I. —KOLABA PLACES OF INTEREST.

The earliest description of the Alibag harbour is Dom Joao de Castro's in 1538. Between the Nagaon sands and the small island of Cheul (Cheul Kadu) is a great island of rock (Kolaba). Between it and the land is a harbour protected from the north-east. [Primeiro Roteiro, 57. Dom Joao's reference to Kolaba seems 'to show that the rock was not then fortified.]

CHEUL.

Chinese Element.

After pointing out and illustrating [Indian Architecture, 270-276. ] the close connection between the architecture of certain Jain temples and tombs at Mudbidri jn South Kanara and the religious buildings of Nepal and Thibet, Mr, Fergusson says:[ Indian Architecture, 278.] 'Of the origin of the connection I can offer not even a plausible conjecture.'

The following passages seem to throw light on the source of this Chinese element in the buildings at Mudbidri in South Kanara.

Under their early Mongol sovereigns (1250) the Chinese regained their supremacy at sea. They reopened the old (600-880) trade direct with Western India, and, during the first half of the fifteenth century, they were acknowledged as overlords by the kings of Ceylon.[Yule's Cathay, lxxiv.] In the time of Marco Polo (1290) and of Ibn Batuta (1340) and probably till the beginning of the fifteenth century, [Yule's Marco Polo, II. 327.] Chinese trade settled at Kaulam or Quilon in Travankor and in Kalikat and Eli on the Malabar coast. In the port of Pandarane, twenty miles north of Kalikat, the big Chinese junks usually passed the stormy months (May-August) of the south-west monsoon. Gaspar Correa[Voyages of Vaeco da Gama, 147.] (1510-1560) states that when the Portuguese arrived at Kalikat there was a tradition that many Chinese had come about 400 years before and settled on the coast and left descendants, and that their sumptuous idol temples were still to be seen. Successive Chinese colonies in Java,[Reinaud's Abulfeda, cccxc.] the ' Chinese' tower of Negapatam near Tanjur so closely like the priests' tombs at Mudbidri, [Compare Fergusson, 275, and Indian Antiquary, VII. 224.] and Chinibetchegan, ' sons of Chinamen,' Abd-er-Razzak's (1440) name for the brave and sturdy Kalikat seamen,[Major's India, XVth Century, 19.] support the tradition that the Chinese came to the Malabar coast to settle as well as to trade. It was probably fear of their success as settlers, perhaps aroused as in the case of the Portuguese by the jealous rivalry of Arab traders, that led the Zamorin to ill use the Chinese and drive them from his dominions. [Joseph of Cranganor in Yule's Marco Polo, II. 327.]

Besides with the Malabar coast the Chinese had connection with the Gujarat coast and perhaps with Cheul in the Konkan. Ibn Muhalhal [Yule's Cathay, cxcii.] (941) states that the people of Saimur are descended from Chinese and Turks. The account in other respects does not suit Saimur or Oheul, and the mention of the wood known as Saimur wood seems to make it probable that the reference was to Timur island in the Eastern Archipelago which has Chinese settlers and a special sandal wood.

There is more evidence of a Chinese connection with the Gujarat ports. In the seventh and eighth centuries Chinese ships called at Diu for purposes of trade. [Yule's Cathay, lxxix. ] In the eleventh century Somnath was a place of call for vessels on their way from Sofala in Africa to China. [Al Biruni in Yule's Marco Polo, II. 334. ] In the twelfth century they traded to Broach, [Yule's Cathay, lxxix.] and in the thirteenth century (1282) a somewhat doubtful passage seems to show that Somnath Sumenna, with some other places on the west coast of India, paid homage to the Chinese. Again, according to Portuguese writers, [Faria-y-Souza in Kerr, VI. 230.] Mahmud Begada's father built Diu in memory of a victory over a Chinese fleet, and Do Couto gives the Chinese the credit of building the fort of Gogha. [Decada I. II. Bk. IV. ch.]

Costus or Putchuk.

Under the name of Karachi uplet, Putchuk is exported in large quantities chiefly from Bombay to Hongkong and the Straits Settlements and in -smaller quantities to Arabia and Japan. The total export from Bombay by sea in 1881-82 was 1918 cwts. [The export to Hongkong and the Straits Settlements during 1880-81 was 1592 cwts. valued at £3573 (Rs. 35,730); and during 1881-82 1898 cwts. valued at £3629 (Rs. 36,290). The balance of 20 cwts. went to Arabia and Japan. In 1881-82 the chief exporting months were April, June, July, August, and September. Collector of Customs, 821, 10th March 1883.] Bombay imported 333 cwts. of Putchuk by sea from Karachi during the same year. What is not imported by sea is believed to come by land from Gujarat and Upper India. The root comes from Karachi under the name of kutlakdi or the Kut (Costus) stick.

