656 Indian Cyprinidce. [August, 



afford promise of resources of similar extent and importance, the object 

 would hardly require much public attention. If, however, it be found 

 that we have species on our coasts equal in every respect to that which 

 is the object of enterprize at Newfoundland, and that these advance in- 

 to the Sunderbuns at a season when ships and men without number 

 may be employed with safety, there can be nothing to prevent the 

 national importance of the circumstance. 



" In this instance, as well as in that of the propagation of fresh- water 

 species, science, while it exhibits varieties as numerous almost as the 

 stars, teaches us at the same time how to strip the subject of vagueness 

 arising from this cause, and amidst the countless species which inhabit 

 our seas, directs our attention and our energies to a few only, and of 

 these the Sulea, or Polynemus sele, Buch. is the one which from its 

 bulk, its habits, and its qualities in every way seems capable of becom- 

 ing a permament benefit to society. It appears to be the Cod-fish of 

 the tropics, and equals its representative in the northern seas in all 

 those qualities which render that species so invaluable ; but from its 

 bulk it is unmanageable by the Indian fishermen, who are also without 

 the means of preserving it.* These however are not sufficient reasons 

 why an article that might add an exhaustless supply to the common 

 stock of food should be altogether lost, now that an European spirit, 

 under the influence of a paternal government, begins to infuse itself in 

 all things connected with the resources of India. As. Res. vol 1 9. 

 p. 457—464. 



* It must have been long known that the difficulty of preserving meat depends more 

 on the state of the atmosphere in regard to electricity and moisture than on tempera- 

 ture. In Calcutta, in the month of December, when the mean temperature is about 

 60°, it is not uncommon to keep meat before it is dressed for eight days, though in 

 England during the summer at the time of herring fishing too, it cannot be kept in the 

 best meat-safes for more than half that time, though the temperature be lower than 

 here. With salt and other means at hand, I conceive there would be no difficulty in 

 curing fish in an Indian climate in the months of November and December, when the 

 Sulea fishing would be carried on ; nevertheless the subject is one of much interest, 

 and I cannot therefore omit the following remark with which I have been favoured on 

 this head by Mr. C. K. Robison, one of the Magistrates of Calcutta. " It would be a 

 famous thing if these enormous fish (the Sulea) could be cured, as well as their isin- 

 glass obtained ; and I cannot help thinking the measure very feasible, if the fishermen 

 at the time of taking them and cutting them up, dipped them first into weak chloride 

 of soda mixed with a small quantity of impure pyroligneous acid. This would not only 

 preserve the fish till the salt acted, but improve the flavour." These materials could 

 be manufactured at a very cheap rate on the spot, as well as every thing else that would 

 be requisite. For an account of the Sulea fish, see Journal Asiatic Society Bengal, 

 March 1839, p. 203. Also an article on "some Indian Fishes by Dr. Cantor," Pro- 

 ceedings Royal Asiatic Society, April 1838. .4s. Res. vol. 19. p. 464. 



