[27] THE FISHERIES OF INDIA. 409 



fishermen that the smallest kinds are taken with the greatest ease ; as 

 preferring the vicinity of the shore, and seeking their food in shal- 

 low waters, they are more readily captured in weirs, or with fixed 

 engines and traps, than are the larger, more predaceous, and strictly 

 deep-sea forois. Bat by disturbing the shore, and destroying or driv- 

 ing away the small fish and Crustacea, the food is being diminished 

 which previously decoyed the larger and more predaceous forms in, 

 thus scaring away what would otherwise be the natural supjjly ; and 

 then it is erroneously asserted that the amount of fish has decreased. 

 The fisherman's business is to supply personal requirements and family 

 wants; consequently, if he obtains as much of the finny tribes as he 

 can find a market for or otherwise employ, no injury is inflicted by 

 such a proceeding-; because, so long as salt is not available (owing to 

 its price) for the purpose of curing the surplus which may have been 

 captured, meeting the small local demand for fresh fish is all that is 

 really requisite. 



The deep-sea fishermen, or rather those who ply their occupation out- 

 side the shallow waters of the littoral zone, as a rule io so by means of 

 nets, or with hooks and lines. Deep-sea netting is not carried on to 

 any great extent, partly because of the insufficiency of a good market 

 to render such remunerative, and likewise owing to the expense which 

 would be necessary in obtaining the requisite nets, and the cost of build- 

 ing seaworthy boats. Fishermen are not to be ranked among the 

 moneyed classes, and so they have to borrow money, at exorbitant rates 

 of interest, wherewith to supply themselves with the requisites for their 

 work. As an instance, in Sind a net suitable for sea fishing would in- 

 volve the outlay of £40 or £50 [about |225], while it does not usually 

 last more than a year. A boat costs about £100 [$485J, and ought to 

 be serviceable for several successive seasons. The money having been 

 borrowed, the fisherman who is the borrower disposes of the whole of 

 his capture at half the market rates to the person who has supplied him 

 with the money. Still this leaves a surplus, due to the existence of a 

 good market for the fish-curer's trade. 



Castes among fishermen.— The sea fishermen in most parts of the coasts 

 of India assert that in olden times they were divided into two distinct 

 classes : (1) Those who captured fish in the deep sea, or beyond their 

 own depth; and (2) others who fished from the shore and in the back- 

 waters and creeks. :N'ow, owing to the depressed state of the fishing 

 trade, the deep-sea fishermen (except where salt is cheap or a good mar- 

 ket exists) have taken to the less expensive occupation of plying their 

 work inshore. In several parts of India, more especially in the Madras 

 Presidency, they have customs of a patriarchal nature, but which are 

 more strictly observed on the Coromandel than on the western coast. In 

 Sind there are four divisions of the fisherman caste, each being under its 

 own chief, who is hereditary, and Ms business is to settle caste disputes 

 and other trifling matters, also to conduct the religious ceremonies con- 



