98 ' §POLIA ZEYLANICA. 
they place upon the bottom, near the shore, in } to ? fathom, 
marking the spot in the centre with a long branch surmounted by a 
leafy crown which rises above the surface. They bait the ground 
with a meal consisting of fried poonac mixed with plain kurakkan, 
which they call “ koraliya-kema.” Then they retire to a distance for 
about half an hour, and on returning cast the “ baru-dela”’ over the 
central mark, picking out the “ koraliya,” if any happen to be caught, 
‘from under the leaded edge of the net as it lies upon the bottom. 
In the Angulu Eliya lake “ koraliya ” is caught in an ingenious 
manner in artificial submerged thickets, called “‘ atu-kotu’’ (sin- 
gular atu-kotuwa). Twigs and branches are piled up in a circular 
area 8 or 10 feet across, surrounded by poles driven into the 
bottom to mark it out and to keep the branches from drifting away 
with the current. This is left for two or four weeks, until the sticks 
exhibit a copious growth of alge, called “penda,” upon which the 
koraliya feeds. When ripe for the catch, the whole is enclosed 
within a close-set bamboo tat preparatory to the fishing. The 
circumference of an “atu-kotuwa”’ measures about 60 feet ; the 
tats or “ peleli ” rise 24 to 3 feet out of the water, in spite of which 
some “koraliya” succeed in leaping over it and in making good 
their escape. 
If the arrangements are completed in the afternoon, the fishing 
takes place early on the following morning. Two men get inside 
the enclosure, where the water has a depth of 4 to 5 feet, and com- 
mence handing out the larger branches to a third man outside, who 
places them in another pile close by. When the place is clear, a 
man takes a deep hand net (atanguwa) and carries it round the circle, 
keeping close to the tat all the time. The other man is meanwhile 
continuing the clearing and splashing in the centre to drive the 
fishes to the circumference. When the net has collected a fair 
number of fishes, it is emptied into a boat outside and returned for 
a fresh supply. In this way about 150 “koraliya” of all sizes up 
to 74 inches in total length were collected in my presence, and very 
few fishes of other kinds besides. The larger sizes of “ koraliya ” 
are worth about 6 cents each; the bulk of the catch was taken 
immediately to Moratuwa ; they said the total value was Rs. 2, but 
the value was probably under-estimated. 
The custom of erecting “ atu-kotu ’? commences in the Panadure 
lake abreast of Kaduruduwa, a coconut-planted islet about half a 
mile long, opposite to the Durawa village of Gorakana. 
Many other important and interesting food-fishes abound in 
the Panadure river. I will only mention here another prominent 
kraal fish, the ‘‘ ileya ” (called “ lilawa ’’? at Weligama), Megalops 
cyprinoides, which also frequents the Kelani-ganga estuary ; and a 
large line fish, the ‘“ kana-magura,”’ Plotosus canius. Both of these 
species live for many hours out of water, rather an exceptional fact 
in the herring family, to which Megalops belongs. 
