[xvi] CEYLON PEARL OYSTER REPORT. 



indurated limestone strata of Kayts, near Jaffna, was laid down, principally upon the 

 sandy portion of the South-central Cheval, a region which has never yet yielded a 

 pearl fishery. The quantity contracted for was 180 cubes; unfortunately the 

 contractor experienced such difficulties in obtaining vessels to convey the stone to its 

 destination that he was able to deliver less than half the specified quantity, although 

 I helped him materially by extending the time limit by a week. 



" 112. The stone, on the whole, was satisfactory in quality, and likely to prove a 

 durable cultch material. In size the blocks approximated 3|- in. by 3^ in. by 2^ in., 

 but several consignments contained a proportion of blocks of excessive dimensions, 

 and these I rejected. 



" 113. The total amount laid down was just under 300 tons. Some 40 tons of the 

 friable semi-calcareous sandstone of Kalpitiya was also used. The greater part was 

 deposited on the South-central Cheval, some 20 tons on a sandy patcli near the 

 centre of the South Cheval, and about the same quantity on the north-east quarter 

 of the South Modragam Paar, a locality where there is no outcropping rock on the 

 bottom. Several times towards the end of the fishery I received fragments of this 

 cultch from the divers with young oysters attached to the surface." 



This fishery was phenomenal not only in the number of oysters obtained, but also 

 in the prices that they fetched. While the valuation of the samples taken at the 

 November and February inspections showed a range of from 8 to 24'65 rupees per 

 1000, the oysters at the fishery sold at very much higher prices the lowest being 24 

 and the highest 124 rupees per 1000. The average price over the whole fishery was 

 48 - 89 rupees. Of these oysters sold by the Government, Mr. Lewis states that 

 " India took a hundred times the quantity taken by Ceylon." It is to be hoped that 

 India will not be sorry that it took them. Judging from the probable pearl-yield of 

 these oysters, it is difficult to see how the business can be made to pay at such 

 inflated prices. However, the Bombay pearl merchants, Kilakarai Moormen and 

 Paumben Chetties probably know best what they are about, and the mysteries of the 

 Indian pearl market may justify even more remarkable proceedings than the paying 

 of 124 rupees for oysters valued by the experts at 1270, 27'41, and 31"10 rupees 

 per 1000. 



