HISTORY OF THE PRINCIPAL PEARL BANKS. 23 



found, which yielded the small fishery on the North Modragam in 1877. In 1868, 

 and again in 1872. quite young oysters were seen in the neighbourhood of the 

 Modragams, but these came to nothing. Deposits of spat on weeds must always, in 

 the nature of things, be of veiy uncertain value. A little extra wind or current in a 

 particular week may drift the weeds with their precious burden on to unsuitable 

 ground or out of the pearl-bank district. 



Even if the weeds remain till they rot or the young oysters leave them, the exact 

 nature of the bottom, and the presence of culch or suitable hard objects, may 

 determine whether the spat will be overwhelmed in shifting sand or will start a fresh 

 bed of oysters. No special causes, then, are required to account for the disappearance 

 of weed and spat in its younger stages. 



After the fishery of 1877 comes an interval of 10 years, the next fishery being in 

 1887. That must not be taken as implying that during that time the ground was in 

 any way changed in its nature or unsuitable for oyster growth. Two things are 

 necessary for a successful bed of oysters: first, the suitable ground, and, secondly, a 

 supply of spat ; and if an area has been fished out, as the North Modragam was in 

 1877, and no other adult oysters are present in the neighbourhood, it is easy to 

 understand that no spat will be forthcoming, and that suitable ground may, if left to 

 unaided nature, lie unoccupied for a series of years until, through some accident of 

 winds and tides, or the slow migration of parent oysters, a deposit of spat is again 

 brought into the region. This must have happened in the Modragams in the summer 

 or autumn of 1883, as in March, 1885, oysters 18 months old were found plentiful, 

 but being devastated by Kays. They were still fairly abundant the following year, 

 but in 1887 the loss of oysters was becoming so serious that the north bank was 

 fished at once and yielded nearly 9,000,000, which brought in over 100,000 rupees. 

 In the following year, 1888, the few millions that remained on both banks were 

 fished. On this as on several other occasions difficulties, delay, and loss of oysters 

 were caused by the mixture of fishable old with much younger ones. This is, 

 perhaps, inseparable from the method of fishing by means of native divers, but it is 

 probable that if the oysters were dredged up in bulk, old and young together, from a 

 steamer, most of the young could be separated rapidly by hand on board and thrown 

 back before leaving the "paar" without excessive work, undue delay, or much 

 sacrifice of the young oysters. The prospects of a fishery next year are good. 



III. PERIYA PAAR KERRAI. 



The relation of this small northern paar to the great Cheval district is seen in 

 fig. 3, on p. 14, and its leading physical and biological characters will be found noted 

 in Part I. at p. 108. The fishery record is as follows : 



Mar., 1802. Oysters 4 to 5 years old. 



Oct., 1802. 4| to 5| years old, many dead shells. 



Mar., 1804. Fishery. 



