Domestic Animals

The returns of Domestic Animals for 1880-81 show 51,848 oxen, 40,632 cows, 9,811 buffaloes, 496 horses, 15,574 sheep and goats, and seventy-five asses. Exclusive of houses, asses, sheep and goats, this gives for each village an average of about 150 head of cattle. Among these there are generally many worn-out buffaloes, cows, and bullocks, though of late the proportion of useless animals is said have become smaller, as few but risk husbandmen scruple to ispose of their worn-out cattle to the Lutcher.

During the early months of the rainy season (June-September), village cattle, except plough bullocks, are usually sent in the morning to the village grazing land, gairan, and brought back at night to the shelter of their stalls. In September, when the rain is lighter and the climate less trying and when there is no field work or carting, the cattle are sent to the uplands and hill-sides that are found within a few miles of almost aft Kolaba villages. Here they stay for two or three months (October-December), each family's stock of cattle being tended by a servant or young boy, who live in small huts while the cattle pass the night in an unroofed pen. Every evening the cows and she-buffaloes are milked, and the milk is sent to the village, where, as much as can be spared is made into clarified butter and sold either to the villagers or to Gujarat Vanis, Brahmans, and other travelling butter-dealers. In November and December, when the rice fields are clear and dry, the carting season begins and the working bullocks are brought back to the village. As the hill-sides grow bare, the cows and buffaloes follow, and, for the rest of the season, they are allowed to wander about the fields picking what they lad during the day, and at night brought back to their stalls. Towards the end of the hot weather most of them grow very thin, and, getting little except a few handfuls of straw, stubble, or rice husks are, before the rain falls, little better than skeletons. They do not recover condition till after they have fed on the new grass for some weeks, and the sudden change from starving to rich feeding often causes outbreaks of cattle disease.

In different parts of the district, chiefly on the flat tops of the Nagothna and Alibag hills, are settlements of professional herdsmen of the Dhangar and Gavli castes. Their cattle, both buffaloes and cows, spend the whole year on the hills, sheltered during the rains in rough sheds, and, in the cool and hot months, moved to places where water and shade are easily found.

Oxen.

Except a few traders and large landowners who have Gujarat bullocks, almost all the oxen of the district are of the local breed. Though hardy, active, and neatly made, most of them are poor, small, and weak compared with Deccan and Gujarat bullocks. No attention is paid to breeding. Most villages hare two or three balls, neither specially chosen for strength nor specially cared for. From among the calves the husbandman generally chooses or buys a likely young male, and, taking him home, makes a net of him and looks for another to match him. They are allowed to graze near the house during the day, and at night have a bundle of good grass. Scraps of food and rice husks are carefully put aside for them; and they are occasionally given handfuls of green gram, udid, or some other grain. At four years old they are broken to the yoke, and in their fifth year they are castrated ami either kept for ploughing or sold to traders or carriers. [Young bulls are generally castrated in September. The animal's legs are tied together and he is thrown on the ground, and his testicles after being well rubbed with butter, are laid on a long smooth wooden roller and gently crushed with a tanner's pestle. The operation lasts for about half an hour. The art of castrating bullock's is known to, or at least is practised only by Mangs.] In ploughing and carting only one pair of bullocks is used. In one day a good pair will draw a cartload of seven hundredweights about twenty miles. The cost of a good pair varies from £5 to £6 (Rs. 50- Rs. 60), and of a second class pair from £2 to £3 (Rs. 20-Rs. 30). A bullock works for about seven seasons from his fourth to his eleventh year. For five years more he goes on, still of some use, gradually growing weaker and less healthy, till he is sold to the butcher, or, if his owner is well-to-do, he enjoys a year or two of idleness, and dies. A husbandman's bullock costs little to feed. During the early months of the rains, when he has hard field work and the climate is trying, he gets green grass, and, besides the grass, about two pounds a day of oil cake at a monthly cost of not move than 2s. (Re. 1). In July, when their field work is over, the plough bullocks are allowed to graze with the rest of the village cattle, and, in September, go with them to the hills. They stay in the bills till November, when they are brought back to the villages, and, for the rest of the fair season, except that they get a little straw when the day's carting or ploughing is over, are left to pick what they can. Town carriers' and traders' bullocks, besides grass or straw, have a daily allowances of oil cakes and pulse, or a mixture of coarse rice and pulse. The monthly cost of keeping a town bullock varies, in Alibag and the larger towns, from 12s. to 16s. (Rs. 6 - Rs. 8), and, in outlying parts, from 10s. to 14s. (Rs. 5 - Rs. 7).

