66 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



down the second rapid with a 17-pounder, and wish 

 it had been my luck to do it with one of 30 Ibs. 



I personally never caught any very big mahser. 

 I caught a fish of 42 Ibs. in the Giri and several 

 fish of 30 Ibs. more or less, and I also caught in 

 the Giri, and the Giri junction with the Jumna, 

 goonch of 70 and 68 Ibs., the latter of which did 

 not sulk and showed good sport, taking me down 

 the river for several hundred yards. Colonel 

 Downman caught a mahser of 54 Ibs. in the Giri ; 

 and this is, I think, the record for the river. 

 But mahser unquestionably run to a great size ; 

 and fish over 100 Ibs. in weight have, as I 

 understand, been caught in the tributaries of 

 the Cauvery River in Madras, and fish up to 90 Ibs. 

 in the Irrawaddy River in Burmah. I have 

 heard also of a mahser of 80 Ibs. being caught 

 in the Bias. 



The fish you lose are always bigger than the 

 fish you catch ; and two days are very vividly 

 impressed upon my memory. The first was a 

 day in autumn on the Bias, and I was fishing 

 near the famous rock in the river at Changarvan, 

 a noted lie for big fish when the water at this 

 spot is favourable. All Indian rivers alter much 

 from season to season, and in the Giri the pool, 

 where Colonel Downman caught his 54-pounder, 

 was nearly dry two years afterwards. An enor- 

 mous fish took my bait, just by the rock. He 

 did not dash off, as a mahser usually does, but 

 wallowed about for some time, giving me ample 

 opportunity to feel his weight ; and I called 

 out triumphantly in Hindustani : " I have got 

 a fish this time." Then he made a rush down- 



