It then occurred
to the boys that it would be capital fun to pour hot water down
the holes, and to kill the cobras with sticks as they emerged from
them. It was a horribly dangerous amusement, for, one bad shot,
and the Royal Navy would unquestionably have had to mourn the loss
of a promising midshipman in two hours' time. When we arrived the
snake-killing was over, and the boys were all refreshing
themselves with large cheroots purloined from the dining-room on
their behalf by a friendly kitmutgar. The dragging of the tank was
really a wonderful sight. As the net reached the far end it was
one solid mass of great shining, blue-grey fish, of about thirty
pounds weight each. The most imaginative artist in depicting the
"Miraculous Draught of Fishes" never approached the reality of
Barrackpore, or pictured such vast quantities of writhing, silvery
finny creatures. They were a fish called cattla by the natives, a
species of carp, with a few eels and smaller fish of a bright red
colour thrown in amongst them. I could never have believed that
one pond could have held such incredible quantities of fish.
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