CHAPTER IV. 



CIRCUMVENTING THE MAHSEER. 



" 'Take my bait', cried Hiawatha 

 « 'Take my bait Oh king of fishes!' " 



Longfellow. 



SOME people complain that the Hindu does every thing 

 in a way opposite to that which you would naturally ex- 

 pect of a sane man, because opposite to that way in which 

 all Europeans are accustomed to do the like acts. On 

 entering a house he has not the ordinary politeness to take 

 off his hat, but instead thereof, he kicks off his shoes; in 

 place of making himself ' a little extra civil before a big 

 whig, he folds his arms, and stands bolt upright, and so 

 forth. Similarly the Mahseer, being a thorough Asiatic, 

 does many things by contraries. If you expect him to 

 take better, as any decent salmon or trout would, when 

 there is a spate in the river, you will be very much mis- 

 taken. Not a fin will stir then. If you see the river dis- 

 colored, you had very much better not waste your labour 

 and your patience on it, for you may be sure you will not 

 catch a single fish. You must wait till the river is clear 

 again, and your best chance for Mahseer is when the river 

 is as clear as crystal, just the time you would consider 

 the most unfavourable for trout or salmon. Though I 

 have taken Mahseer freely when the river has been the 



