JOUltNAL 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



OCTOBER. 1849. 

 CATALOGUE OF MALAYAN FISHES. 



BY 



Theodore Cantor, Esq. M. D. Bengal Medical Service. 



The following Catalogue of Fishes is the result of observations made 

 during an official residence of three years and a half in Prince of Wales 

 Island (Pulo Pinang), and during visits to Province Wellesley, Malacca, 

 the Lankavy Islands* and Singapore. The fishermen supplying the 

 markets of Pinang and Singapore are principally natives of China, of 

 whom numbers in search of work annually arrive in Chinese junks. In 

 the course of time four or five commonly join and lay out their savings 

 in boat materials, nets and fishing stakes. The fishing boats vary from 

 one to three tons burden ; they are of a slight make and calculated to 

 ply at but short distances from the shore. They are pulled by oars, and 

 seldom carry sails. The nets are made of twine, tanned with bark of 

 Mangrove. The bamboo fishing-stakes are clumsy contrivances. That 

 they answer well enough in fine weather is more owing to the riches of 

 the sea and their sheltered position, than to the ingenuity of the contri- 

 vance or the durability of the materials. In nautical skill the Chinese 

 fishermen of the Straits Settlements are far behind the Malays. Al- 

 though originally a sturdy race, their morals and frames suffer from' 

 the consequences of opium-smoking, gambling and the concomitant 



* A group of Islands on the West Coast of the Malayan Peninsula. (6° N. L.) 



