I HAFT. xvii. Fishing. 217 



heavens, to wit the moon; only it is ;i little like Captain Cuttle's 



famous watch, about which he gave the advice and testiniony- 

 " Put it back half-an-hour every morning, and about another 

 " quarter towards the afternoon, and it's a watch that'll do you 

 edit." Similarly your fishing cluck, the moon, is irregular, and 



you must remember that it is not exactly 12 hours between high 

 tide and high tide, but nearer 12 hours and 20 minutes ; though even 

 tins odd 20 minute- is sometimes nearer 15, sometimes nearly 25. 

 But you will not be far wrong if you bear in mind that each high 

 tide, after an interval of 12 hours, is about 2n minutes later than 

 its predecessor, and as there is one in the night as well as in the 

 day, the day high tide recurs, mure or less, about 40 minutes later 

 than it did the day before. 



On the whole, therefore, the estuary fish is no lunatic for not 

 sitting down to table till the cloth is laid, and his dinner ready in 

 the shape of passing shoals of little fish ; and, though his puncti- 

 lious punctuality, and his lunar time, may be inconvenient to me, 

 there may be others to whom it may be no bar to the closer 

 cultivation of his acquaintance. To them, therefore, I introduce 

 him with this caution about punctuality. He will not wait a 

 minute [or you. 



Sea-fish are to be caught in India, as elsewhere, by bottom 

 fishing from a boat, and for those who fancy this style of fishing, 

 good sport may sometimes be had. With a view to tell them 

 about it, I commenced collecting the information from the native 

 fishermen. But it strikes me there will be very little practical use 



in my swelling my 1 k with what anyone can learn just as well 



direct from them. Moreover, it is difficult for any book to make 

 a man independent of local aid in sea-fishing; for there are certain 

 places in the sea that hold certain tisb, while other places hold 

 none, and he will still want the local fishermen, who know the 

 spots, and the guiding landmarks, to anchor him immediately "Vet 

 these favoured spots. Beingy« /;/'»/•->■ reliant, therefore, on the native 

 fishermen for locality, he may as well leave them to supply bait, 

 lines, and everything else. 



Chanos Salmoneus. 



One sea-fish, however, I will mention briefly, because, though no1 



to be caught with rod and line that I know of, it. in its own way. 



