THE PEARL FISHERY OF L904. 3 



lor whom provision had to he made, and the Inspector left Colombo in the native 

 barque " Mohideen Bux" in tow of the steam dredger. 



On arrival at Marichchukaddi, near the mouth of the Modragam River, the place 

 selected as the centre of the pearl fishery and the site of the camp, on the morning of 

 February 20th, it was found that " no Government divers had arrived. The next 

 day, seven Manaar men having put in an appearance, I resolved that the urgency of 

 immediate inspection was too great to permit waiting longer for the laggards and 

 left at G.40 a.m. to do the best possible with these few divers half the usual 

 complement. The first step was to locate Captain Donnan's sunken tanks marking 

 the ' shoal buoy ' position on the tail of Karativo shoal, and I was so fortunate as to 

 find them within 10 minutes after anchoring on the place where I reckoned them to 

 be according to the bearings of landmarks ashore. After laying down a large beacon 

 buoy, as is usual at the beginning of inspections, I proceeded to take up my first 

 inspection position at the centre of the South-west Cheval Paar." 



Although the banks have been inspected on the previous November, it is always 

 necessary to make an inspection of the beds of oysters which it is proposed to fish 

 immediately before a fishery opens, so that the Inspector may be in a position to 

 mark off the ground and regulate the number of boats and days allotted to particular 

 areas. The method of inspection adopted was that introduced by Captain Donnan 

 (who was Inspector of the banks during our visit in 1902), modified in some details. 

 The essential features are as follows : Three flag-buoys are laid out by the attendant 

 launch or tug-boat in the direction of each cardinal point of the compass, at distances 

 apart of \ mile, the inmost buoys taking their distance from the inspection vessel, 

 which is anchored to serve as a pivot mark in the centre of the circular area to be 

 inspected (see fig. 1, p. 4). 



Four inspection boats (modified whaleboats), each manned by a crew of six, together 

 with three divers and two munducks, under the charge of an experienced coxswain, 

 take up equidistant positions between the ship and the first flag-buoy on the north 

 radial line, and row slowly round the ship, retaining with wonderful accuracy their 

 relative positions the while. At regular intervals the crew rest on their oars to allow 

 the divers opportunity to make descents and bring up oysters if any are present. 

 The result of each dive is reported to the coxswain of the boat, who records 

 the condition of bottom and oysters upon a diagram form with which he is provided. 

 The oysters are retained in the boat for the Inspector to examine. The four 

 boats, having each made a complete circuit, are next ranged in line abreast in the 

 same manner as before, between the j-mile and the J-rnile flag-buoys, and each then 

 makes a second circuit. The day's work is completed by a third and last series of 

 circles, in this case between the buoys distant respectively \ mile and \ mile from 

 the ship. The four boats thus make a total of twelve concentric circuits, each boat 

 making three. The results shown upon the coxswain's diagrams each of which has 

 three concentric circles drawn upon it representing the three circular paths covered 



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