CCXXXl 



sticli, lioinjT opjiosod f d piililic piojndicf', aitd duo (,o f-Iio initaUon it. would 

 cause, all,lioii[j;-li \i is (uir duty to keep uj) tlio fisli-supply if if; can I)0 dono. 

 As to proliibitiiig Mie sale of the fry offisli in iliel)azar8, suoli could only 

 be carried out at head-((uartcrs, and it would " interfere with the scnsiljl(> 

 practice of storing taidis." [I would hero sugg-est that the fry of fish 

 sold dead in the bazars would hardly he adapted for this purjiose, whilst 

 live fry for such a use need not ho siihjeetcd to regulations.! " I am 

 told 1-hat natives, when recovering from sickness, eat the young fry as 

 being more delicate in flavour." PTliis is curious conjoined with the 

 statements made elsewhere in India. In the Pauji\b, in thC Mtdlan 

 Division, it is a popular belief that fish us«l as food during the rains 

 occasion sickness (p. xxi) : in the Central Provinces (p. cxxi) tliat fish 

 eaten at such seasons arc the reputed originators of disease.] " I 

 think that tlie supply is falling off, .but very little, if at all, though 

 in the south of the district there is much more didiculty in procuring 

 (ish than in the north." Pish are consumed by all classes, except 

 widows of respectable Hindus, and by a man hero and there, who 

 objects to eat animal food on principle. The upper and middle classes 

 cat fresh fish, the poorer dried fish ; some is dried in the north, 

 but salted in the south of the division. "During the cold season 

 live fish are exported to Calcutta, though this trade i.s .said to have 

 fallen off owing to the opening of the Eastern Bengal Railway. Dried 

 and salted fish are exported to Chittagong in considerable numbers." 

 Young fish that have been reared in tanks are eaten on great occasions 

 in the family, as marriage feasts, saratUis, &c. "I do not think that con- 

 sevvaLion is absolutely necessary here : it would be very difiicult ' to 

 enforce, and would cause a very great deal of discontent, while it seems 

 hardly sufiiciently justified by necessity. That is to say, I would not 

 interfere with net or trap fishing, but I think I would jirohibit the use 

 of fixed engines, such as bamboo screens and fences in the bed of any 

 river, Itlia/,, or water channel. Such a mode of catching fish might fairly 

 be put down, while the obstructions arc a serious nuisance to jtassing 

 boats." 



407. The Officiathiff Commissioner of Dacca {Ociohcv '1th, 1872) 

 replies : — " East Bengal, of which this division 



of DTc^nml'^rCc. '''"""'' f'".-'"^' tl'C chief j.art, is noted for large snp- 



plies of fish. In Dacca, Sylhet, and Cacliar, 

 the supply is sujiposed to be falling off, but not to sucli an extent as to 

 interfere with the ordinary consumption of the (leople. The causes of 

 this diminution arc alleged to bo exsiccation of bkcels, tanks, and other 

 water-courses, reckless destruction of the fry of fish, passing and 

 re-passing of steamers, which are said to drive the river fish to distant 

 ([uarters, &c. In Backergungc, Mymensing, and Furreedporc, no dimi- 

 nution is reported or supposed to exist." Fifteen-sixteenths of the 

 population may be set down as fish consumers. Fish is salted or 

 dried for home consumption or export, and largely exported to Calcutta 

 and elsewhere by rail or boats. "Everybody in this district, after 

 digging a tank, puts in small fish and fry of various species to be reared, 

 and in every district the number of such tanks is innumerable. Fish 

 is, besides, to be foHiid in abu:idanec in the sever.al rivers, canals, hltrcls 

 and other water-courses with which every district abounds. Under 



