CuAP IV.] FALL OF FISHES FEOM CLOUDS. 211 



change of the monsoon, are covered with dust or stunted 

 grass ; but when flooded by the rains, they are imme- 

 diately resorted to by the peasants Avith baskets, con- 

 structed precisely as Knox has stated, in which the fish 

 are encircled and taken out by the liand.^ 



So singular a phenomenon as the sudden reappearance 

 of full-grown fishes in places which a few days before had 

 been encrusted with hardened clay, has not failed to 

 attract attention ; but the European residents have been 

 contented to explain it byh'azarding the conjectm-e, either 

 that the spawn had lain imbedded in the dried earth till 

 released by the rains, or that the fish, so unexpectedly 

 discovered, fall from the clouds during the deluge of the 

 monsoon. 



As to the latter conjecture ; the fall of fish during 

 showers, even were it not so problematical in theory, is 

 too rare an event to account for the punctual appearance 

 of those found in the rice-fields, at stated periods of the 

 year. Both at GaUe and Colombo in the south-west 

 monsoon, fish are popularly thought to have fallen from 

 the clouds dm^ing violent showers, but those found on 

 the occasions that give rise to this belief, r^ 



consist of the smallest fry, such as could be / \ 

 caught up by waterspouts, and vortices ana- 

 logous to them, or otherwise blown on shore 

 from the surf; whereas those which sud- 

 denly appear in the replenished tanks and 

 in the hollows wliich they overflow, are 

 mature and well-orown fish.^ Besides, the 



* As anglers, tlie native Singhalese j ^ I had an oppor- 

 exhibit little expertuess ; but for tunity, on one occa- 

 fishing the risers, they constiaict sion only, of wit- 

 with singular ingenuity fences formed | nessing the pheno- 

 of strong stakes, protected by screens menon which gives 

 of ratan, which stretch diagonally j rise to this popular 

 across the current ; and along these | belief. I was driv- 

 the fish are conducted into a series 

 of enclosui-es fi-om which retreat is 

 impracticable. Mr. Lay.vrd, in the 

 Maf/azine of Nat/o-al History for JNIay, 



1853,- has given a diagram of one 1 shower descend at 

 of these fish " coiTals," as they are no gi-eat distance 

 called. 1 before me. On fish cokral 



p 2 



ing in the cinnamon 

 gardens near the fort 

 of Colombo, and saw 

 a violent but partial 



