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the yard is done by ticket-holders assisted by the female members 

 of their family. There are no capitalists concerned with the 

 business of the yard but the ticket-holders stipulate with the 

 fishermen th a+all the catches in a year are made over to them and 

 they pay a sum of money in advance as an earnest of the arrange- 

 ment. As the catches are brought in, they are valued and payment 

 is made in cash either in full or in part in which latter case the 

 balance due is adjusted towards the advance payment, but the 

 whole advance is not appropriated before the expiry of the con- 

 tract. Fishing is mostly carried on in the Chilka lake and in the 

 whole neighbourhood there is only a single Peruvala which is used 

 in the sea. They say that fish is very scarce in the Chilka lake and 

 it seems that some years ago some Europeans who came to organize 

 a fishery found that it was not a paying concern and went away. 



GANJAM. 



The ticket-holders are either Vadas or Kevutas. The latter are 

 said to be connected with the Kaibartas of Bengal and in addition 

 to fishing in fresh waters are engaged in the carrying trade and 

 some are also petty traders. The Vadas or Vada Balijas as they 

 call themselves are the real sea fishermen and seem to be a section 

 of the Palles. They have a caste panchayat consisting of the 

 headmen called " Kularaju and Pilla " who settle all matters 

 relating to their caste. They fish in the sea and some of them also 

 are ticket-holders but their condition is the same as that of other 

 fishermen on the coast. They worship a large number of gods and 

 goddesses as well as their deceased ancestors. These are 

 represented in wooden or clay figures of various shape and size, one 

 of them being the figure of a "Bengali Babu wearing a hat and 

 riding on a black horse." They make offerings of goats, pigs, 

 fowls, flowers, arrack, toddy, etc., to these gods and goddesses 

 before using a new boat or net, before fishing expeditions are under- 

 taken, when good catches of fish are landed, or when there is fear 

 of any epidemic or other disease. Much money is spent in this 

 way and all fishing is stopped for days on such occasions. They 

 are a very superstitious people, very ignorant and intemperate. 

 There are very few literates among them, and living as they do in 

 out-of-the-way fishing hamlets not easily accessible they lead a 

 very isolated life. 



GOPALPUR. 



The fishermen are Vadas and jalaris who fish in the sea and 

 engage themselves in the landing and shipping business of the 

 port. When Gopalpur was a flourishing seaport these were in 

 affluent circumstances but now they earn very little. Some of them 

 emigrate to Burma to serve as coolies in the cargo boats there. 

 Their females also are engaged as coolies in merchants' godowns. 

 The ticket-holders belong to the Kandra caste who do not go for sea- 

 fishing but purchase fish from the other fishermen and cure them or 

 sell them as fresh in the neighbouring villages. The number of 

 fishermen and others in this locality who are connected with the 

 fishing industry may be about 5,000, but they are all very poor. 

 They are no capitalists or middlemen but some of the Kandra 

 ticket-holders advance money to fishermen for repair of their boats 



