ESTTEODTJCTION. xi 



plains. On the waters subsiding the fiy likewise migrate down stream, hut in a much more gradual 

 roanner : on the Himalayas they are often detained in the pools of the streams itroughout the dry months, 

 being unable to descend until the next year's rains. The same thing obtains in the low country in a 

 modified form, where the fry are found to abound in flooded localities, and during the rains every little 

 stream and piece of water connected therewith is resorted to by them to obtain food in. They are 

 also found in sheltered spots at the edges of rivers and in shallow pieces of water where there is no 

 current to wash them away. 



During seasons of inundation many fish ascend small channels into irrigated or flooded fields 

 for the purpose of breeding : at these times they appear to have lost much of their natural timidity 

 and are only solicitous to reach a suitable locality to deposit their ova. During this period they are 

 trapped throughout the length and breadth of India and Burma. Fishing weirs are permitted to extend 

 across rivers, and "as the waters from above become unwholesome, fish attempt in vain to descend, but 

 the owners of these weirs allow no passage, and as they die in myriads, cart them ofi" as manure" 

 (Official Report). " Damming, lading out and poisoning waters are freely resorted to for fishing purposes." 

 In Gudh, "the reports from four native officials give 68,300 maunds of fiy as yearly killed in their 

 district alone." In the Madras Presidency the size of the mesh of the nets employed at the period the 

 fry are about is variously reported as follows : Will catch a black ant, detain a mosquito, or even 

 capture a fish egg. In Assam, it is stated, " in the shallow waters in the rice-fields women and 

 children may be seen in crowds fishing with baskets, through the interstices of which a tadpole could 

 not pass. Those that escape this danger, and following the flow of water, arrive at one of the innumerable 

 little bunds separating the various paddy-fields, find their further progress barred by funnel-shaped 

 bamboo traps, through which the water is made to pass, but whose outlets are so small that only the 

 most minute fish can get through. Escaping to the smaller water-courses their dangers seem to increase. 

 The channels are divided into sections by erecting bunds, and from one of these they proceed to bale 

 out all the water, capturing every fish, large and small : they then form another bund and bale off another 

 portion in its turn. The fish finally arriving at the smaller rivers find their exit barred by weirs which 

 will let nothing pass, and not content with this, the Assamese will sometimes resort to poison." 



The faced engines are mainly constructed of cotton, hemp, aloe fibre, coir, or some such elastic material : 

 or else of split bamboo, rattan, reed, grass, or some more or less inelastic substance. The mesh is so 

 minute that in places water may be said to be strained through it. A common plan is to fix across a 

 river a net shaped like a wall with a bag in the centre; towards this all the fish are driven, or even a 

 second net is dragged towards it. Pine-meshed nets are even attached to the sluices of tanks, or to wherever 

 water is let out of a field. In hilly districts until the first rush of the water has subsided the weirs 

 cannot be employed, but after that they come into use, and the fish descending from their spawning beds 

 are entrapped. In short, every conceivable variety of trap is employed by the agriculturists, while small 

 nets or baskets of various forms and shapes are hung over weirs just above the water : breeding fish 

 finding this barrier in their way try to overcome it by jumping, and many are captured by falling into 

 these contrivances. 



Movable fishing implements, as nets with various sized meshes, are used much as follows. When the 

 fry are first moving about, those having a minute mesh are employed to capture the tiny creatures : as the 

 fish become larger the size of the mesh of the net increases : small wall nets are dragged up water- 

 courses where fry abound : purse nets are employed in similar localities. Or these movable implements 

 may be composed of inelastic materials as already described, while some weirs are thus formed. Of the native 

 officials reporting upon the size of the mesh or interstices of these constructions, 91 replied as follows : 

 5 gave the interspace between knot and knot at 1 inch : 5 at less than 1 inch : 18 at 1/2 an inch : 

 5 at 1/3 of an inch : 24 at 1/4 of an inch : and 34 at from 1/5 to 1/32 part of an inch. 



Rivers are sometimes diverted in order to capture the fish, or streams if sluggish are dammed 

 and laded out, or waters are poisoned, the captures being sent to neighbouring villages for disposal. Night- 

 lines, spearing, shooting, are all in vogue to obtain the fresh-water fish. One mode of employing 

 hooks is to fix a row on a line in a pass iu a hill stream, when if the waters are very muddy some fish 

 are hooked as they attempt to ascend to their spawning-beds or to descend after breeding : others escape 

 horribly injured. The right of " snatching" appears to have been sold in some places by the revenue 

 authorities; this right or amusement is thus described. A cord is armed with large iron hooks at 

 intervals of two or three feet, by means of bits of wood they are retained with their points uppermost. 

 This line is thrown across a stream and kept about two feet below the surface, a man on each 

 bank holding either end. Then other persons with poles beat the water and drive the fish up stream, 

 and as one is seen passing over this inhuman instrument of capture, the cord is jerked iu order that a 

 hook may transfix the game. Dexterity is said to have resulted from constant practice ; many fish are 

 thus captured, but more perhaps get away crippled to sicken and die a lingering death.* 



Of the vermin which destroy fish we have many forms, but none that approach destructive man, 

 who appears to be attempting to exterminate the supply. There is the fish-eating or long-snouted 



* For the different poaching practices to catch fish employed in India and Burma and remedies proposed, see 

 "Fresh-water Fishery Eeport," 1873. 



h * 



