n and swirling water. And after a march all
morning, they came to a village of the Fishing-mulgars.

These are a peaceable and ugly tribe of Mulgars, with extremely long and
sinewy tails, which are tufted at the tip, like those of the
Moona-mulgars, with a bunch of fine silky hair. They smear upon this
tuft the pulp of a fruit that grows on a bush hanging over the water,
called Soota, which the fish that swim in this torrent never weary of
nibbling. Then, sitting huddled up and motionless in some little inlet
or rocky hole in the bank, the Fishing-mulgar pays out his long tail and
lets it drift with the stream. By-and-by, maybe, some hungry fish comes
swimming by that way and smells the pounded Soota. He softly stays,
nibbling and tasting. Very slowly the Fishing-mulgar, who instantly
perceives the least commotion in his tail-tuft, draws back his bait
without so much as blinking an eyelid. And when he has enticed the fish
quite close to the bank, still all intent on its feeding, he stoops in a
flash, and, plunging his sharp-nailed hands in the water, hooks the
struggler out.

They swarm about water, these Mulgars, and teach their tiny babies to
fish, too, by scooping out a hole or basin in the rock, which they fill
from the torrent. In this they set free two or three little half-grown
fish. These, with their infant tails, the children catch again and
again, and are rewarded at evening, according to their skill, with a
slice of roe or a backbone to pick. An old and crafty Fishing-mulgar
will sit happy all day in some smooth hollow, and, having snared perhaps
four or five, or even, maybe, as many as nine or twelve fat fishes, home
he goes to his leaf-thatched huddle or sand-hole, and eats and eats till
he can eat no more. After which his wife and children squat round and
feed on what remains. Some eat raw, and those of less gluttony cook
their catch at a large fire, which they keep burning night and day. Here
the whole village of them may be seen sitting of an evening toasting
their silvery supper. But, although they are such greedy feeders, there
is something in the fish that keeps these Mulgars very lean. And the
more they eat the leaner they get.

Sometimes, Ghibba told Nod, Fishing-mulgars, who have given up all
fruits and nuts to gluttonize, and live only on fish, have been known by
much feeding to waste quite away. Moreover, a few years of this cold
fishing paralyses their tails. And so many go misshapen. On being