290 



Rod and Tackle. 



CHAP. XX. 



salmon will run out at a pace that makes a salmon fisher chary of 

 putting his hand on the line without the intervention of a thick glove. 

 How much more a Mahseer. But you cannot wear thick gloves in 

 tropical climes. I have gone so far as to try thin white kid gloves. 

 But they are not a bit of use. The flying line cut them through like a 

 knife in a trice, and was burning my hand just as if I had nothing on. 

 In no time the gloves were cut right through in half a dozen places, and 

 no impression whatever was being made on that Mahseer. It was only 

 I that was impressed. It vexed me so to think that he had the game 

 all in his own hands, and I could find no way of being even with him, 

 till at last I have devised a brake which gives you complete control over 



the friction, so that you can regulate it to a nicety and with the greatest 

 promptitude. I had it made for me some sixteen years ago, before 

 leaving India, and have tested it again and again on Mahseer, and 

 found that in actual practice it works to perfection. It is no new idea 

 with me copied from others. As long ago as my first edition of 1873, 

 I had suggested what I then called a Mahseer drag, but which in my 

 next edition I subsequently discarded as imperfect. But my present 

 idea I am quite satisfied with after thorough trial, and can confidently 

 recommend it to my brothers of the angle. Since coming home I have 

 seen in tackle shops two other devices for compassing the same object, 

 showing that tackle makers had accepted it as an end to be gained if 

 possible, and if it is so with salmon much more it is with a Mahseer. 



