CHAP. i. Co-operation of Anglers sought. 5 



have to make myself intelligible to the novice, and at the same time to 

 endeavour not to weary the fisherman by re-writing what he has already 

 read in different shape in some half dozen of the six hundred books 

 already alluded to. By way of getting safely through this Scylla and 

 Charybdis I must commence by presuming my reader's knowledge of 

 books such as, " A Book on Angling," by Francis Francis, Publishers 

 Longmans, Green & Co., Paternoster Row, London, in one volume 

 octavo, price 15^., cloth; "The Sea Fisherman," by J. C. Wilcocks, 

 Publishers Longmans, Green & Co., London ; and if he has not read 

 these books yet, I can only recommend him to do so, as it would 

 be idle for me to go again over ground already so well and so 

 pleasantly described. It is better that I should confine myself as 

 closely as possible to the Indian side of the subject, and endeavour to 

 give my reader only what he cannot get better elsewhere. Still it is 

 impossible to do so altogether, and yet be intelligible to the tyro ; when 

 I am more than ordinarily tedious therefore to the practised fisherman, 

 I can only hope that he will give me all he can spare of that commodity 

 of which he is generally believed to have such a plentiful supply, to wit, 

 patience. 



If brother anglers reading these pages feel inclined to give me the , 

 benefit of their further experiences, I shall hope to embody or quote 

 them in some possible future edition. The collected wisdom of all 

 anglers in all parts of India might thus grow into a very complete book, 

 sufficient to show the best means of securing the best sport available in 

 different localities in India. 



This invitation, thrown out in my first edition, has been very kindly 

 responded to by anglers. Not a few have written to me direct, and 

 others have contributed papers to the Field, and to the Asian, some 

 professedly in answer to this invitation, others in the same spirit of 

 helping fellow fishermen to sport. For myself I beg to tender cordial 

 acknowledgments to all who have thus helped in what I must call the 

 kindliest manner. I am confirmed in the conviction, always fixed in 

 my mind, that it is very rare for a good fisherman not to be a good 

 fellow. For others, readers of this little volume, the result is happy, 

 for they will not be confined to my ideas only, but will have the 

 opinions and the experience of others also. Believing that my readers 

 will be glad to have the views of others, as well as my own, and 

 recognizing that India is too large a field for any one person to cover 



