CARP AND TENCft. 289 



cheese and flour, which was divided into little pellets and 

 scattered in by the fishermen to attract the fish. 



A quondam writer in the Field gives under the signature of 

 ' Eothen ' his experience in Indian carp-catching : 



This fish is known in the Deccan, he says, as the komlah. It 

 exists in great numbers in most of the rivers, and attains a con- 

 siderable weight, from 10 lbs. to 40 lbs. They are often fed by 

 pilgrims near the steps leading down from temples to the water- 

 side, and in such places they become very tame and bold, almost 

 tumbling against the legs of natives performing their ablutions in 

 the river. If handfuls of dried earth nuts in the pod are thrown 

 in, they will scramble for them with the utmost eagerness, rolling 

 over each other like porpoises, gi'eat fellows, with broad backs, 

 averaging £5 lbs., a sight to see, I can assure you ! But, flourish 

 a rod for five minutes, and they will be off with a rush ; not a fin 

 ■will be seen near the place again for at least half-an-hour. No ! 

 they have a marvellous discrimination between friends and foes'; 

 and why it should be so I never could understand, because it is 

 only at rare intervals that they are fished for, by some wandering 

 civilian or officer from the distant cantonment. 



Under these circumstances the only feasible plan of circum- 

 venting them that I could discover, was to trail my rod to the 

 water's edge and lay it down on the ground. I baited the hook 

 with a good-sized lump of plain paste, and then, holding this ready, 

 I threw in several handfuls of boiled rice, mixed with the dil. The 

 water would soon be in a boil with the fish greedily feeding at the 

 bottom, and then was the time to drop in the baited hook, which 

 in the general scramble was sure to be bolted, or, at any rate, laid 

 hold of. In the meantime, I had darted back and picked up the 

 rod, and if I was lucky enough to make a successful strike-^not 

 by any means an easy thing under the circumstances — there would 

 be a ' whirl ' and an 80 yards run before there would be any display 

 of the butt. 



These fish were wonderfully powerful and active, and as the 

 river there was broad and deep, it was necessary to have at least 

 50 yards of line. I was put up to this dodge by a military 'friend 

 who had been very successful. The largest fish ,of his. capturing 

 that I saw, weighed 36 lbs., and it was truly a noble fellow, short, 

 but exceedingly broad and deep at the shoulder. The scales are 

 silvery, not yellow, and remarkably large — one wouM quite 'cover 



II. U 



