36 The Natural History of the Mahseer. CHAP. in. 



lifting a man of his own weight off the ground if lying on his back ; I 

 have since lifted a man of over 10 stone with greater ease than the 

 fish. A native overseer with me, who was formerly in the Ashtagram 

 Sugar Works, put it down at 5 maunds (or 140 Ibs. Mysore) ; he said 

 they were accustomed to deal with 5 maund bags, and he knew the 

 feel of them pretty well. The measurements of the fish were : length, in- 

 cluding tail, 60 inches; greatest girth 38 inches; inside lips when open, 

 circumference 24 inches. The skin and head are in the Bangalore 

 Museum. 



" Of course my rough estimate of the fish's weight is valueless as 

 fact, but you may believe that I was not out many pounds. It was an 

 astonishingly thick and heavy fish for its short length. I have caught them 

 5 ft. 6 in., but not much more than 80 Ibs. It had a shoulder like a 

 bullock, steeply hanging over. I have caught about fifty of them, 

 but my next largest was about 90 Ibs. I have no doubt in my own 

 mind that they run over 200 or 250 Ibs., as I have seen teeth and 

 bones of them far larger than my I5o-pounder ; they are often caught 

 by the natives." 



So huge were these heads that one o them fully covered the 

 skeleton of an unusually fine sambre's head, and I had arranged it 

 in my hall with the sambre's head inside the Mahseer's head, and the 

 grand antlers coming, as if naturally, out of the Mahseer's head, when 

 a friend called. He looked round at the various spoils of bison, 

 sambre, fish, etc., till he cast his eyes on this. " Rather a rare buffalo, 

 isn't it?" said I. "Have you ever shot one like it?" "Buffalo!" 

 he said, " buffalo ! It's not a buffalo, but it's something of the cow 

 tribe." I had owed him one. But he was not long before he left me 

 again in his debt. 



A friend of mine, J. C. H., whom those who recognize the initials 

 will know to be an accurate man, assures me the following story is 

 a fact. A carder, that is one of the jungle men that are never out 

 of the forests of the Animullays, or elephant hills, was telling him the 

 Mahseer at a certain place were as big as elephants. H. laughed at 

 him. " Have you ever been there ?" said the carder. " No," replied H. 

 " Well then," continued the carder, reassured, " some of them are so 

 big they would swallow an elephant." 



But after all the Scotchman runs the carder fine, according to the 

 Field of yth December, 1889 : " O ! sic a fish ! O ! sic a fish ! Aw 

 never saw sic a brute in a' my life. Aw never saw a whale, but it was 

 awfu' like ane." 



