parl production. 37 



the "Mel-muttu" or large pearls are grouped as "Ani," "Anatari," " Kalippu," 

 " Kuruval," &c. ; while some of the remaining terms refer to special abnormalities or 

 unusual shapes and colours. 



As may be seen from the valuation form printed below, " Kalippu," " Kuruval," 

 " Pisal," " Kodai " and other inferior classes may be of large size and so occur along 

 with " Ani" and " Anatari" amongst the " Mel " in the 20, 30, 50 and 80 sieves. 



As showing the relative abundance of the three grades of good pearls comprised 

 under the head of " Vadivu," those obtained from the washing of 11,000 four-and-a-half 

 year old oysters from the South-east Cheval Paar in November, 1905, were found to 



be as follows : 



108 pearls of the 100 basket size (weight ll- 3 \ Manchadi) 

 154 200 ( 9f| ) 



253 400 ( 9$ ) 



Total 515 



Finally we print here a sample of the official valuation given in the ' Ceylon 

 Government Gazette,' previous to a fishery, as the result of the examination (by the 

 Inspector, the local Adigar, and three native pearl merchants) of the samples of 

 oysters lifted from the banks during an inspection (see p. 38). 



Kalanchu (corruptly Kalangi) and Manchadi are weights, there being 20 Manchadi 

 (originally the scarlet seed of a plant) of 0*546 gramme each in the Kalanchu, which 

 thus weighs 10*920 grammes. Now the Manchadi has been standardised and is a 

 tabular brass weight of square form. The fractions and multiples represented by the 

 little brass weights commonly employed by the Tamil pearl merchants range from 

 the -^o f a Manchadi to 10 Kalanchu. 



The Chevoe, used in the valuation of the finest pearls, is an imaginary criterion 

 depending partly upon weight and partly upon quality, and the valuers have to 

 estimate how many such chevoe there are in each of the Ani and Anatari grades of 

 pearl in the sample. 



Bombay and Surat merchants as a rule do not employ the brass weights favoured 

 by the Tamil merchants. They prefer beautifully modelled, pear-shaped weights of 

 agate sometimes red, sometimes greyish-white in colour. A rupee weighs approxi- 

 mately 1^ Kalanchu. 



The monetary basis employed in the calculation of values is the Star pagoda, a 

 small plano-convex gold coin that was the standard gold currency in South India 

 less than one hundred years ago. Its nominal value in the calculations made is Us. 3 J. 

 So if Masi-tul be valued at two star pagodas a Kalanchu, this indicates the market 

 value to be Rs. 7 per Kalanchu. It should be noted that although the nominal value 

 of the star pagoda is taken for the purpose of calculation at but Rs. 3^, its intrinsic 

 value as a gold coin at the present rate of exchange is considerably greater, being 

 worth fully Rs. 6 as gold. 



