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 



