544 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



attached to it is submerged about a foot, thus serving to collect the fry 

 as they are drifted by the current into the trap at the end of the frame. 

 The bottom of this V-shaped frame is not closed together, a little space 

 being left to allow the spawn to pass through the throat of the net leading 

 into the trap, which floats perpendicularly and to prevent its collapsing; 

 it is tied to splints run through the four corners of its frame, as will be 

 seen from the drawing forwarded.* 



As many as four or six of these Y-shaped frames are attached to a 

 long bamboo moored close to the river-bank in rows one above the 

 other, at distances of from 15 to 20 feet apart, where they are loft all 

 night and day. 



But let us look into one of these traps. The net-tender, who lives in 

 a mat-hut on the river-bank hard by, or in the sampan (small boat) used 

 to visit the nets, readily gratifies our curiosity. 



Taking an ordinary-sized rice-bowl, he dips it into one of these cages, 

 which it should be noted appear to require emptying every hour, and 

 hands us about a quart of muddy river- water, perfectly alive with wrig- 

 gling, transparent-looking fry, measuring from an eighth to two-eighths 

 of an inch in length, with heads and eyes greatly out of proportion to 

 the size of their bodies. Even in the muddy water there was no diffi- 

 culty in discerning them, as one would be led to suppose from Abbe 

 Hue's statement " that it is impossible to distinguish the smallest ani- 

 malculce with the naked eye." Experts are said to be able to detect the 

 different kinds of fry as soon as they are caught ; but as they would be 

 too small to handle, their knowledge would be of little practical value. 

 In a week or so they become large enough to distinguish one from the 

 other. After the fry are collected from the small traps they are put 

 into a floating reservoir made of net, exactly like the trap shown in the 

 sketch, but much larger in size, where they are kept until purchased 

 for conveyance inland. 



Those sold for breeding in the neighborhood are carried on the shoul- 

 ders of coolies in water-tight baskets to the ponds and lakes, of which 

 there are a great number in this circuit. Along the Yangtse fry, is sold 

 by the jar or bowl, according to the quantity of fish it contains, 

 and from five to six hundred cash (equal Is. Sd. to 2s.) appears to be 

 the average price per jar, according to the statement of the boatmen. 



Most of the fry is conveyed inland by boats, which come from the in- 

 terior for the especial purpose of loading with this freight. These pecu- 

 liar looking craft generally hail from Kan chow-fu, a large town to the 

 south of the province, on the Khan River; also from Kuei-hsi-hsieu, in 

 Kuanghism department, to the east of the province ; and those that 

 load here generally rendezvous at Kuan-pai-chia, a small village about a 

 mile west of Kiu Kiang, on the south bank of the river. Tea-boats are 

 likewise used to carry fry, but not so extensively as those from Kau- 



* Sketches illustrating tin; article were forwarded to the office of " Land ar>d Water," 

 London. 



