FRESH-WATER FISHERTES OF CEYLON. CM ee 
The Barawe Fishery—The Barawe reserve near Hanwella is a 
low-lying wooded tract, through which the Pusweli-ganga flows into 
the Kelani-ganga. After heavy rain the country is under water, and 
T have myself been compelled, in the month of May, to travel by 
boat for some distance down the high road from near the Hanwella 
resthouse. Hanwella is a good type of inland fishing station, people 
said to belong to the ‘“‘Padduwa”’ caste being more or less per- 
‘manently engaged in fishing by various methods ; and the produce 
is brought into the village bazaar for sale in improvized markets 
at the roadside. 
On the Pusweli-ganga, upwards of a mile from the resthouse, the 
Barawe line-fishermen work singly from very small log boats called 
*“ mas marana oruwa,”’ from which they catch excellent food-fishes, 
such as the walaya (Wallago attu), telliya (Mastacembelus armatus), 
and moda (Lates calcarifer), besides several species of the carp 
family (Cyprinide). Fishes caught in the water-courses are called 
“ela malu,” in contrast with “ weli malu,’’ which are taken from 
inundated fields. Of the latter, the lula (Ophincephalus striatus) 
is the most important, and the batakola-telliya (Rhynchobdella 
aculeata)* one of the most interesting. They also capture in baskets 
great quantities of a small cyprinoid fish called saliya (A mblypharyn- 
godon melettina); females of this species, three inches in total 
length, are ege-laden in December. In the lhivetiya-ela, an arm 
of the Pusweli-ganga, a portion was fenced off at either end from 
the main stream in December, 1907, and I saw about thirty men, 
svomen, and children paddling about in the muddy water, each 
provided with a large conical hand basket (“‘ eswattiya ”’), with which 
they scooped up small fishes, transferring them to bags carried on 
their backs, occasionally also capturing a large river prawn. 
Stretching a wattle fence (vetiya or veta) across an ela is a frequent 
practice. A narrow passage may be left at one end of it, and this 
will be occupied by a long bamboo fish-trap, closed at the narrow 
end by a half coconut shell. The fence is made of impenetrable, 
close-set slips of bata-li or wild bamboo; the fish-trap (‘‘ kemina ’’) 
(fig. 8),f about 7 feet long, is made of slips of una-li or plantation 
bamboo. Strips of bamboo are steeped in water to season them, 
and are kept soaking for eight days preparatory to the final splitting. 
The “ karakgediya”’ is a basket open at both ends, shaped like 
a truncated cone, about 25 inches high, made of Ixora sticks 
(ratamvela) ; each stick is pointed below, and the whole bound 
together above, leaving a hole just large enough to receive a man’s 
arm. It is used in swampy fields ; the broad end with the pointed 
sticks is presented to the bottom at a venture, and the hand inserted 
through the arm-hole to grope for a possible catch. 

*T recorded this species from Ceylon for the first time in ‘‘ Nature,” 
Vol, 77, 1908, page 345. 
{ For the three illustrations accompanying this report I am indebted to 
Mr. O. 8. Wickwar, who accompanied me on one of my visits to Hanwella. 
N 6(22)10 
