THE GREAT PEARL FISHERY OF 1905. 



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Fig. 1. Sketch-plan of the Cheval and Modragam paars, showing the distribution of pearl oysters in 

 November, 1904. Scale: Half an inch to one nautical mile. The broken line surrounds the areas 

 covered with spat a few months old, the dotted areas are those with oysters about 3 years old, the 

 solid black indicates those beds of oysters over 5 years old. 



east Cheval. 

 follows : 



The oysters on the banks in question were then estimated to be as 



Paar. 



South Modragam 



North Modragam 



South-west Cheval 



Mid-east and South-central Cheval 



South Cheval 



South-east Cheval 



Of these, the oysters on the two Modragam paars were thought to be unhealthy 

 and liable to die off; those on the South-west Cheval were very old and clearly had 

 to be secured at once or not at all ; and those on the Mid-east and South-central 

 Cheval were apparently being smothered by young oysters. Consequently the 

 recommendation was that these forty-three million oysters should be fished first, 



b 