Pliny (A.D, 77) calls the Costus the root and leaf of the greatest price in India, of excellent and sweet smell. He notices two varieties, black and white, found in Patale on the Indus. [Natural History, XII. 12. In 1720 Captain Hamilton notices Putchuk as an article largely exported from the Sind ports. He writes, "The wood Lignum dulce grows only in this country. It is rather a weed than a wood and nothing of it is useful but the root called ' Putchok' or Radix dulcis. I never heard it is used in physic, but it is a good ingredient in the compesition of perfumes. There are great quantities exported for Surat, and from thence to China, where it bears good price; for, being all idolaters, and burning incense before their images, this root beaten into fine powder and an inennse pot laid over smoothly with ashes, and a furrow made in the ashes, about a quarter of an inch broad and as much in depth, done very artificially into a great length, the powder is put into that furrow, and first fired and it will burn a long time like a match, sending forth a fine smoke, whose smell is very grateful, the powder having the good qualities of maintaining and delaying the fire," New Account, I.128.]

Portuguese, Fort Bastions.

Of the fifteen bastions, four are on the north or land face, two on either side of the old gateway. They are large outworks with watch towers and sentry-boxes and with from two to eight guns. The east fare has three bastions, all small, with one or two guns. The south or sea face has five bastions two to the right and three to the left of the sea gate, one large the others small, none with more than two guns. The west face has three bastions, more or less ruined and with no guns.

Proceeding to the right of the Revdanda Sea Gate the first bastion is twenty paces by ten, mounting two old cannon; the second, very small, has two old cannon; the third is the extreme eastern angular bastion with two guns; the fourth on the east face is an angular bastion with one gun; the fifth, also on the east face, is an angular bastion with one-gun; the sixth on the north or land face is a large angular bastion with two guns, one of the main fortificatidns on the land side. Then, passing the modern Alibag gateway, the seventh is a large angular bastion like the sixth, carrying eight guns with a watch tower at its west corner; then passing the old land gateway and a length of wall twenty-five feet broad on the inner side, and carrying four cannon, comes the eighth, a large angular bastion with three cannon. In its extreme north-west corner is a stone watch tower twelve feet square and in the extreme west angle a stone sentry-box. The ninth is a large circular bastion with two guns, almost entirely ruined and undermined by the sea. It has a stone and mortar octagonal watch tower of later construction. Then follow, on the west face, the tenth bastion, more or less ruined, with no guns; next, passing a breach in the wall caused by the sea which faces the great Franciscan tower of St. Barbara's or the Sat Khani Buraj, comes the eleventh bastion, more or less ruined, and with no guns; the twelfth bastion is on the south-west corner, without guns; the thirteenth on the south or sea face is a bastion with two guns; the fourteenth is a bastion without guns; the fifteenth, several yards to the left of the Sea Gate, is an angular bastion with two" guns.

Since the text was written the Kanarese stone found behind the Rameshvar temple' by Mr. Sinclair, C.S., in 1874 has been examined by Mr. Fleet, C.S., Epigraphist to the Government of India. Mr. Fleet states that the stone is in praise of a religious teacher. It has no historic interest and probably belongs to the sixteenth or seventeenth century.

KANGORI.

In the Maratha war of 1818 Kangori was taken on May 20th by a detachment from Colonel Prother's field force under Lieutenant Bellasis. The commandant and 200 men were allowed to evacuate the fort, taking with them their arms and their private property, the garrison being ordered to proceed to Vengurla and the commandant to Satara. A quantity of grain was found in the fort. [Asiatic Journal, VI. 640; Pendhari and Maratha War Papers, 300. ]

Cornets Hunter and Morrison, who, as noticed in the text, were confined in this fort, were seized by the Marathas at Uruli twenty miles east of Poona. On being waylaid the two officers, whose escort consisted merely of one havildar and twelve sepoys, took pest in a rest-house and made a breast-work of their baggage. They defended themselves with courage for several hours and did not surrender till their ammunition was spent and the enemy had climbed to the top of the building and was firing on them through holes in the roof. It is worthy of mention that, though, before the attack, the officers were offered a safe conduct to the British camp at Poona, declined to avail themselves of an advantage in which their followers could not share. [Bombay Courier, 16th May 1818. In a general order by the Commander-in-Chief, dated Sunday, 11th January 1818, the capture of these two officers is thus alluded to: "This occurrence, while it evinces what may be done, even with a handful of disciplined troops, over a numerous irregular enemy, shows also the injury the public service may suffer at any critical moment by a failure of ammunition, His Excellency embraces this opportunity to order that no guard shall in future be detached from its corps on any service beyond the frontier without its full amount of spare ammunition, the want of which in the instance above described has forced two brave young officers to surrender in a situation where perhaps they might have maintained themselves until relieved." "The loss of the enemy was more than four times the original number of this small party and the Commander-in-Chief desires that his approbation may be ] From Uruli the two officers were taken to Poona. In a letter dated 9th November 1817 they stated that though rather roughly used at first they had been well treated since their arrival at Poona. Between December and January they were carried from Poona to Kangori on cots. At first they were offered nachni. bread, but refused it; they were then offered rice and refused it also, when they were allowed wheat bread and a fowl a day. Some time after they were observed coming down the hill on foot under a strong guard. When they had reached the bottom they were put into litters and carried to a fort about eight miles from Kangori, probably on the way to Vasota. At Vasota the commandant fed them well, but so close was their confinement that till a shell burst over the roof of their prison during the British siege of the fort in April 1818, they were ignorant of the neighbourhood of an English force, nor till the commandant had decided to surrender did they know the name of the fort they were confined in. Before the British took possession the two officers were allowed to show themselves on the walls and were greeted by the Europeans of the mortar battery with three cheers. [Bombay,' Courier, 18th April 1818. ]

KHANDERI.

