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. 