Cows.

Cows are returned at a total of 40,632. A good cow is worth from £2 to £3 (Rs. 20-Rs.30), and a second class cow from £1.4s. to £2 (Rs. 12 - Rs. 20). A heifer has her first calf when four years old, and for about twelve years continues to bear every other year. About sixteen she becomes barren and is either sold to the butcher or left to herd with the village cattle. Receiving no help, except a few handfuls of straw or stubble in the hot season, she soon loses strength and seldom lives more than two or three years. When a cow calves she is generally fed for three days on wheat, raw sugar, the white of the cocoanut and black pepper. Cows are milked in the morning and evening. An ordinary cow will, for three months after calving, yield four pounds of milk a day ; for the nest six months she will yield three pounds and for the next four about two pounds till the supply gradually ceases. Except when grazing on the hills, cows, when in milk, get every night about a pound of oil cake and tur husks and a bundle of grass. When not in milk the oil cake and pulse are stopped and the bundle of grass made smaller. To a husbandman the monthly cost of a cow's keep is not more than 2s. (Re. 1). Town cows get grass and oil cake all the year round at a monthly cost of about 7s. (Rs. 3-8). Cow's milk, especially for young children, is more highly prized than buffalo's milk. But the quantity is small and it is seldom kept separate. If a town cow dies leaving a calf less than two years old, the calf is generally given to a husbandman to rear. If it is a male calf he keeps it till it is four years old, works it for three years, and then sends it to its owner. If it is a heifer the husbandman waits till she has had two calves and then returns her to the owner with the second calf, keeping the first for himself.

Buffaloes.

Buffaloes numbered 39,811 head, 22,648 of them miles and 17,163 females. All are of the local breed, smaller, but blacker and smoother-skinned than those of the Deccan and Gujarat. In the larger towns Dhangars and Gavlis keep a stout healthy well-fed hull buffalo for whose services, they are paid 1s. (as. 8). Most villages have a few bull buffaloes who herd with the village cattle, and no care is taken that they should be either specially well made or well fed. Except those kept for breeding, male buffaloes, in their fifth year, are castrated and used either in ploughing or levelling fields, drawing stone or timber carts, or in dragging timber in the forests. A good male buffalo is worth from £3 to £4 (Rs. 30-Rs. 40). Female buffaloes are much more valuable than males. A first class cow buffalo costs from £5 to £8 (Rs. 50-Rs. 80), a second class animal from £3 to £4 (Rs. 30-Rs. 40), and a poor animal from £1 10s. to £2 (Rs. 15 - Rs. 20). A cow buffalo has her first calf generally in her fifth year. She calves every third year and seldom lives to be more than twenty. After the second or third calf she yields from twelve to sixteen pounds of milk a day and at other times about eight pounds. A buffalo's monthly yield of clarified butter is estimated to be worth about 8s. (Rs. 4). Except that a buffalo requires about twice as much food, the arrangements for her feeding and grazing are the same as those for a cow.

Sheep.

Sheep and Goats are returned at 15,574. The rainy season is too damp for sheep. A few are reared in the district but almost the whole of them come from the Deccan. Dhangars and professional shepherds coming, some of them in October and the rest in December, bring their women and generally travel in bands of several families. They camp in the fields under rough cloths stretched over stakes, and move from place to place wherever sheep are in demand. At night the sheep are crowded into a pen fenced with thorns, and so highly is their manure prized, that, for one night of a flock of twenty sheep, the owner of the field pays from twelve to sixteen pounds (3 - 4 adholis) of rice, or from 1s. to 2s. (as. 8- Re. 1) in cash. In Pen, Alibag, Mahad, and other large towns, there are butchers of the Khatik caste, who do not, as a rule, keep animals in stock, but buy one or two at a time according to the demand. Before the rains set in all the Dhangars find their way back to the Deccan.

