HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



from the canoe, but I recovered it, and the fish as well, 

 easily enough. There is not much sport in it, but, from 

 what I have seen of the majority of tanks, it is the only 

 way in which they can be fished. 



The natives do a little line-fishing, but their favourite 

 dodge is kardk gahanawa. The karak is a half egg-shaped 

 basket, no bottom to it, and with a circular hole about 6 

 inches diameter at the apex. The performer wades about 

 in the shallows among the weeds, and at intervals violently 

 dumps this basket, big end down, into the water. 



Occasionally he dumps it on to a fish right enough, 

 which he then extracts through the hole at the top by 

 inserting his hand and arm. 



They have other dodges of catching fish by means of 

 basket-traps like eel-traps, inserted in water-courses and 

 such-like, and there is always a big haul of fish to be got 

 out of tanks when they are dried up by drought into small 

 puddles, -the whole local village turning out to take part in 

 the sport, which is more or less a ceremonial custom. 



The first time I ever visited Minneriya I had a curious 

 experience. 



The day I arrived (I was putting up in the old mud- 

 built gansabhawa bungalow, some miles from the tank, 

 which was there even before Sir Samuel Baker's day) it 

 came on to rain heavily, bringing down jungle drains in a 

 bit of a " spate." I went out snipe shooting in the tank 

 next day it had been very dry for some time previously, 

 and the tank was empty but for two big pools, each perhaps 

 200 acres in extent, and some minor pools which I found 

 had been caused by the rise and subsidence of the water 

 during the night. Approaching one of these, I was sur- 

 prised to observe the water in violent commotion, and 

 going close, I saw to my amazement that the pool, which 



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