Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/76

MOGER A few years ago, the nets were cut to pieces, and thrown into the sea, as a protest against their employment.A free fight ensued, with the result that nineteen individuals were sentenced to a fine of fifty rupees, and three months' imprisonment. In connection with my inspections of fisheries, the following quaint official report was submitted. " The Mogers about the town of Udipi are bound to supply the revenue and magisterial establishment of the town early in the morning every day a number of fishes strung to a piece of rope. The custom was originated by a Tahsildar (Native revenue officer)about twenty years ago, when the Tahsildar wielded the powers of the magistrate and the revenue officer, and was more than a tyrant, if he so liked — when rich and poor would tremble at the name of an unscrupulous Tahsildar. The Tahsildar is divested of his magisterial powers, and to the law-abiding and punctual is not more harmful than the dormouse. But the custom continues, and the official, who, of all men, can afford to pay for what he eats, enjoys the privileges akin to those of the time of Louis XIV's court, and the poor fisherman has to toil by night to supply the rich official's table with a delicious dish about gratis." A curious custom at Cannanore in Malabar may be incidentally referred to. Writing in 1873, Dr. Francis Day states* that " at Cannanore, the Rajah's cat appears to be exercising a deleterious influence on one branch at least of the fishing, viz., that for sharks. It appears that, in olden times, one fish daily was taken from each boat as a perquisite for the Rajah's cat, or the poocha meen (cat fish) collection.The cats apparently have not augmented so much as the fishing boats, so this has been commuted into a