Goats.

Goats are kept in small numbers, chiefly by Musalmans, Marathas, Kumbhars, Kathkaris, Chambhars, and Mhars, who are too poor to have cows. They are reared chiefly for their milk, and are occasionally eaten on high days. During the rains they graze with the village cattle, and, after the crops nave been reaped, in the fields, At nights they are generally housed in sheds. In her second year a she-goat has generally two or three, but sometimes only one and occasionally as many as four kids. As they generally brouse on tree leaves the keep of a goat costs nothing. A she-goat is worth from 6s. to 10s. (Rs. 3 - Rs. 5) and a he-goat from 4s. to 6s. (Rs. 2 - Rs. 3). Goat's milk is sometimes given to children suffering from enlarged livers or spleens. It is also rubbed on the hands and feet as a cure for sleeplessness.

Horses.

Horses are returned at 494. Most of them ate more ponies rarely more than twelve hands high. They are brought from the Deccan, sometimes by Dhangars and sometimes by Vanjaris, and vary in value from £2 to £3 (Rs. 20 - Rs. 30). They are ill cared for being generally left to feed themselves as they can.

Asses.

Asses are returned at 75. Beldars, travelling stone masons, and Ghisadis, wandering tinkers, keep them as beasts of burden, and, in and about Alibag, washermen use them for carrying clothes. An ass costs about £1 10s. (Rs. 15) and can carry a burden of about 320 pounds (four mans). It is left to pick what it can and costs nothing to keep. Asses' milk is sometimes given to weak puny children.

Pigs.

Pigs, which are not shown in the returns, are reared in very small numbers by native Christians and by the tribe of Vadars or stone masons. The wandering tribe of Bhorpis or rope-dancers also rear and eat pigs.

Dogs.

Except the thin long-haired Charan dog, a sturdy brave animal sometimes brought by Charan salt-dealers, the dogs of the district are all of the ordinary Pariah type. No house is without a cat but there is nothing unusual in the breed. Brahmans and others keep rabbits as pets.

Fowls.

Kunbis, Marathas, Mhars, and Musalmans rear fowls. All are of the ordinary small breed, the large kulam fowl not being known in the district. Some of the fowls are black-boned and others have ruffled feathers. These last are greatly valued, and by Marathas are thought peculiarly grateful offerings to the gods, especially as a sacrifice for the recovery of the sick. [As few people can afford to sacrifice a goat or sheep, large numbers of cocks are offered, The cock must be able to crow and should, it possible, have ruffled feathers.] A hen lays daily for ten or twelve days; she then stops for about a month or six weeks and again begins to lay. These changes are repeated five or six times in the year, the whole number of eggs varying from forty to eighty. Over most of the district, eggs are in good demand for the Pen, Nagothna, Alibag, and Bombay markets, fetching about 3d. (as. 2) a dozen in the country parts and 4½d. (as. 3) in towns. A hen will rear two or three broods a year, each brood varying from eight to ten. Hens have to be guarded from many enemies: their eggs are eaten by rats, mungooses and snakes, and their chickens by kites, crows, and cats. There is a good demand for fowls both locally and for Bombay, the price of a hen varying from 6d. (as. 4) in outlying villages, to 9d. or 1s. (6-8 annas) in towns. Fowls are eaten by Musalmans and Christians, and, among Hindus, by the degraded classes, by Kolis, Gabits, Kunbis, Marathas, Lohars, and Sutars. Of other flesh-eating Hindus, Sonars, Prabhus, Rajputs, and Shenvis do not eat fowls. Ducks are sometimes brought from Bombay; they are seldom reared in the district. They cost about 1s. 6d. (as. 12) each, and are eaten only by Musalmans and Christians.

Wild Animals.

