28 OKHAMANDAL MARINE ZOOLOGY REPORT 



and cheaply in the district, and that the climate is exceptionally dry. Eain seldom 

 falls, and while this results in frequent famine and ruin to the agriculturist, the fish- 

 curer, who lays his prepared fish to dry in the open, has no fault to find with such arid 

 conditions. 



Beyt Harbour is an ideal haven for the location of the headquarters of a fishing 

 fleet, exploiting on the one hand the long stretches of muddy and gravelly bottom of 

 the Gulf of Kutch, and on the other the teeming surface waters of the Arabian Sea. 

 Even now, without the distributing conveniences which a continuation of the railway 

 from Nawanagar to Aramra will supply, a great deal may be done to lay the foundations 

 of a most profitable industry. The arid land, pre-eminently dry climate, and super- 

 abundant natural supply of salt to be had for little above the cost of cartage, makes 

 the situation of Adatra, facing Beyt town, an ideal place for the salting and curing of 

 fish on a scale of great magnitude. 



The collection of pearl oysters and chanks, the culture of edible oysters and of 

 window-pane oysters can never attain large proportions in this district under any 

 possible conditions, owing to the restriction imposed by the limitations of area and 

 coast-line, but the growth of the industries of sea-fishing and fish-curing have no such 

 natural restrictions. Their expansion wUl be concurrent with the energy and capital 

 of the men who engage in it, and need be limited by commercial considerations alone. 



There are and will be difficulties attendant on any efforts made to start a fishing 

 industry ; one of these may be the fear of hurting the religious susceptibilities of those 

 multitudes who regard Beyt as a holy city not to be entered by low caste men, not to 

 be defiled by the spilling of blood or the sale of the flesh of animals. But as Adatra 

 on the mainland is suggested as the location for the proposed industry any difficulty of 

 this nature will be minimised. 



Incidentally I hazard the suggestion that, if no religious or caste scruples bar the 

 way, the Vaghers probably would make excellent fishermen — certainly the curing of 

 fish ashore is well within their capacity. Seeing that they come of a race of freebooters, 

 men ever ready for a broil or for piracy if it offered, they should have that courage 

 which the calling of a fisherman demands. If they should ever take to such a life, 

 then the present suggestion would go far to solve what appears to be a recurrent 

 industrial problem in Okhamandal in regard to the finding of congenial or satisfactory 

 employment for this clan, whose old occupation of preying on their neighbours being 

 ended, seem to have difficulty in finding work that will satisfy what we must consider 

 to be an instinctive longing for excitement. 



An industry of the potential value possessed by sea-fishing has, however, a wider 

 importance than the provision of a trade to a single clan ; the successful carrying 

 on of a large and profitable trade would do much to ameliorate the periods of distress 

 and famine due to continued lack of rain which afflict Okhamandal so frequently. 

 On the occasion of my visit no adequate rains had fallen for over two years ; no crops 



