irr. xvii. Seer. 215 



once saw a fine one of LS Lba killed in a funny way. A friend and 

 Belf were spinning for them. 1 left my friend spinning at a pro- 

 jecting sand Bpitj at the moutb of the Mangalore harbour, which is 

 cut abruptly away by the current, and is very little above the 



water level. He threw out his bait, and spun it home to him, and 

 had just pulled it out when, to his astonishment, and 1 believe 

 alarm, a LS lb. Seer fish, in dashing after it, Bprung clean on shore, 

 at his very feet There he was, a fine fellow, flopping about, and 

 in imminent danger of getting into the water again, All hands 

 punched his head, with the butt of the rod, with boots, for we 

 had been bathing, and anything handy, and with any amount of 

 excitement. Meanwhile, others of us were in a boat trying the 

 mid stream, and coming hack we were shown the tish, as if it had 

 been a legitimate bag, with a long yarn about the Line it had taken 

 "in, etc. But 1 had happened to get a glimpse of it in the 

 distance, and joined in, therefore, with their story, saying, " I saw 

 yon showing him the butt." 



I am inclined to think much fun might be got out of the Seer 

 fish. The matter wants developing. 



II writes : " I caught a couple at Ponany, and I never saw finer 

 " running. I do not think 1 exaggerate in saying they leaped 8 feet 

 " out of the water at times. They were 15-pounders." The 

 writer, be it remembered, is no tyro, easily exhilarated, but an old 

 salmon fisher, and otherwise a mighty hunter. 



The Seer tish is Cybium, of which there are five species in the 

 Indian .Seas, attaining some of them 3 and 4 feet in length. They 

 are excellent eating. Their mouth is full of very formidable teeth. 

 They are a sea, not an estuary fish. 



It should be remembered that Seei are not always present. 

 They do QOt make their appearance till a month or SO after the 

 close of the monsoon, when they follow up the little fish 

 frequenting the rivers. The simplest way to ascertain when they 

 are in, is by having them for breakfast from the fish market, fo] 

 the natives net them as soon as they come 



- BT, and, I believe, other tish, are caught oil' the Indian coasts 

 much after the manner of mackerel in England. A crude imita- 

 tion of B tish is made out of the white kernel of the COCOanut 



cut to shape, and placed on a big hook, about the size of No, 

 LO/0 Limerick, or out of white rag; and three long lines thus 



