Chapt. xviii. .1 .1 ' ••■ ial Otter. 245 



one and three pies, Bay, at the very outside, for the vast sum of two 



farthings. It' your bait are Ophiocephaliu ' - care is 



accessary about the changing of the water, but more that they are 



not suffocated by being cut off from the air; for them the earthen 



pot must be left out of water, not immersed and the cloth kept 



carefully over the mouth for they jump out more than an] fish. 



An artificial otter is not unfrequently used in lakes in Ireland ; 



and as some may like to use it in India, where 

 Otter. , J , . 



the competition amongst anglers is not so great 



bring down on you from your neighbours the charge of 

 poaching, I will supply instructions for making one. 



1 should add that it lias this toJ>e said for it in India, and that it 

 is ou this account solely that I mention it, or ever deigned to give 

 it a thought, that here we do not know definitely by the experience 

 of ten thousand anglers exactly how to fish. AW are all more or 

 less explorers, trying to find what fish there are in India that will 

 take a bait, which will take a minnow, which a fly, and what fly is 

 preferred. For this purpose the otter covers a larger field of 

 experiment, it searches more water, and it allows of one man try- 

 ing twenty or thirty flies at one time, instead of three at the most. 



Take a light plank, f inch or an inch in thickness, of 2 feet in 

 length, by 7 or 8 inches in depth, and lead it so that the water-line 

 shall be about 1 inch from the top. Insert a brass ring, or light 

 staple, exactly halt-way up in the centre of the stern of the plank, 

 and two more like staples, two-thirds forward, one in the top edge 

 of the plank, and one in the bottom edge, or exactly opposite each 

 other. To each of these staples tie a cord about 2 feet long, and 

 bring the ends together, so that when suspended the plank shall 

 hang quite even crosswise, but lengthwise shall have the stern 

 slightly lowered, say 6 or 7 inches, for it is on the principle of the 

 inclined plane that the otter acts. Then to the point where the 

 three cords are knotted together tie a long cord, push the otter out 

 from the shore, nose foremost, in the direction you mean to walk 

 along, keeping the line taut, and try it. If the otter acts properly, 

 it should keep parallel with you, keeping the line taut all the 

 while. But if the top and bottom cords are not of exactly equal 

 length, it will not sit true, and consequently will not have so good 



a hold of the water. It' the cord from the stern is too short, the 



otter will have a tendency to yield to your tension and t ime in 



