40 



MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN 



VOL. XI, 



objects whereto to attach the great gelatinous candle-like capsules 

 in which the ova develop (Fig. 25). The male is said to follow the 

 female at this time, so that sometimes both fall a prey to the 

 fisherman's jigger. What is not used or sold immediately is split 

 open, washed and sundried ; it makes a very clean and attractive- 

 looking product. 



This method of fishing is generally carried on in the morning, the 

 fisherman occupying his outlook for four or five hours at a stretch. 

 The branched post employed is cut generally from a babul thorn, 

 the one tree that manages to thrive well on this sun-scorched sandy 

 coast. At Rameswaram there are often as many as one hundred 

 of these Squid machans in use. 



Cuttlefish (Sepia). 



TamW—Ottii Kanavai (gp(-® ^swau/r^), Palk Bay. 

 Cuttlefish are far less abundant than Squid in Palk Bay and are 



not the object of any special 

 fishery, though some are occa- 

 sionally taken in the casting 

 net {vichchu valai) and in drift 

 net and shores seines. Their 

 " bones " are however thrown 

 up in large quantities on the 

 southern and south-western 

 shores of Palk Bay during the 

 north-east monsoon, and at 

 this period of the year, numbers 

 of Kadayan women scour the 

 littoral in their search. After 

 long continued northerly 

 winds, the supply is often very 

 abundant during November 

 and December at Rameswaram, 

 and after easterly winds 

 (March and April) at Tirupala- 

 gudi and Tondi ; a woman can 

 Kn;. 26 ~A Cur 1 i.kmsh (.v./Zr/). x .', collect several hundreds in a 

 day. These are eventually sold to agents of Kilakarai, Devakottai 

 and Pamban merchants who tour the coast to buy up the stocks 

 available. A gunny bag full of cuttle bone of all sizes fetches from 

 ten annas to Re. I 4 0; sometimes they are sold by number and 



