266 Fishing on the Hill Sanatoria. CHAP. xix. 



February 1894. The survivors will now be 2- years old, and are 

 well grown fish." 



I see it reported that " mountain carp " have been taken with a fly 

 in the Pykara stream. The scientific name is not quoted. 



The Billikal Lake swarms with the little indigenous Rasbora 

 daniconius. It only attains to 8 inches, but it rises very freely indeed 

 to the smallest fly you can use, and may serve excellently to teach 

 schoolboys to throw a fly, and to feed big fish. They thrive very well 

 there in company with the Carnatic Carp, but they cannot stand the 

 common carp, seemingly. 



It is probable that Labeos will thrive at Wellington, for I sent some 

 fry to a friend, who had a plantation at an elevation of about 4500 feet, 

 and they lived and grew well in his pond, till a clever coolie let off all 

 the water, and they went into the coffee pulper. But whether they will 

 survive the greater cold of Ootacamund is a further question. 



If they will live on the hills one might hope that the Cirrhina 

 tirrhosa, or White Carp, mentioned in Chapter XIIL, might also thrive 

 there. 



Barils thrive well on the Pulney Hills, and ought to do equally well 

 on the Nilagiri Hills. They have been introduced into a reservoir at 

 Devashola, near Coonoor, by the late Mr. Money, and have bred there 

 as I saw. To take them on to Ootacamund and to the lakes at Kodanad, 

 and at Wellington would be a very easy matter, a few pots and coolies, 

 and casting nets being all that would be wanted. The Wellington 

 water should be stocked with them, if it is only as a healthy diversion 

 to the soldiery. 



As to the fish already there, the manner of capturing them may be 

 dismissed in very few words. 



The Carnatic Carp has already been treated of in Chapter XL and 

 above. Of Rasbora daniconius enough has been said. There remain 

 the English Carp (Cyprinus carpio\ and Tench (Tinea vulgaris). 



The English carp are very difficult to take with the rod. They are 

 the fox of the waters for cunning. The plan, however, is to use fine 

 gut and light quill float, with small shot about a foot from the hook, 

 No. 6 or 7 Kirby size, not larger. Let the shot rest on the bottom, just 

 tilting the float. Bait with paste, worms, or gentles, ground-baiting with 

 the same mixed with clay or bran. Keep out of sight and quiet, and 

 strike when the float moves off, not before. "Ephemera" says they 



