( 35 ) 



for breediiiE^, but so soon as the ■n-aters begin to sub- 

 side, as about September, and for one to one and half montlig, 

 they attempt to return to the Indus, for which purpose tlicy 

 have to re-ascend tlie Rohri canal. Arriving near the bridge, 

 the current is too strong, and they attempt to jump over 

 the obstruction to their onward progress, and for 100 yards 

 or nK)ro hidow the bridge they niny l)e seeu leaping out 

 of the water. Unal)lc to pass through the bridge, owing 

 to the c;rcat force of water rushinEr through tlie undcr-sluices, 

 they spring at the piers, and an apparatus resembling a 

 narive cot turned uspidc down, or a cloth or a basket, or 

 anything equally suitable, is hung over the sides of the 

 piers, and into this they fall : thousands returning from 

 breeding are thus captured. 



LI. Of the migralory sea fishrs, they are divisible 

 into those which ascend rivers in 



Migintorv scafishca. , . r^ ^ i i-i -ill c 



' order to find a locality suitable lor 



depositing Ibeir eggs : and the predaceous sorts tiiat also 

 enter rivers, but solely to jn-ey upon their weaker neighbours. 

 Of those Avhich ascend for breeding is a Sciccna, the <ii'. coiloi', 

 some mullets, as Miigil corsiUx, and more especially the 

 bilsa or sliad, Clnpea pnlasah, already remarked upon 

 (para. XXXV'III) as ascending the larger Indian and Burmese 

 rivers during monsoon months for tlie purpose of breed- 

 ing. At these times there is too much water below such 

 weirs as those spanning the rivers in Madras or Orissa 

 for this purpose, whilst, should tliey deposit their ova in 

 shallows below them, they will be left high and dry as the 

 floods sul)side, and their fertility be destroyed : the same 

 destruction to their fertility would follow their being deposit- 

 ed in the deep and rapid p;irts of the rivers. More than one 

 onicial have questioned the accuracy of tliis. and given the 

 oi)iiiion of native fishermen that the ova is deposited in the 

 river Avater, and whilst being carried out to sea becomes 

 vivified ; therefore, weirs cannot injuriously affect the annual 

 supply of the liilsa fishes in the rivers. The lower Coleroon 

 weir, which was built in 1S:SG, ppans the river about li>^ 

 miles below the town of Combaconum ; its perpendicular 

 height 8-3 feet, and its width at its base 8 feet. It possesses 

 narrow under-siuices, u[> wliirh tliesc fishes cannot ascend, 

 Avhilst tlie rai)idily of the current or other causes precludes 

 them from passing over it. Formerly the shad extended as 

 high as Triehiuopoly in quantities, and were even taken miles 

 above that town ; the fishing, according to the Collector, prior 



