210 



ZOOLOGY. 



[PART II. 



these reservoirs and tanks are, twice in each year, liable 

 to be evaporated to dryness till the mud of the bottom is 

 converted into dust, and the clay cleft by the heat into 

 gaping apertures ; yet within a very few days after the 

 change of the monsoon, the natives are busily engaged in 

 fishing in those very spots and in the hollows contiguous 

 to them, although they the latter are entirely unconnected 

 with any pool or running streams. Here they fish in the 

 same way which Knox described nearly 200 years ago, 

 with a funnel-shaped basket, open at bottom and top, 

 which, as he says, they "jibb down, and the end sticks 

 in the mud, which often happens upon a fish ; which, 

 when they feel beating itself against the sides, they put 

 in their hands and take it out, and reive a ratan through 

 their gills, and so let them drag after them." 1 



FROM KNOX'3 CETLON, A.D. 1681. 



This operation may be seen in the lowlands, traversed 

 by the high road leading from Colombo to Kandy. 

 Before the change of the monsoon, the hollows on either 



for situations, is one of the mysteries 

 of other eastern countries as Veil as 

 Ceylon and India. In Persia irri- 

 gation is carried on to a great ex- 

 tent by means of -wells sunk in line 

 in the direction in which it is desired 

 to lead a supply of water, and these 

 are connected by channels, which 



are carefully arched over to protect 

 them from evaporation. These kanats, 

 as they are called, are full of fish, 

 although neither they nor the wells 

 they unite have any connection with 

 streams or lakes. 



1 KNOX, Historical Relation of Cey- 

 lon, Part i. ch. vii. 



