2121 PREPARATIONS FOR FISHING. [c h a p . ix .
#■ quite certain that some big fellows in the main river
would be waiting to receive the small fry that
were hurrying away from the exhausted waters of
the Till.
I had a good supply of tackle, and I chose a beautifully
straight and tapering bamboo that had been
brought down by the river floods. I cut off the large
brass ring from a game-bag, which I lashed to the
end of my rod; and having well secured my largest
winch, that carried upwards of 200 yards of the
strongest line, I arranged to fish with a live bait upon
a set of treble hooks. In one of the rocks at the
water’s edge, was a circular hole about three feet in
diameter and five or six feet deep; this appeared
like an artificial well, but it was simply the effect
of natural boring by the joint exertions of the strong-
current combined with hard sand and gravel. This
had perhaps years ago settled in some slight hollow in
the rock, and had gradually worked out a deep well
by perpetual revolutions. I emptied this natural bait-
box of its contents of sand and rounded pebbles, and
having thoroughly cleaned and supplied it with fresh
water, I caught a large number of excellent baits by
emptying a hole in the Till; these I consigned to my
aquarium. The baits were of various kinds: some
were small “ boulti” (a species of perch), but the
greater number were young fish of the Silurus species;
these,were excellent, as they were exceedingly tough
in the skin, and so hardy in constitution, that they
rather enjoyed the fun of fishing. I chose a little
fellow about four inches in length to begin with, and'
I delicately inserted the hook under the back fin.
Gently dropping my alluring and lively little friend
in 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 indicating, 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 towards the open river.
Off it went ¡—Down dipped the tip of the rod with a
rush so sudden that the line cauOg ht somewhere,7 I don’t know where, and broke !
“ Well, that was a monster! ” I exclaimed, as I
recovered my inglorious line; fortunately the float
was not lost, as the hooks had been carried away at
the fastening to the main line; a few yards .of this
I cut off, as it had partially lost its strength from
frequent immersion.
I replaced the lost hooks by a still larger set, with
the stoutest 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 by the Arabs as the “ bayard;” it has a
blackish green back, the brightest silver sides and