INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 23 



to feed the poor on putrid fish, on the consideration that 

 the realisation of the salt-revenue is of much greater im- 

 portance than the lives, health, and comfort of their fellow- 

 creatures. Assisting fishermen with money, boats, and 

 nets would be insufficient to place the sea-fishermen and 

 fish-curers' trade in a healthy state, while if it is in a 

 healthy condition such advances are unnecessary. Expen- 

 sive salt is beyond the reach of the majority of the fish- 

 curers, it is ruinous to their trade, and in the ruin of the 

 fish-curer the fishermen must eventually participate. It is 

 to be hoped that the endeavours now being made to re- 

 introduce prosperity among this numerous class will be 

 productive of the greatest benefits, not only to themselves, 

 but by augmenting the food for the general public. 



Fresh-water fisheries differ in many respects from marine 

 ones ; while, wherever any quantity of fresh water exists in 

 the East, there we are almost certain to find fish ; and this 

 from a sea level to nearly the summit of the highest moun- 

 tains. Consequently, fishing is had recourse to, in various 

 manners, in rivers, irrigation canals, lakes, tanks, ditches, 

 inundated fields, and swamps. The importance of such 

 fisheries is not solely in a ratio as regards their productive- 

 ness, but also in accordance with the character of the 

 adjacent people as to whether they are or are not fish con- 

 sumers ; while the sparsity or the reverse of the population 

 has also to be taken into account. 



Should no regulations be in force for the protection of 

 inland fisheries, and other circumstances be equal, that dis- 

 trict which is most densely populated by man will be least 

 so by fish. Individuals can more readily live by fishing 

 than by agriculture, as the trouble of capturing the finny 

 tribes is considerably less than that of tilling the soil. But 

 unregulated capture is simply catching food without a 