Khanderi Island, [Contributed by Mr. G.E. Ormiston, Engineer of the Bombay Port Tust. ] whose greatest measurements are about 1300 feet long by950 broad, is formed of two oval-shaped masses of trap, each about 950 feet long by.450 feet wide, their longer axes being parallel with each other and lying north-north-east by south-south-west. The higher of the two mounds lies to the eastward and its highest point is 100 feet above high water springs. The western hill is seventy feet above high water springs, The crests of the hills are about 500 feet apart and between is a valley at its highest part about eighteen feet above high water.

The conformation of the island bears strong evidence that at one time the two hills were separate or joined only by a narrow ridge, the valley as it now is having been to a great extent reclaimed.

There are some fine champa Michelia champaca and banyan trees on the island, also a large number of bar or Zizyphus jujuba trees. On the north side of this island is a temple and a tomb, and in the valley are several tombs of shipwrecked Musalmans. The water-supply is from four round wells and seven rectangular reservoirs, the largest being 130'by 40'and 25' deep, with excellent drinking water. This reservoir was pumped dry in 1876 and five feet of mud removed, but, except a small cannon ball, nothing was found.

The original fortifications extended completely rornd the Island, but some years ago a portion in front of the small cove on the north, which forms the landing place, was removed to make a foundation for forts, which were never completed. The fortification'; give evidence of vast labour and energy, many of the stones weighing from two to four tons. They had a total length of 3200 feet and are in tolerable repair. They in twenty-two bastions with curtains ranging in length from 360 to sixty feet. Many dismantled cannon are lying about.

The light house is a flat-roofed building 100' long and 30' high. A 50' high octagon tower in the centre of the building carries the lantern. The focal plane of the light is 148' above high water springs and is visible expressed to the sepoys who have survived. He has also to express his hope that Cornets Hunter and Morrison may, at no distant date, be restored to liberty and the service, an object which His Excellency will' not fail to endeavour by every means to accomplish," Madras Government Gazette, quoted in the Bombay Courier of 16th May 1818., for twenty miles. The apparatus is a first order catadioptric fixed light having an are of illumination of 225° of which 200° is white and 25° red; the red ray of 25⁰ is visible over the space between the bearings of north and north-north-west a quarter west, and covers the Cheul Kadu reef and the dangers lying seaward of Alibag and Cheul. Before the light-house was built a beacon was placed on the hill but was removed in 1852 shortly after it was set up, as it was found to do more harm than good. There was at one time a keep or stronghold on the top of the eastern hill where the light-house now stands. The stones were used in building the light-house.

About three cables to the north-east of Khanderi there is a mass of rock just awash at high water. Between this rock and Khanderi there is anchorage with seventeen to eighteen feet at low water extreme springs. About the same distance to the east is a patch of rocky ground, several rocks being just awash at low water extreme springs. On one of these it is proposed to construct a beacon as a guide to the navigation of the channel between Khanderi and Underi. This channel is about sixteen feet deep at low water extreme springs and is used by coasting and ferry steamers.

A life-boat is stationed at Khanderi from the 15th of May to the end of September. The crew consists of one officer, one tyndal, and ten Koli fishermen.

MANDAD.

On the road from Mandad village to the Kuda caves is a burying-ground of the Mandad Marathas who generally do not burn but bury their dead. Among the tomb stones and long grave mounds of the ordinary type are a number of small circles from five to eight feet in diameter and formed of stones weighing from twenty to forty pounds. They are of all ages, one or two evidently new. The hewn stone monuments in both this and another cemetery near the Mandad landing place are richly ornamented with flower patterns. A number of these hewn stone monuments have been set up beside the road from the creek to the Mandad customs post [Mr. W. F. Sinclair. C.S. As to the stone circles -Mr. Sinclair's guide said that many people made these circles round their relations' graves; that the use of them as against long or rectangular enclosures was a mere matter of choice; and that the use of either instead of solid hewn stones was merely dictated by poverty. ]

II. — KOLABA KHOTI SETTLEMENT .

[For details see above pp. 162-166, 203, 207. ]

Except three villager in Roha where the khots have accepted only yearly leases, all the khots in the Pen and Roha sub-divisions have accepted the thirty years' lease, on the survey conditions. In Manga on seventy-seven khoti villages, have been leased for thirty years and ninety-six for one year, while nine have been attached and are managed by Government. In Mahad sixty-eight khoti villages have been leased for thirty years and fifty-nine for one year, while fifty-nine have been attached and are managed by Government. The number of khoti villages attached and managed by Government during the five years ending 1881--82 was, in Mangaon, seventeen in 1877-78. eleven in 1878-79, five in 1879-80. nine in '1880-81, and fifteen in 1881-82; and in Mahad, sixty seven in 1877-78 fifty-one in 1878-79, forty-eight in 1879-80, forty-five in 1880-81. and sixty-two in 1881-82. The khoti villages under Government management are usually those, for which the khots cannot agree to appoint a manager, or which they find themselves unable le to manage, or whose profits are so small that it is not worth their while to manage them. Such villages vary in number from year to year, chiefly because in some years the khots find it lucrative or convenient to take them. This is specially the case when there are fellings made by the Forest Department, as the khots are entitled under their agreements to one-third of all profits from timber. The khots accept the yearly leases under protest, stipulating that they do so without prejudice to their claims or to any rights which may accrue hereafter either by the free action of Government or as the result of litigation. They hope that the Khoti Act may be extended to this district. [Mr. A. Keyser, C.S., Collector of Kolaba, 1387, 11th April 1883. ]

III. — KOLABA SALT WASTES.

[For details see above pp. 166-168. ]

SALT WASTES.

