XIX 



moved by water. These mills are all situated on tlic Iiundrcds of small 

 streams in tlie hill gorges. To get a goo<l water ))ower, (he people 

 construct small canals, or ducts, on a higher level than fho streams, and 

 by erecting a dam ncross the stream, most of the water is diverted into 

 these canals, and carried along until a good head is attained, tlie fall of 

 which cnrrics or puts in motion these mills. Now tlic most valuable 

 s|ieeics of fish breed in these gorges, and tlie young do not enter, in any 

 consideraldo numl)ers, the large rivers till after one or two years, 

 and as these little canals arc numcroua in all the gorges, and at 

 seasons take in nearly all the wateis of the streams, the young 

 of these several species of fish uattually find their way into these 

 canals, and whether the men who own these canals have nets or not 

 to catch fish, all they have to do when they want a meal of fish, is to 

 shut off the water from their ' kools' or canals, and in twenty minutes 

 it becomes dry, and the}' can go along and pick up the fish that were in 

 it. A few years ago I wished to collect the species of fish in the Maudi 

 river, a branch of the Bias, which enters the Bias at the city of Mandi. 

 I had liut two hours to stay at that ])lncc, and I called a fisherman, an 

 old man, and told him to take a ehise net to a small stream and bring 

 mo any living thing he could obtain from it; in less than an hour he 

 brought me a basket-full of life, the sight of which would have gladdened 

 the heart of a naturalist, six species of fish, and several sorts of 

 af(uarium insects, shells, crabs, &o. I wondered how he alone got that; 

 basket-full. He told me he owned a mill, and all he had to do was to 

 shut off the water from the ' kool' and pick np his basket-full from dry 

 land." One species was Oreinnn sinHatns, Ilcckcl, " the most valuable 

 for food to the common people on account of its wide limits cif distribu- 

 tion and great fecundity. An intelligent native on the I5ias river observed 

 that it went up to the high hill gorges in the early summer to feed on 

 rich food and returned in the cold season down the rivers very fat. 

 * * * I have known females of 31bs. in weight to ascend small 

 streams 8 miles, in a few hours, after the first heavy shower of the rainy 

 season." []As a corroboration of this I may mention, that on going across 

 the Himalayas from Chumba to Choaree, I stopped at a little lill that 

 formed small pools here and there, and in which were numerous immature 

 fish. Having a net with me I procured a few, some were young 

 loaches, NemacJicilns rupecula, ]\IeClcllaiul, but the majority consisted 

 of the fry of the mountain barbels, Orcinus siniiatiis, Heckel, whilst 

 none could be that year's fish. The locality was upwards of one hundred 

 feet above the main stream, with a very steep ascent, and sufiicient rain 

 not having fallen so as to permit fish ascending so high, ihcy must have 

 been the fry of the preceding season; and from observations made in ditF- 

 erent places, it appeared to mc most jiroljable, that rapid growth does not 

 commence until the jiresence of rain water in the rivers, which it is said, 

 and pr(jbably correctly, brings down .some peculiarly nourishing food.l 

 34. In the Pes/idivar Division the Tc/i.iilihir of Prsliairar reports 

 Pcshdwar Vivisiou.—Kwswcrs there are 190 fishermen who also pursue 

 of untivc officials of rosliAwar, otlier Occupations ; their castes are Jliewurs, 

 Haripur. Waugo™, nnd Kol.At. ji,i,i,a], Afghan and Meen. Local markets 

 are not fully supplied with fish ; more could be sold. About 10 jiercent. of 

 the people are fish-eaters. Fish have decreased of Iat(! 3 cars, very small ones 

 are taken during the rains in nets made of thread, and occasionally 



