cxli 



all, the affluents, coming from the east to the Ganges, likewise take 

 their origin in the Himalayas, and they are equally the breeding- 

 places of fish. The Ganges and Jumna do not appear to normally 

 extend, during the monsoon time, in a lateral direction, over the 

 contiguous country, to the same wide extent as do rivers in some 

 portions of India, as the Indus in Sind j the low lands or " khadirs" 

 being generally bounded by higher ground, termed " bangur/' beyond 

 which floods rarely pass, Both the Ganges and Jumna rivers, near 

 the places where they emerge from the Sewaliks, have irrigation weirs 

 across them, diverting water into the Ganges canal at Kurd war, and the 

 Eastern and Western Jumaa canals near Karrah; lower down below 

 Delhi exists the Okla weir across the Jumna, diverting water into the 

 Agra canal. The rainfall in five years ending 1869-70 is stated to 

 have averaged 33'4 inches. 



313. The Ganges and Jumna rivers are replenished from two 



prominent causes, exclusive of springs : during 



the hot montns the ^PPty is derived from 

 the ice and snow at their sources which, having 

 accumulated during the winter, now becomes melted by the action of the 

 sun j and in the Ganges at Hurdwar, a daily rise of about 1J inch 

 and a corresponding fall are distinctly apparent. During the monsoon 

 season, the supply comes directly from the rains, flooding all the 

 small affluents, or indirectly due to their action on the snows ; the 

 rivers consequently at these periods are filled in rather a spasmodic 

 manner. During the cold months, unreplenished by rains or melting 

 snows, and much of their water being required for irrigation canals, the 

 volume flowing down them is in places very small. 



314. The fishes of the North- West Provinces are divisible into 



those of the hills and those of the plains, some 

 . North ' West of each of which classes are migratory, whilst 



others are not so. Upon the non-migratory 

 hill-fishes no remarks are here needed. Amongst the fishes of the 

 plains calling for observation are the migratory ones, especially such carps, 

 as the mahaseer, which reside in the low country rivers during the 

 cold months when the hill-streams are too small and too cold to afford 

 them sustenance; but when the rains re-commence, they migrate 

 to the hills, and ascending some distance up the cold waters of the 

 larger rivers, turn aside for breeding purposes into their warm side- 

 streams. Thus, these side-streams, unreplenished by snow water, are 

 the natural breeding-places of most of the more valuable fish of the 

 carp family residing near such places, and anything preventing their 

 access to these spots, or destructive of the fry raised there, must neces- 

 sarily injure the fisheries. A large majority of the young remain in 

 the hill-streams until the next year's rains (see para. 168). There are 

 likewise migratory marine fishes, as the hilsa, ascending for breeding 

 purposes, and barriers across rivers must impede their progress ; but in 

 this province these fish, in an economic point of view, are of much less 

 consequence than the mahaseer. The local non-migratory fishes pass 

 up small water -courses and channels', depositing their eggs in irrigated 

 fields, flooded plains, temporary formed tanks, or the grassy sides of 

 rivers or lakes. 



