CHAPTER VIII. 

 GRAM-FISHING FOR MAHSEER. 



" The pleasantest angling 'tis to see the fish 

 Cut with her golden oars the silver stream 

 And greedily devour the treacherous bait." 



SHAKESPEARE. 



THERE is another way of fishing for Mahseer practised at Jubbulpore, 

 which has attractions of its own for those whose lot is cast there, but 

 of which I have no personal knowledge. I will therefore extract from 

 the Asian of i2th October, 1880, the following letter kindly written 

 by W. T. F., together with a suggestion by T. A. B. in the same paper, 

 under date Qth November, 1880. 



I may first mention, however, that the Field records that the 

 late Major Geoffrey Nightingale caught a Mahseer of 4olbs. in weight 

 in this way on single gut, and a single scale of it measured 2| 

 of an inch in diameter in a life-size engraving in the Field of 

 9th October, 1869. 



I may mention also that I have tried the same way of fishing very 

 carefully, and have also tried it with what seemed to me a more natural 

 bait, the fruit of the banyan (Ficus Indicd), which I used in large 

 quantities, but on every occasion it was a signal failure ; from which I 

 gathered that this style of fishing is probably confined to localities in 

 which the fish have been thoroughly educated to it. So I proceed 

 with my quotations from the pens of men who have practically tested 

 it where the fish are so educated : 



" The mode of fishing for the Mahseer in the Nerbudda, near Jubbulpore, 

 being peculiar to that place, will no doubt be interesting to some readers 

 of the Asian. 



" I think that is the only place in India where parched gram, called in 



