water runs off below. In this way scarcely a fish escapes, and as
millions are too small to be eaten, it is a most serious waste. The
attention of Government has been directed to the subject, and steps may
be taken to stop such a reckless and wholesale destruction of a
valuable food supply.

In some parts of Purneah and Bhaugulpore I have seen a most ingenious
method adopted by the _mullahs_. A gang of four or five enter the
stream and travel slowly downwards, stirring up the mud at the bottom
with their feet. The fish, ascending the stream to escape the mud, get
entangled in the weeds. The fishermen feel them with their feet amongst
the weeds, and immediately pounce on them with their hands. Each man
has a _gila_ or earthen pot attached by a string to his waist and
floating behind him in the water. I have seen four men fill their
earthen pots in less than an hour by this ingenious but primitive mode
of fishing. Some of them can use their feet almost as well for grasping
purposes as their hands.

Another mode of capture is by a small net. A flat piece of netting is
spread over a hoop, to which four or five pieces of bamboo are
attached, rising up and meeting in the centre, so as to form a sort of
miniature skeleton tent-like frame over the net. The hoop with the net
stretched tight across is then pressed down flat on the bottom of the
tank or stream. If any fish are beneath, their efforts to escape
agitate the net. The motion is communicated to the fisherman by a
string from the centre of the net which is rolled round the fisherman's
thumb. When the jerking of his thumb announces a captive fish, he puts
down his left hand and secures his victim. The _Banturs_, _Nepaulees_,
and other jungle tribes, also often use the bow and arrow as a means of
securing fish.