1G2 / wish I was with Nancy. Chapt. xiii. 



biggest Mahseer going, within a week of your making up 

 your mind to do so. 



But this is only a rough and ready way of getting 

 over the difficulties of a residence in such a remote corner 

 of the globe; almost the antipodes as regards fishing 

 tackle. The idea of living thousands of miles away from 

 a tackle shop is, when fully realized, something truly hor- 

 rible and depressing, and the anglers' song naturally is : — 



I wish I was with Bowness* 



In the Strand, 



In the Strand. 



I wish I was with Farlowf 



In the Strand. 



Go to the best shop, and get the best 

 Hooks. tackle; and these two men are the only 



two to my knowledge in all London, and I suppose I may 

 consequently say in all England, who have proper Mah- 

 seer hooks. Farlow had them, but seemed ashamed to 

 produce them till pressed, they being heavy and clumsy 

 looking to the refined eye of an English tackle maker. 

 Moreover he considers it no compliment to offer such a 

 hook to a sportsman, as if he had not fine enough hand 

 to kill a fish on an ordinary hook; and indeed it might be 

 considered an insult, if the pull of the fish was the only 

 thing to be afraid of. But that is not the difficulty at 

 all, it is the very unusual power of compression exercised 

 by the Mahseer, the violent chop with which he seizes his 

 fish, that crushes an ordinary treble hook before you feel 

 your fish, at all, as explained at length in Chapter IV. 



* 230 Strand; f 191 Strand. 



