f25] THE l^iSHERIES 03? INDIA. 407 



out the Madras Presidency 394,735 persons; that the answers elicited 

 by the questions put hy Dr. Day have directed the attention of the 

 board to the subject of the influence of the salt duties on the trade of 

 fish-curing, and they see reason to think that a great practical hardship 

 exists, which they would advocate immediate endeavors to alleviate. 

 A small amount of fish is prepared with monopoly salt in Madras,t es- 

 pecially for local consumption and export to Ceylon ; but the amount 

 of this condiment employed by fish-curers cannot be great, as it makes 

 no perceptible figure in the amount of salt disposed of. In Bengal, the 

 excised salt appears never to be employed for fish-curing, and the fish- 

 eries are in a neglected state ; or, as observed by the collector of Bala- 

 sore, " Fish sold in the markets are so stale that no European would 

 touch them, and most of them are putrid. The people in this district do 

 not salt their fish; they dry them in the sun, and eat them when they 

 are putrid. They like them in this way, and there is no reason why this 

 should be interfered with." Salt was then (1870) subject to a duty of 

 10s. for 82 pounds weight. Farther to the eastward, in Burma, the salt 

 duty was Is. fo the same quantity, sun-dried fish a rarity, the fisherman's 

 trade flourishing, while salt fish, or crustaceans in the form of nga-'pee, 

 invariably formed part of every meal among the indigenous population. 



Proportion of salt to fish. — It will be necessary to remark u^ion the 

 amount of salt which must be emi)loyed in order to prepare properly a 

 given quantity of fish. In Sind 20 pounds of monopoly salt are added 

 to 82| pounds of fish ; on the western coast of Madras, as Tellicberi, 

 28 pounds of salt are used to 82f pounds of small fish, as mackerel, her- 

 ring, &c. It appears that, for the purposes of the trade, one part 

 of monopoly salt is necessary to about three parts of fish. However, 

 at Gwadur, in Beloochistan, where this condimeut is very cheap, a 

 larger proportion of it was used than in either Sind or in India. 

 Fish cured with salt earth, or spontaneous but untaxed salt, require 

 a much larger amount of this antiseptic than they do of monopoly 

 salt, or nearly three (upwards of 2^) parts of salt earth to one part 

 of fish. 



Effect of tJie salt-tax. — The cost of salt, it will be perceived, must have 

 a bearing upon the state of the fisheries ; where it is cheapest (other 

 things being equal) the fisherman's trade will be most developed. 

 Along the coasts of Beloochistan, where there was no salt-tax (1873) 

 large communities were supported entirely by fisheries, their caj^tures 

 being cured and exported for the Indian or Chinese markets. The 

 same remark applied to the Portuguese settlements of Goa, Daumaun, 

 and Din, the salt used there costing about M. per 82| pounds weight, 

 whereas in the contiguous British territory it stood at the salt-pans at 

 about 4s. Hence the foreign fishermen were able to use this condiment 



tThe salt-tax in Madras in 1859 was 2s. per maund, bnt has since been raised as 

 follows : 1859-'60, 28. M. ; 1860-'61, 3s. ; 1864-'65, 3s, ^d. ; 1869-'70, 4s. ; 1875, 6s. ; now 4s. 



