CHAP. xvin. Chanos Salmoneus. 259 



of his acquaintance. To them, therefore, I introduce him with this 

 caution about punctuality. He will not wait a minute for you. 



Sea-fish are to be caught in India, as elsewhere, by bottom fishing 

 from a boat, and for those who fancy this style of fishing, good sport 

 may sometimes be had. With a view to tell them about it, I 

 commenced collecting the information from the native fishermen. 

 But it strikes me there will be very little practical use in my swelling 

 my book with what anyone can learn just as well direct from them. 

 Moreover, it is difficult for any book to make a man independent 

 of local aid in sea-fishing; for there are certain places in the sea 

 that hold certain fish, while other places hold none, and he will 

 still want the local fishermen, who know the spots, and the guiding 

 landmarks, to anchor him immediately over these favoured spots. 

 Being perforce reliant, therefore, on the native fishermen for locality, 

 he may as well leave them to supply bait, lines, and everything else. 



Chanos salmoneus. 



One sea-fish, however, I will mention briefly, because, though not 

 to be caught with rod and line that I know of, it, in its own way, shows 

 really exciting sport. Acclimatized to water that is very slightly 

 brackish, it runs to 20 or 30 Ibs. in a pond at Cundapur, and having 

 the repute of having been reserved by Hyder for his own use, it 

 has ever since been protected, and going by the name of Ryder's 

 fish, is believed to be a freshwater fish, imported and put there by 

 Hyder. I entertain no doubt, however, that the fry introduced 

 themselves through a breached sluice from the adjoining estuary, 

 and that, on the sluice being permanently closed, they gradually 

 got acclimatized to the water growing less and less salt. Now they 

 breed there freely. Being satisfied this must be the explanation, I 

 showed a peon a stuffed specimen, and, impressing every detail of 

 its form on him, and making him repeat them with his back to the 

 fish, and selecting the month in which I thought it most probable that 

 the Chanos salmoneus would enter the estuaries to spawn, and allowing 

 time for the fry to hatch and grow before going to sea, I sent the peon 

 to the estuary, not the pond, to catch some fry and take them to 

 another lake, the bigger Karkal Lake. He found them as predicted, 



S 2 



