Sept. 6, igo2.| 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
191 
St. Lawrence maskinonge of thi'rty-two pounds fairly to 
gaff on it in twenty minutes, as Dr. Henshall once did, 
he has certainly enjoyed twenty minutes of exciting sport, 
and has reason to be proud of his achievement. On a 
taiit line, the maskinonge often leaps clear of the water, 
and being a poAverful fish, requires at this time very care- 
ful handling. The great difficulty, with light tackle, is to 
keep the maskinonge from running into and entangling 
himself in the weeds, rushes, or sunken tree tops in 
which he probably lay concealed when he rushed for the 
angler's bait. This cannot always be doncj but there is 
sport in trying it, and good assistance can be rendered 
the fisherman by his guide, who should know enough to 
pull for deep water immediately a fish is hooked. The 
rod should not be more than nine feet in length, and 
eleven or twelve ounces in weight, but the hook should be 
fnstencd to the line on a gimp snell, for the teeth of the 
fish renders gut impossible of success. 
Doctored Carp and Caffisii. 
Not very long ago I was dining in a New England hotel 
when tlie waiter brought me a portion of fish, which was 
:described upon the menu card as bluefish. My companion, 
who was a resident of the place, asked me if I knew what 
I was eating, and surprised me by the remark that it 
was simply carp so prepared and served up as to imitate 
the better fish. To the credit of the hotel's culinary de- 
partment I am compelled to say that the fish formed by no 
n;eans an unsavory dish, and that it was a very fair imita- 
tion of bluefish. I am reminded of this misrepresentation 
on the part of the hotel people, by reading in a. New 
Orleans newspaper of a new fishing traffic which has 
sprung up in California, and which is described as being 
rapidly developed into a large and paying business along 
the lower coast. It consists of the catcliing and selling 
of the fiver catfish to a company at three cents per ponnd. 
The fish are emptied and then packed in barrels, salted and 
shipped to some northern city, where they are chemically 
ptepared as to color and flavor, packed in cans, and 
labeled and sold as salmon. It is claimed that when 
thus prepared for canning, the fish cannot be detected, 
cither in flavor or color, from the genuine Pacific coast 
salmon. Some of these fish weigh as much as fifty pounds 
each, and those engaged in catching them have been 
known to earn as much as five dollars a day. 
I was expatiating the other day upon the immorality of 
the frauds committed upon unsuspecting consumers, who 
in this age of shams are offered all kinds of foul imita- 
tions with their food, when I was tenderly invited, from 
the other side of the dining table, to say what I thought 
pf the iniquity of men who impose upon the credulity of 
the lower orders of creation, by offering to hungry trout 
the tinsel imitation of their natural food, in order to lure 
them to their death. But that, as Kipling would say, is 
altogether another story ! And fishes are not of those to 
whom we are expected to do as we would they should do 
t;nto us, are they? That is only one reason why 1 
think the question posed to me and the laughter that fol- 
lowed it around the table were so very cruel and uncalled 
for. Don't you? E. T. D. Chambers. 
Fishing in the Attjafa. 
Where is the Atbara? Take down youir map of Africa, 
find the Nile, and follow it with your finger, past Cairo, 
Luxtor, Karnak, the Lower Cataract, Philse, Korosko and 
Berber, till you come, about twenty-five miles above the 
latter, to what, in the dry season, from about Oct. I to 
June I. is an arid bed of sand, lying white and blistering 
In the torrid heat, but during the other four months of 
:t.he year is a rushing torrent of chocolate-colored mud, 
brought from the Abyssinian Alps, six hundred miles 
away. Thick as pea soup and dirtier even than the Mis- 
souri, it well deserves, at this time, the name given it by 
the Arabs, "Bahr el Aswat," or "Black River." Not 
entirely waterless is it, however, even in the dry season, 
lor, all along its length, where the river bed has been 
■hollowed out, are found pools, some of which are five 
miles long by two hundred yards wide and fifty feet deep. 
In these pools lurk crocodiles and hippopotami, and to 
them, from the neigliboring desert and mimosa groves, 
come the thirsty elephant, the lion, wild ass, rhinoceros, 
buffalo, giraffe and antelope of various kinds. They are 
full too of huge turtles and strange fish, gamy and fierce, 
who will make the angler's nerve thrill in the wild fight 
for life and liberty. 
