HABITS, BREEDING, ETC. 
199 
there are now hardly any kinds of fish to be found at 
all in them. That this is not a natural condition 
seems probable. At one place I remember a tank 
about which the natives had a superstition, and in 
this there were numerous fish, but they considered it 
haunted, and never dared to destroy the fish, for 
fear of offending the ghost or demon who lived 
there. 
Thus river poisoning may in certain cases be 
allowable, but only then under proper restrictions, 
while as a general rule it ought to be strictly 
forbidden. 
The taking of small fry in basket-work traps 
should always be jealously guarded. It is a wasteful 
and improvident system, and although it might 
perhaps be permitted to a certain extent in certain 
places, so long as provision was made for a fair 
proportion of the little fish to make their way down 
stream, yet in most cases it would seem that if the 
practice could altogether be put a stop to there would 
result a great improvement in the quantity and the 
quality of the food supply. In deciding upon the 
necessity of any restrictive measures in any par- 
ticular district, the question would resolve itself into 
this. Do the number of the fish destroyed in this 
manner form an appreciable proportion ot the total 
supply of the district? If they do, measures are 
decidedly necessary for their protection. 
In some parts of the country when the rains are 
over, the streams are entirely diverted from their 
