( 77 ) 



(p. cxxxi), it is stated that fishing is carried on by channels 

 of water being enclosed, and powders obtained from a poison- 

 ous wild fruit thrown in. An opening is cut to receive 

 fresh-water, as the humane people think it wrong to kill all, 

 and as the intoxicated fish float to the surface, they are beaten 

 on the head with sticks or caught by the hands, and this 

 wholesale destruction is done merely for sport, as those captur- 

 ed are not deemed good to eat. The same is reported from the 

 Central Provinces (p. cxix), whilst the poison employed may 

 render the water undrinkable for several seasons (p. Ixxviii). 

 Again, fish may be choked (2) by means of mud. As I have 

 already explained (p. xl), some fish breathe by means of imbib- 

 ing oxygen directly from the water ; their blood goes to their 

 gills ; here the carbon formed by waste unites with the oxy- 

 gen of the air in solution in the water, and the simple process of 

 breathing is effected. Now, natives have discovered that if they 

 stir up the mud, so as to thicken the water, and also frighten 

 the fish they rush about, their increased movements require 

 increased respiratory action, but the mud chokes their gills, 

 and, half-suffocated, they become captured with ease. (3) Some 

 fish are what I termed compound -breathers (see p. 24) ; they 

 can imbibe air direct, and these are the tropical ophiocepha- 

 lidse (see p. 26), &c. The Burmese know that mud mixed 

 with water will not affect them ; they put their mouths above 

 the surface and get what air they require. So here another 

 plan has to be followed. As the water gets low and muddy, 

 a large sail composed of cloth, split bamboo or anything of 

 that sort is spread over the fluid mud where they are ; this 

 precludes their rising to respire, their carbon cannot unite 

 with oxygen and be carried off; they become asphyxiated, 

 and are thus captured. 



LXXVIII. Besides the foregoing modes of taking fish, 

 there are many other minor plans 



Minor modes of fishery. IOTJI i 11 



pursued. Sheets have already been 



remarked upon as used to take the fry of fishes which have 

 gone up small water-courses, or got into shallow water. 

 They are also used as dip-nets, being sunk in the water and 

 simply hauled up again when fry have swam over their 

 surface, as in the Panjab (p. xx) ; or bushes may be placed 

 over these cloths, especially in shallows ; the fry seek shelter 

 under them, and the whole are lifted up, as in Orissa ; or 

 those sheets as dip-nets may be baited with gram or bread, 

 as in Bombay (p. Iviii). Basket-work is also used by placing 

 two rattans crossing one another in the middle ; their ends 



