( 49 ) 



right of fishing was not to be rented out, except where the 

 practice had been previously in vogue ;" but as this rule was 

 promulgated in 1849, ten years prior to the appointment 

 of a Secretary of State for India, I am inclined to think it 

 was the Revenue Board's orders that were alluded to, as the 

 despatch cannot be found. Lastly, Burma will be especially 

 interesting as the country which has most recently come 

 under British rule. The " Een Thoogyee" was the contractor, 

 who alone might obtain fish for sale, and he permitted the 

 public, on a stipulated payment (generally, I understood, 

 one rupee yearly for every house), to take fish for their own 

 consumption, but not for sale. At the present time 

 (p. ccix), creeks not claimed by the fishery lessees fall to 

 the share of the villagers, who forthwith choke them up 

 in all directions with small dams. It appears, under the 

 Burmese Government, dams were not allowed in any of 

 the main streams. In the year 1861, the fishery laws 

 in Burma were passed, and from this date I believe 

 injuries to fisheries may be chiefly dated. Erom this period, 

 I was informed, the practice of employing fixed engines in 

 irrigated fields and water-courses, untaxed, commenced ; weirs 

 have largely augmented, any one being allowed to take fish 

 any way he pleases, without payment, for home consump- 

 tion, whilst no regulations were instituted for the protection 

 of the fisheries from wasteful destruction. Irrespective of this, 

 certain localities were set aside as free fisheries. The result 

 is, that the fish are reported to be decreasing ; for, if it is for 

 one moment considered as to what such a course inevitably 

 eventuates in, surely it must be admitted that unlimited 

 license will cause unlimited waste. If persons may help 

 themselves as they please, they will take those captured with 

 the least trouble, and thus breeding-fish and fry are destroyed 

 where they should be preserved. The people cannot be 

 blamed for this ; fishermen will do it, whether in Europe or 

 in India, if so permitted. 



LXII. The fishermen who carry on their occupations 

 in the fresh-waters, or above where the 

 tide ebbs and flows, are divisible into 

 those who follow it out as a single means of livelihood, or 

 merely as an occasional one v subsidiary to other employ- 

 ments. Tbe first question, then, for consideration is Who 

 are the fishermen ? Here, again, great innovations have 

 crept in. Under native rule distinct crafts or castes followed 

 this occupation, at least in the plains, and still remnants of 

 fishing classes, transferred from one portion of India to 



