No. 4 (1922) THE COROMANDEL FLYING-FISH FISHERY 103 



METHOD OF FISHING. 



The fishermen who take part in this fishery set out in the early 

 morning, usually before daylight, in order to reach the fishing 

 ground by 9 or 10 a.m. The hour of departure varies necessarily 

 with the strength of the offshore wind, and the nearest point at 

 which the shoals approach the coast at any particular 

 locality. The latter depends principally upon the distance at 

 which ' black water " — the kala pani of Hindustani-speaking 

 lascars — is first found. And this in turn depends upon depth ; 

 whether the sea bottom in the neighbourhood slopes gently or 

 steeply downwards. On the day we went out favourable conditions 

 were reached at 12 nautical miles east of Negapatam, the water 

 deep indigo in colour, clear and free from sediment in suspension. 

 The depth was 23 fathoms. The fishermen whose catamaran we 

 had towed out asked to be set adrift as they had already sighted 

 flying-fish swimming in shoals, but not emerging from the water. 

 It was now 8-40 a.m. Soon after numerous other two-masted 

 catamarans came up and while most went further seawards than 

 our position, several dropped sail and started fishing close by. 

 These catamarans were part of the large fleet we had seen already 

 some distance seawards when we left our anchorage at 6-25 a.m. 



The preparations are simple. Sails are furled by rolling round 

 the booms, the masts are unstepped and all disposed neatly amid- 

 ships, the fore end of the longer yard resting on the prow, where 

 the single-fluked wooden anchor is also kept. 



The catamaran is now drifting broadside to the wind, the 

 starboard side, on which is the accessory log, being to windward. 

 From this side the men now cast loose three large bundles of leaves, 

 each at the extremity of a long coir rope. These are of unequal 

 length. In the catamaran fishing close to the ship, one rope was 

 approximately 50 fathoms long, the second 30 fathoms, and the 

 third only 10 fathoms. One bundle, that attached to the longest 

 rope, consisted of a branch of screw-pine, the others were of the 

 little leguminose shrub, Tephrosia purpurea {Kavdlai, Tamil). Each 

 bundle is supported by a small float of light wood, but in such a way 

 that neither it nor the bundle of leaves projects above the surface 

 of the water. The catamaran on the other hand together with its 

 crew, does offer some resistance to the wind and so drifts more 



