790 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIII. 



fixture, nor intended as such. It was merely a weight to help in casting the 

 line, also to cause the bait to sink to the bottom of the stream, or nearly to 

 the bottom. It was only fastened by one single hair, as the fisherman 

 explained that if it was a permanent fixture it would catch against the 

 rocks and boulders at the bottom of the torrents and streams, which 

 flow very fast indeed, and break his line or else would aid a fish by adding 

 extra unnecessary weight to his frail line. Once a fish is in one of 

 the nooses, and starts struggling and fighting, the pebble breaks or 

 slips away, being only temporarily held by a single hair. It has done 

 its work in sinking the bait and taking it along the bed, it is not 

 required once a fish is firmly held. Even if it sticks between two boulders, 

 when there is no fish caught, a slight jerk soon frees the line and the 

 pebble remains, for the hair fastened to it breaks, as was intended. 

 Experience has therefore taught them that a permanent lead is not 

 required and rightly so. The length of line used was about 50 feet, 

 the one I send you is that length. No reel is used, but the line is wound 

 round a flat 6" x 3" board having an opening along one side, through which 

 the left hand fingers are passed. The Paharia is very dexterous in his 

 use of this primitive piece of board, it is as you will observe shaped to 

 a cutting edge, so that the line slips off it easily when he is playing a 

 fish. When he wishes to haul in the line he simply pulls it in, in long 

 loops and works it back again on to the flat piece of board very cleverly. 

 In casting he does not cast in the usual sense of the word, but swings 

 his line backwards a bit, by a sidelong pendulum-like movement throws it 

 out, the pebble at the end of the line helping him very considerably, and 

 once the line is out on the swing, he lets out a lot of it, and is able thus to 

 drop his bait at any place he wants to, and a good distance out too. The 

 long rod generally used also helps him to throw well out in a stream if 

 necessary. He always casts in a rapid or fast flowing water not very 

 deep, and not in a pool, or deep fairly still water. I saw several fish 

 caught, and caught some myself but could not play them so well as the 

 Paharia did, not being used to the tackle. He got one over 4 lbs. in 

 weight and it was a little devil, showing great fight. It went down stream 

 as hard as it could go and the Paharia went with it jumping from boulder 

 to boulder with astonishing dexterity ; keeping his rod perfectly horizon- 

 tal for the first few minutes, then he played it very successfully and 

 landed it about 2,000 feet below the place he caught it, as I measured 

 the distance with my tape. The time taken was about 20 minutes, for, as 

 he explained, he had to tire out the fish properly, as he could not take any 

 liberty with his frail line. This 4 lbs. fish was held just below the gills 

 by the noose on the right hand side ; the noose on the left was not out of 

 shape at all, being perfectly circular and complete. Fish are held in various 

 ways, some round the neck, some by the tail, some by the snout, and some 

 even by one fin only. I have seen them held by all these parts. One 

 Paharia assured me he had got two fish at the same time once. Snow Carp, 

 and I can imagine this quite possible for in one or two streams you cannot 

 pull them out quick enough with an ordinary fish hook, using " atta, " or 

 worm bait, they are so ravenously hungry and numerous. The bait once 

 put on properly in the centre of the nooses is used over and over again, in 

 fact for a whole day's fishing, as no fish can ever swallow or eat it up, it is 

 so well fixed and they never get properly at it. Many fish slip away from 

 the nooses even after they have been played for some time and this is but 

 natural, as they are so slippery and wriggle themselves free ; but not many 

 escape that are held round the neck ; on an average about one in three get 

 away and slip through. This you can always tell as the size of the noose 

 that held it comes out of the water much smaller than the others. The 



