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FISH AND GAME.

A trade distinct from that of ordinary fish curing is the
preparation for the Chinese market of dried sharks’ fins. In,
this article an extensive trade is done in the N orthern
Province, less, however, in recent years than formerly.
Thus the exports for the two years 1900 and 1901 were
collectively but of the value of Rs. 26,528, as against Rs. 30,398
in 1891 and Rs. 27,353 in 1892. Last year, 1903, export
amounted to Rs. 17,523.
Among the most valued of the fishes commonly taken are
the seer (Cybium gutlatum), a huge mackerel with flesh
firm and white, mullet, sea-pike, bonitos, bream, sword-fish,
and sharks, together with rays of many species, some of which
often attain huge dimensions, fourteen feet from margin to
margin across the body being recorded. Immense shoals of
sardines and of “ whitebait frequent the coast at periodical
seasons, and are caught sometimes by means of large seines.
sometimes by means of the throw or casting net. ;
Other “fish” sent to market comprise turtle, dugong,
crawfish (locally known as lobster), and a variety of prawns
and crabs.
Turtles are taken chiefly in the neighbourhood of Hambanfota
 in the south and in the waters of the Jaffna peninsula
in the north. The usual modes of capture are either by
means of large nets or by the use of a rude but effective
harpoon.
The Mannar District occasionally supplies dugong, which
resort to the warm shallows of that locality to feed upon the
abounding sea grass.
Crabs and crawfish of excellent quality are taken locally in
some abundance in net traps of peculiar construction, differing
 utterly from the European idea of wicker lobster traps.
A number of these when baited and placed in position are
kept continuously in view by the fisherman, who hauls up
to examine whenever the agitation of a float signals interference
 with the bait.
On rocky parts of the coast the swiftly scurrying rock-crabs
may sometimes be seen captured for bait by men using a
tiny noose formed of a single coir fibre adjusted upon the
slender tip of a fishing rod made from the highly elastic
midrib of a leaf of the kitul palm. Cautiously the angler
stalks his prey; when the crab is within striking distance
the noose descends silently, the crab not really alarmed puts
up an inquiring claw, whereon the noose slips suddenly, and
lo! the crab is swung through the air into the fisher’s
hand,
Another rare form of angling is practised at Galle. There:
shoals of small fish so abound at times that crowds of men.