14 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 



preclude the escape of the imprisoned fish. Slightly in 

 advance of these pounds, frequently constructed at the head 

 of an estuary, are wicker-work labyrinths placed at right 

 angles to the shore, or else acting like a pound in permitting 

 the fish to enter with the flood, but precluding exit with the 

 ebb. 



Probably as the supply from pounds became insufficient, 

 stake-nets were constructed where suitable currents exist, 

 and these are now among the chief means of obtaining a 

 supply of fish along some portions of the coasts of India. 

 The stakes which are employed are usually made of the 

 stem of some species of palm-tree or jungle wood, and up 

 to as much as ioo feet in length. They are placed at right 

 angles to the shore, and driven perpendicularly into the mud 

 to a depth of twelve feet or more, and at a distance of about 

 twenty-five feet apart, while to them nets, mostly con- 

 structed of hemp, and of a bag or funnel shape, are fixed. 

 These bag-nets are up to great lengths, as forty yards, and 

 are composed of meshes, diminishing from two inches 

 between knot and knot, to half an inch at the apex. Into 

 these nets the fish are carried by the tide or currents which 

 exist even far out to sea, while fishermen are waiting to 

 secure the captures. Trammels are also employed. 



Another mode of sea-fishing is by means of a stationary 

 dip-net ; this in Malabar is worked from a frame-work 

 situated upon the river-bank, where the tide ebbs and flows ; 

 an addition to this is used in China, where the dip-net is 

 worked from a boat or a platform. Slightly in advance of 

 these fixed nets are purse-nets, fixed in bamboo frames and 

 capable of being dragged up narrow pieces of water, or lave- 

 nets set in triangular frames, and which can be worked by a 

 single man up shallows, or a row of fishermen can employ 

 them along suitable places on the coast. Next we find the 



