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fail, but the River Brahmaputra appears to be sufficient to keep up an 

 ample supply for the numerous streams which communicate with it. 

 Although the people are such large consumers of fish, they do not dry 

 or preserve it, nor is there any trade carried on in fish with distant 

 places. The Nag-as, when they come down in the cold weather, purchase 

 or barter cotton for fish, which they dry before taking back to their 

 hills. Nothing whatever is done in the way of breeding fish or stock- 

 ing tanks, and the only thing, in the way of conservation that is 

 necessary, is to prevent as much as possible the wholesale destruction of 

 fish in small streams, which have run up to spawn. What with dams, 

 traps, baskets and nets, which the villagers use, very few fish escape to 

 the larger streams. But, even with this wholesale destruction, the supply 

 of fish appears abundant, and if this destruction were only partially 

 checked, there would be no fear of the supply running short/'' The 

 Assistant Commissioner, Gologhat, reports: — "I cannot say that I see at 

 present any signs of the fish-supply falling off; but looking at the reck- 

 less way in which the young fry are destroyed, it is but reasonable to 

 suppose that, could this habit be checked, the supply would become more 

 plentiful. Many of the river fish, some of which attain a large size, 

 come annually up the smaller streams and deposit their spawn, and the 

 young ones of these are during the rains dispersed over the surface of the 

 country in rice-fields, swamps, drains and ditches. These endeavour sub- 

 sequently to make their way to the large rivers, but the dangers that 

 beset them on the road are more numerous than those which Bunyan's 

 Pilgrim had to encounter. In the shallow waters in the rice-fields, 

 women and children may be seen in crowds fishing with baskets called 

 jaJcai, through the interstices of which a tadpole could not pass. 

 Those that escape this danger, and, following the flow of the water, 

 arrive at one of' the innumerable little bunds separating the various 

 paddy-fields, find their further progess barred by funnel-shaped bamboo 

 traps called Jckoka, chapa, or ghunee, through which the water is 

 made to pass, but whose outlets are so small that only the most minute 

 fish can get through. Escaping to the smaller water-courses, their dan- 

 gers seem to increase. The Assamese divide the channel into sections 

 by erecting bunds, and from one of these they proceed to bale out all the 

 water, capturing every fish, large and small : they then bund off another 

 portion and do likewise. The fish that finally arrive at the smaller 

 rivers find their exit barred by weirs, which will let nothing pass ; and 

 not content with this, the Assamese will sometimes resort to poison, 

 employing for this purpose the fruit of a tree called ' Konibehee/ 

 Nearly the entire population consume fish; the only method of pre- 

 serving it being drying it, and this is only done by Mahomedans and 

 the hill tribes." " Although fish may be occasionally put into tanks, 

 it can hardly be said that they are reared, for within a few months the 

 water in the tank is sure to be carefully baled out and all its inmates 

 destroyed, the net result being the capture of (say) a thousand fish, 

 weighing in the aggregate a couple of pounds/'' The Assistant Commis- 

 sioner of Jorehat observes that " the numerous streams which run 

 through the country are well stocked with fish, as are the numerous blieels 

 and swamps. In the rainy season fish are to be found in every puddle 

 and paddy-field. * * The supply of fish is at present amply sufficient, 



