n 



though the latter has a sea coast four times as long aii 

 that of Malabar and South Canara. The area between 

 Cape Comorin on the south and the northern boundary 

 of South Canara is about 17,000 square sea miles (of 

 2,ooo yards to the linear mile) within the 100 fathom 

 limit, and above 6,000 square miles within the 30 fathom 

 limit : this includes the waters which wash Travancore 

 and Cochin which are, of course, open to fishing. Only 

 the fringe of this area is worked and that only in a small 

 way ; little or nothing beyond the 10 fathom limit is 

 touched save in the South Canara waters by a few com- 

 paratively large boats which come from the Bombay 

 Presidency. Some of the main reasons are the small- 

 ness and inability of the boats, which, except for a few 

 Bombay boats, are merely canoes (dug-outs), to keep 

 the sea for more than a few hours ; the consequent 

 waste of time in the daily journeys to and fro when the 

 boats go out beyond the 3-mile limit ; the consequent 

 disinclination to go much beyond that limit ; the 

 numerical deficiency in boats and men ; the large num- 

 ber of men necessarily employed per canoe or net and 

 the consequent inefficiency of labour [e.g., two crews of 

 seven men each in two boats to work one quite moderate 

 sized dip net (odam) as compared with less than that 

 number in the big European boats with their large fleets 

 of nets] ; the numerous causes, advanced or valid, for 

 not going out to fish, such as the state of the moon, 

 wind, or currents, the presence of the monsoon, the 

 non-appearance, inshore, of shoals, the festivals or fasts, 

 the heavy and well-paid demand for labour and boats in 

 loading and unloading the steamers and shipping at the 

 larger ports. These and other reasons will be dealt 

 with below and more completely in my final report. 

 7. The boats are merely dug-outs or shells of various 

 Description of boats si^cs, sometimes rtat-bottomed, hold- 

 and results of smaiiness ing from 2 to 8 men and costing up to 

 °^^'°''^'- Rs. 500; the largest may be" about 



32 feet long, 3 wide, and 2| deep : there is no room in 

 the boat for any but the most restricted movement, nor 

 is it possible to fit them with any sort of mechanical 

 gear ; all work must be done and power applied by 

 manual dexterity acting in a very limited space on a 

 very crank platform. Each boat is usually fitted with a 

 simple sail, but in Tanur the large fiat-bottomed boat 



