( 1.'5 ) 



wilnossod linw, wlien water is rc-admittcfl into those canals, 

 shoals of Ash arc carried over falls up which none can rc-asccnd, 

 nnd below Avhich iliey are nnahle to breed. Tluis, the water 

 is cut oir and the contained fish destroyed, the canal to be 

 again replenished with a supply from the river, to be agai)v 

 ;uid again exterminated several times during the year ; and 

 a surjjrise is expressed that the fisheries arc deteriorating. 

 The ofteuer the canals arc closed, and the longer the ])eriods at 

 each closure, the greater is the mischief (see para. 315.) ]3ut 

 from either side of these main canals are given off side ones for 

 I he jmrposes of irrigation ; these, again, have no grating to pre- 

 vent lisii ascending thorn ; they go up, but, as they are mostly 

 only filled every alternate Aveek on cither side, all that have 

 gone up them invariably ]ierish. lu other districts fixed 

 traps arc permitted in all these small water-courses. 



XXI. Again, in ^Malabar (see para. 1G7), as the dry 

 Snmii livers divcrtca for iiii- scasou commciiccs and Water is rcquir- 

 j;;iiiou in Malabar. cd to irrigate a sccoud crop of rice, 



the rivers are of small proportions, and near their sources tho 

 farmers collect boulders of stones, lay them across a stream, 

 and till in the interstices Avith shingle, stopping up the cre- 

 vices with bushes and mud. This lasts until the next south- 

 west monsoon sweeps it away, and Avhilst it exists, it diverts 

 an entire river stocked with fry into rice-fields. Thus the 

 young fish pass with the water into the irrigated fields, Avhich 

 "have been levelled and partitioned with shalloAV cmhauk- 

 ments so as to economise the water as much as ])ossible. 

 Here, though predaceous fishes are excluded, man can 

 do as lie likes ; the water, if it does not return to the rivei", 

 may be entirely exhausted in these fields, and if every 

 drop has been turned on, nothing can escape destruction, 

 or else some may rejoin the river as waste water, and 

 thus the young fish regain a locality suitable for their 

 growth ; but at each outlet from every field exists a fixed 

 trap which captures every one of the fry. Again, Avheu tho 

 yearly rains naturally inundate the country, when rivers 

 and tanks overfiow, and fish move about to find suitable 

 localities for breeding in, the small streams and outlets resem- 

 ble the net-work of irrigation channels. Many species ascend 

 up them to breed, but find appliances of destruction, invented 

 by man, meeting them at every tuiu. Persons may be watch- 

 ing to catch them, or fixed engines and traps existing, 

 and which are sure in their eflircts, or, sliould sonie 

 breeding-fish contrive to ascend, they arc usually trapped 

 on their return : whilst the fry obtain no greater immunity, 



