FISHERMEN. On all the sea-coasts of the south and ea.st of Asia, and on the great rivers, the people are fishers. There is something re markable in the circumstance of the fisher races being amongst the earliest and most eager con verts to Christianity in India. so much so as to render it questionable whether it be only an accidental coincidence, or the result of some per manent and predisposing cause. Along the coasts at Madras many became Christians early I indeed, from the southern outskirt of the town at St. Thome to its northern village of Ennore, nearly all the fishermen are Christians of the Romish persuasion. The Koli tribe of fishers in Bombay are nearly all Christians, though they have occa sionally wavered. The Parawa, or fishermen of Cape Comorin, were the earliest proselytes of St. Francis Xavier, and they have still a pride in alluding to the fact that they were the first, as they have since been the most faithful and abid ing, of his converts. It wa,s by the fishermen of Manaar that he was invited to Ceylon in 1544 ; and notwithstanding the martyrdom inflicted by the raja of Jaffna, and the persecution with which they were visited by the Dutch, that dis trict and the adjacent boundary of the Wanny has to the present day been one of the strongholds of the Roman Catholics in Ceylon. It is amongst the Parawa, oifisher caste of the Singhalese that the Roman Catholics have at all thnes been most successful in their efforts to Christianize.
The Zamorin in 1513, sent a deputation to Portugal, and his ambassador, who turned Chris tian, was knighted under the name of ' John of the Cross ' by John On his return to India, he was banished from the Zamorin's court as a renegade. In 1532 he joined the fisherrnen, and headed a deputation of 85 of them to Cochin, soliciting the assistance of the Portuguese against the 3Iahomedans. The whole of the embassy are said to have become converts to Christianity. A Portuguese fleet was sent to their relief, and 20,000 are reported to have immediately consented to be baptized. Ten years subsequently, Xavier instituted a church for these people.
The fishermen race along the Bombay coasts are divided into four great castes, — Wayttree, Son-koli, Dongur-koli, Thankur-koli, over each of which a headman or jemadar presides. One great jemadar or chief rules supreme in the craft over all these fisher castes.
The sea fishermen in most parts of the coasts of India assert that in olden times they were divided into those who captured fish in the deep se,a,, and others who fished from the shore and in the backwaters and creeks ; but in several parts of India more especially in the Madras Presidency, they 'have customs of a patriarchal nature, but which are more strictly observed on the Coro mandel than on the western coast. In Sind there are four divisions of the fishermen caste, each being under its own chief, who is hereditary, and his business is to settle caste disputes and other trifling matters, also to conduct the religious cere monies connected with marriages and deaths. In the Bombay and Madras Presidencies headmen to the fishing castes likewise exist; in some localities they are hereditary, in others elective ; or should there be no headman, matters are laid before cer tain wealthy individuals of their own caste, whoae decision is final. In places where the fishermen are Christians, the priest appears to be appealed to in order to settle disputes.
Among the fishermen of the Peninsula there exist priestly chiefs, two of whom are to be found on the eastern coast, one at Madras, and the other at Cuddalore, the territory of the former stretch ing up the Coromandel coast, while that of the latter reaches towards Cape Comorin. A third is found in South Canara, where he exercises spiritual control over a large district. These chiefs' offices are hereditary ; they receive fees and fines from those of their caste living within their jurisdiction, and they are the final referees in all cases of caste or family disputes. A class of more petty chiefs or hereditary head men only hold sway each over a few villages ; their duties are the same, and some of their fees seem to have to be transmitted to their superior. On one of these headmen dying without heirs, a new one is elected by the people of the caste. Lastly, the fishermen have the elective headman, who is chosen by the residents of a single hamlet ; his duties are to decide disputes, to be present at marriages and religious ceremonies, often to fix the work and assist in certain Government duties ; his emoluments appear to be very trifling.