Give A Man Sixpence To Catch You As Many As He Can In The Morning, And
He Forthwith Starts On His Piscatorial Errand With A Large Basket, Cone
Shaped, Of Two Feet Diameter At The Bottom And About Eight Inches At The
Top.
This basket is open at both ends, and is about two feet in length.
The fish that is most sought after is the 'lola.' He is a ravenous
fellow, in appearance between a trout and a carp, having the habits of
the former, but the clumsy shoulders of the latter. He averages about
three pounds, although he is often caught of nine or ten pounds weight.
Delighting in the shallows, he lies among the weeds at the bottom, to
which he always retreats when disturbed. Aware of his habits, the
fisherman walks knee-deep in the water, and at every step he plunges the
broad end of the basket quickly to the bottom. He immediately feels the
fish strike against the sides, and putting his hand down through the
aperture in the top of the basket he captures him, and deposits him in a
basket slung on his back.
These 'lola' are delicious eating, being very like an eel in flavour,
and I have known one man catch forty in a morning with no other
apparatus than this basket.
Minneria Lake, like all others in Ceylon, swarms with crocodiles of a
very large size. Early in the morning and late in the evening they may
be seen lying upon the banks like logs of trees.
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