OUR FISHING EXPERIMENTS. 259 



rapidly following on the heels of Essafi, until, on looking 

 round, I saw to my relief that the rhino had not changed 

 his course. Reloading quickly, I gave him a parting 

 shot, and afterwards followed him for a time ; but as it 

 was getting late, we had ultimately to leave him in 

 peace. Arkwright sent us a very large ' baggar,' weighing 

 about twenty pounds, this evening. He is the only one 

 who cares for fishing. We have not found it very inte- 

 resting, for if we fish with a rod and line a turtle is 

 just as likely to take the bait as a fish, with a result not 

 very satisfactory to the fisherman when his supply of 

 tackle is limited, for something has to yield, and the 

 probability is that it is not the turtle. The other ex- 

 pedient is to use a hand-line of considerable thickness, 

 having a monster hook on it baited with half a pound 

 of meat or more, according to fancy, and by sundry 

 whirls over the head to throw it a long distance into 

 the river, and wait the result. As a precautionary 

 measure, after allowing for plenty of slack line, it is 

 advisable to fasten the frame on which the line is wound 

 to something immovable. A few gentle nibbles, then a 

 jerk, and probably a turtle is again hooked, and it is 

 merely a question of hauling to bring it to the bank, 

 when it has a playful way very frequently of making 

 good its escape. Possibly a turtle is not in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the bait, then woe be it if, when hold- 

 ing the line in your hand, your thoughts stray, for before 



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