17 



a little salt short-used upon the fish. As elsewhere 

 pointed out, in places such as 7"ellicherry many boats 

 are controlled by one or two well-to-do traders or curers, 

 and much of the industry is in the hands of respectable 

 persons : these men would not run the risk of petty 

 smuggling- and would doubtless be ready to deposit 

 security against unaccounted-for salt. 



It is crue that the rule would not at first work much 

 benefit except, indeed, to the Ratnagiri boats : except 

 those boats there are no existing craft which could utilize 

 this rule, and it is not asserted that large boats 

 will be built solely by reason of such privilege. But 

 the existence of such a rule would remove one 

 serious objection, and would fjrm one direct incentive 

 to the building and use of deep-sea boats : the rule 

 must precede the boats, for boats would not be built 

 on the mere chance of the privilege being thereafter 

 granted, while, on the other hand, the existence of such 

 privilege would turn men's thoughts to the use of bigger 

 craft. Moreover the grant of this privilege will certainly 

 attract the Ratnagiri boats in larger numbers, which will 

 force the local men to follow suit. 



1 6. Then the boats are not only small but they are 



not numerous. The actual number 

 Numerical weakness of is not vet ascertained, but exceot at a 



boats and population. . ^ ^ 



lew busy centres they are compara- 

 tively few as seen on the beach or when with them out 

 at sea : during a day-light sea journey between lo a.m. 

 and 6 p.m. from Mangalore to Cannanore, always within 

 5 or 6 miles of land, only one small lot of boats was seen 

 many, of course, go out at night and return in the fore- 

 noon, but day fishing is equally general especially during 

 the period of moonlight nights as at the time of the 

 voyage. In fact the fishing population itself is so feeble 

 in number that the exploitation is necessarily weak. 

 The census of 1901, s.v. "occupations" gives for 

 Malabar and South Canara only 109,760 persons under 

 the heads of fishermen, fish-curers and fish-dealers, and 

 this includes not only 63, ^20 non-working dependants of 

 both sexes but all persons employed on inland fisheries. 

 Hence only 46,440 are engaged in the above three 

 branches of the business, and of these only 23,545 (21,590 

 males and 1,955 females) are entered as actual workers 

 in fish-catching and fish-curing. After deducting those 



