CHAPTER IV. 

 CIRCUMVENTING THE MAHSEER. 



'"Take my bait,' cried Hiawatha, 

 ' Take my bait, O king of fishes ! ' " 



LONGFELLOW. 



SOME people complain that the Hindu does everything in a way 

 opposite to that which you would naturally expect of a sane man, 

 because opposite to that way in which all Europeans are accustomed to 

 do the like acts. On entering a house he has not the ordinary polite- 

 ness to take off his hat, but instead thereof, he kicks off his shoes in 

 place of making himself a little extra civil before a big-wig, he folds his 

 arms, and stands bolt upright, and so forth. Similarly the Mahseer, 

 being a thorough Asiatic, does many things by contraries. If you 

 expect him to take better, as any decent salmon or trout would, when 

 there is a spate in the river, you will be very much mistaken. Except 

 for a live bait not a fin will stir then. If you see the river discoloured, 

 you had very much better not waste your labour and your patience on 

 it, for you may be sure you will not catch a single fish either with a fly 

 or spinning. You must wait till the river is clear again, or at least fairly 

 clear, wait till after the time you would consider favourable for trout 01 

 salmon, wait till you can see with ease the small pebbles at the bottom 

 in four feet of water. Though I have taken Mahseer freely when the 

 river has been the least bit tinged by a thunderstorm, still the colouring 

 is so very easily overdone that as a rule one is afraid of it. A very little 

 more colouring, such as you would hail as an improvement for salmon, 

 would be fatal to Mahseer fishing, while it does not matter how clear the 

 water is, it may be as clear as crystal, and Mahseer will take well if only 

 the fisherman will keep carefully out of sight. So it is much safer, very 



THE ROD IN INDIA. E 



