174 Smaller Fly Takers. CHAP. Xiu 



Southern India, in other parts of the Madras Presidency, and in 

 Mysore. 



The Tamil name is Vellachi\ the Canarese, BellachL Day says,. 

 " Generally termed Vellachee-candee in Tamil ; Bay-ree-saie and Baarsee, 

 Tel. ; Bounce-putti, Ooriah ; Took, Punjab." 



They are evidently the fish commonly spoken of by sportsmen in 

 Northern India as Chilwa. 



Apropos of these little fish, which are caught as much in ponds as 

 in rivers, I should not omit to mention an absurd little adventure. As- 

 we rode into camp we found the tents pitched close to a large pond, 

 and the pond covered with circles. " Just look there," I cried, before 

 I was well out of the saddle, " we will have a dish for breakfast," and 

 the trout line was very soon put together, and two expectant friends 

 watched the line fly deftly out, and light with fairy grace among the 

 circles, and lo and behold they were only frogs that were rising so- 

 freely at the small flies on the surface ! Dear reader, dortt tell any one. 



When shall I write a fishing book as I ought ! Evidently it is not 

 in me. Some friend or other is sure to find fault. Look at the 

 following. But what does it matter so long as they so kindly come to 

 my rescue ? Best thanks to them. It is what I have always asked, and 

 I will confess that my friend is right : 



"I notice in your book the Chela or Chilwa is treated with scant 

 ceremony. He gives good sport with a fly, failing heavier fish, and bites 

 more readily than any other fish I know. We had a little rivalry in Ajmir 

 some years ago to make the biggest bag. The time was from 5 P.M. to 

 dark, i.e. one and a half hours about. A friend killed over one hundred 

 and forty at one sitting, and I managed to beat his bag by twenty-two, 

 that is at the rate of nine fish every five minutes. Three flies and a short 

 line. The difficulty lay in unhooking them fast enough, and I found a 

 sharp jerk would tear the hook out and save much time, only occasionally 

 a fish was slung overboard in this way. They are excellent eating and 

 found everywhere." 



Not a few other friends have written me enthusiastically of this 

 fishing. 



On one occasion when fishing a tank for Labeo, I noticed that it was 

 pestiferously swarming with Chilwa. I was doing the thing comfortably 

 with servants about me, one looking after the paste bait, keeping up an 

 ever ready supply of rolled-up balls, another on the gut vive with the 



