clxxxix 



for capturing breeding-fish and their fry. Drag-nets and cast-nets of 

 different sizes, also purse-nets and lave-nets, are employed, and nearly 

 all the other forms mentioned as existing in the former reports, con- 

 sequently they do not call for recapitulation here. Drag-nets for the rainy 

 season have a mesh of jth of an inch and even less between the knots : 

 as the floods subside and the fishermen are able to wade up to their 

 waists, the force of the current now becoming less and the fry a little 

 larger, f^ths of an inch is the usual distance ; as the river begins to clear, 

 J_ths of an inch is the average size ; and when the waters are clean, ly^th 

 inches between each knot comes into play. The reason of this is obvious : 

 the young fry move about with the first freshes, and then the minute 

 meshed nets can kill them ; but it is not until the cold season that the 

 water is clear, the fry have grown, and very fine meshes are generally 

 inapplicable. I say " generally inapplicable,'''' for it is the rule that fish 

 breed during the rains, but some do so likewise at other periods of the 

 year. But these are not the finest nets used : a purse-net fixed to a 

 wooden hoop, having meshes J an inch in circumference or Jth of an inch 

 between each knot, is employed to capture the fry up every little channel, 

 and a lave-net with as minute meshes is likewise used for the same 

 purpose. Even these, however, are not the most destructive practices in 

 vogue in Orissa ; rattan or basket-work is brought into play ; one form 

 is termed a salwua or putti ; it consists of very fine split bamboos 

 bound together by means of grass; the interstices between each piece 

 being equal to j-th of an inch or less. This putti is about five feet high, 

 and is in the shape of a regular wall-net. It is taken to a tank and 

 placed in the water in a V form, whilst fishermen on either side 

 extend themselves outwards, and, by beating the water, drive the fish 

 into the enclosure : the two ends are now brought together, and the 

 fish penned into a small space : the sides are advanced nearer and 

 nearer until they almost touch, and the fish are removed by a hand-net, 

 or the hand alone. Weirs are used in the larger streams, and traps in 

 every irrigated field ; one of these last is of a horn shape ; it is constructed 

 of basket-work, with the interstices, between the substances of which 

 it is made so fine that even the smallest fry are captured. This is 

 placed at most outlets or in small channels during the floods ; and, as 

 all the water must go through it, every fish is taken. When not of a 

 sufficient size to entirely fill a channel, it is supplemented by bamboo 

 walls, extended laterally on either side. Another is shaped like a shoe, 

 but the principle is identical. Damming is extensively practised; as the 

 rivers commence drying up, earthen bunds are raised along its bed, 

 parallel with the course of the stream, but narrowing towards its lower 

 end. Fish are driven in, the ends are stopped, and every one is taken. 

 In the same way, when tanks begin to dry up, one portion is bunded 

 off from the rest, the water laded out over the bund, and all contained 

 fish destroyed. Lieutenant Kittoe, in his account of a journey through 

 the forests of Orissa, describes the weirs employed in the hill-streams 

 there, and which resemble those described by H. S. Thomas, Esq., in 

 Canara. What are the effects of these " free industries ?" and in giving 

 the results of what I saw, it should be mentioned that the following 

 refers not only to the Orissa, but part of the Midnapur District. Mr. 

 Toynbee at Bhudruk reported, "all that come to the nets are destroyed, 





