( 41 ) 



io Riiddon nnd violrnt floods. Tlio populntion nofir \hc rivov's 

 Imiiks are small, and sulllciont large lisli isoljtainable for them 

 A\itliout destroying the fry, and thus, during the yearly- 

 inundations, they are carried into the dluUids throughout 

 the country. 



LVI. Before eutcring upon the various modes of cap- 

 nrrr.iinp fish ,>n<i fry wnste- tuvc, and Omitting tlic qucstions of 

 fully iiosiiojcd. taking migratory breeding, and the 



poisoning of fish, I propose examining ttjAc/Z/^ryZs/t are allowed 

 to be loastefnlly destroyed either in the form of breeding 

 ones or as fry. Many fish, as already pointed out (para. 

 XLVI, &c. ;, during the seasons of monsoons and inundations, 

 pass up small eliann(>ls into irrigated fields for tlie purpose 

 of breeding ; at these times they appear to have lost much 

 of tlieir natural timidity, and are only solicitous f,o reach a 

 suitable locality to deposit their ova. No portion of this 

 enquiry, as regards the non-migratory forms of fish, is more 

 important than this, and the following are the ansAvers 

 received : — In the Panjub, in a few tehsils the tra])ping of 

 brecdiug-fisli in the irrigated fields is recorded. In Sind, 

 ])artly due to its almost absence of rain, this s])ccics of fish- 

 ing can scarcely be carried on. In the North-Western Pro- 

 Adnces, breediug-iish and the fry are destroyed in every division, 

 in any way in wliich they can be procured (p. cxlvi) ; 

 even if the simple destruction of fry is not waste, they are 

 also shown to be killed, and in jilaces left to rot (p. cxlix), 

 as in damming hill streams ; or at fisliing weirs (p. clxi), 

 where the large fish only are sold, the young left to 

 perish aiul decay : or standing weirs are permitted to span 

 whole rivers, and as the waters fi'om above become unwhole- 

 some, fish attempt in vain to descend, but the owners of these 

 weirs allow no passage, and as they die in myriads, cart 

 them off as manure (p. clxii.) Out of IG answers 

 from native officials as to whether fish are trapped during 

 rains in irrigated fields, 3 state th(\v arc not, and 13 that 

 tliey are. In Oudh, some of tlie native officials assert 

 that breeding-fish are not trapped during the rains, and 20 

 assert that they are in their districts. In the Bombay 

 Presidency, every Collector wdio has answered this question 

 (except Kaladghi) considers they are destroyed, and a native 

 ofTicial in tlie Kaladghi Collectoralc states they are in his 

 district during the rains. In the Ilaidarabad Assigned 

 Districts, but one opinion appears Io prevail, namely, that 

 they are taken in every possible way, but in some district^ 



