PART III 

 FRESH-WATER FISH 



CHAPTER XVII 



TROUT : CARP : TIGER FISH : BARBER : YELLOW FISH : 

 MISCELLANEOUS 



A VAST field of study . and discovery yet awaits the 

 naturalist among the fishes of Africa, and at present there 

 is no work in existence which deals with them com- 

 prehensively. This lack of recorded description is in 

 no way due to want of material to work upon, for most 

 of the rivers, lakes, and pools of the continent swarm with 

 native species. Exceptions are some of the rapid- 

 flowing and cool streams which drain the uplands of south 

 Africa ; and these, destitute of natural denizens, have 

 been wisely utilized for the introduction of rainbow and 

 brown trout. The experiment was first made, if my 

 memory serves me correctly, in the Mooi River in Natal, 

 about 1890, and so successful did it prove that it was 

 extended to many other streams of a similar character 

 in south Africa. 



At the present day very high-class trout fishing is to 

 be had both in Natal and in the Transvaal, and in the 

 latter Province the trout hatchery at Pot chef stroom, 

 which receives a small Government grant in aid, pro- 

 duces annually an immense number of fry, which are 

 distributed in suitable waters through the country. 

 The expenditure for 1910 was under 600, and a credit 