For so hilly and wooded a district Koliba is poorly stocked with game. Two kinds of monkeys are found, the large grey Langur monkey or vanar, Semnopithecus entellus, and the makad, Macacus radiatus, Neither is often met, though both may be seen in most of the deeper forests. The Fruit-eating Bat or Flying Fox, vadvagul, Pteropus medius and several other varieties of bats are common. The Mask Rat, Sorex caerulescens, is common. The Black Bear, asval, Ursus labiatus, is occasionally met on the Sahyadris and is now and then found on the Raygad range. The Indian Otter, ud, Lutra nair, is common in the Mandad creek and probably occurs in most tidal rivers. There are always one or two tigers, vagh, Felis tigris, in the district. The Sagargad range has almost always a tiger, and the forests on the Roha-Hahsan frontier generally hold one or two The Panther, bibla vagh, Felis pardus, is common, but on account of the large amount of cover is seldom found. The Common Jangle Cat, baul, Felis chaus, is often seen in the forests. The Striped Hyaena, taras, Hyaena striata, is perhaps commonest in Mahad. The Civet Cat, kalindra, Viverra malaccensis is rather rare, but the Black Wild Cat, manori, Paradoxura musanga, and the mangus, Herpestes griseus, are found everywhere. Jackals, kolha, Canis aureus, are numerous, and the lndian Fox, kokad, Vulpes bengalensis is sometimes seen, The Red Squirrel, Sciurus olphinstonei, is now and then met in the thickest forests; the Five-Striped Squirrel, gileri or kharkundi, Sciurus palmarum, is common over the whole district. Traces of the Porcupine, sayal, Hystrix leucura, are often found in the forests, but the animals though probably numerous are seldom seen. The Hare, sasa, Lepus nigricollis, is not very plentiful probably owing to the wholesale way in which they are netted by kathkaris and others. The Wild Boar, dukhar, Sus indicus, is found in almost every forest and on almost every till. They are much hunted by the Kathkavis but show no signs of declining in number. Of Deer the sambhar, Rusa aristotelis, is sometimes met in the Roha-Habsan forests, but it is exceedingly rare. The Spotted Deer, chital, Axis maculatus, is a little more common, but is also rare and found only in the Roha-Habsan forests. The Canine Deer or Muntjac, called bhekra by the natives, Cervulus aureus, is not uncommon on the Sahyadris. The Mouse Deer,pisai, Metnimna indica is rarely found. The most common deer is the Four-Horned Antelope also called bhekra, Tetraceros quadricornis. It is found in every forest and on almost every hill.

Snakes.

Snakes are numerous but are of no great variety. The Cobra nag, Naja tripudians, does not seem to cause any great number of deaths. Though not often seen, they are by no means uncommon and for a small reward the villagers will bring one or two every day. They are seldom more than five feet long. Aghya ghomas, Daboia elegans, is another venomous snake, sometimes but not often found in the forests. A black snake locally known as Kandar ghonas also sometimes occurs. The kardar and the aghya qhonas are by some hold to be the same, the kandar being the old and the aghya the young snake. The people believe that the ghonas, bites at night only, and that at whatever hour of the night he was bitten the victim dies just before daybreak. The Phursa, Echis carinata, is very common especially in the fields. A green snake with a broad flat head and short thick tail, locally called Harantol and probably the Trimeresurus crythrnrus, is said by the people to be very venomous. It differs from the Green Tree Snake, Passerita mycterizans, whose head and tail are long and thin. The Manyar, Bungarus, is sometimes found. The bite of all of these snakes is fatal. The cobra, both ghonases the harantol, and the manyar are supposed to cause death within a few hours, while the victim of the phursa's bite may linger for days, blood oosing from every pore. Kunbis state that they know a cure for the bite of the phursa, but the truth of the statement is doubtful. Of other snakes there is the Green Tree snake, saraptoli, Passerita mycterizans, which is always found on trees and is very difficult to distinguish from the leaves. It seems to be specially fond of the cashewnut, Anacardium accidental. Though it is probably harmless the natives consider it dangerous, their idea being that it never bites anywhere but in the head and that its bite is quickly fatal. [In 1771, at the hot springs near Dasgaon, Forbes noticed a long green, snake called a whip snake from its whip-lash forn. According to his account the whip snake hides itself among the tree branches and darts rapidly on the cattle grazing below. On one occasion one of these snakes flew at a bull, and wounding him is the eye throw him into a violent agony. The bull tore up the ground furiously and, foaming at the mouth, died in about half an hour. Oriental Memories, I. 200,] The Dhaman or Ardhcla, Ptyas mucosas, is common, especially in the fields. It is a harmless snake, though the people say that on Sundays its bite is fatal and that it kills cattle by crawling under them or by putting its tail up their nostrils. Its shadow also is thought to be unlucky. For all these reasons, when they have the chance, the natives are careful to kill the dhaman. The Naneti, Lycodon aulicus, is anotner snake which, though harmless, the people believe to be venomous on Sundays. It is very common and appears to be gregarious as five or six are often found together. They live near and not seldom inside of houses. The Black Sand Snake, Eryx johnii, the Red Sand Snake, Gongylophus conicus, and the Water Snake, pandivad, Tropidonotus qumcunciatus, are common.

