C II A P T K II XV. 



KKI.S. 



" Tin' imperious seas breed monsters ; for tlie dish 

 Poor tributary rivers »8 sweet fish." — 



Sll 1KE3PE8K. 



These fellows are not much in my line. I confess I hate the 

 sight of them ; for if ever you see eels lounging about the bottom 

 of a river in England, lite so many coastguardsmen expecting foul 

 weather, you may be sure the trout will not rise. How could 

 they be expected to in such low company ! And if you have 

 the bad luck to hook one, he just behaves like an excited cork- 

 screw, till be has got your line into so many knots and kinks, that 

 it will take you a month of Sundays to unravel it. And then as 

 to unhooking him. Oh ! don't talk of it. 



But some think them good eating, and like to catch them, so 

 we will give them a page or so, grudgingly. 



Of spined and unspined eels you will find, in Dr. Day's work, 

 47 species, under the families, RkyncobdeUidee, Si/m/nmirhidce, and 

 • <"/" ; hut many are small and the last-named are almost all 

 marine, and of the others many are tidal. The only ones worthy 

 of the angler's notice seem to be my old friend Masatcemblus 

 armatiis, which runs, to my knowledge, to about 2 feet in length, 

 and Anguilor Bengalensis, which Dr. Day says runs to 4 feel 

 in length, and lias been introduced into the Neilgherries. This ia 

 probably the fish of which Colonel Parsons caught, by his live bail 

 method, one weighing 18 lbs. 



Their flavour is much esteemed by some Europeans, and 

 the natives in your camp are always very glad to get them. 

 It is as well, therefore, to know how to catch them, and as they 

 are easily caught, your servants can be allowed to do this 

 much for themselves, if you will be at the trouble to provide. 

 them with the simple tackle necessary, and the bait, which in 



