ccxxx 



nnd, BO far as T can ascertain, it is not, falling off apprc(;ial)ly. Tlic 

 IJralinKiputra, wliich is never projierly fisliod, is a preserve from which a 

 supply is constantly forthcotning to stock the other waters which coni- 

 nuinicate with it. Fish is used as an article of diet hy all classes of the 

 Assamese, and the consumption is therefore great. The only professional 

 fishermen are Domes, who use boats and nets of large size on tlio 

 Brahmaputra and tlie larger streams and bheels, and who regularly 

 sell what they catch. Villagers, however, of all classes fish for them- 

 selves with baskets, luind-nets and the hook, and also set traps in the 

 streams. In the rainy season numbers of people are continually to be 

 seen at work catching lish in some way or other for their own consump- 

 tion." Tiiey do not preserve it in any way, but use it fresh, or very often 

 lialf putrid. Fish are not privately bred, nor is any attempt made to 

 stock waters artificially. " The only thing in the way of conservation 

 that I see necessary is to prevent, as far as possible, the wholesale de- 

 struction of lisli that have run up small streams to spawn, and of their fry. 

 Tlie villagers, if left to themselves, are very fond of damming streams at 

 the end of the rains, when fish, large and small, are running down ; this 

 they do in such a way that scarcely anything can escape the traps set in 

 the dam. As long as a fair number of young fish are spared, the supjily is 

 not likely to fall off, especially of the better kinds of fish, which, 

 so to sjteak, have their head-quarters in the Brahmaputra." The 

 Depuly CummiHsioner of the K/iasi Hills states that in most of the rivers 

 which drain the high lands, small-sealed and sealeless fishes are found, 

 but not plentifully. Again, in the rivers near the jilains, at the lower 

 levels, beliiw the water-falls, the fish are in abundance ; they can be seen 

 swimming about in the clear deep pools, and at the foot of the hills. 

 During the dry season, when the rivers are low, a very large qiumtity 

 of fish, some of them weighing as much as five or six seers, are caught 

 by throwing dams and weirs across the shallows. There arc very few 

 tanks in the hills, and in such as exist the fish are very scarce." Sun- 

 dried fish is a staple for food with the hill peop)le. Fish have not 

 diminished. 



400. The Officialmg Collector of Tipiwrah (October 18th, 1872) 



^ . ■ observes that " breeding-fish are undoubtedly 



Oimiion of tlio Collectoi' of i , i , , ■ 



Tj ' ,.,il, destroyed to some extent, as are very j'oung 



iish, but with respect to these a very sensible 

 practice prevails. Every one who has even a very small tank will jiut 

 young fish into it for the purpose of creating a fishery. It is said that 

 the greater portion of young fish caught, is disposed of this way." 

 fThe native ofiieials of this Collectorate report " very small fish are 

 sold by weight," and again that the minimum size of the mesh of 

 nets is -j-'jth of an inch, and very small fry are trapped.] "I understand 

 that to the north of the district, where fish is far more plentiful than 

 here or in the south, the destruction of breeding-fish is not considered 

 very injurious." They are only caught in rivers by means of nets and 

 a bamboo snare called ^Ja^'ow, which is baited with shells nnd insects; 

 the chief months are between May and August. Young fish are also 

 caught in rivers, by means of small-meshed nets, from August to Octo- 

 ber inclusive. The minimum size of the meshes of nets used is Irom 

 1 jjtli to yjth of an inch square, and it would be impossible to n-gulale 



