444 Scientific Travellers. 



supply the honey, which is very sweet and good, and serves through- 

 out the island in the place of sugar. 



Fish forms a very important part of the diet of the Mug, and 

 mainly in this view are the villages of Chedooba formed around the 

 shores. It is very plentiful, though not of any great variety. The 

 most common is a species of Bonito, a muscular fish of rapid mo- 

 tion and great strength, though seldom arriving at a weight of 4 lbs. 

 It has a very thick smooth skin, without scale, and is of silvery 

 white, longitudinally spotted with blue. On the western coast, in 

 the sandy bays, they are very numerous, and are taken in great 

 plenty with hook and line. 



The bamboo supplies the fishing-rod, and in the evening, when 

 most readily taken, the shore may be seen with twenty natives in a 

 line from the nearest village, as close together as they can stand, up 

 to their middles in the water, with their baskets slung on their backs, 

 and casting their lines as rapidly as if fly-fishing, laughing and joking 

 at their success, without the least fear of driving their prey away, 

 though they must be among their legs. The flesh of these fish is 

 very firm and nutritious. 



Very great quantities of a tiny little fish, most similar to, if not 

 in fact, the Anchovy or a small Sardine, are taken on the same coast. 

 They are dried in the sun without any preparation, a day or two's 

 exposure being sufficient for the purpose, and exported in great 

 quantities to Ramree and the neighbouring coast. The method of 

 taking them is perhaps peculiar, and forms an interesting and lively 

 scene. The morning is the time of the best ' take,' at which period, 

 and when near high water, young and old assemble on the sand in 

 groups, with flat open-mouthed baskets of bamboo work, awaiting 

 the opportunity for a catch. This occurs when the shoals of tiny 

 fish are driven for supposed safety close into the beach by their 

 larger, persecuting, and ravenous brethren. Then away dashes the 

 nearest group of expectants into the water, to the back of the surf 

 which is constantly though not heavily rolling in on the coast, and, 

 driving back the original pursuers, face round in shore and place the 

 flat mouths of their baskets in line together, just outside the retiring 

 wave, receiving from it its finny contents. Sometimes more than a 

 gallon will be thus deposited in a single basket. 



The uncertainty as to where the shoal will come in, and the ra- 

 pidity and ability with which the fortunate group take advantage of 

 their opportunity, aff'ord all the excitement and amusement to these 

 cheerful j^eople of a game of chance, and cannot be looked on by a 

 stranger without interest. Flocks of cranes, crows, kites and gulls, 

 of many sizes, colours and voices, looking out for the stragglers on 

 the sand that have escaped the mouths of the fishes and the bas- 

 kets, form an addition to the scene. 



The gray mullet, of good size and flavour, is got from the creeks 

 of the east side of the island. Rock fish are plentiful, but not easily 

 taken ; when intended to be preserved, they are split into quarters, 

 kept together at either end, and then opened by strips of bamboo, 

 and the whole hung uj) io dry in the sun. Skate were frequently 



