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Central Provinces, at Jabalpur (p. cxix), every little stream- 

 let is dammed up, and woven bamboo weirs are placed in the 

 dams. At Bilaspur (p. cxxii), breeding and young fish are 

 wantonly and indiscriminately destroyed in all rivers, pools, 

 streams and tanks throughout the district, also in rice -fields : 

 in the latter they are caught at the outlets when the water 

 at the close of the rains is subsiding : it is impossible for 

 the smallest fish to get out of some of these traps. The 

 Assistant Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of these 

 Provinces observed that " in the Sagar and Mandla Dis- 

 tricts, extensive destruction of fish occurs, more especially 

 of the sor, and mahseer and paru. The occasion when this 

 occurs is the beginning of the rains, which is the season for 

 spawning ; and it is said that in Mandla at that season the 

 fish, while making their way to spawn in tanks and rice-fields 

 (the entries into which are small and narrow), are carefully 

 watched, and that large numbers of all sizes are killed by 

 the villagers ; while, again, on their return to the rivers, they 

 are met at every outlet by nets, baskets, weirs and traps, so 

 that few can get away altogether ; some of them are so small 

 as to be perfectly useless, and these are thrown away or left 

 as food for dogs and crows." In Haidarabad (p. cxiii), fish 

 are taken by means of goomlas, which somewhat resemble 

 the straw envelopes for bottles ; they are made of the reeds 

 of the nurgood plant : these traps are placed in shallow 

 streams in the rainy season ; the fish enter, but it prevents 

 their return. In Oudh, the same mode of using traps is advert- 

 ed to. Small nets or baskets of various forms and shapes are 

 hung over weirs just above the water; breeding-fish attempt- 

 ing to ascend the river find this barrier in their way, try to 

 overcome it by jumping, and many are captured by falling 

 into these fixed contrivances. The Commissioner of the 

 llajshahye Division in Bengal observes (p. clxxxvi) that 

 bamboo contrivances for fish-catching are in use in every 

 paddy-field. They are also employed throughout Orissa and 

 the Midnapur Districts. Whilst in Assam, the Deputy Com- 

 missioner of Durrung reports (p. ccxxviii) that " everything, 

 from a weir to a basket, is used, and the meshes of the nets 

 are so small that no fry can escape." Also in Seebsagor 

 (p. ccxxix) that "what with dams, traps, baskets and nets 

 which the villagers use, very few fish escape to the larger 

 streams." In Jorehat (p. ccxxx), the villagers, if left to them- 

 selves, are very fond of damming streams at the end of the 

 rains, when fish, large and small, are running down : this 



