( 51 ) 



to fish than formerly, but the rise of wages has more to 

 do with it than the falling-off of fish." In Assam 

 (p. ccxxviii), "fish has become of late years much dearer in 

 Dunning ; the fisheries are falling in value, and many of the 

 Dome fishermen are, in consequence, I believe, taking to 

 agricultural pursuits." The same is seen in Orissa. Fisher- 

 men who follow this calling as a supplement to other means 

 of support have no interest in protecting fisheries, but only 

 in procuring for themselves as much as they can, and when- 

 ever they can. Such are the fishermen of the Panjab 

 (p. iv), where they are stated to number 10,450 (p. viii) : 

 also of Bombay, in which presidency " few, if any, of 

 the foregoing, numbering upwards of 50,000, are solely 

 engaged in fishing, but they also follow other occupations" 

 (p. xxxv). In Madras, the fishermen are, as a rule, 

 agriculturists, palanquin bearers, small traders, coolies and 

 others who carry on this pursuit when not engaged in their 

 ordinary avocations, and as there are no restrictions, their 

 only idea is to obtain what they can, when they can. 

 Were all the fisheries ruined, it would not pecuniarily 

 affect them, except in a secondary degree, as their living is 

 not dependant upon fishing. The number of persons recorded 

 as solely fishermen in the inland waters appears to be under 

 200 persons (p. lxiv). In Mysor and Coorg, the fishermen 

 who pursue that trade seem to be few, but those who fish in 

 addition to other avocations appear to be very numerous 

 (p. ci) : the same may be said of Haidarabad (p. cviii) : the 

 Central Provinces (p. cxv) : Oudh (p. cxxvii) and the North- 

 West Provinces (p. cxlv). In Bengal (p. clxxx), the fisher- 

 men, or people who fish, consist of three classes,—; fa'st, 

 regular fishermen who are exclusively employed as such ; 

 secondly, the wives of the men of some castes who fish whilst 

 their husbands pursue other occupations ; thirdly, the general 

 population. Thus, in Burdwan, out of 20,000 persons com- 

 puted as capturers of fish, one-third are stated to be exclu- 

 sively employed as such : in Hoogli, there are considered to 

 be 3,000 fishermen by trade. It is as we approach the sea- 

 board, and where large fish can ascend from the ocean, 

 and man has not yet managed to largely ruin the fisheries, 

 that we find the greatest proportion of people exclusively 

 fishermen. In Burma (p. cxcvi), the people are of necessity 

 boatmen and by choice fishermen. The present state 

 of the fresh-water fishermen of India, as regards what 

 would be the effect of legislation upon their calling, 

 may be summed up in the words of the Officiating 



