7(1 llmr. When, and Where to Fish for Mahscer. Chait. vi. 



reflecting on the immoral tendencies of cannibalism, and seriously 

 meditating the giving of it up. But keep your eye on him now, 

 as that other little fish which is sauntering leisurely upwards comes 

 by him, there is the slightest possible undulation of his tail, he 

 takes just one step backwards* as if preparing for a spring, then 

 suddenly makes one lightning dash, and the small fish has under 

 gone deglutition. That is evidently the motion that pays. Imitate 

 it then. But you dare not trail your bait so lazily, so listlessly, 

 :il I- >ut in bright water if you have a multitude of obvious honks. 

 For slow spinning in clear water the necessity for light tackle 

 with but few hooks, and those well concealed, is therefore impera- 

 tive ; consequently I prefer the method of baiting with one hook 

 given on page 47, to that with a lip hook also on page 50. And 

 I prefer the second arrangement, too, with the lip hook and only 

 one treble, to flights of hooks invented by English fishermen for 

 English waters, to which they are better suited than to the bright 

 waters and bright skies of the Indian angler. Besides its being 

 unnatural for a predatory fish to give chase to, and hunt down, a 

 small fish or bait that is passing at such speed as to indicate a 

 preparedness for flight, and to put him at a disadvantage for seizing 

 it at a single short dash, like a tiger's bound upon its prey.it is 

 also to he considered that lie may not have seen it at all, or it has 

 passed out of his sight, or reach, all too quickly. 



Here I must acknowledge obligation to L. J. for the following 

 kindly communication made in the "Asian" of the 23rd December, 

 187!b I will quote here only his postscript, because that only is 

 to our present point, The rest of his letter will be quoted further 

 on. I will only premise that the rest of his letter shows a capture 

 in thirteen days of 958 lbs. of fish, a little fact that gives weight 

 to his evidence. He says: 



" P.S. — I have thought once or twice of writing to Major Thomasf 

 "about Mahscer chasing fish. In page 79 of his book he says, 

 "referring to Maliseer : ' Predatory lisli do not hunt down flying 

 "•game like a dog; they take it unawares like a cat; if they feel 

 " ' they cannot seize it at a soring or a rush, they give it up and watch 



* The reasi in for the Blight backward movement will bo Been hereafter in 

 remarks on the swimming of f i - 1 1 . 



t Not Major or Dr., aa elsewhere promoted, but simplj :i member of llcr 

 \i:i iesty's Indian Cii il Sen ice. 



