INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 49 



not very active. Two persons usually engage in this occu- 

 pation ; the one punts the boat along as noiselessly as 

 possible, while the fisherman stands at the prow, silently 

 pointing to the direction to be adopted, and uses his spear 

 when he gets a chance. Shooting fish with guns is carried 

 on in Oude, and occasionally elsewhere. This is more 

 especially employed for the snake-headed walking-fishes 

 (Ophiocephalidce), which are frequently seen floating on the 

 surface of the water, as if asleep. They may be ap- 

 proached very closely, but the game usually sinks when 

 killed, and has to be dived for, or otherwise obtained. 

 Crossbows are also employed for a similar purpose in 

 Malabar. In Mysore — observed the native officials of the 

 Nagar division — fish are taken by nets, traps, hooks, cloths, 

 by the hand, by baskets of different shapes, by damming 

 and draining off the water, by shooting, by striking them 

 with clubs, with swords, or with choppers, by weirs, and by 

 various descriptions of fixed engines ; in short, by poaching 

 practices of every kind, as well as by fishing with rods and 

 lines, and poisoning pools of water by milk bush, tobacco- 

 leaves, Indian hemp, and many poisonous kinds of jungle 

 fruits. This is generally carried on during the dry seasons 

 of the year, when the pools in the rivers are still, and 

 hardly any current exists. It is very easy to collect the 

 poisons, throw them into a pool, and await the fish floating 

 intoxicated to the surface. These fish are sold in the 

 markets. Even fishes' eggs do not escape the general hunt 

 to which the persecuted finny tribes are subjected in these 

 days, the ova being collected and made into cakes, which 

 are considered a delicacy. 



The boats employed for fishing purposes (see Plate II.) 

 are too numerous and varied to permit of description in this 

 place. The dug-out, or boat of a solid tree, is common. The 



E 



