963 



Memorandum on the st Bora Chung" of Boo tan. By A. Campbell, 

 Esq., Superintendent) Darjeeling. 

 Fukeergunge, right bank of the Teesta, January 25, 1843. 

 The announcement of any extraordinary fact connected with the 

 habits of men or the lower animals, produces three states of mind in 

 the mass of those addressed; 1st, an unenquiring and implicit cre- 

 dence ; 2nd, wonder, without any lasting attention to the matter narra- 

 ted ; and 3rd, sceptical disbelief. I have no doubt that the notice of the 

 "Bora Chung", by Dr. Pearson, in Vol. VIII. of the Journal of the 

 Asiatic Society, p. 551, produced all these states, in a great number of 

 readers, for I have heard many express themselves to this effect ; and I 

 confess, that although I did not disbelieve the account of this fish's ha- 

 bits, I have been very anxious to make further inquiry into them. When 

 in Bootan last year, it was out of my power to do so, but this year 

 I have been more fortunate ; and the following is the substance of the 

 information I have gained : — The " Bora Chung" is not found on the 

 right bank, or Rungpoor side, of the Teesta ; it is confined to the Bootan 

 side. It inhabits j heels and slow running streams near the hills, living 

 principally in the banks, into which it penetrates from one foot to five 

 or six. The tubes leading from the water into the banks are general- 

 ly a few inches below the surface of the water, and consequently filled 

 with water ; they are sometimes of no greater diameter than sufficient 

 to receive the fish, sometimes they are a foot wide ; when of the smaller 

 size, they terminate in a basin where the fish remains, returning to the 

 water at pleasure. The usual mode of catching them is by introducing 

 the hand under water into these recesses ; two fish are generally found 

 together, and they lie coiled up horizontally, resembling a wheel. They 

 are eaten by the people of the Bootan Dooars, and are quite whole- 

 some. It is not believed that they bore their own holes, or form their 

 resting basins, but that they occupy the abandoned locations of land 

 crabs. When in the waterpool or streams, they always remain close 

 to the margin, and constantly move out and in, of their holes. They 

 never leave the water, nor can they move on the grass more than any 

 other fish. They are supposed to breed in the recesses described. 



