Mahseer Fishing. 365 



pounds each. H. caught three, four, half, seven 

 pounds each ; B. one, eight pounds ; 0. one, eight 

 pounds. We all lost several fish. 



September 18. To-day, in a rapid, 0. caught two 

 fish thirty and twenty pounds each ; H. two, one 

 pound each ; I got two seven and five pounds. In 

 the afternoon, 0. caught three, seventeen, seventeen, 

 and six pounds ; H. two ten, three-and-a-half. I got 

 four twenty-six, fourteen, three-and-a-half, six 

 pounds. B. six, fourteen, eleven, four, three-and-a- 

 half, two, and two-and-a-quarter pounds. The fish 

 caught in the afternoon were all taken off the sand- 

 bank where we had slept on our way up. No sooner 

 was the spoon in the water than a fish rushed at it. 

 A small rivulet fell into the main stream and the best 

 place was the junction; it was about the best half hour's 

 work I ever saw. B. lost me a good fish, about four- 

 teen pounds in weight, by insisting on gaffing it behind 

 the shoulder in what he termed a scientific manner. 

 Now the scales of a mahseer are very big, lying closely 

 one upon the other, and as tough as tin plates, so 

 after failing in his scientific stroke twice, in the third 

 attempt he knocked the hooks out of the fish's mouth. 

 As the mahseer was close to the boat, all he had to do 

 was to insert the gaff into the gill to have lifted it into 

 the boat. After these futile attempts, no wonder 

 that I look upon the gaff as useless for mahseer ; a 

 two pronged spear is infinitely better. H. and B. re- 

 turned to Terreah Ghat, whilst 0. and I slept on the 

 sandbank. 



September 19. I fished for a long time without a 

 run, whilst no sooner was O.'s spoon in the water 



