CXCll 



purse-net attached to a circular frame; chabi-jal, a net attaclied to a 

 j)yiamitlal frame-work of two bamboos, which, crossing one another at the 

 fcuuiinit at riylit angles, are bent down into a pyramidal form at the 

 base of which the net is afhxed. The traps are as follows : — ghoonee, 

 very common; ara, aishta, polii, and harh are also bamboo trajis. 

 In the lloofihly Collector ate, the 2'ehsildars report perhaps 3,()U(J fisher- 

 men by profession, but all classes catch small fish : the castes are Mun- 

 nah, Patoo, Mullik, Banji, Koormee, Teor, Jeilya, JWulla, Pode, Noda, 

 Parrik, Sautra, Khora, Mul, &c., but the Jeilya are the true fishing 

 caste. The markets are fairly supj)lied; the fishermen, however, try to 

 keep up the market price by limiting the supply. Nine-tenths of the 

 jiopulation eat fish, the amount of which in the waters is station- 

 ary. Very small fish are taken during the rains both for eating and 

 stocking ponds; the smallest sized mesh of nets employed is such as peas 

 can go through. Fish are trapped in the irrigated fields during the rains. 

 The following traps are used: — ghoonee, aia, smA. ais/ita ; also eleven 

 forms of weirs. 



360. Yvom. Assam no returns have been received; the following 



^, . apiieared in the columns of the Englishman of 



Observations from Assam. ■, . .,, ^o^■\ r ii ■ i- • • 



July otii, 1871, respecting tins division: — 



"There is a system of wliolesiHC poisoning and trai)piiig fish, which aims 



at the destruction and cxterniiaation of the species." The writer goes 



on to describe how some pools ;»re poisoned, others dammed, and the fish 



harpooned; how streams are euibauked, and wicker traps employed, with 



a scarcity as the result. 



