40 COLLECTING CATECHU. 



Another kind of fish common in the Himalayan rivers is 

 that called by the natives "kalabans," dirty mud -coloured 

 creatures which are found in immense shoals. On looking 

 down from a height into the Surjoo, I have seen a shoal of 

 them which must have numbered thousands, lying along 

 the bottom in a dark motionless mass. Their flesh is soft, 

 muddy-tasted, and full of bones, and they never afford sport 

 for the angler. The natives, however, net them in large 

 numbers ; indeed the chief occupation of the natives of this 

 low jungly valley seemed to be either fishing or extracting 

 kuttai (catechu) from the Kyer (mimosa) tree. They chop 

 the dark-coloured heart of the tree into small chips ; of these 

 they make a decoction, which, after being well boiled down, is 

 allowed to set until it becomes a congealed mass. This is cut 

 into blocks about four or five inches square, something re- 

 sembling solid chunks of cold, pink-coloured custard-pudding, 

 in which shape it is exported for sale. 



