Gabit.--A Bombay fishing caste returned at the census, 1901. To Malpe in the South Canara district, during the fishing season, come fishermen with a flotilla of keeled and outrigged sailing boats from Ratnagiri in the Bombay Presidency. Hither also come fishermen from Goa. The reasons given by the Ratnagiri fishermen for coming southward are that fish are not so abundant off their own coast, competition is keener, and salt more expensive. Moreover, the crystals of Bombay salt are too large for successful curing, and "do not agree with the fish, of which the flesh is turned black." If, they said contemptuously, they were to sun-dry fish by the local method, their people would laugh at them for bringing back, not fish, but dried cow-dung for fuel. The Ratnagiri boats go well out of sight of land to the fishing ground, where they catch seir, pomfret, cat-fish (Arius), and other big fish near the surface, and sharks in deeper water. If the fishing is not good near Malpe, they may go south as far as Mangalore. To the Ratnagiri fishermen the seir (Cybium) is the most valuable and lucrative fish. Under existing arrangements, by which clashing of interests is avoided, the fishery at Malpe is divided into two zones, viz., the deep sea fished by the large Ratnagiri boats, and the shallow littoral water by the smaller local and Goa boats. Gadaba.--The Gadabas are a tribe of agriculturists, coolies, and hunters in the Vizagapatam district. Hunting is said to be gradually decreasing, as many of the forests are now preserved, and shooting without a license is forbidden. Men sometimes occupy themselves in felling trees, catching birds and hares, and tracking and beating game for sportsmen. The Gadabas are also employed as bearers in the hills, and carry palanquins. There is a settlement of them on the main road between Sembliguda and Koraput, in a village where they are said to have been settled by a former Raja expressly for such service. It is said that the Gadabas will not touch a horse, possibly because they are palanquin-bearers, and have the same objection to the rival animal that a cabman has for a motor-car. There is a tradition that the tribe owes its name to the fact that its ancestors emigrated from the banks of the Godabari (Godavari) river, and settled at Nandapur, the former capital of the Rajas of Jeypore. The Gadabas have a language of their own, of which a vocabulary is given in the Vizagapatam Manual. This language is included by Mr. G. A. Grierson [127] in the Munda linguistic family.