CHAPTER VIII 



SOME GAME FISHES OF INDIA 



' " Salaam aleikoum Ya Effendi, Es salamak Ya Braheemo." And peace 

 was with us all that night.' 



I Go A-fishing. — Prime. 



SO far as the natives of India are concerned, game fishes are 

 practically unknown, but the officers in the British service 

 have fully investigated the ichthyological resources of the empire, 

 and have demonstrated that its finny life includes many fish 

 which are game in every sense. Few regions on the globe can 

 show so remarkable a variety of fishes as India. The waters, 

 salt and fresh, fairly teem with them, and they constitute an 

 important factor in the dietary of the native, who, if he is ignorant 

 of the rod and reel, or the lance, has many original methods of 

 taking the game, and as many peculiar ways of eating it from 

 raw to ancient. Who does not know Nya-pi, the succulent 

 relish of Burmah ? While the salt fish of Grdland^ are famous 

 among Indian epicures. 



As in France and other countries, it has been difficult to 

 educate the people and make them appreciate the value of 

 game laws and rules for the protection of fishes, that the future 

 may be cared for. The unlimited millions of India have slaugh- 

 tered fishes, ia season and out, for thousands of years, and, 

 doubtless, always wUl. 



The angler in India is at once struck by the nature of the 

 fishes ; groups, like the catfish and carp, despised in many lands, 

 here include fishes that are said to be essentially game, not to 

 say bizarre in appearance. 

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