112 Production of Isinglass on the Coasts of India. 



raging the sea fishery, in a paper which the author had the honour 

 of presenting to the Royal Asiatic Society, and which is published in 

 their Journal. Sea fishing, Dr. C. states, is carried on to a very 

 small extent, chiefly because the distance to Calcutta is too great to 

 allow of the carriage of fish in a fresh state. The only class of fish- 

 ermen who have sea-built boats inhabit villages situated near the 

 entrance of the Hoogly, Their chief and most profitable employ- 

 ment consists in attending with their boats on the shipping entering 

 and leaving the river, for which they receive 16 rupees per diem. 

 Whenever this employment fails, they resort to work with their nets, 

 which they drag during high water along the coasts of the Sunder - 

 buns. Two or three times are, generally speaking, sufficient to load 

 a boat with fishes and shell-fish, (a truly prodigious quantity being 

 brought up in a few hauls). The larger portion of the prize which 

 is not consumed or otherwise disposed of on the spot is then pre- 

 served. This process consists simply in dividing the fish, taking out 

 the viscera, and spreading them in the sun till they become suffi- 

 ciently dried. 



" With a view to ascertain how far the locality and climate would 

 favour the process of salting and drying fishes on the coasts of Ben- 

 gal, Captain R, Lloyd, (who as Marine Surveyor General, has always 

 evinced a strong desire to inquire into the natural products and re- 

 sources of those localities which by his indefatigable zeal have been 

 surveyed), caused a series of experiments to that effect to be tried on 

 board. The materials submitted to trial were either purchased 

 from fishermen at the rate of three rupees a hundred, or supplied 

 by the nets belonging to the fishing-boats attached to the surve)-. 

 The experiments turned out so satisfactorily, that I feel convinc- 

 ed that the process of curing, salting, and drying fishes, may 

 easily be accomplished there during the north-east monsoon, that 

 is, during the period from 15th October, to the 15th of April." 

 (Cantor I. c.) 



Dr. Cantor did not fail to take advantage of the opportunities 

 which others neglect, and made himself acquainted with the natural 

 history of the part where he was placed. Thus, while discharging 

 the medical duties on board the Honourable Company's surveying 

 vessels at the Sandheads, he examined the Fishes of the northern 



