ccxxx 



and, so far as I can ascertain, it is not falling 1 off appreciably. The 

 Brahmaputra, which is never properly fished, is a preserve from which a 

 supply is constantly forthcoming to stock the other waters which com- 

 municate with it. Fish is used as an article of diet by all classes of the 

 Assamese, and the consumption is therefore great. The only professional 

 fishermen are Domes, who use boats and nets of large size on the 

 Brahmaputra and the larger streams and theels, and who regularly 

 sell what they catch. Villagers, however, of all classes fish for them- 

 selves with baskets, hand-nets and the hook, and also set traps in the 

 streams. In the rainy season numbers of people are continually to be 

 seen at work catching fish in some way or other for their own consump- 

 tion/' They do not preserve it in any way, but use it fresh, or very often 

 half putrid. Fish are not privately bred, nor is any attempt made to 

 stock waters artificially. " The only thing in the way of conservation 

 that I see necessary is to prevent, as far as possible, the wholesale de- 

 struction of fish that have run up small streams to spawn, and of their fry. 

 The villagers, if left to themselves, are very fond of damming streams at 

 the end of the rains, when fish, large and small, are running down ; this 

 they do in such a way that scarcely anything can escape the traps set in 

 the dam. As long as a fair number of young fish are spared, the supply is 

 not likely to fall off, especially of the better kinds of fish, which, 

 so to speak, have their head-quarters in the Brahmaputra." The 

 T)epnty Commissioner of the Khasi Hills states that in most of the rivers 

 which drain the high lands, small-scaled and scaleless fishes are found, 

 but not plentifully. Again, in the rivers near the plains, at the lower 

 levels, below the water-falls, the fish are in abundance ; they can be seen 

 swimming about in the clear deep pools, and at the foot of the hills. 

 During the dry season, when the rivers are low, a very large quantity 

 of fish, some of them weighing as much as five or six seers, are caught 

 by throwing dams and weirs across the shallows. There are very few 

 tanks in the hills, and in such as exist the fish are very scarce." Sun- 

 dried fish is a staple for food with the hill people. Fish have not 

 diminished. 



406. The Officiating Collector of Tipperali (October 18th, 1872) 

 observes that " breeding-fish are undoubtedly 

 destroyed to some extent, as are very young 

 fish, but with respect to these a very sensible 

 practice prevails. Every one who has even a very small tank will put 

 young fish into it for the purpose of creating a fishery. It is said that 

 the greater portion of young fish caught, is disposed of this way." 

 [The native officials of this Collectorate report " very small fish are 

 sold by weight," and again that the minimum size of the mesh of 

 nets is T ^th of an inch, and very small fry are trapped.] " I understand 

 that to the north of the district, where fish is far more plentiful than 

 here or in the south, the destruction of breeding-fish, is not considered 

 very injurious." They are only caught in rivers by means of nets and 

 a bamboo snare called parozi, which is baited with shells and insects ; 

 the chief months are between May and August. Young fish are also 

 caught in rivers, by means of small-meshed nets, from August to Octo- 

 ber inclusive. The minimum size of the meshes of nets used is from 

 i\yth to yjth of an inch square, and it would be impossible to regulate 