Let us "go a-fishing" here— you and I and Sir Samuel 
Baker, that plucky Englishman, who, with his no less 
phicky wife, is known to, and loved by, all the wild Ham- 
ran Arabs, Tokroori- negroes and Base savages of the 
land. Let us stand and watch him, as, at one of these 
pools, two hundred miles from the mouth, he prepares 
himself for the sport. No four-oimce fly-rods and single 
gut will do here. His "pole" is a stout bamboo, twenty 
feet in leiigth, cut from the banks of the stream. To the 
tip is firmly lashed a half-inch brass ring, taken from his 
game bag, .ind his huge reel holds two hundred yards of 
stout line, to which is fastened, by a yard of coarse gimp, 
his largest-sized salmon hook. But we will let him tell 
the tale in his own words, for it would be hard to say 
A\ hether he handles the pen, the rod or the gun the best. 
"In the afternoon I arranged my taclcle and strolled 
down to the pool to fish. There was a difficulty in pro- 
curing bait ; a worm was never heard of in the burning 
deserts of Nubia, neither had I a net to catch small fish ; 
I was therefore obliged to bait with pieces of hippo- 
potamus." (Imagine catching a hippopotamus for fish 
bait!) "Fishing in such a pool as this of the Atbara 
was sufficiently exciting, as it was impossible to conjecture 
wbat creature might accept the invitation ; but the Arabs 
v\'ho accompanied me were particular in guarding mc 
against the position I had taken under a willow bush'close 
to the water, as they explained that most probably a 
crocodile would take me instead of the bait. I accordingly 
fished at a few feet distant from the margin, and pres- 
ently I had a bite; I landed a species of perch about two 
1 ounds weight ; this was the boulti, one of the best Nile 
fish mentioned by Bruce. In a short time I had a re- 
spectable dish of fish ; but hitherto no monster had paid 
me the slightest attention ; accordingly I changed my 
fcait, and upon a powerful hook, fitted upon treble-twisted 
wire, I fastened an enticing strip of a boulti. The bait 
was about four ptjpces, and glistened like silver; the 
water was tolerably clear, but not too bright, and with 
such an attraction I expected something heavy. 
"My float was a large-sized pike float for live bait, and 
this civilized sign had been only a few minutes in the 
wild waters of the Atbara when bob! and away it went. 
J had a very large reel, with nearly three hundrgH yard.s of 
line that had been specially made for monsters; down 
went the top of my rod, as though a grindstone was sus- 
pended on it, and, as I recovered its position, away went 
the line, and the reel revolved, not with the sudden dash 
cf a spirited fi.sh, but with the steady, determined pull 
of a trotting horse. What on earth have I got hold of? 
In a few minutes about a hundred yards of line arc out, 
and as the creature was slowly but steadily traveling down 
the center of the channel, I determined to cry 'halt !' if 
possible, as my tackle was extremely stout, and my rod a 
single bamboo. 
"Accordingly I put on a powerful strain, which was 
replied to by a sullen tug, a shake, and again my rod 
was pulled suddenly down to the water's edge. At 
length, after the roughest haiidling, I began to reel in 
slack line, as my unknown friend had doubled in on 
me; and upon once more putting pressure upon him or 
her, as it might be. I perceived a great swirl in t\ye water, 
about twenty yards from the rod. The tackle Avould 
bear anything, and I strained so heavily upon my ad- 
versary, that I soon reduced the distance; but the water 
was very deep, the bank precipitous, and he was still 
invisible. 
"At length, after much tugging and counter tugging, he 
began to show ; eagerly I gazed into the water, to ex- 
amine my new acquaintance, when I made out something 
below, in shape between a coach wheel and a sponging 
bath ; in a few moments more I brought to- the surface, 
securely hooked, a monstrous— turtle ! I felt like the 
old lady who won an elephant in the lottery; that I had 
him was certain, but what was I to do with my prize? 
It was at least a hundred pounds weight, and the bank 
was steep, and covered with bushes ; thus it was impos- 
sible to land the monster, that now tugged and dived with 
the determination of the grindstone that his first pull had 
suggested. 
