CXXIU 



small fish hooks, 'gi'l;' 1>J' ' talti' or ' i)iiijra,' wiiifh is gt'iierally placed 

 a<jainsfc a ninning stream of a ualla, llie water passes through, but 

 tlio fish that arc carried away hy the current of the water are 

 driven into the crevices of the tatii, and arc thus entrapped ; hy 

 ' phnnta,' when a screen is placed against the current- in a sliallow river 

 or a iialla, on one side it has a sheet of cloth attached to it, whilst on 

 the other a net is spread, as the current is arrested by the screen, the 

 fish, in attempting to pass, leap over it, and fall into tlic nets spread ou 

 the other side ; ' I'ailni' is a triangidar-shapcd net (hivc-nct) on a polo 

 used for catching fish in shallow water ; ' JJhovasent/ a circular net 

 about 18 feet in diameter; ' Tagoi/ a net from 90 to 175 feet in 

 length; the 'Jhorti' is verj' similar, but with a larger mesh; the 

 'Tojiari' is another species of net; ' Bhewar jal' or cast-net; the 

 ' Kothla' is a bag-shaped bamboo trap, and is generally used in irrigated 

 fields; snares termed Thas ;' poisoning water by 'milk bush,' •' hin- 

 ganbet' or ' meui.' In IJalaghat the following plans are likewise 

 reported : — ' Dupka,' a conical bamboo coop ; ' Lamdora,' a night line baited 

 with a frog ; ' Kunkur,' a spear ; ' Dawan,' night-lines with several hooks 

 on one string ; ' Tepon,' another form used during the day-time ; ' Surki,' 

 fine baml>oo cliicks, as are also ' Cliunga' and ' iMaindliar.' 'Dliaer,' or 

 a piece of large hollow bamboo three or four feet in length, ojien at both 

 ends, is left in running water : its weight sinks it : it is suddeidy lifted, 

 the two ends being closed by the two hands. ' Chajia,' by lights at 

 uight, when the fish jump on to a piece of bamboo matting. ' Ooraii,' 

 a large net, which is stretched across a stream in a moon-light night, 

 and the water is beaten towards it by men in canoes. 



263. In the JabaJjmr Division, five Tchsildars reply, that there 



are 10,92.3 fishermen, who almost invariably 

 J^tl^^t^."^'"' l-ursuc other occupations; the names of 



tlie castes are DInmars and Khcvats. The 

 local markets are fully supplied in three tehsils, but not so in 

 two. Respecting the amount of the ])0]iidation who eat fish, it 

 is given as follows: — Seoni three-fourths, ^landla all but Brahmins and 

 Banias, Sagar and Jabalptjr half; Damoh two-thirds. As regards the 

 amount of fish in the waters, in Seoni and Jabalpur it is stated that 

 they were abundant previous to the drought of ISGS-CD when numbers 

 died, now again they are incicasing; in Damoh tliey arc stationary : in 

 INIandla and Sagar they have decreased. In Sagar small fish are 

 not taken in any quantity during the rains, but they are in the four 

 other districts, at the end of the rains, by damming and lading, by 

 taking those left by receding waters in hollows and rice-fields, and by fine 

 nets ; in fact, at Mandla about half of the young fry may be said to 

 be so caught. Tlie smallest-sized meshes are thus given in four 

 districts ; one at half an inch, two at quarter of an inch [in one it 

 is subsequently observed of the Pilna net, that it has "fine meshes 

 through which a needle for sewing gunnj' can with difhcidty bo passed], 

 and one at the size of a grain of wheat. Young and old fish arc 

 taken during seasons of irrigation, in the fields, by means of traps 

 set at the outlet of every enclosure in three of the districts, but 

 in the remaining two no fields arc irrigated at this period, but 

 wherever there is any overfiow, the peojtle dcstro3' the fry how they can. 



