313 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



inland confines its consumption to a distance of a day's 

 journey from the coast. 



In India and Burmah only a proportion of the people 

 consume fish as food, or rather, are able to do so without 

 infringing caste prejudices. Ur. Day tells us that in the 

 PunjS,b comparatively few of the inhabitants are thus 

 prohibited, although Brahmins and the rural population 

 in some places reject it; but among the residents of hilly 

 districts and towns its consumption is only limited by 

 the paucity of the supply and the cost of the article. In 

 the North-west provinces, Hyderabad, Mysore, and Coorg, 

 more than half the population are permitted by their 

 religion to consume fish. In Oudh the majority can do 

 so ; in Sindh, nearly . all except the Brahmins ; in 

 Bombay, by far the largest proportion of the people ; in 

 South Canara, 89 per cent. ; in Madras, the majority, 

 the exceptions being Brahmins, goldsmiths, high-caste 

 Sudras, the followers of Siva, Jains, etc. ; in Orissa, more 

 than half the people ; in Bengal proper, from 90 to 95 

 per cent. ; in Assam and Chittagong, almost the entire 

 population ; and in Burmah, in the form of ngapee, its use 

 is universal. 



The sea-board of India and Burmah extends for about 

 4,611 miles, and the seas are much more abundantly 

 stocked with fish than are those of Europe. The dried 

 and salted fish sold in the different districts on the west 

 or Malabar coast of Madras is from £17,000 to £18,000 

 in value. 



Wherever any quantity of water is present in the 

 East, there we are almost certain to find fishes, and this 

 from the sea level to nearly the summits of the highest 

 mountains. As soon as young fish are moving about, or 

 shortly after the monsoons have set in, men, women and 

 children obtain myriads of fry from paddy fields and 

 every sheltered spot to which they have retired for 

 shelter and security. 



In Asia nearly every kind of fish that swims either in 

 salt or fresh water is greedily eaten by most natives; and 

 as many as 200 or 300 kinds of dried fish and difi'erent 



