BULLETIN OF TIIE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 253 



stated that few foreigners ever put freshwater fish on their tables, for rea- 

 sons which will appear when it is known by what process Chinese fish- 

 culture is carried on. 



Carp CULTURE. — The carp is successfully cultivated, and nearly all of 

 the fish-pools in this and surrounding cities, villages, and towns are 

 supplied from one and the same fish-hatchery. 



The locality where this great fish-hatchery has long flourished is 

 known as Kow-Kong, in Kun-Ohuk district, in the province of Quang- 

 Tung, where fish-culture from the spawn, up to a suitable size for trans- 

 fer to fish-pools in all parts of the country, has been carried on for many 

 centuries, without any rival locality becoming a successful competitor. 

 The business is conducted so exclusively and carefully that outsiders 

 are not very minutely informed as to the exact process. 



The chief peculiarities of the locality known as Kow-Kong are that 

 it is in the hearj of the silk district of Southern China, and at a 

 part of the West River (or western branch of the Canton Eiver), full 

 of alluvial deposit, undisturbed by boats, with about 12 feet depth of 

 water on that reach, where the river is about half a mile in width and the 

 shore or bank beautifully shaded by trees, and about 90 miles from the 

 sea*, and subject to moderate tidal changes. 



It is believed, and doubtless it is true, that the refuse silk-worms 

 from the silk-growing district attract fish to that point for food ; and 

 that the even temperature of the water and its exemption from dis- 

 turbance, together with the rich deposit of alluvium, and the shadi- 

 ness of the locality, have given that Kow-Kong reach on the West Eiver 

 peculiar advantages as a spawning ground for fish. 



The spawning season generally occurs during the third and fourth 

 moons of the Chinese year, which begins within a week or ten days of 

 the western 1st of February. 



The rainy season in Southern China usually begins about the 1st of 

 March and sometimes by the middle of February. 



The third and fourth months, or moons, of China would correspond 

 nearly with our months of April and May, or toward the latter part or 

 after the middle of the rainy season, extending through three or four 

 moons. The fish spawn is then most plentiful. The waters being more 

 or less muddy and thick at that time the spawn cannot be seen in it, 

 and to ascertain if the spawn has arrived the fishermen have recourse 

 to weighing a certain quantity of water, which is increased in weight 

 by from - to 4 ounces of spawn if the spawning has commenced, accord- 

 ing to an experienced fisherman's estimate. The spawn is caught only 

 on the flood tide in closely woven bags with wide mouths. The insides 

 of the bags are coated with a paste made from the white of eggs and 

 flour, which is often renewed as it washes away. To this paste the 

 spawn adheres. The mouths of the bags are then somewhat closed and 

 kept above water while the lower parts of the bags are kept under 

 water with the spawn, and after a couple of days they are removed 



