lO 



and communicative, are ignorant and often unable to 

 put explanations or descriptions into clear words, while 

 even in the facts they are often quite inaccurate from 

 ignorance or from loose habits of observation or narra- 

 tion ; e.g., they may allege that boats fish at 12 or more 

 miles from shore, while enquiry shows that the huts on 

 the beach are visible from the boat which is on the sea 

 level ; it has been alleged (Palk's Straits on the East 

 Coast) that fish were caught at 15 to 18 fathoms when 

 the maximum depth of that sea is 8 or 9 fathoms. The 

 safest and most fruitful method is to sit patiently with 

 them in their boats, or on the beach, observing, and 

 asking questions casually and infrequently so as not to 

 worry or frighten them ; but this is necessarily a lengthy 

 if accurate method. However, during the many scores 

 of hours spent with the fishermen at sea, or on the beach, 

 or in the curing yards or with curers and merchants, it 

 is believed that not only has good information been 

 obtained but that a good deal of suggestive information 

 has also been imparted especially in matters relating to 

 the catching and preservation of fish in other countries. 



4. The scientific part of the enquiry such as the 

 ^ . ,.. . . identification and correct namino- of 



Scientific enquiries. . ^ . "^ ^ 



the various fish m the several 

 languages, the examination of their habitat and of their 

 food supplies, the ascertainment of their spawning 

 grounds and of the character of their ova, and other 

 matters of scientific observation will be begun (it can, of 

 course, only be bfg^/7/)sL(ter the next south-west monsoon 

 when a second tour will be made there with my 

 Assistant ; meanwhile the questions above alluded to 

 will probably result in a further mass of information. 

 Much attention will necessarily be paid to the West 

 Coast where the trade and industry are so much more 

 vigorous than on the East Coast and capital more ready 

 for investment. 



5. Several matters come prominently into view in 

 such a tour : they will merely be adverted to here, and 

 will be dealt with at length in the final report. 



6. The first is the weakness of the exploitation of 

 General weakness of the sca hithcrto made evcn on the 



exploitation of the sea West Coast which, as gauged by the 

 with causes. fish-curing yards, yields above thrice 



the fish caught on the eastern side of the Presidency 



