36 JUNGLE FARE. 



at last reduced to the more prosaic method of bottom-fishing 

 with a lump of dough kneaded together with wool to make it 

 adhesive. To this, at the suggestion of an old Goorkha whom 

 we had brought with us, a great authority on mahseer-fishing, 

 was added some turmeric and garlic. These pungent ingre- 

 dients, he said, made the bait more attractive. With this 

 odoriferous compound, I managed to inveigle two nice 

 mahseer of seven and eight pounds. My companion also 

 killed a fine fish in the same sorry way, which was better 

 than nothing. 



That evening we fared sumptuously on venison-soup, fish 

 fresh from the river, savoury though perhaps slightly tough 

 jurrow steaks, followed by hot whisky-toddy and a pipe, to 

 both of which latter we doubtless partly owed our immunity 

 from the effects of malaria. We turned in on the old spot, 

 having this time taken the precaution to have a "lean-to" 

 constructed to shelter us, and were soon lulled to sleep by the 

 roar of the river close by. 



We shouldered our rods again as the dawn was trying to 

 struggle through the dense mist. For in the morning, during 

 the autumn and winter months, a heavy bank of white vapour 

 almost invariably lies along the bottom of every deep, narrow 

 Himalayan valley where any considerable stream flows, until 

 dispelled by the sun's rays. The water looked more promising, 

 so our spirits as well as our chances of sport began to rise 

 with the lifting fog, which at first was a decided damper to 

 both. It requires but little reference to my old shooting 

 journal to call to mind all the details regarding the killing of 

 my first really fine mahseer. 



" Take a rest for a little while, and try again when the sun 

 gets higher." Thus suggested old Chundreea a native of 

 the valley, and fisherman by profession, who usually attended 

 me by the river-side as I was getting rather impatient with 

 my bad luck, and my back was beginning to ache from chas- 

 tising the water with flies, and spinning line baits the whole 



