HI8T0EY OF THE PRINCIPAL PEARL BANKS. 29 



It' we include " the paar near the Isle of Cardieu, off Karativo Island," as recorded 

 in L832, we have four fisheries in all the other three heing of more recent date 

 (1889-91). A greal gap, however, exists in the records from 1832 to 1863 so it 

 is possible thai this, like the neighbouring Muttuvaratu Paar. was lost sight of or 

 neglected for some time. 



It is evident that spat has appeared ou the bank from time to time three times 

 between 1864 and 1870 and iu all probability the area is as good for rearing as the 

 Muttuvaratu Paar, and as likely t<> yield fisheries. I attach no importance to spal 

 "on weed" disappearing. At that stage it is too uncertain and too much at the 

 mercy of the winds and waves to be regarded as more than a possible source of 

 supply. Besides if the weed be carried away from one paar it may drift on to 

 another, and so is not necessarily lost, although it may he lost sight of. 



The oysters fished in November, 1889, must have been those that were 18 months 

 old in 1886, and if so, the observation of May, 1887, that the oysters were gone from 

 the fishing ground of 1832 must have been erroneous, unless it be that the oysters 

 shifted theh ground, were temporarily lost, and were found again in 1889. 



A large deposit of young oysters must have appeared in the summer and autumn 

 of 1900. It was surveyed in March, 1901, and again in April, 1902, when it occupied 

 a still larger area. This increase in area may have been due to spreading of the 

 oysters, or more likely to differences in the areas examined at the two inspections. 

 It is seldom that successive inspection areas closely agree in position it being 

 practically impossible to place the inspection vessel on the same bearings at successive 

 inspections. 



In the following spring, however, Mr. Hornell's inspection showed that these 

 oysters had nearly all gone, and in March, 1904, the bank was practically bare again. 

 If there is no mistake in the locality, and the oysters have not been shifted to some 

 adjoining ground, this is a disappointing case of a bed which ought to have yielded a 

 good fishery, tailing after it seemed to be well established. This paar, it must be 

 remembered, is just on the edge of the deep water, exposed to currents, and therefore 

 in a somewhat precarious condition. The loss of these oysters was very probably due 

 to monsoon currents in the summer and autumn of 1902. 



VIII. MUTTUVARATU PAAR. 



An account of the leading physical and biological characters of this important bank 

 was given in Part I., at p. 114. The fishery record is as follows : 



Dec, 1820. Oysters, 1 year old, on rock very thick. 

 Mar., 1826. Quantities of large oysters. 



1827. Plenty of old oysters. 



* * * * * # 



- 1886.-27,000,000 oysters 18 months old. 



