56 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 



there are many Hindus who reject it, as well as the rural 

 population of some districts. But of those residing in towns, 

 and in hilly ranges, it appears that, if the Brahmans are 

 excepted, the consumption of fish is only limited by the 

 paucity of the supply and the cost of the article. In Sind, 

 fish is generally eaten by the population of the province, 

 whether Mussalman or Hindu, unless a Brahman. In the 

 North- West Provinces, containing about 28,000,000 of popu- 

 lation, out of twenty returns received from native officials, 

 seventeen give more than half of the people as not forbidden 

 by religious scruples from eating fish. In Oudh, the 

 majority of the people appear to eat fish, but the supply is 

 unequal to the demand. In the Bombay Presidency, the 

 majority of the inhabitants of the inland districts are con- 

 sumers of fish when they can procure it. In Haiderabad, 

 Mysore, and Coorg, more than half the population are fish 

 consumers ; in South Canara, 89 per cent. ; in Madras the 

 majority, the exceptions being Brahmans, goldsmiths, high- 

 caste Sudras, the followers of Siva, Jains, &c. In Orissa, 

 more than half the people ; in Bengal proper, from 90 to 95 

 per cent. ; in Assam and Chittagong, almost the entire 

 population ; and in Burmah, in the form of nga pee, its use 

 is universal. 



As Buddhists, the Burmans profess a religious horror at 

 taking the lives of lower animals, but being immoderately 

 fond of fish diet, they console their consciences (while 

 indulging in it) with the idea that the deaths of those 

 animals used by them as food must be laid to the account 

 of the fishermen, and cannot in any way be attributed to 

 the consumers' fault. The walls of their temples have 

 pictures of the terrible tortures the fishermen will have to 

 endure in a future state of existence. In some of these 

 interesting representations are large fires being stirred up by 



