350 A Plea for River Fisheries. Chapt. xxv. 



tages can bo reaped from the adoption of these two simple measures 

 alone. 



27. An outspoken critic gave it as his very decided opinion 

 that pisciculture in west coast rivers, that are at one time in high 

 flood, and at another a mere driblet, was " all gammon." He is 

 probably not singular in his opinion. His objection, therefore, 

 ought to be answered. This very variableness in the rivers, instead 

 of being an insurmountable difficulty, would seem to be the most 

 convenient arrangement that could possibly be desired. When the 

 south-west monsoon commences, the rivers are at once in flood and 

 continue so for four months, subsecpiently diminishing by slow 

 degrees. This enables the grown fish, Mahseer, to ascend to new 

 feeding grounds in the forests, which are quite inaccessible to them 



at other times, and ten-pound fish are to be 



Say 2,500 feet high. r 



found half way up the Mercara Ghat. In the 

 high waters the big fish linger till the gradually subsiding streams 

 warn them to drop gently downwards. The early spawners linger 

 the longest to secure shallow waters for spawning ; this done, they 

 keep dropping gently downwards with the continually decreasing 

 waters, and before the spawn they have deposited is hatched, they 

 are probably completely cut off from their fry ; so that till the 

 commencement of the same monsoon in the following year, they 

 cannot return to devour them. The fry thus not only have the 

 heads of the rivers securely to themselves, but they have them 

 also beautifully accommodated to their puny strength, the impas- 

 sable torrent having become a mere driblet of an inch or so in 

 depth. 



28. Though the variation in the size of the Canara rivers is 

 much greater than the changes in English rivers, it is at the same 

 time much more regular. Though Canara lias in a year 130 inches 

 of rainfall to swell its rivers, and a tropical land and irrigation to 

 waste them, yet they each conn ■ in their regular season. Almost 

 the whole of the 130 inches falls during the prevalence of the 

 south-west monsoon, which commences with June, and lasts about 

 four months. This monsoon ended, there are only such moderate 

 rains as cannot affect the rivers. This monsoon ends, then, with 

 September, and from that time the rivers continue to subside 

 steadily till the following June. The fish, Mahseer, spawn in the 

 interim, and the spawn is safely hatched, and the fry are somewhat 



