Production of Isinglass on the Coasts of India. 115 



That considerable attention must be paid to fishing all along the 

 coasts is evident from these facts, as well as from those adduced 

 respecting Fish-maws and Shark-fins. At Bombay the large quan- 

 tities of the Bummalo, which are both consumed and exported, prove 

 the same, though, from no duty being levied, we are unable to 

 ascertain the quantities which are either caught or exported. At 

 the mouths of the Indus, the fishery is extensive, and there, no 

 doubt, some of the Fish Sounds are procured. This is evident 

 from the imports into Bombay, and from Lieutenant Carloss sta- 

 ting, that Cod Sounds and Shark -fins are exported from Curachee. 

 The former are, no doubt, Fish-maws, perhaps Sounds of Poly- 

 nemi, as Mr. McClelland suggests, but they may also be those of 

 other fish, as the specimens of Fish-maws given to the author by 

 Mr. Malcolmson are very different in form from the Isinglass sent 

 from Bengal. 



Mr. McClelland, in his paper, calls attention to the very im- 

 portant subject of increasing the supply of fish in the interior 

 of India. Wherever there are any large pieces of water for the 

 purposes of irrigation, as in the Peninsula of India, these he 

 conceives might support quantities of fish, if proper kinds were 

 selected, and pains taken to destroy the injurious animals, in the 

 season when the water is sufficiently low for the purpose. He 

 also suggests that at the different sanitaria which have been 

 established in the mountains, it would be desirable, and easily 

 practicable, to form vivaria, which would at all times yield a sup- 

 ply of fish. This might, as he suggests, be done by damming 

 up a portion of some of the valleys through which the mountain 

 streams pass. 



He also further recommends that the natives of India should be 

 encouraged to turn their attention to the curing of fish in districts 

 where they are abundant, and in sending them to others where they 

 are less so, and for consumption at seasons when fresh fish becomes 

 scarce. " The cold season, from November to February, when most 

 fishes are taken, is short. The fishermen not having the means of 

 curing their fish, have nothing to stimulate them to any exertion, 

 beyond what can be consumed when fresh. Had the fisherman the 

 means of preserving the result of his labours, his chief market 



