404 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [22] 



to persons residing in their vicinity, but also inland, should means ex- 

 ist to transport such in either a fresh or salted condition. The extent 

 of the seaboard of India and Burma has been estimated at 4,611 miles ; 

 the fisheries are uninfluenced by recurring droughts, and ought to afford 

 an inexhaustible har\rest of food along the entire coast of the country. 



Irrespective of mere food, maritime fisheries ought to be serviceable 

 directly, as producing isinglass, fish-oils, and manure ; or indirectly, as 

 necessitating materials for the building of vessels, the manufacture of 

 nets, hooks, and lines, the carriage of produce, &c. The modes adopted 

 for utilizing fish as food along the sea-coasts of India and Burma may 

 be considered under (1) fresh fish, how far they can be conveyed inland; 

 (2) dried fish and its varieties ; (3) cured or salted fish, and how pre- 

 pared. 



Transporting fresli fish inland. — How far can fresh fish be conveyed 

 inland? In examining this question, if the employment of ice or salt 

 is omitted, the distance sea-fish can be carried inland, while fresh, de- 

 pends upon several circumstances. The season may curtail this, as 

 during the hot months putrefaction commences very rapidly ; while 

 some forms, especially the immature, the herring, and the siluroids, 

 decompose more quickly than others ; and the same result follows close 

 packing, or want of protection from the full force of the sun's rays. 

 Usually fish are not landed until after sunrise, while those brought on 

 shore of an evening are generally kept where they are until the next 

 morning, coolies being averse to traveling after dark. On the other 

 hand, facilities of carriage, may exist, as railways, .water communications 

 passing inland, or arrangements made for this purpose. As a general 

 rule, inland places having no special facilities for carriage do not receive 

 uncured sea-fish in a wholesome condition upwards of 10 miles from the 

 beach where they were landed. Should, however, the fish be first 

 opened and cleaned, some salt rubbed in, and care taken in their con- 

 veyance (as warding off the sun's rays), they may be safely carried 

 considerably further. But salt being very expensive, it is seldom 

 employed for this purpose, or else a very slight amount is used, and 

 putrefaction has often set in prior to the fish being disposed of for hu- 

 man food. 



Varieties of dried fish. — What varieties of dried fish exist in India? 

 Due to reasons which will be given subsequently, it has become the , 

 custom along the shores of British India, which are subject to the salt 

 tax to its fuU extent, simply to dry fish in the sun. This can be done 

 with smaller and thinner forms, as Amhassis, lEquula, the Bombay duck 

 {Harpodon nehereus), many of the herring and small varieties of imma- 

 ture forms, but not with the larger fish ; however, even from these last, 

 slices may be cut and sun-dried. In some localities small fish are first 

 buried in the sea-sand, in order to obtain a little saline substance, and 

 subsequently snn-dried. In damp weather such articles rapidly decom- 

 pose, while in the hot months they are attacked by innumerable insects, 