"Once I attempted the gaff, but the trusty weapon that 
had landed many a fish in Scotland, broke in the hard 
shell of the turtle, and I was helpless. My Arab now 
came to my assistance, and terminated the struggle. Seiz- 
ing the line with both bands, utterly regardless of all re- 
monstrances (which, being in English, he did not un- 
derstand), he quickly hauled our friend to the surface 
and held him, struggling and gnashing his jaws, under 
the steep bank. In a few moments the line slackened, and 
the turtle disappeared. The fight was over ! The sharp 
horny jaws had bitten throttgh treble-twisted brass wire 
as clean as though cut by shears. My visions of turtle 
soup had faded." 
But "fortune favors the brave," so let us try oUr luck 
with him again, but this time at the close of the rainy 
season, when the river is rapidly receding, to its former 
state of dryness. We are camped at the junction of the 
Atbara with the Till, a small stream whose waters are 
falling fast. At the mouth^of the Till are huge boulders,, 
past which the swift current foams and eddies. A "pot 
hole" in the rocks at the water's edge has been emptied 
of sand and pebbles, and filled by our Arab gamins with 
fresh water and live bait, caught in a pool in the Till, and 
we are ready for the sport. 
"I chose a little fellow about four inches long to begin 
with, and delicately inserted the hook under the back 
fin. Gently dropping my alluring and livelj' little friend 
m a deep channel between the rocks and the mouth of 
the Till, I watched my large float with great interest, as, 
carried by the stream, it swept past the corner of a large 
rock into the open river ; that corner was the very place 
where, if I had been a big fish, I should have concealed 
myself for a sudden rush upon an unwary youngster. 
The large green float sailed leisurely along, simply indi- 
cating, by its uneasy movement, that the bait was playing ; 
and now it passed the point of the rock and hurried 
round the corner in the sharper current toward the open 
river. Off it went ! Down dipped the tip of the rod, with 
a rush so sudden that the line caught somewhere and 
broke ! 
"■Well, that was a monster!' I exclaimed, as I recov- 
ered the inglorious line; fortunately the float was not lost, 
a? the hooks had been carried away at the fastening to 
the main line; a few yards of this I cut off, as it had par-- 
tially lost its strength from frequent use. 
"I replaced the hooks by a little larger set, with' the 
stoitest gimp and swivels, and once more I tried my 
fortune with a bait exactly resembling the first. In a 
short time I had a brisk run, and quickly landed a fish of 
about twelve pounds; this was a species known to the 
Arabs as the 'bayard' ; it has a blackish green back, the 
brightest silver sides and belly, with very peculiar back 
fins, that nearest the tail being a simple piece- of flesh 
free from rays. This fish has four long hutfmles in 
the upper jaw, and two in the lower. t haw 
frequently seen the 'bayard' of sixty or seventy pOttfldss 
weight, therefore I was not proud of my catch, and recOttt-' 
menced fishing. * * * I chose from my aquarium a;' 
fish of about half a pound; I dropped this in the river 
about twenty yards above the mouth of the Till, and 
allowed it to swim naturally down the stream, so as to 
pass across the Till junction, and descend the deep chan- 
nel between the rocks. For about ten minutes I had no 
run ; I had twice tried the same water without success ; 
nothing would admire my charming bait; when, just as it 
had reached the favorite turning point at the extremity 
of the rock, away dashed the line, with the tremendous 
rush that follows the attack of a mighty fish. Trusting 
to the soundness of my tackle. I .struc1< hard, and fastened 
my new acquaintance thoroughly, but off he dashed down 
the stream for about fifty yards at one rush, making fof 
a narrow channel between two rocks, through which the; 
stream ran Ifke a mill race. Should he pass this chaw-' 
nel, T knew he would cut the line across the rock; there-- 
fore, giving him the birtt, I held him by luain fofCev ^ndl 
by the great swirl in the water, I knew I was brii!giii'rg 
him to the .surface; but just as I expected to .see him, My 
float having already appeared, away he darted in another 
direction, taking a hundred yards of line without a check. 