Since January 1882, all the Alibag salt wastes have been disforested. [Mr. A. Keyser, C.S., Collector of Kolaba, April 1883. ]

IV.— KOLABA BIRDS.

[Contributed by Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S.]

BIRDS

A list of Game Birds found in the district is given above (36-37). To this list may be added the game birds given in Thana (Bombay Statistical Account, XIII. Part I. 48-54) with the following, changes and additions: Under Raptores may be added the Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, the Grey-backed Sea-eagle, Haliaetus lencogaster, both very common on the coast, and the Crested Hawk-eagle, Limnaetus cirrhatus, on the higher and more wooded hills. The crested hawk-eagle closely resembles the crested serpent-eagle, Spilornis cheela, the only difference being that the latter has a white crest tipped black, the former a black crest tipped white. Under Gemitores, a much smaller Green Pigeon than the Southern Green Pigeon, Crocopus chlorigaster, is found in the district. It may perhaps be the Brown-winged or Emerald Dove, Chaleophaps indica. Under Cultirostres the Black Ibis, Geronticus papilosus, is not found in the district. Under Natatores the Flamingo,. Phaenicopterus antiquorum, is not uncommon on the coast in winter. The Ruddy Shieldrake or Brahmani Duck, Casarea rutila, occurs on the south shore of Bombay harbour and the Nagothna creek, and the White-eyed Duck, Aythya myroca, on creeks and ponds and in the open sea.

V.—SEA FISHERIES.

[Contributed by Mr, W. F. Sinclair, C.S. ]

FISHERIES,

The sea fisheries of the North Konkan are, as already indicated, divisible into coast and tidal or "long shore" fisheries and deep sea or "offing" fisheries.

To understand these it is necessary to describe the coast and estuaries. The Konkan coast runs pretty nearly north by west and south by east, roughly speaking, from the 16th to the 20th degree of north latitude. North of the centre it is fringed by the Bombay archipelago, called by the early Greek geographers the Heptanesoi, and containing even at the present day seven islands at low water of spring tides and at least three times as many at most states of the tide. Many of these latter were islands at all states of the tide within the English period, but have been united to each other or to the main land, almost within living memory, by artificial causeways or by the silting up of channels.

The rate of flow of flood and ebb spring tides up and down the coast is nearly two knots an hour in most places, and there is, besides, a general northward current during the south-west monsoon, and a corresponding southward current during the north-east monsoon which reaches, and sometimes exceeds, one knot an hour. The archipelago is, of course, cut up with sounds; and the coast is deeply indented by numerous deep fords or estuaries into which the short but violent local rivers empty themselves, and in these sounds and " creeks " the tides often reach a velocity of three, sometimes of four, knots an hour. Mean spring tides rise on this coast from seven to seventeen feet according to locality. It will be seen at once that any fishery conducted in such waters must be essentially tidal, and accordingly during neap tides the fishermen are mostly ashore, idling, making and mending gear, or attending to other trades.

The nets used here are SEINE, Pera; STAKE-NET, Dhol large, in deep water, Bhokse small, in creeks; DRIFT NET or TRAMMEL,. jal, exactly resembling the English herring tram; WALL-NETS, that is, trammels more or less fixed, are Vaghul a large deep seanet of large mesh moored to anchors; Magh, used inshore in Thana, has poles ; Khandala (Vaura of Thana) has no poles, but floats and sinkers, varies very much in size, used in creeks and rivers; Dot, deep circular scoop net without handle, fixed also in tidal or inundation gaps, varies in size from three feet to seven feet diameter, used by one or two men according to size (is Okhu or Asu of Thana) ; Jila, semicircular scoop net with handle, diameter of net about 3½ feet, depth about 2½ feet, handle about 3 feet, is Arasu of Thana. It has a very peculiar long gut or purse behind, with a narrow neck into which the fish are swept and kept there till the fishing is over; chiefly used for catching nivte, Mud-fishes, Periopthalmus and Boleapthalmus; Gholni, a shove net with bamboo side poles: Veda, a somewhat larger form of the last; Pag, casting net. Under HOOK AND LINE come Dori-gal, about four fathoms long, rough stone sinker, two English tinnel hooks No. 9 attached above the sinker by snoods or traces six inches long, used on reefs chiefly to catch small rock perch; Bhuirap. a moored trimmer with one large country-made hook and cocoanut float used in creeks chiefly for the Seiceridee; and Khanda, a long line or spillard. Under TRAPS come Milair cylindrical containing one or two funnels set in the kiev or weir, may be any sine over three feet long; Tokya, one to two feet long, has one funnel, used in waste weirs of rice fields; Chap, a conical basket with both ends open clapped down over fish in shallow water, the fish are then taken out through the top. It varies from two to five feet diameter, and may be called a bamboo casting net. There are also spears, gaffs, and crab hooks, used to poke in mud and among rocks at low water. Some of the spears have a curious fleur-de-lys shaped head. What is called reeling or droving at home, that is, spinning from a boat in motion, is not practised hero, neither are the trawl and dredge known.

