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



Indian rivers are very variable in their depth, a tropical sun and a 

 thirsty land drying up the streams that feed them, and reducing them 

 rapidly to very much smaller dimensions than they boasted during the 

 rains. The change in their size is both greater and more rapid than in 

 European rivers. It would not be well, therefore, for the fish in them 

 to spawn by the same rule as the fish in European waters. The ova 

 laid in one place might be high and dry in a few days, and the whole 

 laying lost. It would be like committing an army to the Great Eastern^ 

 instead of dividing the risks by consigning it to several troop-ships. 

 By laying in several batches, not only are the chances of success 

 multiplied, but the fry are more widely dispersed over the rivers, and 

 by happy experience discover for themselves the force of the proverb, 

 "The fewer the better the cheer." There is little doubt the fry of 

 the Mahseer eat, amongst other things, the fry of the smaller sorts 

 of fish; these are much bred in the smaller feeders. Where such 

 streamlets fall into the river, therefore, each batch of Mahseer fry finds 

 a separate table d'hote. 



An inventory of the contents of a Mahseer's stomach ought not to 

 be without interest to a fisherman, for unless he knows what the fish is 

 in the habit of eating, he cannot tell what bait to offer it. If he expects 

 to be successful, he must offer natural food or something resembling it, 

 for a fish is not so foolish as to take anything that is offered to it on the 

 sole faith of the advertisement. Only reasoning beings do that. Let 

 us then turn out this gentleman's stomach, and discover his weaknesses, 

 as Prince Henry and Poins did FalstafFs, from the contents of his 

 pocket. What do we find there? Aquatic weeds of all sorts, some 

 taken intentionally, some when grabbing at the insects that live on 

 them ; seeds of the Vateria Indica or Dhup of the West Coast, which 

 are about the size of a pigeon's egg ; the seeds of many other trees also 

 which hang over the river where it is forest-clad ; bamboo seeds ; rice 

 thrown in by man ; and unhusked rice, or paddy, as it is washed from 

 the fields ; crabs, large fresh-water crabs as big as the palm of a man's 

 hand, and with back and claws so thick and hard that it is astonishing 

 how the fish can have the power to crunch them into the small pieces 

 in which they are found in the intestine; small fish, earthworms, 

 water beetles, grasshoppers, small flies of sorts, water or stone crickets, 

 shrimps, and molluscs or fresh-water snails are also found there, the 

 latter shell and all, and smashed to pieces like the crabs. 



