348 FISHING IN AMEEICAN WATERS. 



knows how to distinguish them with the naked eye when un- 

 practiced ones perceive nothing in the water. He therefore 

 dips up the water with a mixture of impregnated ova, which 

 many purchase in that condition, while he dips and fills vases 

 for others who purchase the fishes when first hatched. Peo- 

 ple are said to come from all parts of the empire for the 

 purchase of both eggs and fish wherewith to stock the waters 

 of their various districts. 



Great care is bestowed on the vivified eggs placed in the 

 vases, and those having them in charge take turns in attend- 

 ing to them, so that they are never neglected either night or 

 day. At the end of some days, as the eggs disclose life, the 

 different species are removed into separate vases, and their 

 prices fixed and published. Father Duhalde stated that the 

 nett gain was often a hundred fold on the expense, and the 

 sale always certain, because fishes constitute a large share of 

 the food of the Chinese. 



Many travelers from time to time referred to this practice 

 of the Chinese in propagating fishes, but their explanations 

 were always more or less vague. Father Hue, the mission- 

 ary, informed the French government that a great many mer- 

 chants of vivified fish-eggs came to the province of Canton, 

 and traversed the country for the sale of them to the propri- 

 etors of ponds and other preserved waters. Their merchan- 

 dise, being a sort of yellowish liquid, was contained in a cask. 

 It appeared to be oily water, similar to the color of the vase 

 (probably terra-cotta), in which it was impossible to distin- 

 guish with the naked eye the least animalcula or living thing. 

 For some sqf&ques small coin they purchase a cup of that 

 turbid water, which is sufficient to stock a pond of consider- 

 able size. They pour the contents of the cup into the pond 

 or lake, and in a few days the eggs hatch, and by having 

 their preserves properly divided they keep up their stock of 

 fish. For the young fishes of the herbivorous families, such 

 as the carp, etc., they throw into the pond tender herbs for 

 food, augmenting the quantity as the fish enlarge. Carnivor- 