The appearance of the fishing stakes is well known to all persons familiar with the Bombay coast. In every sound and creek the path which fish are most likely to take in passing up with the tide is known, and this is barred by a few of stakes planted from thirty to eighty feet apart well below low water mark. Between these, as the tide begins to rise, are set the nets, truncated cones of any length up to forty yards, composed of meshes diminishing from two inches from knot to knot at the entrance to half an inch at the apex. They are hauled at the time of the tide, but very seldom set on the ebb.

The Seine is most used on sandy and shallow shores. It is of any length up to 200 yards, but seldom over eight feet deep, usually about six, and has long vertical wooden floats, set very close together, and no sinkers. The mesh varies, but is seldom less than half an inch from knot to knot, and seldom much more. It is cast from a canoe usually from half flood to half ebb tide, the first of ebb being preferred, but is hauled on shore by main force of men. Seines are never hauled into a boat. The dug-out canoes, which are the only row boats of this coast, would not stand it.

The casting net is exactly similar to that used in Europe. It has cylindrical sinkers of sheet lead or wrought-iron. It is much used, and with great skill.

The shove-net is about forty feet long and ten deep. It is laced to two bamboos and is held by two men in a pass, or they wade up a tideway with it at first of ebb, a little way from the shore. At the proper moment the outer man wheels shorewards; a third from the shore rushes outwards, splashing, and the small fish feeding in the shallow water rush into the net.

Almost every coasting boat has the last two nets, and the crew supplement their diet by what they can catch with them while in port, or at anchor on the coast waiting for a wind or tide. As the latter case generally happens at least once a day they are seldom without fish for dinner.

The fixed traps are of two sorts. The first are the pounds made on the coast, generally without outlets, the water which completely overflows them at high tide escaping through the interstices of their rough stonework. The others, generally constructed at the head of an estuary, have outlets which are closed at the first of ebb with a bag-net or basket.

Certain natural tidal ponds with narrow entrances are worked like the last class. If the water does not all flow off the remaining area is worked with casting nets and shove-nets.

At low water of spring tides the lowest reefs and banks laid bare are worked, mostly by women and boys. They use small shove-nets and scoop-nets, and for crabs and cray fish a peculiar iron hook easily inserted in the crevices of rocks.

Lines and hooks are but little used. The best grounds are thought to be the edges of rocky islets and the usual bait is a piece of prawn. This fishing is here of no commercial importance. Long lines with many hooks are known, but hardly over used.

The boats used in these inshore fisheries are all "hodis" or dug-out canoes, excavated from a single stem of mango or of hedu (Naucleai) wood. They are sometimes as much as twenty-five feet long and three feet in beam; often as small as eight, feet by one and a half.

The larger often have topgallant bulwarks of a separate piece of wood and carry a lateen sail. If thought too crank an outrigger is added.

'The paddle is a, piece of board, clumsily shaped like the ace of spades, and spliced with cocoanut twine to a bamboo shaft. It does not seem to signify which end of the blade is seized uppermost.

They are sometimes used vertically, sometimes pulled like oars, often in a very carious way, the rower sitting very far forward of his rowlock, and pulling not in the line of course, but at an angle' of forty five degrees to the boat's side.

Only one pin is used in pulling and the paddle is lashed. abaft of it with cocoanut twine.

Catamarans or canoe-rafts made of two or three logs of light wood, are also used, but rarely. No dredges or trawls are known.

The only Mollusks collected are oysters and an univalve like a periwinkle called Kubi. Of the former there are two species, one resembling the European oyster and one with a deeply furrowed and toothed shell; the former only is valued. Both the oysters and periwinkles are collected off the rocks at low water and in no other way.

The pearl oyster fisheries of this coast are said to have formerly had some importance. [Pliny (Nat. Hist. IX. 35) notices pearls at Perimula, probably the moden Cheul. ] They have now little; the fishery of the circular and translucent oyster, Placuna placenta, for the purpose of glazing windows has been confused with the pearl fishery. The earlier English writers, as Fryer, inform us that windows were commonly so glazed here in the seventeenth century. This oyster does sometimes yield pearls. An old fishery in the Thana creek has been revived during the last few years (vide. Thana Gazetteer, p. 55), and one is now being set up in the Janjira or Rajpuri creek. [About a month ago (8th March 1883) Mr. Sinclair received from the Divan of Janjira a small parcel of marketable seed pearls. ]

The Crustacea, especially prawns, are very numerous, hut mostly get caught along with real fish in the nets; and, except the crab hook mentioned above, no particular gear is used in their capture. There are no lobsters, although large cray fish are commonly sold by that name in the Bombay markets, and none of the numerous crabs attain the size and quality of those of northern seas. Crab and lobster pots are unknown. Most of the larger fish appear to prey chiefly on the Crustacea, and in fishing with the hook and line prawns are the bait most generally used.

