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 



