BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS. 25 



I need not follow Mr. Day further. This extract will show the 

 nature of the problems to which reference has been made. He 

 thinks that in the alluvial plains of Hindostan there appear to be 

 traces of two fish faunas, one from the north and one from the 

 east from Malaysia. Dr. Stoliczka considers that the Indian 

 plains had once a wholly Malayan flora. 



In the census of the Indian fishes given by the same author in 

 the Journal of the Linnean Society (Vol. XI Y. Zoology, p. 560) 

 he says that the element most apparent amongst the Indian fresh- 

 water fishes is the Malayan. There is not a single genus which is 

 solely African or Indian, and all the African forms which extend 

 to India are either likewise present in the Malay Archipelago, the 

 Palsearctic region, or in both. 



I pass now to other considerations connected with the fish and 

 fisheries. The true Malay population on the rivers of the interior 

 is so small that it is difficult to estimate the proportion of those 

 who give themselves to fishing. The rivers are the highways of 

 the interior, and the agriculture of the country is confined to 

 their banks. This population engages in fishing as one of the 

 means of livelihood. One meets them in their frail canoes on the 

 rivers, in small parties of three or four, capturing their fish by 

 hand-nets, lines, and sometimes, though rarely, spears. At night 

 torchlight fishing is also resorted to. A great blaze is made upon the 

 water with bamboo torches, and the fishes are struck with a long 

 parang or hatchet-knife as they come to the surface. One sees no 

 fishing-weirs or stream nets from one bank to another, but fish 

 traps of various constructions are common. When at Pekan on 

 the Pahang River, I remarked that the fishing boats, which were 

 half-decked junks with one mast, and crews of five or six, went out 

 beyond the bar of the river every morning when the tide served. 

 The fish they brought back each afternoon were poor and small, 

 and confined to a few species. I noticed the following genera 

 which were purchased by the people from the boat side: — Serranus 

 and Plectropoma, of the Scorpsenidaa, Scorpcena, Sebastes and 

 Centropogon, Caranx and Psettus, some mackerel including a large 