I at once observed that he must pass a shallow sand bank, 
favorable for landing a heavy fi.sh; I therefore checked 
him as be reached this spot, and followed him down the 
bank, reeling up line as I ran parallel to his course. Nol* 
came the tug 6f war ! I knew my hooks were good, and 
my line sound, therefore I was determined liot to let him 
escape beyond the favorable ground; so I ptff a strairs 
upon him, that after much struggling brought to the sur- 
face a great shovel head, followed by a pair of iWoadl 
silvery sides, as I led him gradually to shallow water.- 
Bacheet now cleverly sectired him b}^ the gills, and 
dragged him ashore. He was' a splendid 'bayard,' of at 
l«ast forty pounds weight. I laid my prize upon some 
green reeds, and covered it carefully with the same cool 
m.aterial. * * * I put on a large bait, and threw it 
about forty yards up stream, and allowed the float to 
sweep the water in a half circle, thus taking the chances 
of dift'erent distances from the shore. For about half an 
hour nothing moved; I was just preparing to change my 
position, wheil out rushed my line, and, striking hard, I 
believed I had fixed the old gentleman himself, for I had 
no control over him whatever; holding him was out of 
the question; the line flew through my hands, cutting ' 
them till the blood flowed, and I was obliged to let the 
fish take his own way; this he did for about eighty yards, 
when he suddenly stopped. This unexpected halt was a 
great calamity, for the reel overran itself, having no drag, 
and the slack of the line caught the handle just as he 
rushed forward again, and with a jerk that nearly pulled 
the rod from my hands, he was gone ! 
"I found one of the large hooks broken short off; the 
confounded reel I The fisli was a monster ! Putting on 
another bait, in a few minutes I had a tremendous rush,, 
and about a hundred and fifty yards of line ran off the 
reel, without my being able to* stop it. I followed along 
the bank, holding hard, and after about half an hour of 
difference of opinion, the fish began tO' show itself, and I 
coaxed it into the shallows ; here it was cleverly managed 
by Bacheet, who lugged it out by the tail. It was an 
ugly monster, of about fifty pounds, a species of silurus 
(first cousin to the catfish), known to the Arafa as the 
'coor." It had lungs resembling delicate branches of red 
coral, and, if kept moist, will live upon the grotJJidl for 
many hours, like an eel. It smelt strongly of musk; bud 
was gladly accepted by the Ara!bs. * * * 
"This afternoon I took the rod, and having caught a'- 
beautiful silver-sided fish of about a poitnd weight, 1 
placed it upon a large single hook fastened under the 
lin. In about an hour I had a run, but upon striking. I 
pulled the bait out of the fish's mouth, as the point of the 
hook had not touched the jaw. I wound up slowly for 
about thirty yards, hoping that the big fellow would fol- 
low his lost prize, as I knew him to be a large fish by his 
attack upon a bait of a pound weight. I found my bait 
was killed, but having readjusted the hook, I again cast it 
in the same direction, and slowly played it toward me. 
I had him ! He took it immediateh'-, and I determined 
to allow him to swallow it before I should strike. With- 
out a halt, aboitt a hundred yards of line were taken at 
the first rush, toward the middle of the river; he then 
stopped, and I waited for about a minute, and then fixed 
him with a jerk that bent my bamboo like a fly-rod. To 
this he replied by a splendicl challenge. In one jump he 
flew about six feet oitt of the water, and showed himself 
to be one of the most beautiful fish I had ever seen ; not 
one of those nondescript antediluvian brutes that you ex- 
pect to catch in these extraordinary rivers, but in color 
like a clean-run salmon. He gave tremendous play, sev- 
eral times lc?Rping out of the water and shaking his headi 
furiously to free himself from the hook ; then darting, 
away with eighty or a hundred yards of fresh line, until! 
he was at last forced to yield to the tough and elastic 
bamboo, and his deep body stranded upon the fatal shal- 
lows, Bacheet was a charming lad to land a fish; he was 
always quiet and thoughtful, and neA^er got in the way of 
the line. Tliis time he closely approached him from be- 
hind, slipped both his hands along his side, and hooked 
bis fingers into the broad gills; thus he dragged him 
splashing through the shallows, to the sand bank. What 
a beauty! What was he? The color was that of a sal- 
mon, and the scales were not larger in proportion ; he was 
about fifty pounds in weight. The back fin resembled that 
»f a perch, with seven rays; the second dorsal fin had 
fourteen rays; the head was well shaped, and small in 
proportion to the body; the eyes were bright red, and 
shone like rubies, and the teeth were very small. * * * 
This species of fish is considered by the Arabs to be the 
best in the rivisr; it is therefore called Et Baggar 'the 
cow.' " 
And so ends our day's sport, and we return to our 
(:a,rap under the huge raimo&a trees, and smoke our restful 
