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CHAPTEE III. 



THE MAHSEER MONSTER FISH TAKEN WITH THE ROD THE MAHSEER 

 COMPARED WITH THE SALMON SALMONID^ NEVER FOUND IN INDIA 

 A FISHING - RIVER IN THE HIMALAYAS THE SURJOO VALLEY 

 ITS WILD DENIZENS THE JURROW BARKING-DEER THE GOORKHA 

 "KOOKERIE" TEMPTING PROVIDENCE A DAMP COUCH JURROW- 

 HUNTING UNDER DIFFICULTIES A HEAVY FISH LOST THE WAY WE 

 INVEIGLED THE WILY MAHSEER JUNGLE FARE DENSE MORNING 

 MISTS A FORENOON'S SPORT IN THE SURJOO BEST MONTHS AND 

 BEST FLIES FOR MAHSEER-FISHING IN THE HIMALAYAN RIVERS 



FISHING THEORIES THE KALABANS COLLECTING CATECHU. 



THOSE who have fished both for salmon and mahseer will 

 doubtless agree with me in thinking that they are nearly on 

 a par as far as sport is concerned. In its habits the mahseer 

 much resembles the salmon, except that it never migrates to 

 the sea, but in appearance it is very different. The mahseer 

 (Barlus Tor) of Himalayan rivers, which is said to belong to 

 the carp family, is a beautiful fish both in form and colour, 

 but in flavour it does not approach the salmon. Yet its firm 

 white flesh is by no means to be despised for the table. On 

 the back its hue is a dark olive-green, shaded off, on the sides 

 of a well-conditioned fish, into a golden orange, which merges 

 into pale pink and silvery white below. It has rather large 

 toothless jaws lined with a very tough membrane, so it re- 

 quires to be struck pretty hard to be properly hooked. When 

 I say struck, I mean that after the fish has hooked itself, as 

 it will do by its own weight, a good pull, without a jerk, is 

 necessary to drive home the barb into its leathern jaws. 



