehend, only very large individuals arrive. 

 These drawn from their true country by their extreme voracity, 

 engage in the pursuit of troops of travelling fishes which descend 

 the river, and come with them into the Egyptian Nile. He gives 

 its length as 2 feet 4^ inches. 



Another species, figured under the name of Bayard, is appar- 

 ently the Bagrus bajad, Val. 



All the species mentioned are already well known as inhabi- 

 tants of the Nile. 



