App. E. Sacred fish. 293 



Report in Pro. Madras used to be caught in the numerous 

 Government, Revenue basket-work cruives set in the river. 



Dent., 27th Nov. 1868. m. .i <• i- i i 



Nos. 504-506. TheSe are the fry whlch haVe P e0 ' 



pled the river since those cruives have 

 Para. 21, 22. r 



been removed, and since the poison- 

 ing of these pools has been checked. 



52. Seeing then that the larger pools are not only 

 the hot-weather resorts of the larger fish, but frequently 

 the birth-place of the fry also, the mischief done by pois- 

 oning them and tainting the scours 

 below, is greater than at first sight 

 appears; for fry, as well as big fish, are poisoned. 



Stock Fools. 

 56. Fortunately there are already two places on trib- 

 utaries of the Puiswany and Netravatty where the fish 

 have, in the priests of the temples at Thodikan and Cicilly, 

 friends as stout as were the monks of old. They have a 

 legend that their god Ishwara performed a journey from 

 Kailasa to Thodikan on the back of a Mahseer. These 

 fish, therefore, which are fortunately the best fish in the 

 river, are considered sacred, and no man is allowed to 

 harm them in any way, and the priests and pilgrims feed 

 them. The consequence is that they are exceedingly tame 

 and numerous. They crowd together till, for 20 yards 

 round the temple steps, fish of all sizes, from eight pounds 

 downwards, are packed as thickly in the river as sardines 

 in a tin, scrambling over each other's backs into the air, 

 and up the stone steps, and taking food out of the very 



