( 59 ) 



snhsido, oavthcn hanks arc constntctcd across walov-coiirsos, 

 rach with an artificial opening cnt for the cnrrcnt to pass ; 

 here a pursc-nct with minute meshes is fii-mly fixed, and all 

 the descending fish arc captured ; this is employed in Boniha.y 

 (p. xxxvii) : in Madras, in the Central Provinces (p. cxxiii-iv), 

 and in fact in every place where such is possible, unless 

 Avickcr traps are preferred. Or these fine-meshed nets may 

 he fixed to the sluice of a tank (p. Ixxix), so that the 

 water that is let out for irrigation pui-poses passes through it, 

 all the fish heiug arrested. Or at tlic yearly subsidence of tho 

 Hoods which extend miles across the country, the water being 

 stocked with fry, bunds are raised, with an opening for the 

 escape of the water : hut here a purse-net prevents any exit for 

 the young fish, consequently, as the waters will be entirely 

 drained off leaving the fields dry, the fry has only to select 

 whether it Avill be captured in the j>urse-net, or perish in the 

 drying-up fields. These nets of various forms and many 

 names are likewise fixed in the supply channels (p. xevii) 

 in irrigated fields, and nothing escapes them, especially as 

 the water is not always flowing, so what is easier, when 

 the channel is full, than to fix a fine net across its entire 

 hreadth, so that all the fish which have passed up for l)reed- 

 ing or feeding purposes are unable to return as the water is 

 being cut oil? In the North- Western Provinces, " fish are 

 killed, more or less, throughout the year, hut the largest 

 juunbcrs are taken towards the end of the rainy season. As 

 the watei's fall, countless lakes or pools of all sizes are formed 

 on the low lands by the rivers. These, which were, during 

 the floods, mere extensions of the streams, now become lakes 

 with one nan'ow exit to the river. Across this, nets are 

 stretched, or a w^eir of grass constructed, and every fish that 

 has wandered up becomes a certain prey" (p. clx). 



I/XVI. Fixed engines constructed of non-elastic suh- 

 Fishirg weir, of non-oinsiic stanccs _ are, howcvcr, still more 



snbstnnces. How brecdingfish dcstrUctivC to fisll than thoSC mado 



are estioye . ^^ ^^^^ ^^^-^ wliicli are morc liable to 



rents. The difi'erent forms are so numerous, whilst; so many 

 are fully described in the appendix, that a reference to them 

 is all tliat is needed, their general design being only neces- 

 sary to allude to, before commencing which, I may remark 

 on the favour they are held in Europe. Fishing weirs, which 

 prevent fish obtaining a free passage up a river, were pro- 

 nounced by the Lord Chief Justice of England to be "illegal 

 and a public nuisance." The size of the interstices between, 



