182 



On East Indian Isinglass. 



Extract of a Letter from G. A. Bushby, Esq., Secretary to the Government 

 of Bengal, No. 264, to J. M'Clelland, Esq., M. D., under date 26th 

 February, 1842. 



In reply to your letter dated this day, submitting a full report on the 

 results of your enquiries and experiments to ascertain the value and 

 the source of East India Isinglass, I am directed by the Right Honor- 

 able the Governor to acquaint you, that a copy of the report in question 

 will be forwarded for the information of the Honorable Court of Di- 

 rectors, and that although the Honorable Court have not yet noticed 

 the first communication respecting the expence incurred by you in 

 this enquiry, his Lordship is pleased to authorize you to be compensa- 



Total Expense incurred, Rs. 3086 0 6 ted to the extent of rupees 



Sa?e e pToceTds 102/. 19,. iu. 2,280 : 4 : 4, being the net ex- 



at an Exchange of 2s. U. 933 12 2 pense incurred after deduct- 



Balance, Rs. 2097 4 4 ine the amount realized at the 



Add costs of 61 seers sent to the ° ' 



Honorable Court, 183 o o Home market by the sale of 



Net Expense, Rupees 2280 4 4 the article experimentally ma- 

 nufactured, and I have to enclose a Treasury Order for the amount. 



Extract of a Letter from Dr. Heddle, dated Bombay, April 26, 1841. 



That form of Isinglass which is prepared by simply drying the 

 swimming bladder of certain fish that frequents the coasts about this, is 

 an article of export from Bombay to China. The substance is called 

 " Bliot by the Mahrattas, and P'hot by Guzeratees and Scindees. There 

 are three species of fish, from which the bladder is usually extracted for 

 this purpose. The first is called by the natives of Bombay Dara, and 

 by the Scindians Seer : it furnishes the best B'hot, and I believe also, 

 the largest proportion of that which supplies the market is taken from it. 

 This fish frequents the whole of the western coasts of India, particu- 

 larly the coast of Scinde, and it penetrates up the estuaries of the Indus, 

 where it is caught at Gorabari and other places on the Indus, to which the 

 influence of the tide reaches. It is met with also at the mouths of the 

 Euphrates, for an Arab merchant of Bussora, who went with my people 

 to the bazar to procure the fish, singled out this as the one from which 

 the bladder is extracted in the Bussora river, the estuaries of which it 

 frequents. I have given a figure of our Dara in the drawing numbered 2. 

 The fish attains the length of 4 feet at least, but the usual size is 2\ to 3 

 feet. It is caught in great abundance about Bombay, and the flesh, 

 which is esteemed wholesome by the natives, is very commonly eaten. 

 The fish are generally found in the Bazars with the bladder previously 



