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 eating it 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 was not 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 other species of Sardine found at Ceylon besides
the _S. Neohowii_; such as the _S. lineolata_, Cuv. and Val. and the _S.
leiogaster_, Cuv. and Val. xx. 270, which was found by M. 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 (_Thynnus affinis_, Cang.), 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 a recognised export. A trade also exists in drying
their fins, for which, owing to the gelatine contained in them, a ready
market is found in China; whither the skin of the basking shark is also
sent, to be converted, it is said, i