This hook and line fishing is very unimportant. It is mostly confined to the' edges of reefs; the lines are but two or three fathoms long with a, sinker made of the first stone come to hand, and two hooks attached above it by snoods of about six inches.

The hooks are European of about No. 9 size, and of the worst quality; the rest of the gear is home-made.

The fishermen grow great quantities of San Hemp, tag, Crotalaria juncea. and prepare it themselves for use in fishing gear. For fixing stake lists they largely use withies of a wild vine, and for rigging and ground tackle they use coir rope brought, from Bombay and sold in the local market towns

As the fish captured along shore and the animals which prey upon them include many species also found in the offing they will b" described together at the end of these notes.

Deep Sea or Offing Fisheries.

Only one class of these is really important, namely the Snake nets The strong currents mentioned in the last notes have power far out to sea; and although the charts show few irregularities in this power or in the nature of the bottom, there appear to be certain courses affected by the shoals of fish and known to the fishermen.

These are crossed by long lines of stakes, to which the great conical nets are moored, usually at the first of flood of spring tides, and taken up at the return of the tide. The outermost stakes are set in eight fathoms of water, counted at low water of spring tides, about ten knots from shore and from that shprewards they are to be met with wherever experience has shown that the fish pass, except indeed where the Customs Department interferes in the interests of navigation. They are generally long stoms of palm trees roughly pointed at one end and worked down into the muddy bottom by the force of several boats' crews, united for the purpose. Where the current is strong they are often stayed to huge wooden anchors. These are composed of two pairs of arms each somewhat resembling a felloe of a wheel, cut to a chisel edge at the two ends. The two felloes are morticed together at right angles in their centres, and shanked, not with a single timber, but with a sort of conical cage of which the base is secured in the arms and the cable bent to the apex. This cage contains several large stones to give the anchor weight. Being four-armed, such an anchor requires no stock.

The rows of stakes are always at right angles to the general coast line, which coincides with the run of the tides. Between the stakes are moored the huge nets, generally at least fifty yards long, and called Dhol, but similar in construction to the lesser stake nets called Bhokse, already described in writing of the coast fisheries. The only other nets of any importance used in the offing are the Jal, Magh, and Vaghul, the two former of which closely resemble in construction those used in the herring fisheries of Northern Europe, and are fished in the same way. The mesh, however, is generally larger about one and a half inches from knot to knot. The Vaghul has a still larger mesh, and is moored at each end to an anchor.

The casting net is sometimes used in the offing, but not enough to deserve much notice. Hooks and lines are hardly used at all, and although the long line is well enough known to have a name (Khanda) I have never seen it in use.

The boats used in this fishery deserve much more notice than any other part of the apparatus, differing greatly from any known to Europe and being most admirably adapted for net fishing in smooth waters.

A very good figure of them is given in the rules published by the Customs Department for the measurement of native craft, under the name ' Cotton Boat or Prow. [A detailed account of the cotton boat or' prow and the machva is given in the Thana Statistical Account, Bombay Gazetteer, XIII. Part I. 345. Regarding the use of the word machva to a two-masted trading craft, Mr. Sinclair writes (21st April 1883), 'I have no doubt that its application to two-masted freight boats is modern. Machva means fishing boat and no boat used for fishing on this coast carries two masts, because the mizzen-mast would be in the way of the nets and fish. When a man takes a machva proper and applies her to freight work he generally puts in a second mast. I find that my men always apply the word machva to one-masted craft, and call two or three masted boats galbats. ]

The hull of the machva resembles the bowl of an old fashioned egg-spoon, produced at the fore end into a long, high, and fine prow, and below into a deep bottom, the garboard strake. rising very sharply.

The false keel also is deep, and of^- a very curious concave form, unknown in European waters, so that a boat beached only touches the ground with her forefoot and stern post. There is no standing deck, but the whole boat is crossed and strengthened by many strong thwarts, and is generally provided with a sort of matting of palm-wood laths fastened with cord which can be laid down on the thwarts as a temporary deck, or rolled up out of the way, something like patent shutters. There is generally a low topgallant bulwark on the port side, and, on the starboard where the nets are hauled, a bamboo is lashed to the gunwale for them to run over. Almost amidships is stepped a short heavy mast raking forwards, so that the huge single lateen yard is slung between two-thirds arid three-fourths of the whole length from the stern.

The yard is about five-fourths of the whole length of the hull, and is slung so that when swinging fore and aft its butt is just over the head of the boat, and the peak vertically over her stem.

The sail, however, is sheeted home to a point very little abaft of amidships, leaving the whole stern of the boat clear to work the nets in It is scarcely possible to conceive a better rig for a fishing boat. The enormous lateen yard is easily worked by the strong crew necessary for the trade. Room is left for work and the boat is not lumbered with standing rigging, as there is only one stay, which is movable and shifted when the boat goes about. The sail pressure is distributed over the whole length of the boat, and the point of greatest pressure is over that of greatest resistance. They cannot of course stay, but wear with great speed and grace.