Game Birds.

Mr. Vidal'a list of Ratnagiri birds published in Volume. X. of the Bombay Gazetteer applies with few changes to kolaba Snipe of four kinds are found all over the district. They are the Pintailed Snipe Gallinago sthenura, the Common Snipe Gallinago gallinaris the Jack Snipe Gallinago gallinula, and the Painted Snipe Rhynchoea bengalensis. Of these the three first are found in the cold weather only and the painted snipe throughout the year. The three cold weather visitants generally come in October and leave in February, though they are sometimes found as late as April. With so large an area under rice, the district is well suited for snipe. They are found in most rice lands, though they lie thickly only in favoured spots. Though the creeks are never entirely without them, Duck are neither common nor of many kinds. The commonest sorts are the Whistling Teal, Dendrocygna javanica, and the Common Teal, Querquedula crecca. Of Partridges, both the Painted, Francolinus pictus, and the Grey, Ortigornis pondiceriana, occur. The painted is rare, but in Alibag and Pen the grey is common. A few Grey Quail, Coturnix communis, are occasionally found close to the sea. Their stay in the district seems to be very short. The Rain Quail, Coturnix coromandelica, is not uncommon in Mahad where a fair number may be found by beating the tur fields along the creek. The Button Quail, Turnix dussumicri, is by no means uncommon and the Bustard Quail, Turnix taigoor, is often met, and large coveys of a Bush Quail, believed to be Perdicata asiatica, are always flushed by any one walking among the uplands and bushlands. Of Plovers, the Golden Plover, Charadrius fulvus, is often met in open sandy spots near the sea, and the Stone Plover, Edicnemus scolopax, and the Red Wattled Lapwing, Lobivanellus indicus, are common. The Curlew, Numenius lineatus, is found on the sea shore during the cold and rainy months. Peafowl, Pavo cristatus, the Grey Jungle Fowl, Gailus sonnerati, the Red Spur Fowl, Galloperdix spadiceus, the Blue Rock Pigeon, Columba intermedia, and the Green Pigeon, Crocopus chlorigaster, are common.

Fish.

Owing to the flatness of the country the tide runs so far up the creeks, that the fresh-water fisheries are very restricted and of small value. The small fish that are found in the rivers and streams, and, during the rains, in rice fields and salt pans are chiefly caught in Snares and basket traps known as bokshi, koin, lungdi, and bagla. Hooks, lines, and spears are seldom used in killing fresh-water fish.

During the rains many of the rivers abound with good fish. The bhinsla, like the carp in general shape and taste, has a large toothless mouth and strong scales, and weighs from fifteen to twenty pounds; the potla is like the bhinsla but smaller; the sivra is an excellent fish without scales, has a large mouth with several rows of teeth, and weighs from ten to twelve pounds. On the Raygad-Kal at the Valan pool, in Panderi, about ten miles north-east of Mahad, is a deep hole full of fish of all sizes which are fed by the passers-by. The fish range from about forty pounders to little things the size of one's finger. When they find they have the chance of a feed they crowd to the surface several rows deep. The people never harm them and believe that they cannot be caught or killed. They say that the fish formerly lived in a pool lower down the river, and that the pool suddenly dried and the fish travelled to their present home through a pass in the hills known as the Fishes' Pass, Made Khind.

