CHAPTER XL 

 THE CARNATIC CARP. 



" Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes, 

 Flumina amem silvasque inglorius." 



VIRGIL. GEORGIC II., line 85-6. 



MAY I have the pleasure of introducing to you a new friend, Barbus 

 Carnaticus (Jerdon). In view to your being better acquainted, suppose 

 we stand on no ceremony, and anglicize the name into the Carnatic 

 Carp. 



I must be pardoned this little liberty with his patronymic, for the 

 reasons set forth below. 



The Carnatic Carp, let me tell you, is not at all a bad fellow. He 

 is not to be set aside lightly as if he was a mere carp, like the fish 

 (Cyprinus carpio) commonly known by that name in England. He is 

 much more like the mighty Mahseer, the king of carps ; indeed, he has 

 been frequently mistaken for a Mahseer, and it is for that very reason 

 that I must lay stress on not allowing that he ought properly to be 

 called a Mahseer. That word Mahseer has been too elastically used 

 by fishermen. They have made it cover almost any big carp. Still, 

 though I cannot concede that Barbus Carnaticus is properly a Mahseer, 

 I ask for him a sort of brevet rank, by which, though a carp, he may be 

 promoted above the level of the common English carp known to our 

 school-boy days. The Indian Carps, mind you, are very different from 

 those in England. The Indian Carps run, in the Mahseer, up to 

 200 Ibs., as the Indian cats do to tigers, and ferns to trees (Alsophila 

 latibrosa, a tree fern). Viewed thus in its proper light, it is no disgrace 

 to be a Carnatic Carp, and his acquaintance is worth your cultivating. 

 He runs to 25 Ibs., and takes a fly. 



My objection to his being called a Mahseer lies in his mouth, and 



