Chap. IV.] 



SHAEKS. 



207 



these months, under pain of fine and imprisonment. 

 This order is still in force, but the fishing continues 

 notwithstanding.^ 



Sharks. — Sharks appear on all parts of the coast, 

 and instances continually occur of persons being seized 

 by them whilst bathing even in the harbours of Trin- 

 comahe and Colombo. In the Gidf of Manaar they are 

 taken for the sake of their oil, of which they yield such 

 a quantity that " shark's oil " is now a recognised 

 export. A trade also exists in drjdng their fins, and 

 from the gelatine contained in them, they find a ready 

 market in China, to which the skin of the basking shark 

 is also sent; — it is said to be there converted into 

 shagreen. 



Saw Fish. — The huge saw fish, the Pristis anti- 

 quorum ^, infests the eastern coast of the island ^, where 

 it attains a length of from twelve to fifteen feet, in- 

 cluding the powerful weapon from which its name is 

 derived. 



But the most striking to the eye of a stranger are 

 those fishes whose brilhancy of colouring has won for 

 them the wonder even of the hstless Singhalese. Some, 



^ There are two species of Saidine at Ceylon , the S ncolwiiu, Yal., 

 alluded to above, and the 8. Icioqastu , 

 Val. and Cuv. xx. 270, which was tound 

 by Mr. Reynaud at Trincomalie. It oc- 

 ciu's also off the coast of Java. Anothei 

 Ceylon fish of the same gToup, a Clupea, 

 is known as the "poisonous sprat, the 

 bonito {Scomber iwhimys ?), 

 the kangewena, or unicom fish 

 {Halistes ?), and a number of 

 others, are more or less in bad 

 repute from the same impu- 

 tation. 



^ Two other species are 

 found in the Ceylon waters, P. 

 cuspidatm and P. j^'cctinafus. 



3 ^LiAN mentions, amongst the extiaoidmary 

 marine animals found in the seas aroimd Ceylon, a 

 fish with feet instead of fins ; ttocuq yi ixt)v X'/X<'c n 

 TTTepvyia. — Lib. xvi, c. 18. Does not this draw- 

 ing of a species of Chironectes, captui'ed near 

 Colombo, justify his description ? 



CH1R0NECTE3. 



