SOME FOREIGN RELATIVES 127 



attempting to interfere and issue directions. He 

 frankly explained that he had never seen the like 

 before in lunge fishing, but that he would adopt the 

 system as soon as he could properly equip himself. 



The prize was exactly four feet long, and was so 

 empty that it seemed to corroborate the Indian legend 

 as to the fish not feeding at that period. It had, 

 however, taken the bait, and if it had shed any of 

 its teeth the armoury must have been a very fearful 

 one, for both in his large and small teeth he could 

 give our pike many points. It was the narrowest 

 fish I had ever seen for the length, except ling or hake. 

 It weighed only 24^ lb., and from its length and the 

 fact that its head was n| in. from the outer edge of 

 the gill cover to the tip of the lower snout, it should 

 have been considerably over 30 lb. 



I gathered from the sensation made in the little 

 town when we landed at the wharf that, notwithstand- 

 ing the loose talk about 4o-pounders, some time must 

 have elapsed since a lunge of this size had been seen. 

 The boatman flourished it in triumph as we walked 

 in procession across the dusty road from the landing 

 stage to the hotel verandah, and when the news 

 spread, as it seemed to do miraculously, that a big 

 lunge had been caught on a small rod and trout-line, 

 there was quite a popular movement. Men left their 



