398 Fishing Localities. CHAP. xxvi. 



my fingers blistered. While on the subject of reels, I might mention that 

 no reels of English manufacture that I have ever seen have hard enough 

 metal in the cog or cog-wheel of the check. I was using on this fishing 

 expedition a new reel of Farlow's, and in six days the teeth of the cog-wheel 

 had almost disappeared, the space between the plates being filled with brass 

 filings. In a reel intended for Mahseer fishing, all the parts that have to 

 bear friction should be made of well-tempered steel. 



"At sunrise next day I again tried the pool, but did not even get an 

 offer ; so I strolled up the river, attended by my shikari, who, by-the-bye, 

 was quite new at this kind of sport. He took to it very keenly, however, 

 and soon became very handy at landing fish, which was done in a way 

 rather surprising to a man accustomed only to the gaff or landing-net. 

 When the fish is nearly exhausted, the man walks quietly into the water, 

 gets behind the fish, gently runs his hands along his back until they reach 

 his gills, then slips his thumbs into the gills and lifts the fish out of the 

 water. This mode of capture sounds very simple, and it is so if the fish 

 does not see the man ; but if he does, off he goes for another run. Mahseer 

 have no dread of being handled ; they keep perfectly quiet during the time 

 the man runs his fingers along their back, and even remain motionless 

 while the hook is being taken out, as long as they are held up ; but no 

 sooner are they placed on the ground than they commence kicking and 

 jumping in the most violent manner. 



" When I had walked two miles I came upon a very lively-looking piece 

 of water by some mills, which I fished diligently with fly, spoon, and 

 phantom till I was pretty well tired out by the exertion and the sun, which 

 was well up by this time ; and the day promised to be very hot. So I turned 

 homewards ; and when I had finished my two-mile walk over boulders and 

 deep sand, I was quite prepared for my breakfast, which I found all ready, 

 and A. very anxious to begin. His morning bag was but little better 

 than mine, for he had only succeeded in landing an i8-pounder. In the 

 afternoon, when the day had got a little cooler, we set to work again. I 

 took a few casts in the pool, but stirred nothing, so went down to the 

 junction. Here the Poonch divides itself into four or five very tolerable 

 streams. I fished them all with every conceivable bait, but the only result 

 was a miserable 3-pounder, and that I hooked by the stomach. A., how- 

 ever, was much more successful. He had resolved to persevere in the pool, 

 and by so doing was rewarded by landing two, of 14 Ibs. and 38 Ibs., but, 

 with his usual bad luck, lost an enormous one. He had played him for 

 more than half an hour up and down the deep water, when he lost him by 

 the hooks drawing. 



" Though, for some mysterious reason, I never had good sport in the 

 early morning fishing, still I was up again next morning by sunrise, and we 

 both tried the pool from the boat ; I literally did nothing did not even 

 stir a fish ; but A. landed one of 19 Ibs. At 3 P.M. I went up the river and 

 fished the head of a small pool, with a glorious stream running into it, 



