712 Chronicles of Science. | Oct., 
for the purpose of connecting their own royal family with those of the 
reigning Budhist families in India. This conversion seems to have 
taken place whilst the capital was at Tagoung, since a Budhist image 
was discovered there inscribed with a well-known religious text in Deva- 
nagri characters, which bear a close resemblance to similar inscriptions 
at Allahabad. Now the Burmese and Tapaing writing of the present 
day is undoubtedly derived from the Deva-nagri character, but it also 
bears upon the surface of it a distinct impress of the ‘l'amulic letters. 
We may well argue, therefore, that these few inscriptions were the work 
of the earlier Budhists that came from India, and who seem to have 
settled at Tagoung but a short time before it was overrun by the 
Tatar or Chinese race, whom the Burmese call Ta-ret or Ta-rook. 
The real origin of the race, then, was in the interior of the continent, 
but their traditions, founded on religious prejudices, point to an Indian 
birthplace. 
In these days, when pisciculture is becoming attractive both to the 
man of science and even to the economist, the remarks of Mr. EH. 
O'Reilly, the Deputy-Commissioner of Bassein, on the immense profits 
made from the fishing in the Lake of Clear Water in the district of 
Bassein, in Burmah, will be read with great interest. The lake to 
which these remarks refer is of a peculiar character, having but one 
stream which flows into it when the Irrawaddy, and in consequence the 
Bassein and its dependant, the Dugga, are swollen, and out of it when 
these rivers shrink again to their accustomed channels. The lake 
thus forms a natural preserve, and from its ring-shape it affords pecu- 
liar facilities for dragging. When the lake is at its lowest a fixed weir 
is built on one side of the outlet, and a drag-net, made of reeds, grass, 
and jungle-creepers, about 1,800 cubits long, is made on the other. 
This latter is moved gradually forward at the rate of about forty-five 
fathoms a-day for three months, until it is brought nearly opposite to 
the village on the shore of the lake, at a distance from its mouth. A 
bamboo weir is then erected to prevent the return of the fish, and the 
drag-net is taken to pieces and reconstructed by the first-mentioned 
weir, and then again dragged back in a contrary direction until it 
approaches the village on the other side. The fish are thus left cooped 
up until the first showers of the monsoon have cooled the water and 
the atmosphere, and then at the full moon in June the merchants 
assemble from Prome, Ava,and the other large towns on the Irrawaddy 
to attend the actual haul. Upwards of forty tons of fish are annually 
disposed of to these visitors, some in the form of dried fish, but also a 
large quantity is bought by the dealers from the lower parts of the 
river alive, and this is by them transported in bamboo cages kept under 
water. In the whole province of Pegu it is calculated that upwards of 
1,800 tons of fresh-water fish are used by the natives, affording a very 
large source of revenue to the Government. 
The condition of the dependency of Bustar, according to the 
report of Captain C. Glasfurd, Deputy-Commissioner of the Upper 
Godavery District, does not hold out any great enticement to the arche- 
ologist. The present, as well as the late dynasties of rajahs, seem to 
have had but little taste or liking for architecture ; but about five 