The machva has little gear besides her simple rigging. A grapnel of six arms, weighing from 60 to 100 lbs., a dozen long paddles, and as many bamboo poles about fifteen feet long, a small heavy box filled with sand to serve as a caboose, two leathern buckets, and a lantern, form the whole of her inventory, and, with these on board, a boat of twelve tons has probably cost from £40 to £50 (Rs. 400 -Rs. 500) to build, rig, and fit. They are carvel built and are now generally iron fastened; but it is not very long since the fastenings were very largely of coir twine, and coir twine is still a good deal used for the purpose especially in the upper works. Everything is of the rudest sort. The timber and even the very spars are coarse and crooked; yet they sail like witches, and last longer than their owners.

Such a boat is probably the property of a small capitalist, and from seven to twelve fishermen hire her from him. The produce is divided into eleven shares of which four go to the boat. The other seven would normally go one to each man, but it may happen, ( and generally does) that their shares in the nets (which do not belong to the boat) are not equal.

A machva of under twelve tons, manned by seven men, can fish one Dhol or long stake-net. To fish two she must be of at least twelve tons and manned by twelve men. If she carries trammels', each man of the crew should bring four pieces of net, each two fathoms deep and eighty long. A native fathom is five feet six inches, so that three men's share would be a mile of nets, and a boat manned by seven men should cover two miles; but as a matter of fact the equipment of nets is never complete. Even canoes with two or three men sometimes cruise many miles out to sea to fish with trammels. That powerful engine, the trawl, is quite unknown, here, although both the water and the beats are well suited' to it.

The fishermen are all of the Koli caste, a fine, stout set of fellows. Their chief fault is that they are rather given to drink and to petty quarrels when in their cups. They earn but little; the best hands on the coast can be hired for 16s. (Rs. 8) a month. But the benefit of their free use of fish as diet is shown in their broad and muscular frames, and among the best off even in corpulence. They are not, however, a tall race, and are naturally very often bandy legged. They are much employed in the coasting trade as well as in fisheries, and, during the monsoon, when native craft cannot keep the sea, they cultivate little holdings of their own or work upon other men's land. Serious crime is not at all common among them, and, although their ancestors under the Maratha empire were no better than vikings, and were the very terror of the coast, they are now as. peaceable and well-disposed a people as any in the Presidency.

The principal fish of the coast, with their native names, are arranged in the subjoined list according to the order followed in Day's Fishes of India:

LATES, Calcarifer, Jitard.—Chiefly in estuaries, good eating.

SERRANUS.—Several species, the smaller called gobi, and the larger gobar; chiefly on reefs; furnishes most of the little hook-fishing there is; mostly good eating; the larger species are in great favour with Musalmans.

LUTIANUS.—Several species; the most important is argenti maculatus, tamb (copperfish), which attains to-20 lbs. weight and is sometimes caught in considerable numbers in the offing; smaller specimens only are caught inshore; furnishes " fishsounds," i.e. isinglass,

CHRYROPHRYS.—Several species, Kharvat; not very abundant.

PTEROIS RUSSELLI, Kombada (cock-fish).—Not abundant nor valuable, but remarkable for its beautiful colours; caught in the offing.

POLYNEMUS PLEBEICUS, Ravas.—Caught in the offing, on the reefs, and in the estuaries; common, but seldom taken in large numbers; is very good eating and keeps well. P. paradiseus, the mango-fish of Calcutta, is known, but not common. It is called chela, a name meaning the pupil of an ascetic, what one might call an apprentice gosai. It is curious that a similar name tapasvi or a penitent is applied to this genus in Bengal.

P. SEXFILIS, Shendva or Dara.

SCICENA. — Several species, S. miles Tapla, S. osseus Dhomi, S. sina Gul, S. glaucus Gomberi; common; chiefly caught in the offing: fair eating, valuable for their isinglass; grow to a great size: specimens of 20 and 3O lbs. weight are not uncommon.

HISTIOPHORUS BREVIROSTRIS, Mar Masa (striking fish}. —Not common; sometimes caught in the offing. This is the true Sword fish.

TRICHIRURUS MUTICUS, Vagati.—Very common and important, as it dries easily in the sun; caught mostly in the offing but also inshore and may be seen playing on the surface in calms in great numbers.

CARANX —Many species, but the only species taken in large numbers is C. kurra, Vaghada, which is very common both in the offing and along shore; a net is rarely hauled that does not contain some. It does not seem to pass far up the estuaries. It is a coarse little fish, but valuable as easily dried.

PSETTIUS FALCIFORMIS, Halva.—Common, P. argenteus, Kovala. TRACHYNOTUS.—Two species; Dangul, not common.

STROMATEUS SINENSIS. — Sizbu Sarga, S. cinercus, surga.—The well known pomfrets, caught in the oifing and along the shore; less common in the estuaries.

SCOMBER; MICROLEPIDOTUS, Vaghada (but distinguished from Caranx kurra).—Common in vast shoals both in the offing and along shore; but does not ascend the estuaries. Excellent eating fresh 'and very largely dried. The Scombride are often caught far out at sea with the casting net, as they play on the surface; also in the trammel: and the present species on the shore with Seines. The large Scombride; Sur Mahi (or seer fish of Europeans are only caught in the offing. It is curious that they are never caught here, as they, are everywhere else, by spinning with a bright bait.

