Nov. 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
351 
Eliya fish with the lake so handy to them, but 
my experience of them in the Horton Plains and 
Alilie patana stream harilly be;as this out. The 
first rainbow trout turned down into the Horton 
Plains stream — some thirty or forty in number &o 
far as I can recollect — were brou^hb up in the 
stew-pounds there and turned down by nie 
more than two years a^'o not far from the Rest' 
house. The ye -^r tollowing I cauf<lit one or two 
of tliebe fish of over a pound in weight near 
the top waterfall above the Ohiya sliort cur, and 
tiiis season a fish of 2 lb was taken in the waterfall 
pool itself. These fiih by their wcif;ht and size must 
have been some of the first lot turned down, and 
they must have tiavelled up stream some three 
miles or so. I;i addition to this evidence, I have 
seen many {^ood fish of the rainbow species quite 
recently in the upper waters of the Hurton Plains 
stream. My belief is that if they have a tenc'.ency 
to work down-itream in Eii^^land (and tr;!dition 
certainly ascribes it to them) here in Ceylon this 
tendency is checked by the numerous waterfalls 
they have to encounter. I don't say that some 
do not go over the falls, but many are in my 
opinion induced to head back up strea)n as soon 
as they feel the vibration caused by the fall below 
them. I will also give the result of my obsevva- 
tains of these fish on the Aldie patauas. There 
were about 200 try and all were turned 
down in one small pool about 20 feet in length and 
15 feet wide — and about 150 yards above some small 
falls and broken water rushing through a rocky 
gorge. Six to nine mcnths afterv/ards I counted 
over 20 well-grown fish in the pool and in the 
slack water above the falls. After this they 
seemed to scatter and a few months afierwnrds 
paired off, one pair remaining in the original pool 
where they may be seen to this day, splendid fish 
of nearly 21b. ' in weight. Another pair have 
established themselves about 60 y^nds lower down 
and another pair close to tliese. Up stream, juds" 
ing by the nucriber of fry to be seen there, must be 
many more survivors of the original and onhj lot 
of rainbow trout ever introduceii into this water. 
It may be well to mention that except to provide 
a specimen for the managing Committee of the 
Ceylon Fishing Club, not a single fish has ever 
been taken out of this stream, la view of the 
above, I think, it a little premature to conclude 
that all our rainbow trout are going to disappear 
and woik down into the low-couniry, and that 
we should therefore stock with more brown trout. 
Personally, 1 look upon these latter as a source of 
great danger to the young fry now being hatched in 
our streams. My reason for this opinion is that 
where brown trout are most numerous on the 
Horton Plains, counlry-bred rainbows are few and 
far between. On the Aldie Patanas, where there 
are no brown trout, the water teems wii li country- 
bred rainbows, and below Baker's Falls on the 
Horton Plains, where brown trout were only once 
turned down in any numbers, find where very few 
now survive, the rainbow trout are veiy numerous. 
All this points, I think, to one conclusion that the 
brown trout are devouring the ova and fry of tlie 
rainbows. It may be of interest, to the fisher- 
men to know that these rainbows breed in Ceylon, 
apparently, from June to December, if not all the 
year round. A few days ago I observed numbers 
of fry not more than 1^ to 2 inches lo' g, and 
shoals of others rant'ing between .Sand 10 inche-". 
I would ask you to publish these notes fur the in- 
formation of those who may be interested in them, 
and who have not the same facilities I have had 
for observing the habits of Rainbow Trout in Ceylon 
waters.— Yours, &c., THUS. FAKK. 
No. [I. 
Abbolsford, Oct. 7. 
Sir, — Mr. Farr's letter on the above subject, in 
in your issue of the Gth. is most interesting 
reading to all local fishermen ; but he mustn't run 
away with the idea that because rainbows stick 
to tlie Horton Plains and Aldie Patana streams 
they are non-migratory fish. 
He doubtless read the recent Report of the 
Australian Fishery Board in which it was stated : 
Rainbov.'s have done exceedingly well in some 
rivers and in all lakes and ponds ; but they have 
most mysteriously disappeared from several of the 
rivers into which they were put,'' 
That they disappear from the Nuwara Eliya 
stream when they attain a respectable size is 
undoubted; and not only do they descend into the 
lake, but they actually go over the spill as there 
is a well-authenticated case of a rainbow having 
been caught in lire stream below by Mr. Pardon. 
This fish had been feeding on minnows or young 
carp and yet rainbows are said to be non-canni- 
balistic fish, but I fear me they will lose their 
fair fame in this climate. All the Salmon tribe go 
up stream to spawn, but it doesn't follow that 
they'll stay there. \Vhy blame the browns for 
the paucity of local bred rainbows in the upper 
stretches of the Horlon's stream, seeing only 30 to 
40 fisli were originally put into miles of it only 
some two years ago ? I killed a couple of them 
last year myself, weighing each 1| lb., right away 
up beyond Ohiya short cut, and this in one day's 
fishing. So, how many, or rather liow few, can have 
e-caped the men who lish there frequently ? 
Why also preserve the Aldie stream so carefully, 
when the Dikoya and Agra rivers are crying out 
for fish ? 
They'll go on crying, I expect, for the next 
decade, whilst tlie fish in the AMie are dying from 
disease through overstocking, unless our petty 
parochial Fishing Club can rise beyond the selfish 
ideii, of all the fresh fish and the butter and the 
bui'.s for our side of the country, if you please ! — 
Yours, &c., 
JOHN ERASER. 
WANTED:-CHEAP FREIGHTS TO 
AUSTRALIA: 
ID. A LB. CHARGED ON CEYLON TEA; 
ONLY |D. ON CHLNA OR JAPAN 
TEA;-A REAL GRIEVANCE. 
Colombo, Oct. 10. 
Sir, — I have read with interest the corre- 
spondence which has recently appeared in 
the local press on the point of having cheap 
passages between this and Western Australia, 
a very desirable thing, aud worthy of strong 
sup)5orfc from all our newspapers. 
There is, however, something more im- 
portant and more pressing than cheaper 
passages to Australia, and that is cheaper 
freight. Yon can ship cargo by P. & O. or 
other mail steamers to Hongkong, a voyage 
of 10 days, at R14 per ton, whereas for the 
voyage to Freem-^ntle, a voyage of only 9 
days, the unfortunate producer of tea has 
to pay R50 per ton. 
