78 How, When, and Where to Fish for Mahseer. Cii.ut. vi. 



beautifully adapted to conceal it in its usual habitat, whereas a man 

 who clothes himself by his own imperfect lights and his tailors, 

 does so in direct variance with all the rules of nature. The object 

 of his fashions is not so much to conceal his existence, as to be 

 " the observed of all observers," and sometimes, indeed, to be com- 

 fortable. What more readily attracts the eye than a white 

 paggaree, and an almost white coat to reflect the sun ? A black 

 coat is very little better, and is noticeable, as every sportsman 

 knows, at a great distance. Then consider the difference of 

 position. The fish is against a back-ground, the bottom, of nearly 

 his own colour, whereas the man is standing out in bold relief 

 against the sky. The fish, furthermore, is motionless, while the 

 man is waving about a great stick of 10 or 16 feet long, moving 

 his arms to do it, and cannot even keep his legs still. He is 

 moving the whole of his comparatively big person, as he walks 

 along the very edge of the stream, and not unfrequently on the 

 top of a high bank. Motion catches the eye. 



But besides these obvious advantages of comparative size, of 

 colour, of position, andol being motionless, the fish has still another 

 very materially favouring circumstance in the element in which lie 

 is. Water refracts, or breaks back the line of the rays of light. 

 Newton says, " Refraction out of a rarer medium into a denser is 

 " made toward the perpendicular," and as water is denser than 

 air, the fish can see you round a corner ; he can see your white 

 paggaree before it is in a line with his eye. This is very simply 

 demonstrated in the old illustration about a shilling, l'ut a 

 rupee into an empty tea cup or a slop basin. Retreat gradually 

 till it is just out of your line of vision. Let a second person pour 

 in water, and you will see the rupee come into sight again. It is 

 true this cuts both ways, enabling you, as well as the fish, to see 

 round a corner, but as you neither of you should see each other, it 

 is an argument for keeping further away from the bank than if 

 you both saw in a straight line. 



If you are not fishing, but wanting to observe the habits of fish, 

 and can afford to be perfectly motionless, that is quite another 

 thing. Much may be seen by creeping very slowly and imper- 

 ceptibly up, with a rock 01 tree-trunk for a bark ground, and 

 remaining perfectly motionless. It is movement, the slightest 

 movement, that catches the eye. It is by sitting motionless as a 