CYBIUM KUHLII, Tovar.- Not uncommon.

ECHINEIS NAVCRATES, Sakala, E. albescens, Luchung, -Not uncommon but of no value. Found both inshore and in the offing, not in estuaries.

SILLAGO SIHAMA, Murdi,, Lady-fish or Madras whiting,-Common on sandy shores; very good eating.

PERIOPTHALMUS AND BOLEOPTHALMUS. — Several species. Those which frequent clear water and rock-pools are called kharva, the mud species nivte. The former are plentiful on reefs and rocky shores, the latter literally swarm in all the muddy estuaries. They are not bad eating, even for men; and furnish most of the subsistence of the paddy birds on the creeks.

MUGIL. — Several species; Bhui, very common inshore and in the estuaries; and good eating.

M. CEUR, Thoda, — Very common inshore and in the estuaries, and good eating.

The PLEURONECTIDCE do not come much to market on the Konkan coast; small soles are caught by the women and children, at low water, along the shore.

PLOTOSUS (Arab Canius) Kalan. — Not uncommon on reefs; their spines Arab are much dreaded.

ARIUS, Shingara.—The fry of one species swarm along the coast and in the estuaries. They are not valued.

SAURIDA.—One species not uncommon; called Chor Bhombil or " false Bombay duck."

HARPODON NEHEREUS, Bhombil, Bombay duck. — Very common at times ; coming and going in vast shoals, chiefly caught in the offing. One of the most important fish of this coast, taking almost the place that belongs at home to the herring.

BELONE STRONGYLURUS, Vane.—Common in the offing and on sandy shores',

HEMRIRAMPHUS XANTHOPTERUS, Toli,—Very common both in the offing and on sandy shores. The seine is never hauled without taking some.

EXOCCETUS, Chiri —Very rare.

ENGRAULIS HAMILTONI, Kati. — Common on sandy shores and in the offing.

COILIA DUSSUMICRI, Mandil.—Very common on sandy shores and in the offing.

CLUPEA LONGICEPS, Niv.—Comes in great shoals. Chiefly caught with the seine on sandy shores. Is particularly good to eat.

CLUPEA TLISHA, Palla, — Not uncommon all along the coast; but does not ascend any river south of the Tapti; nor is the fish apparently in good condition when taken here.

CHANOS SALMONEUS, Kedi " milk-fish."—Not uncommon; a poor fish here; though much esteemed lower down the coast.

CHIROCENTRUS DORAB, Karli.—Very common; valuable as easily dried.

MURCENA PSEUDOTHYRSOIDEA, Isar.—Very common on reefs. Its bite is much dreaded, and it is never eaten by natives.

TRIACANTHUS.—Two species. Ghora, not common, not eaten.

TETRODON, Ken.—Numerous species and very common; considered unwholesome and never eaten. The little boys amuse themselves by making the Tetrodons puff 'themselves out and then bursting them, as children at home do with paper bags.

SHARKS are very numerous, especially species of Carcharias and Zygoena but are not feared by the fishermen. They are little fished for with hooks, and large specimens are apt to break through the nets. They are eaten; and their fins, with those of a Pristis (Sonala) and Rhinobatus granulatus (Lanja), which are common, are valuable for export to China. Both the saw fish and the Lanja are very common in the offing, and small specimens of the former ascend estuaries even above salt water.

RHYNCHOBATUS.—-Uncommon.

Various Stingrays are common and known generally as Phakate. Their wings are eaten, as at home. Pretty large specimens of all the Rajidoe seem to come close inshora (The large sharks do not).

One small unarmed Ray, Platyrhina (?), is common inshore; it is called Hanvantia, monkey-fish, and is eaten.

ASTRAPE DIPTERYGIA, the Electric Ray (Gingina) is not common. When caught it is kept alive as long as possible and used for playing practical jokes with; it is not eaten.

The lower animals preying Upon fish in the estuaries and along the shore are much the same as in Thana. Gulls and terns are numerous, though by no means so abundant as in the North Atlantic. The greybacked sea eagle and osprey are also most common on the coast. The ringtailed eagle, on the other hand, is rare there, and though the herons fish in salt water none of the storks do so; nor to my knowledge does the pelican. Even the cormorants are not as abundant as on inland waters. The Indian Kingfisher, Alcedo bengalensis, is very common on rocky shores, feeding in pools left by the tide. The Pied Kingfisher, Ceryla rudie is found on the creeks. None of the others affect salt water.

A marine porpoise is very common and ascends creeks with the tide, doing great damage to nets by tearing fish out of them. It is seldom caught. No other cetacean is common, but whales (Balcenoptera) are not unknown, and occasionally get stranded.

The fisheries are uncontrolled by law except as to the planting of stakes in navigable waters. There is no reason to suppose that the stock offish is deteriorating; but the industry is crippled by the high price of salt. Dr. Day's inquiries showed that Sind, the Portuguese territory, and other places where salt was cheap were practically monopolising the trade in salt fish. Now that salt is as highly taxed throughout India as in the Konkan, it is possible that the trade may slowly revive; at present it is not flourishing.