Tame Fish.—In the neighbourhood of Tavoy are two small eurrentle,ss basins in the Pagaya river, at the foot of pagoda-crowned precipices, 100 to 200 feet high. The fish, a species of barbel (Barbus Mortonius), are held sacred to the pagodas by the Buddhists, and come in shoals for rice thrown to them by passers-by, as fearless of man as of the barking deer that drink their waters. Mr. IIodgson mentions a similar tamene.ss amongst the large gold-fish at Japan, which almost rose from their natural element to gasp and gasp, uith open mouths, at the bread, biscuit, or cake which -his little girl was half afraid to offer them (Hodgson's Nagasaki, p. 75). Dr. Oldham also tells us that in the middle of the Irawadi, about 30 miles above the town of Tsengoo, and opposite the small village of Thika-dan, on nearing the island, the headman in the boat shouted out Tet-tet tet-tet I saying he was calling the fish. The boat was soon surrounded with about fifty large fish, some three or four feet long, a kind of blunt-nosed, broad-mouthed dog-fisli. In one group, which he studied more than others, there were ten. These were at one side of the boat ; nearly half their bodies protruded vertically from the water, their mouths all gaping wide. The boatmen were feeding them with some of tho rice prepared for their own dinners, by throwing little pellets down the throats of the fish. Each fish, as it got something to eat, sank, and, having swallowed the portion, ainie back to the boat-side for more. The men continued occasionally their ery of Tet-tet-tet I and, putting their hands over the gunwale of the boat, stroked down the fish on the back precisely as they would stroke a dog. This was kept up for nearly half an hour, moving the boat slightly about, and invariably the fish came at call, and were fed as before. The only effect which the stroking down or patting on the back seemed to have, was to cause them to gape still wider for their foocL The fish are found in the deep pool formed at the back of the island, by the two currents meeting round its sides, and the phoungyes aro in the habit of feeding them daily. It is regarded by the Burmans as quite a sight, which the people come from great distances to see, as well a.s to visit the pagoda, which is very ancient and much venerated. During an annual March festival, it is not unusual for the visitors to take the fish into their boats, and gild their backs with gold-leaf, as they do in the ordinary way to pagodas; and Mr. Oldham observed remains of tho gilding visible on one of the fish. Ile wished to take ono of the fish away, but refrained, as the people seem to regard the act as aacrilege (Mr. Oldham, in Yule's Embassy).
Sacred Fish.—Tho Hindu. races, who worehip, in. addition to the worka of their own hands, so many varied products, and so large a number of manunals and reptiles, do not, seemingly, worship fish. In their religion the Matsya Avatara is the fish incarnation of Vishnu, in which he preserves a man named Menu, with the seeds of all things, in an ark during the deluge. It is the Aryan Ilindu tradition of the flood of Noah. A tank or pond with all ita contents, may, however, with the Hindus be devoted to a deity ; and Colonel Tod mentions that when, one day, he had thrown his net into a lake, which abounded with a variety of fish, his pastime was interrupted by a mesaage from the regent, Selim Singh, to tell Captain Tod that Kotah and all around it aro at his disposal, but these fish belong to Kaniya.' On which, of course, he immediately desisted, and the fish wero returned to the safeguard of the deity. In such sacred tanks fish will feed from the hand ; and in the Mahanadi, where it is 3 miles broad, he tells us (Tmvels, p. 9) fish will follow for miles for a little burnt rice. The amphibious snake-head fish (Ophiocephalus amphibeus) occurs in the fresh waters of Burma, but the nativez regard them with superstitious awe, and do not eat them.
They have a legend that they were formerly men, changed into fish for their sins ; and the Pwo Karen of Tavoy say that if people eat them they will be transformed into lions. The boura ehang, a fi.sh of Bhutan, another Ophiocephaluz, is be lieved by the natives to fall from heaven, from the circumstance of its being found after rain far from the water.
Flat-fzshes, when very young, swim in a similar way to other fishes, with their dorsal fins above, their anal fin below them, and possessing an eye on either side of the head. As they grow older, this erect position become,s lost, their sides become their upper and lower surfaces, and both eyes are on the superior or coloured side of the body. The adult, when at rest or swimming, usually keeps near the bottom of the water? and pro gre,sses by means of a sort of undulating motion of the whole body, and of the unpaired fins. The bodies of these fish are broad, fiat, and margined in almost their entire extent by the dorsal, caudal, aud anal fins ; while not only the muscles, but the skin, the gills, gill-covers, and even the pectoral fin-rays, are less developed on the blind than on the coloured side,—the -mouth also being, as it were, bent round to this eye less side, towards which the anterior part of the face seems to be twisted. It had been known from a very early ago that these fishes, when first emerging from the ova, and while in a pellucid condition, have an eye on either aide of the head; that by degrees the eye, on what eventually will be the eyeless side, becomes depressed, while at the same time R dark spot appears on the opposite side of the head, so that the fish almost seems to possess three eyes. Double fishes have been observed in flounders, turbot, plaice, soles, etc., and they are seen to swim vertically, and to be more frequently found nearer the surface of the water than those which progress iu a normal manner. These double flat-fishes are held iu greater estimation for the table than others which have an uncoloured as well as a coloured side. There are albinos, uncoloured or nearly white on both sides, but still retaining their normal forte, but in some which have been carefully examined, no sexual parts could be detected.
Fish is largely partaken of by the Hindu women of Bengal, whilst unmarried or married, but a widow never partakes of it, and the 11th or ekadasi of the increasing moon is a day of close fast to a widow.
The names of fah have been given by people from their outward forms and habits, as bird fish ; parrot, porcupine, scorpion, frog, and toad fish ; pilot fish; rudder, fan, or sail, and sailor fish; angler fish and archer fish; sucking fish, doctor fish; gilt head, black, blue, and yellow fish ; glass eel, gold and silver fish, file and pipe fish, sword fish, saw fish, flying fish ; climbing, walking fish ; devil fish, sea dragon, and sun fish ; transparent sole, lumi nous shark, pretty fish, albicore, bonito, tunny. The gold fish of China is a species of carp, Camssius auratus. The leather jacket or file fish is a, species of the genus Balistes of the South Seas, Andamans, etc. The fan fish, called also sail fish, is said to raise the dorsal fin like a fan, and employ it as a sail. Its dorsal fin is 31 to 4 feet long, and the fan fish 10 to 14 feet long. Its colour when in the water is a beautiful purple and green, with silvery belly, and displaying a rich variety of brilliant colours. The angler fish, the fishing frog, and the sea-devil are species of the family Lophiadm, but are not of Asia ; the fighting fish of Siam is the Macropodius pugnax, and the glass eel is a species of the Lepto cephalidaz.