10 
BOMPAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
The fishermen, on taking them ont, thread them by the eyes, 
with a huge iron needle, on a line whereof the end is made fast to a 
stalee in the water; and, having so bestowed the morning’s take, belay 
the needle-end of the line to another stake, and wait for their cus- 
tomers, who know well when and where to come. I have often 
seen 5 or 6 dozen of Dumbro, averaging well over a stone weight, 
many over 20 lbs., on such a line, and the first impulse of any 
civilized man is to put a violent end to such a cruelty, 
The reasons why this cannot be done are matters of administration, 
and not of zoology. wie 
To the end of my own time on those waters, I never could endure 
the sight of that line of blinded fish, but I am bound to admit that 
their gestures were not expressive of agony, and from what we know 
of the nervous system of fishes, it is probable that their sufferings are 
much less than a highly-organized mammal can conceive. 
Indeed, even the inferior mammals, and especially the ruminants, 
seem to be gifted with a marvellous insensibility to torture, which 
any one who has seen in India the sacred bovine race under the 
hands of its worshippers, may well thank God for, if the poor brutes 
can’t do it for themselves. This, however, is a digression. 
{I am informed, not very credibly, that the “ Dumbros” can 
be caught in the Narra, below this bridge, “with flies, just like * 
salmon.” If this is true, the sport is probably the best rod-fishing 
in this Presidency. 
Amongst catfishes the Padi (Wallago atfw) is much the finest 
and most palatable in the Indus, but the English name is usually 
given there to a much commoner species of Rita, called in Sind, 
“* khaggo.” 
This fish is easily caught with hook and line, but little esteemed, 
because, though the flesh is good enough, there is very little of it 
after deducting a huge bony head and a lot of spines and fins. It 
expresses its disgust by an odd grunting noise, something like 
that of the Huropean gurnet. This spelling, “ gurnet” is now 
treated by Hnglish writers as inaccurate, and the right thing is sup- 
posed to be “ gurnard” from the French “ grognard,” ( “ grunter ”’ 
or “grumbler”), But all editions of Shakspeare (I Henry IV., Act 
iv., scene 2,) have “ soused gurnet,” which was, apparently, in no 
better reputation in Falstaft’s day than soused “khaggo” in Sind, 
and probably for the same reason, namely, that there is so little 
meat on the fish. The flavour, in each case, is as good as that of 
