( 50 ) 



another, can be traced. At Combaconum in Madras, " tradi 

 tion asserts that this race of men were originally brought b 

 some Hindu Eajah as bearers from Conjeveram." At Broac 

 in Bombay (p. Ivi), two sub-divisions of the fishing caste have 

 " obtained their names from the villages whence they emi- 

 grated." Again, the moturfa tax in Madras affected all 

 fishermen, being a species of capitation tax, or one on their 

 trade or the implements with which it was being carried out, 

 and the abrogation of this must have eventuated in many 

 more persons following the occupation, especially as rents 

 were also remitted in Madras. In the present day, " there is 

 scarcely anywhere a numerous and distinct class dependant 

 this pursuit for subsistence " (p. Ixx). That such is the case, an 

 example is furnished in the Panjab, where taxes on fishing nets 

 have been imposed, with the result that " the new regulations 

 are admitted on all hands to have had a good effect in preserv- 

 ing the fish, whilst the fishermen have decreased." In Mysor, 

 in the time of Hyder Ali, very stringent fishing laws existed, 

 whereas now, we are informed, in the Nundidrug Division 

 (p. cv), about two-thirds of the population fish occasionally, 

 in addition to their other occupations. Nearly every ryot 

 keeps a net, to be used as occasion or opportunity arises. In 

 British Burma, fishermen must have increased since the 

 period when every one has been authorised to catch fish, with- 

 out payment, for home consumption, but not for sale, whereas 

 formerly the contractor received payment for such. In 

 short, in the time when districts were let, the contractors 

 would not have been so short-sighted as to permit the general 

 destruction now so freely carried on. At present every one 

 encroaches on the fishermen's calling, who, seeing others 

 slaughtering breeding-fish and fry, do the same : as 

 remarked to me in Burma, why should we save them if others 

 kill them ? or in the Panjab, where they complained that 

 their nets with IJ-inch meshes could not take fry, whereas such 

 were permitted to be sold in the bazar by people not fisher- 

 men. The result has been in most parts of India that the 

 fisheries have become almost ruined, and amongst the argu- 

 ments against action advanced in Madras exists this that the 

 fresh- water fishermen are amongst the most impoverished 

 class of the community a result to be anticipated, and a 

 consequence of indiscriminate fishing. In fact, in some places 

 they have had to give up their calling : in the Central Pro- 

 vinces (p. cxxiv), many have ceased to follow their original 

 occupation owing to the demand for well-paid labour developed 

 by the railway. In Madras (p. Ixxxii), " fewer men are said 



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