VARIOUS MODES OF FISHING 143 



the East is the hilsa ; they ascend the rivers at spawning- 

 times, and in the Delta they are caught in thousands. I 

 have seen a Burman boat almost gunwale under water from 

 the number caught in nets. Although most delicious to eat, 

 they are probably the most bony fish in existence, but there 

 are four bits, each about the size of a table-spoon, which can 

 be extracted by the cognoscenti, which are totally devoid of 

 bone. The best plan is to lay the fish flat, and with a fork to 

 run it down its length with the bones, extracting the flesh and 

 leaving the bones behind. 



The fresh-water crabs are not bad. There are no lobsters, 

 but immense prawns and crayfish are caught off the coasts, 

 and are delicious eating. The best thing I ever got for jungle 

 work was dried prawns ; the smell was against them, but after 

 soaking them for twelve hours, and then making them into a 

 curry, they were very good indeed. 



Night-fishing by blazing out of a boat is not bad fun. I 

 used to go out to the lime-kilns some fifteen miles distant from 

 Tongho ; as the boats we went in were mere dug-outs, upsets 

 were frequent, so we were arrayed in bathing costume. If 

 you strike at and miss a fish you are sure to go overboard, 

 but that is not of much consequence in India. The Thouka- 

 ghat, or drinking-water stream, is one of the most beautiful I 

 have ever seen. Its waters are always icy cold, and the 

 scenery, as it debouches from the mountains, is lovely. I built 

 a bath in it, staking it all round and making it quite private, 

 and connecting it with the shore by a bridge. It was a 

 favourite place even for ladies to bathe. Stakes were neces- 

 sary, as the current was rather swift. I removed the materials 

 every year before the rains. I had a house there, 17 feet off 

 the ground, and whilst it was unbearably hot in Tongho, 

 we were glad of blankets there. 



Determined to try the shooting localities at various seasons, 

 Lloyd, Clarke, and I went to Banlong in January. The first 

 day I shot a doe thamine. The next day we went to Myet- 

 quin, where our future hut had just been commenced. I got 

 one deer en route. As the grass was very high and the annual 

 fires had not commenced, we tried what beating would do. 

 We sent the elephants round and took up our positions in 



