civ 



woiis lidili on lis joiiniP}- up niiil ddwii piionni. (1) A wny of dcstroj'ing 

 fry, cliielly icsorleil to l>y boys, of daiiiining- up small .sfioams, but not 

 worlli any detailed notice." Otters, and a large siluroid fisli, nte also men- 

 tioned as doing- some liKle injury. "The seasons in wliicli most (ish sire 

 destroyed are during summer when tlic water is very elonr and tlio 

 river low, and again in the winter, after the monsoon has snljsided, and 

 tlie rivers arc reduced to their ordinary level. The smallest-sized mesh 

 of the nets cni]>loyed in Kumaon are Irom hall' to three-fourths of an inch 

 between knot and knot. They are chiefly used to catch the small fry which 

 swarm on both banks of a river dm ing the hot months, and also to take fiy 

 which have been left in ravines running down to a livcr, or in stagnant 

 jiools when the river has subsided to its natural bed after the monsoon." 

 No difliculties are antici]iatrd in proliibiting the sale of " fry in the 

 bazars of Kumaon, because I do not believe there is any class of the 

 community in towns, dependent solely on this description of food, and, 

 if I remember rightly, the practice is already ]irohibited in some muni- 

 ci]«lities without causing jiublic inconvenience. The advantage is 

 that sales of fry being prohibited, the supjily, and with it the destruc- 

 tion of fry, will at once cease in all streams within markctal)le distance 

 of bazars." Fence months, it is suggested, should extend from 1st 

 April to 1st July. The question of prcscr/p/ivfi riglils is thus alluded to : 

 " the prescriptive rights of the people will jiossibly require legislative 

 action, but it is quite time the 'common-sense princij)lc' was declared 

 once for all, that no people iu the world, other than savages wlio do 

 whatever pleases them, have a prescriptive right to do anything which 

 dcstioys or diminishes a spontaneous source of food. Thi^ same prin- 

 ciple has been apjilied in the use of water and timber : why should it 

 not be applied to so important an article as human food ? If compen- 

 sation must 1)0 given, then let it be; it only shows wliat the State is 

 obliged to be res|)0)isil>ie for, by too strict a respect for these so-called 

 ' prescriptive rights;' the people themselves will be the eventual gainers, 

 and on these grounds alone the legislature should take the matter in 

 hand at once. rreseri])tive right to do wrong things, oi- injudiciously 

 exterminate a natural source of food-su]ij)ly, lias only existed, because 

 until now, there has not been a Government strong or civilized enoucrh 

 to control it. Thus 'suttee,' 'thuggee,' 'human sacrifices' were all 

 prescrijitive rights in their way, and had, moreover, a certain amount 

 of legal sanction, and yet, because they involved loss of human life, 

 I hey were very rightly swe|)t away, and so can this right of wanton 

 destruetion of human food be.'' lie ))ro])Oscs (1) a close season from 

 1st April to 31st Julj', in each year, for all fishing other than rods; (2) 

 the minimum size of the mesh of nets to be \\ inclies between knot 

 and knot, and the proliibit ion of the sale of fry in the bazars ; (3) that 

 tlu" forest jiatrols or special police enforce a close season ; (1) tliat fixed 

 tra]is at weirs, and cords with hooks attached, as above described, bo 

 prohibited; (5) that a system of licenses be established to pay for a 

 conservancy establishment. The Officiating Senior /Is.sisfaiU Coinmis- 

 sioner, Gnrlnoal (December 23rd, 1871), rej)orted that almost all classes 

 use fish as food when proctirablo. " The wholesale destruction of fisli 

 and their fry cotnniences in these hills. Tlie rivers and stre:ims here 

 are the breeding-grounds of the mahasecr, kalonce or kala-banj, and 



