wards, 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.

Seated on the branch of some overhanging tree, while his keen eye scans
the depths below, he watches for a large fish, and as it passes, he
lets fly his arrow with unerring aim, and impales the luckless victim.
Some tribes fish at night, by torchlight, spearing the fish who are
attracted by the light. In Nepaul the bark of the _Hill Sirres_ is
often used to poison a stream or piece of water. Pounded up and thrown
in, it seems to have some uncommon effect on the fish. After water has
been treated in this way, the fish, seemingly quite stupefied, rise to
the surface, on which they float in great numbers, and allow themselves
to be caught. The strangest part of it is that they are perfectly
innocuous as food, notwithstanding this treatment.

Fish forms a very favourite article of diet with both Mussulmans and
Hindoos. Many of the latter take a vow to touch no flesh of any kind.
They are called _Kunthees_ or _Boghuts_, but a _Boghut_ is more of an
ascetic than a _Kunthee_. However, the _Kunthee_ is glad of a fish
dinner when he can get it. They are restricted to no particular sect or
caste, but all who have taken t