lves on the
shore, do suffer men for the space of three daies to come and to take as
many of them as they please, and then they return again into the
sea."--_Hakluyt_, vol. ii. p. 57.]

_Poisonous Fishes_.--The sardine has the reputation of being poisonous
at certain seasons, and accidents ascribed to its use are recorded in
all parts of the island. Whole families of fishermen who have partaken
of it have died. Twelve persons in the jail of Chilaw were thus poisoned
about the year 1829; and the deaths of soldiers have repeatedly been
ascribed to the same cause. It is difficult in such instances to say
with certainty whether the fish were in fault; whether there may not
have been a peculiar susceptibility in the condition of the recipients;
or whether the mischief may not have been occasioned by the wilful
administration of poison, or its accidental occurrence in the brass
cooking vessels used by the natives. The popular belief was, however,
deferred to by an order passed by the Governor in Council in February,
1824, which, after reciting that "Whereas it appears by information
conveyed to the Government that at three several periods at Trincomalie
death has been the consequence to several persons from eating the fish
called Sardinia during the months of January and December," enacts that
it shall not be lawful in that district to catch sardines during these
months, under pain of fine and imprisonment. This order is still in
force, but the fishing continues notwithstanding.[1]

[Footnote 1: There are two species of Sardine at Ceylon; the _S.
neohowii_, Val., alluded to above, and the _S. leiogaster_, Val. and
Cuv. xx. 270, which was found by Mr. Reynaud at Trincomalie. It occurs
also off the coast of Java. Another Ceylon fish of the same group, a
Clupea, is known as the "poisonous sprat," the bonito (_Scomber
pelamys?_), the kangewena, or unicorn fish (_Balistes?_), and a number
of others, are more or less in bad repute from the same imputation.]

_Sharks_.--Sharks appear on all parts of the coast, and instances
continually occur of persons being seized by them whilst bathing even in
the harbours of Trincomalie and Colombo. In the Gulf of Manaar they are
taken for the sake of their oil, of which they yield such a quantity
that "shark's oil" is now a recognised export. A trade also exists in
drying their fins, and from the gelatine contained in them, they find a
ready market in China, to which the skin of the basking sh