370 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. —~ 
Our most ancient pisciculturist was Tao Chu Kung, who lived in the fifth 
century B. C. His method of fish culture combined both knowledge and 
ignorance. He dug a pond of the size of an acre, leaving nine small islands 
scattered about. In the pond he placed 20 female carps 3 feet in length and 4 
male ones of similar size. This was done in the month of March. In March 
of the following year there were found 5,000 fishes one foot long, 10,000 two 
feet long, and 15,000 three feet long. In the third year the number had been 
multiplied ten or twenty times, while in the fourth year it was not possible to 
keep count. The nine islands were to deceive the fishes, who would believe 
that they were in the big ocean traveling around the nine continents. 
Pisciculture in our country has been-confined to fresh water kinds. The fry 
are fed with the yolk of eggs, with very fine bran, or with beans ground to a 
powder. When the fish reach the length of a foot or so, they are transferred 
to a pond, where they are fed with young grass. It is considered advisable 
not to have the ponds too deep for fear of the water getting too cold for 
the young fish, and certain plants and trees are grown around and over the 
pond for various purposes and with various objects. For instance, it is believed 
that the dew from the plaintain leaves has a medicinal effect on the fishes, the 
berries of a certain tree are relished by the young fishes as a food, the grape 
vines which cover the pond prevent birds from polluting the water, and the 
luxuriant growth of the hibiscus along the edges repels the invasion of beavers. 
Of course, all these beliefs and theories are not scientific, but are based on tra- 
dition and experience. 
With the division of the people of the Empire into four distinct classes— 
scholars, agriculturists, artisans, and merchants—the men and women who 
followed the trade of fishing for a livelihood were placed in an anomalous posi- 
tion, in that they were not included in any of the four classes. Thus socially 
ostracised to a certain extent, they clung more and more to themselves, forming 
groups and colonies of their own along the coasts and on isolated and rocky 
islands. They lived in a world of their own, knowing nothing of the affairs of 
their country and caring less. To this day they do not come into direct contact 
with their countrymen on the mainland or in the interior, disposing of their 
catches of fish to fishmongers, who go out to them during the fishing season 
with silver or with the necessaries of life in exchange for the fishes. 
Throughout our history the importance of the fishing industry has been 
dwarfed by its allied industry, the manufacture of salt, which, having been 
transformed into a government monopoly, has engrossed the attention of the 
official and merchant classes. 
In discussing the fisheries of our country attention must be called to the 
difference in taste between our people and those of the West. In the first place, 
our epicures do not care much for deep-sea fishes, and a fish like the salmon 
would not at all appeal to our palates. We delight in eating those of the finny 
