HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



in the low country of Ceylon, in river, lagoon, sea, and 

 tank ; and it may not be out of place to offer a few remarks 

 on some of the fish that the writer has caught. 



Very little is known, from an angler's point of view, 

 about lagoon and tank fishing in Ceylon. There are a few 

 enthusiasts to be met occasionally who will speak of great 

 captures ; but we badly want a second Thomas, not only to 

 show us how to catch the fish, but to tell us what fish there 

 are worth catching. Until I came to this district, 1 about 

 two years ago, I was quite unaware of the splendid opportu- 

 nities for sport with rod and line in the low country, and I 

 believe many other keen anglers here are similarly ignorant. 

 I therefore offer these remarks with less diffidence than 

 they otherwise deserve, only hoping that brother anglers 

 may come forward and contribute their quota of experience 

 to the pages of the Fishing Gazette. 



The most common of low country fish is the Singhalese 

 "lula," the Indian " murral." The Tamils call him 

 "viral." His classical name is Ophiocephalus striatus. 

 He is to be found in nearly all tanks and rivers that do 

 not run dry ; but he will live a long time without water 

 apparently. A tank near here was completely dry for a 

 month or six weeks last year. When the rain came and 

 the fields were being irrigated I was shooting snipe, and 

 picked up several fair-sized "lula" in the paddy field 

 below the tank. They had evidently been washed through 

 the sluice of the tank ; but where they came from is a 

 mystery, for the tank in question is not fed by any river. 

 They must have been lying up under the grass and mud 

 along the edge of the tank " bund." 



Thomas, in his " Rod in India " (second edition), treats 

 the lula, or murral, with scant ceremony. He regards him 



1 Mullaitivu, on north-east coast. EDITOR. 



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