INTRODUCTORY 



infectious enthusiasm, which suggests that for him also the 

 love of fishing must be a priceless relaxation in the increas- 

 ingly rare intervals of respite from arduous duties to his 

 constituents. 



Game fish, though holding first place with the angler of 

 catholic affections, are not the only quarry to be considered. 

 One, at least, of the coarse fish, to the smaller and more homely 

 members of which Mr. Sheringham does justice with his usual 

 charm, enjoys a reputation second to none in the esteem of 

 those who have sought it in its Himalayan haunts ; and of 

 this giant barbel, the Indian mahseer. Colonel Bairnsfather 

 gives a most attractive account, coloured with the regret of 

 bygone days so characteristic of retired Anglo-Indians. He 

 makes no pretence to have killed record mahseer. Indeed, 

 as will be seen, one of the fish caught and photographed by 

 Sir Benjamin Simpson, are superior in size to any of his ; but 

 he succeeds in demonstrating that mahseer of even moderate 

 weight give splendid sport amid surroundings so attractive 

 as to enhance the pleasure of catching them. Scenery em- 

 bodies much of the charm of most inland fishing, and brings 

 balm to many a disappointed sportsman during the course of 

 a blank day. 



Even bigger game figures in Lord Desborough's stirring 

 reminiscences of battles with tarpon in the Florida Passes, 

 reprinted by permission from the National Review, and in 

 Dr. Holder's fascinating stories of spearing swordfish and 

 playing tuna and other monsters of American seas, chiefly 

 those that wash the charmed island of Santa Catalina. Those 



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