09 



there is considerable cliance of rearing a vast mass of edible fish 

 every year, and though the whole of them would annually be captured 

 or destroyed, they would provide a vast mass of food, and their place 

 would annually be taken by fresh swarms from the nurseries. The 

 Engineers, indeed, may find it possible to allow certain reaches to 

 retain water in turns throughout the season of closure, or to clear one 

 reach while retaining water in au upper one, and then passing the 

 water down into the cleared reach ; this would give a much longer 

 period f)f growth and allow of spawning within the canal. These last 

 ideas, however, are only suggested possibilities, and it is not intended 

 to propose at present anything more than the future use of the water 

 during the open season of 9 or 10 months. 



206. Ponds. — Under this head come the very numerous class of 

 tanks not ussd for irrigation ; generally they are not embanked 

 reservoirs but excavations such as teppakulams and other tanks 

 attached to temples, and drinking-water and bathing tanks in towns 

 and villages. The temple class which are largely those alluded to as 

 permanent waters by Mr. H. S. Thomas, need not be here considered; 

 they can hardly form sources of public food supply. Similarly 

 municipal drinking tanks can only be stocked for angling purposes, 

 and since fish improve the water in which they live by clearing it 

 of noisome impurities, this should be encouraged. Village ponds, 

 however, can be more fully utilized : they are extremely numerous, 

 and, when deep, will keep a supply throughout ordinary hot seasons ; 

 during a recent tour I saw many tanks of from half to one acre which, 

 at the beginning of February, were too deep for cattle, except at the 

 edges. Into these ponds drains the water from the village lands, viz., 

 the cultivated fields, the house-site and cattle-stands, etc., while the 

 cattle habitually bathe and stand or be about in them ; hence the 

 supply of food suitable and agreeable to fish is particularly abundant. 

 For the present nothing can be done except to suggest that the 

 smallest co-operative village effort would speedily convert these ponds 

 into most useful sources not merely of water but of fish ; if each year 

 for three or four years every able-bodied man would give three days' 

 labour or its value, these small ponds could be deepened to an average 

 of 6 feet, with a deeper pit in the middle ; such ponds would seldom 

 go dry and would support a large weight of fish for village food 

 and sport. Those who during the long hot-weather village tours 

 necessitated by jamabaudi, have seen the village males loafing for 

 weeks together in their villages, idle because there was neither work in 

 the fields nor other (cottage) industries available, know well that such 

 a voluntary communal corvee (such as still exists, though not voluntary, 

 in France and Germany for road purposes) would cost the villagers 

 nothing but a little energy. The ponds could then be stocked with 

 a few fry from the nearest source, whether a natural stream or a 



