WILD DUCK TRAPPING IN SOUTH INDIA. 257 



means of preventing an enemy entering the fort), 

 we rushed towards the spot, shouting and making 

 as much noise as possible to frighten off the horrid 

 creature. By the time we got round to where the 

 bestar had been at work, he came floundering out, 

 yelling and crying out, " Uppa / Uppa ! (Father ! 

 Father !) I am dead ! '' We noticed some creature, 

 long and black, with white under its stomach, flop- 

 ping about his waist, which, on nearer approach, 

 we saw was an enormous murrel or ball fish (the 

 Indian trout), common in all South Indian tanks. 

 This is the most voracious of Indian fish and 

 answers in this respect to the pike in England. It 

 had probably made a dash at the wild duck dangling 

 from the waist of the bestar, and its gills got en- 

 tangled in the folds of the cloth he had round his 

 loins. In its efforts to get away it struck frequently 

 against the man's naked thigh, hence his idea 

 that he had been seized by a mugger. The fish 

 was fully two and a half feet long and weighed 

 twelve pounds. We congratulated the bestar on 

 having caught the mugger instead of being caught 

 by it, and rewarded him for his trouble. 



I expressed a wish to my friend to do a little duck 

 shooting on my own account, and he at once directed 

 the bestars to make a raft on which I was to seat 

 myself and be towed out by the swimming bestars, 

 to any position I wished to make. Four large 

 earthen pots were arranged in the form of a square, 

 and kept in position by means of bamboo frame- 

 work. Over this a native charpoy (bedstead) was 

 placed, and on this I was seated with my heavy 



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