88 



there was very considerable further improvement, and that 

 there was too much wind and current. As actually gauged by 

 observations our drift was one knot per hour. In the hope of 

 making further trial we edged further out to sea till at 4 p.m. 

 we were 32 miles from land with a gentle breeze blowing and 

 moderate sea. At 5-15 p.m. the men wished to cast off and try 

 again but Captain Heycock, who was in command of the 

 steamer, considered it would be difficult to fiud the canoe after 

 dark in which case the men's position would be dangerous and 

 could not permit this. After some persuasion the men agreed 

 to shoot the nets from the canoe while in tow of the drifting 

 steamer but almost immediately after this was done the men 

 called out that their head-rope was breaking under the strain 

 of the steamer's drift and let go the tow rope ; on account of 

 the danger to which their canoe was exposed, they were taken 

 in tow again as soon as possible and they refused to try again. 

 The conclusions to be drawn from this experience are clear 

 that canoes are quite unsuited for drift netting beyond the lee 

 of the shore, that the present nets are too short and weakly 

 mounted to be used from largpr boats, which must have nets 

 proportioned in strength and length to their size in order that 

 their drift under the influence of wind may be more or less 

 counterbalanced by the drag of the nets and the warp. Of 

 course this last fact is a matter of common knowledge at home, 

 but I wish to emphasize it here for the benefit of those who 

 may wish to develop drift netting on the coast of India. The 

 great value of a motor fitted into a moderately-sized drifter for 

 the purpose of easing strain on the nets by heading towards 

 them wdien wind -drift is too great, is a most important advan- 

 tage of such an installation, although the primary use is 

 in conferring independence of winds and calms in going to and 

 from the fishing grounds. 



50. Long lining. — If local statement may be relied upon this 

 fishery as now practised on the Malabar coast arose by a 

 process of independent evolution during the last twenty- five 

 years. Certainly it has not been practised many years what- 

 ever may have been its origin, whether by local evolution or by 

 introduction from another district or country. Its rise and 

 development hold out much encouragement to those concerned 

 to improve fishing methods as they afford practical evidence of 

 a spirit of progress and enterprise among some sections of the 

 fishing community. At the present time line-fishing is 

 practised at the principal fishing centres along the west coast 

 and it is significant that these liners are all Moplahs. 



51. Two descriptions of lining are practised, cheria beppu, 

 or small book trots, and valia beppu, lines armed with large 