The sea fisheries especially of the Alibag villages, are of considerable importance. The chief kinds of sea fish [The first number after the scientific name of the fish refers to the plates is Day's Fishes and the second to the Figures in the Plate.] are the pomphelet or saranga, Stromatous cinereus, 53, 3; bamclo or bombil, Harpodon nehafeus, 118,1; gol, Sehena glaucus, 46, 2; pakhat, Trigonuarauk, 194,1; mushi ; shinghali, Macrones chryacus, 99, 3; bvil or bhadvi; ravas, Polynemus; surmai, Cybium guttatum, 56, 4; and halva, Stromatous niger, 53, 4.

Sea-fishing is carried on chiefly by stake-nets. From twelve to twenty miles from land, nearly every bank is covered with stakes made of two or three cocoa or brab palm stems or other wood fastened together with nails, and from forty to a hundred feet long. In November when the stormy weather is over the stakes are towed to sea behind two or three fishing boats. When the bank is reached a rope is passed through a hole in the lower end of the stake, and the ends of the rope are fastened to boats which anchor at a distance. Men in other boats then draw the upper end of the stake out of the water. As the stake becomes upright the lower end is allowed to fall by its own weight. And as soon as the lower and reaches the mud, the rope is drawn through the hole. At high tide two boats, one on each side, are fastened by ropes to the top of the stake, and, as the tide ebbs the weight of the boats forces the point of the stake into the mud. When it has taken firm hold the stake is driven about twelve feet deep by working the boats from side to side. A line of stakes is thus driven in, each stake being about twenty-five feet from the next stake. The nets that are tied to these, stakes are made by the fishermen in their leisare hours, especially during the rains. The twine is the Bombay hemp, san, and the nets are coloured with the bark of the ain, Terminalia tomentosa. The nets are pocket or bag shaped, the mesh varying in size from an inch near the mouth to about a quarter of an inch near the bottom of the pocket. At the turn of the tide the net is drawn up, the fish picked out, and the net turned so as to face the new current. The fishermen often stop from their homes for more than a night at a time. A row of large stakes costs from £20 to £30 (Rs. 200-Rs. 300), and a large not about £10 (Rs. 100). The stakes are drawn out in the latter part of May before the burst of the south-west monsoon, towed to shore, and stowed away. They last from two to three years. The right to fix stakes in certain banks belongs to certain villages who have used the same spot for generations. These rights are well established and never become the subject of dispute, The nets, when not in use, are stored in sheds or in the lofts of huts, and, if carefully used, last from two to three years.

Besides by stake nets, salt water fish are, to a small extent, caught by pocket-shaped nets with meshes very wide near the mouth and gradually growing smaller to the end of the pocket. They are also caught by torch light. A torch is tied to the prow of a fishing boat, and, from the boat, a net is hung in which the fish, as they rise to the light, are caught. Fish are also caught by enclosing, with rough walls, parts of the shore under highwater mark. The fish come in at high water, and, as the tide ebbs, are left within the wall and caught by the fishermen.

Fresh-water fish are never offered for sale as the local markets fere fully supplied with sea fish. After setting apart enough to meet local wants, the sea fish are taken in small boats to Bombay direct from the stakes of Yaraoli, Thal, Mandva, and Revas. Other fishermen, Such as those of Alibag, Navgaon, Akshi, Kural, and Rovdanda take their fish to the neighbouring villages. On reaching the shore the boats are surrounded by fish dealers, chiefly Menan and Khoja Musalmans from Bombay, who buy all the larger fish for the Bombay market. No fish are salted, but mushi, bamelo, and vagli are dried in the sun. They are then sold to the Deccan fish merchants who come to the coast villages to buy. If there are no customers on the spot, the fish are taken to Mahad which is the great local fish mart. From Mahad they are sent to the Deccan in carts and sold at from 2s. to 4s. (Re. 1 - Rs. 2) the thorsand. Such small fish as sardines and shrimps are thrown on the sand to dry, and afterwards under the name of kuta sold as manure.

The fishermen, who are returned at a total strength of about 6800, souls are almost all Son-Kolis and Gabits. The greatest number are found in Pea and the least in Mahad. Most of them follow other callings besides fishing. Of the whole population all but Brahmans and Gujarat Vanis cat fish.