io INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 



the Bombay Presidency, the fisherman's market became 

 restricted to the sales for immediate consumption, or else 

 for sun-drying, or, as the Collector of Tanna observed, 

 " Whether fish is dried as above, in preference to its being 

 salted, is a question I have been unable to ascertain. It is 

 very probable that it has been resorted to in the place 

 of curing by salt, consequent on the excise duty levied on 

 salt." Wherever salt-earth could be obtained free of duty, 

 along the western coast of Madras, there the fisheries thrive, 

 the fish-curer requiring a large supply of fish. Along the 

 east coast of Madras, the collection of salt-earth was more 

 or less prohibited, and the fisherman's trade, except near 

 large towns, the reverse of flourishing. But in Bengal the 

 fisheries are, or were, worst off, the only curing fish obtained 

 being sun-drying. Lastly, in Burmah, where salt is cheap, 

 the fisheries were thriving. Before concluding this portion 

 of my subject, I would observe that it is not to be supposed 

 that fish cured with salt-earth are of the best quality ; on 

 the contrary, it imparts a bitter and unpleasant flavour, and 

 is believed to engender disease. But the poor cannot be par- 

 ticular respecting the taste or smell of their food — expense 

 being usually the most important consideration. Salt-earth 

 costs about \d. a basket of 144 lb. weight, depending upon 

 its quality ; but, as I have remarked, it requires treble the 

 amount to what is necessary if excised salt is used. But 

 82-J lb. of monopoly salt was taxed 3s. *]\d. at this time ; 

 now 4s. ; whereas 246 lbs. of salt earth cost from \d. to id., 

 and this is evidently the reason of the latter being preferred 

 by fish-curers for the purpose of preparing fish for the 

 trade ; for if monopoly salt, at its present rate, were used, 

 the article, at least to the general public, would be beyond 

 their means, and simply unpurchaseable. The reason why 

 the plentiful harvest of fish in the sea remains ungathered 



