ccxli 



when they are out of season, which is after they have cast their spawn, 

 upon which they do not only grow very weak and flabbie, but so 

 unwholesome as it would loathe any man to see them. Nevertheless, the 

 Irish, a nation extremely barbarous in all parts of their life, did use to 

 take them in that very season, and by that means that horrible disease 

 came to be so common amongst them. But the English, having once 

 gotten the command of the whole country into their hand, made very 

 severe laws against the taking of salmons in that unwholesome season, 

 and saw them carefully observed, whereby hindering these barbarians 

 against their will to feed on that poisonous meat ; they were the cause that 

 that woeful sickness, which used so mightily to reign amongst them, 

 hath in time been almost abolished." It seems doubtful, however, 

 whether it is not in India more amongst fish which deposit their eggs at 

 one period, as the hilsa, than amongst those who do so more gradually, as 

 the barbels, that the spent condition is most seen in. Although I have 

 heard of mahaseer in this condition, I have not personally witnessed 

 them, and, as they do not deposit all their eggs in one batch, they rarely 

 become very lean and flabby, unless ill from some other cause likewise. 

 Fish may also be unwholesome, due to their having been kept until par- 

 tial decomposition has set in, or to some substance the fish has swallowed, 

 or to the food which it has eaten. Thus eels often feed upon very foul 

 food, and their flesh has been known to occasion very dangerous symptoms ; 

 thus in France, near Orleans, cramps and diarrhoea attacked a whole family 

 who had partaken of some which had been captured from a stagnant 

 castle ditch in the vicinity. Irritation may likewise be occasioned by 

 swallowing fish bones or scales, whilst some persons possess a peculiar 

 idiosyncrasy rendering fish unsuited for their digestive powers. " There 

 can be no form of animal food/'' observes St. Jules Cyr, " more objec- 

 tionable than decomposed or putrid fish, and this is especially seen in a 

 season when diarrhoea is prevalent." In India and Burma, where fish in 

 this condition is rather freely consumed throughout the hot season, it does 

 not appear to be proved that semi-putrid fish is more injurious than 

 meat in the same condition, if so much so. During the monsoon months, 

 when the atmostphere is moist, semi-salted fish absorb moisture, and, 

 in Malabar at least, not uofrequently appears to occasion or assist in the 

 production of dysentery and diarrhoea, whilst in Burma such results do 

 not seem to be attributed to vga-pee. However, eating fish during the 

 monsoon months often sets up symptoms of indigestion, and even more 

 serious attacks to some persons, due either to partaking of spent fish, or 

 else of the immature, which, having commenced to putrefy, set up^derange- 

 ment of digestive system. 



419. It would fill up too much space to detail all the most whole- 

 some species of Indian fresh-water or ma- 



Acanthopterygian, or spiny- r- i , , £ , . 



rayed fish of India as food. nne hshes > but a few general remarks may 

 Those having accessory breath- be made upon their general digestibility, pre- 

 ing organs, whether of this m ising that certain local peculiarities may 



family or siluroids, most esteem- _„■ a „u •„ „. j.1, j.i n , 1 < 



ed by convalescents. x st ' altemi & theother wise excellent character 



of a fish. Amongst the Acanthopterygian or 

 spiny-rayed families, all that are found in the fresh- waters appear to be 

 adapted for food, without occasioning deleterious effects. Religious 

 prejudices may militate against the employment of some species, but not 



