XXIX 



SIND. 



41. The frosli-watcr fisheries of tliis Province are nininly divisible 



„ , I a, ■ eo- A i"to those which exist iu the river Indus, or 

 Fresh-water fisheries of Sind. „ i i ■, i • , . », ^^ 



are tornicd by its yearly muiulations, tliese 



last being principally in Upper and Central Sind. Tlie ]u)rtiou of the 

 river between the right bank of the Indns and the ' I'hut' is slightly 

 concave, owing to which circninstanee, when the river overflows, the wliolc 

 of this part of the country becomes more or less inundated. The ' Phut' 

 is the tract of land along the base of the hills which divide Sind from 

 Beluchistau, it averages about nine miles broad, and irrigated by water ob- 

 tained from the hill streams, which is arrested by bunds and diverted into 

 irrigation canals. The inundations on the left bank of the Indus do not 

 appear to be so extensive as those on its right. 



45. The river Indus is usually at its lowest in January or Fel)ruary : 



_. - , at the commencement of March the snow- 



River Indus, nil- 1 i • ,• 1- 



Hoods begin, and its rise continues s])nsinodi- 



cally until .about August ; whilst in Sc])tembcr the subsidence is usually 



very rapid, and by November zero is attained. The iioods, as a rule, may 



be expected to subside about the middle of September, when, or shortly 



subsequently, fishing eommences. 



4G. The tanks or ' dhdiids,' as they are locally termed, are chiefly 



of two sorts as reg.ards their relation.shii) to the 



TnnU or dUnds, isolated or i„^i„ „i^ ^jjg , isolated' and the ' connected.' 



cnnnectcu with Indus; their t ,i r i • n . ^ 



finuy iiihiibitants. y^ "'C lomier, Weeds rapidly spring up form- 



ing a refuge for the fish. In the connected 

 dh^nds weeds are not so numerous, and the finny tribes ajuiear to vary : 

 if the water is very muddy, the siluroids abound, whilst the Dunira, Lubco 

 rohita, a fine carp, although not so plentiful as in the dliilnds whore it is 

 clear, still is rarely absent. In places where the water is clear, the 

 largest amount of ' dumra' are to be seen : thus at Trigarf i I found the 

 connected dh^nd in the river quite dark with them. Tanks useful for 

 fishing extend in Upjier Sind over a large extent of the countiy, and 

 apjiear to be most valiiabh; as afTording animal food to the population 

 iuhabiting these malarious districts. 



47. As to canal fisheries, the capture of the finny tribes is here pro- 



Can.l fisheries. Proofs that if l"'.'ited, to obviate the chance of the canals 



B.niiilniosiicd nets nro pruhiljit- I'ciiig injured; tlius a most excellent opportu- 



ed, tlio little fisli do not dispro- nity was afforded of testing the correctness 



hn'^er'sor't'/ '""''""' '"^''' "'" °'' ^''^^ i''^^'""^*' "f the o])iuion advanced by the 



Collector of South Canar.a, in his exhaustive 

 report on the fisheries of that district, that were a minimum-sized mesh 

 of four inches in circumference instituted, " the smaller sorts of fish, 

 having an immunity from netting, must disproportionately increase on the 

 larger netted sorts. Nature has arranged that the larger predatory fish 

 ehaU balance the smaller, and thus maintain due proportions ; but if one 

 sort is netted by man, and the other sort has immuiiily, the balance is 

 disturbed, and the larger fish are no longer able to mainlain their position." 



