378 COMMON FISH OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



are certainly correlated with the absence or presence 

 of a special danger. In all the inhabited parts of 

 the Sundarbans the people live to a great extent 

 on fish, and are consequently always on the out- 

 look for chances of catching them. The varieties 

 of ways of fishing that may be seen during the 

 course of a single day's voyage are quite wonderful. 

 One of the commonest is carried out by means of 

 an apparatus consisting of a truncated cone of 

 wicker-work open at either end and looking like 

 a deep, tapering basket without a bottom. When 

 in use, the fisherman carries it about as he wades 

 along the muddy slopes or shallows, and, when 

 he comes to a point at which he thinks that fish 

 are lying, he suddenly plants the broad end of the 

 cone down into the mud, and then passes his hand 

 through the narrow end and gropes about for 

 anything that may have been imprisoned within 

 the wicker enclosure. Fishing of this kind is, of 

 course, rendered easier by anything increasing the 

 area of shallow water or leaving fish exposed in 

 the mud of the banks. The passage of a steamer 

 tends to act in this way, both by the initial 

 indraught and by the subsequent violent inundation 

 that it gives rise to. The fishermen fully realise 

 this, and eagerly avail themselves of the opportunity 

 thus afforded. This implies that, in channels where 

 fishing is habitually carried on, the passage of a 

 steamer exposes the mud-skippers to a twofold 



