< n ait. xxvi. The Effects of Famim m fishermen. 393 



not Buffered during the present famine. They have, they Bay, 

 derived uo benefit from it, and the Collector is inclined to think 

 they have not benefited much. 



Kistna. — The Collector thinks the .seafaring fishermen have not 

 Buffered so much as others, though at the same time the distress on 

 the coast was not so great as it was inland. 



NeUore. — The fishermen flourished, and there was little or no 

 distress amongst them during the famine, but there was an impor- 

 tant tiling to help them, the Canal was being made, and at one 

 time there were as many as 41,000 coolies on it distributed all 

 along the coast. This gave the fishermen an unusually good 

 market, and when their fishing failed, they could always v..-t ;i day 

 or two's earthwork on high wages. 



Tanjore. — In this District there was never real famine, hut very 

 nearly famine prices in the midst of plenty, because the grain was 

 going as fast as it could he carried to famine Districts. Men who 

 had heen used to add to their daily meal, the luxury of a little salt 

 tish as a relish, were compelled by the price of grain to abandon 

 the tasteful dainty. The fishermen bad to pay the same prices as 

 others for grain, and complain that they suffered equally in that 

 they had to barter a full meal of fish for a mere pittance of grain. 

 But this seems to be an admission that to those who were content 

 with it, fish-food was cheap, and an admission also that the 

 fishermen could afford to exercise a preference in the food with 

 which they sustained life. They and their children were in better 

 case than their neighbours. 



At Negapatam they were largely used as in Madras for land- 

 ing grain, but the above remarks refer to the coast line of the 

 1 »i-nict generally. 



Madura. — The Madura Collector says that the sea fishermen 

 escaped the great distress felt by the inland population, owing 

 this escape to the facility with which the) - could take fish, and 

 Ins Salt Deputy Collector says, that from his personal knowledge, 

 and from enquiries, he is able to say that they prospered ami 

 benefited their neighbours, though be adds that fishing was not 



necessful in parts of the coast as it used to lie at other tines, 

 implying that the famine has affected, not the take from, but the 

 very tides in the sea. This same conclusion is drawn in Tinne- 

 velly also. But it is a conclusion difficult to accept, and Deeds 

 some proof. 



