The record-union., 1898-08-15
mai YIN, THE FISH FIGHTER.

Or all the fish fanciers in Bangkok
Mai Vim is the most distinguished and
successful. His breed of fighting fish
aeucnes an enormous price in the mar
ket whenever the stress Of poverty
obhges him to SELL but so great is the
wrench of parting with amy of his
darlings, and so vital the Importance
of selling none that will not acquit
himself valiantly, that he only resorts
TO the market under the most pressing
necessity. That is, when Mrs. Vim tells
him to.
1t is nothing to Mai Vim that royalty
an an honest determination to put down
betting pronounced against fish fight
ing. Sport is dearer to his heart than
court favor, and, although fish fighting
has declined somewhat from its high
estate as a fashionable amusement, and
the little club near the old tramway
stables is no longer thronged with
Princes and mobiles as of old, Mai Vim
still trains his fish in the unregenerate
way, and his little home in New street
(the Tanon MaD, is still the resort of
the higher sporting circles. That house
as like any other gentlemans residence
in Bangkok. Its sole inhabited story,
the upper, is floored with palm stems,
thatched with leaves and walled with
reed work. The space between the sup
porting posts, which should have been
tine ground floor, lies open to the world.
One end is piled with garden tools, ire
wood and domestic litter; the other
with neat rows of earthen pots Of ev-
cry shape and size. For in the breed
ing season no mother has the maternal
instinct more fiercely developed than
has Mai Vim for his motherless babes
The Plakad has no right to exist al
all. By all the laws of evolution a
creature that eats it's young and fights
no the death with everything it meets
should have become extinct very early
in the worlds history. The Plakad is
born with the lust of battle, and, If his
blood be cold, his temper is hotter thar
anything that will be known this side
the grave. He will tackle any creature
that is not big enough to swallow him
whole-the only treatment that seems
to quench his fighting spirit-and ne
will fight till he has never a fin to waG
And all this eruptive fury is Gagged ir
the length and girth of a schoolboy
pocketknifeI He is found in the fresl
water pools of Siam; but in a wild stats
he has allowed himself so to diSsipate
his energies that he generally agrees
with his adversary when stubborn
fight has convinced him Of the advant-
ages Of peace. Life is too hurried II
the pools, the competition for mosqui-
toes too keen, to permit of concentra'
tion upon a single idea; it is in soil
tary reflection within the narrow limit:
of an earthenware pot that he realizes
the mission in life and meditates tht
sole eternal theme of piScicide. Though
diminutive from the human point O
view, he has a very imposing appear
ance. His scales are red or deep blue
according to his species. His dorsa
and ventral fins are enormously deveI
oped, the former being erect Like fore
and-aft sail. while the latter trails !ik
q centerboard keel, the whole length Q
his body. The expression of his coun
tenance would be mild if his lips coUl'
be got to hide his teeth which are a
once his glory and his excuse; for suci
an array could never have been in
ended for the mere mastication Q
kulpy mosquitoes-the creatures dali.
food
In April Mai Yim's cares begin. H
has to fish out of the pond in the gar
den the young Plakad of both sexe
which promise best to rear a creditabl
family, and mate them in separate jars
The female Plakad has no virtues-ha
not even beauty. She is sober col
ored, mean little fish, as Quarrelsom
as her mate, without the redeemin
quality Of natural affection. When sh
has laid her eggs she must be fished ou
of the jar in a bamboo spoon withou
an hours delay, for this young moth
er's first act is to fill her stomach wit
her offspring. 1t is now that the do
mestic virtues of the father come int
exercise He is the most confirme
in the practice of the cOuvade of all tn
fathers in the animal kingdom. H
knows too well the cannibal propensi
ties of his consort, and from the mo
ment when her eggs are festooned {
the waterweed in his jar he mount
guard against the greed Of their un
natural mother. Nor does his vigilanc
relax with her removal to the POND
Night and day he keeps sleeples
watch over them, scarce leaving ther
for the mosquitoes which Mai Yir
drops into his JAR until the tiny FIR
break through their envelopes an