232 The Murral. CHAP. xvi. 



might be adopted with advantage for pike in England, for they also 

 have a tooth for frog, though not quite such an one perhaps as the 

 Murral : 



" But John P. 



RoLinson. He 

 Sez they didn't know everything down in Judee." 



So the little wrinkle is thrown out. 



In shallow edged tanks with no overhanging bushes the same 

 method is adapted by a native wading in nearly up to his armpits, with 

 three thin pieces of bamboo, which he sticks into the mud, with their 

 bases well apart and their tops together, so as to form a tripod ; and 

 from the point where they meet he drops his frog just as he did from 

 the fork of the overhanging bough, and the other end of the line is 

 made taut on the shore. One man ordinarily manages three such lines, 

 radiating out from the point where he sits on the shore, to spots 20 or 

 30 yards apart in the tank. He has one under each foot so as to be 

 able to feel with his bare foot the twitch of a bite, and he has one in 

 one hand. He cannot manage more. Doesn't he just wish he was 

 centimanus Gyas. If the tank is covered with weeds, a small clearing 

 is made for the tripod and bait, and though this may disturb the 

 locality while baiting it does not matter. A mole cricket tied to the 

 hook, not impaled, and dapped all alive and kicking, is said to be 

 irresistible. I can quite believe it. But surely it should be among 

 lilies. Cockroaches are also used for such fishing, but in what exact 

 method I cannot say positively, for I have no note ; my memory is 

 that they are impaled on the hook, as cockchafers are for chub in 

 England, and cockroaches certainly are wonderfully tenacious of life 

 in a hot climate. I know, however, that you may safely repose 

 confidence in a frog. 



Ah me ! who would be a frog ? To " lead the life of a dog " is 

 nothing to leading the life of a frog. On land mongooses, snakes, 

 kites, crows, rats, larger frogs, and battalions of paddy birds, or egrets, 

 go in at him greedily. In the water the Murral feeds almost entirely 

 on him, lying perdu under the banks for the purpose ; while the water- 

 snake follows him in both elements. But the verdict is "serve him 

 right," for he is a fry-eater and a spawn-eater, and he is irrepressible, 

 getting up drunken choruses all over the country directly there is a 

 good fall of rain, and he has had a wet night of it. It is truly 



