192 Records of the Indian Museum. [WoOtee<Vabhie 
APPENDIX. 
NOTE ON THE FIST hea i OF rie) ger ees 
OF THE HELMAN D ANDO N TEGE AU258 2Oms 
SHAPED - RAETS OF BULRUS EES ay 
LAN DA ASAGN DD sos aot Age 
By N. ANNANDALE, D.Sc., F.A.S.B. 
There can be few lakes that bear fish and have a piscivorous 
population on their shores in which the fisheries are of a more 
simple character than those of the Hamun-i-Helmand. Apparently 
only one species the Seistan Trout Carp (Schizothorax zarudnyt) 
is pursued, and only one method of capture used. 
Schizothorax zarudnyt is a fish that bears considerable but 
quite superficial resemblance to a trout and reaches a length of at 
least 49 cm. (19 inches). The flesh has an excellent flavour, 
distinctly ‘‘ trouty,’’ but is so full of little sharp, stiff bones that 
it is difficult for a European to eat it. The Persian officials in 
Seistan get over this difficulty by cooking it in vinegar, which 
softens the bones; but the fishermen of the Hamun adopt no 
such refinements. They split and gut the fish and insert a small 
sharpened stick into the head from below. They then make a 
small fire of tamarisk-roots and arrange the fish round it in a 
circle, supported in a slanting position on the sticks. The flesh is 
thus slowly roasted. 
There is some evidence that the flesh of the Seistan Trout 
Carp, and especially its roe, may be poisonous to those not accus- 
tomed to it. We ourselves experienced considerable intestinal 
disturbance and colic after eating a dish of the roe, and all our 
assistants and servants except one were taken ill in a similar but- 
more violent manner on another occasion after eating the flesh. 
In both cases the fish was perfectly fresh. The people of Seistan, 
however, know of no such inconvenience. 
Before describing the method of catching this fish it is neces- 
sary to say something about the fishermen and their neighbours 
on the shores of the Hamun-i-Helmand, and about their peculiar 
rafts of bulrushes. I take the opportunity also to publish a note 
on a similar craft used in India. 
The shores of the Hamun are inhabited by two different types 
of people,'! both more or less nomadic, but occupying different 
positions in Seistani society. They are called Gaodar (Gavdar) or 
Herdsmen and Saiyad (Saiad) or Hunters. The Herdsmen are 
regarded as eminently respectable people, but the Hunters, pro- 
bably as a result of ancient Buddhist influence, are practically 
! For a fuller account of these people see Tate, Sezstan, pt. IV, pp. 297 
and 303. 
