Fish, as depicted, are large and small. The small ones are dried in the sun without salt and sold by weight in the markets. The large ones are salted like dried cod, but less salt is used, and they are dried for sale. It has an unbearable stench, and is sold for 15 to 20 rupees, or 1.5 pounds when well salted by Christians or Europeans. It is good in this country, but fresh fish cannot be kept for more than 6 or 7 hours without spoiling. At the mouth of the Ganges, large oysters are fished and used to make lime. Oysters are good in stews. Lime is made from a shell called jonquera, which is as long as a finger and pyramid-shaped. Turtles are caught, but their flesh is not good and very oily. Lime is also made from a white mollusc used for betel and for whitewashing houses. From the foot of the fathoms to Balasore, 12 leagues away, fish are caught in the sea in November, December, January and February. On land, on the banks, they stretch their low-tide nets with 4-foot-high stakes in the ground. They attach their nets to these stakes (margin: these nets form an enclosure) when the sea rises 12 feet during high tides. The fish are then found on the shore, where they are caught with nets before the sea recedes. They often catch many different kinds of fish. In Balasore, there are a few shells of different shapes but not in large quantities. There are a few rivers that flow into the Balasore harbour where there are oysters but not in large quantities. In the Ganges, the fishermen's boats are flat, very long and pointed at both ends. called dingue, which can carry a barrel or two at most. The boats used for fishing in the backwaters and in Balasore are called patia. They are shaped like a long chest with raised ends and a large rudder attached to the stern. The boats are very resistant to the sea and waves and can pass over all the breakers. They are about two feet wide, and pilots often board them to reach ships in the harbour because the ships' boats cannot leave the river. There are usually five men in each boat when they go fishing at sea. They have nets that are 80 to 100 fathoms long. The top of the net is lined with calabashes and the bottom of the net is lined with terracotta balls. They stretch the net out on the sea or in the river, let it drift a certain distance with the current or the tide, then pull the net back into the boat where they find their fish attached to the net. There is another type of net called a speduie, which a man throws onto the surface of the water. It has weights at the bottom and tightens to catch the fish it finds. There is another type of net that is made in a fairly large triangle shape, which is placed on a boat stretched out with two poles, then lowered into the water and lifted up again with a counterweight. Small fish are caught with this net. There is yet another net that is dragged behind a
