XXIX 



SIND. 



44. The fresh- water fisheries of this Province are mainly divisible 



* , . f Q . -, into those which exist in the river Indus, or 

 Fresh- water fisheries of Smd. , , . , 



are iormed by its yearly inundations, these 



last being principally in Upper and Central Sind. The portion of the 

 river between the right bank of the Indus and the ' Phut' is slightly 

 concave, owing to which circumstance, when the river overflows, the whole 

 of this part of the country becomes more or less inundated. The ' Phuf 

 is the tract of land along the base of the hills which divide Sind from 

 Beluchistan, it averages about nine miles broad, and irrigated by water ob- 

 tained from the hill streams, which is arrested by bunds and diverted into 

 irrigation canals. The inundations on the left bank of the Indus do not 

 appear to be so extensive as those on its right. 



45. The river Indus is usually at its lowest in January or February : 



at the commencement of March the snow- 

 floods begin, and its rise continues spasmodi- 

 cally until about August ; whilst in September, the subsidence is usually 

 very rapid, and by November zero is attained. The floods, as a rule, may 

 be expected to subside about the middle of September, when, or shortly 

 subsequently, fishing commences. 



46. The tanks or ' dhands/ as they are locally termed, are chiefly 



of two sorts as regards their relationship to the 



Tanks or dhands, isolated or j ndus viz tlie < i so i a t e d' and the ' connected/ 

 connected with Indus: their T .-, , .-,, . 



tinny inhabitants. f n the rmer, weeds rapidly spring up form- 



ing' a refuge for the fish. In the connected 



dhands weeds are not so numerous, and the finny tribes appear to vary : 

 if the water is very muddy, the siluroids abound, whilst the Dumra, Labeo 

 rohita, a fine carp, although not so plentiful as in the dhands where it is 

 clear, still is rarely absent. In places where the water is clear, the 

 largest amount of l dumra' are to be seen : thus at Trigarti I found the 

 connected dhand in the river quite dark with them. Tanks useful for 

 fishing extend in Upper Sind over a large extent of the country, and 

 appear to be most valuable as affording animal food to the population 

 inhabiting these malarious districts. 



47. As to canal fisheries, the capture of the finny tribes is here pro- 

 n i v -D f 4.1. 4. -f hibited, to obviate the chance of the canals 



Canal fisheries. Proofs that if . . / . , , 



small-meshed nets are prohihit- being injured ; thus a most excellent opportu- 

 ed, the little fish do not dispro- nity was afforded of testing the correctness 



C^'sorts 7 1UCreaSe Ver tbe or the reverse of the P inion advanced by the 



Collector of South Canara, in his exhaustive 



report on the fisheries of that district, that were a minimum-sized mesh 

 of four inches in circumference instituted, (< the smaller sorts of fish, 

 having an immunity from netting, must disproportionately increase on the 

 larger netted sorts. Nature has arranged that the larger predatory fish 

 shall balance the smaller, and thus maintain due proportions ; but if one 

 sort is netted by man, and the other sort has immunity, the balance is 

 disturbed, and the larger fish are no longer able to maintain their position." 



