6 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN [VOL. XVI, 



III —HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE PEARL FISHERIES 

 OFF THE MADURA COAST.* 



The well-known lack of the historical faculty among the peoples 

 of India prior to the advent of Muhammadanism involves us in all 

 but utter ignorance of the exact localities, course, and conduct of the 

 pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar, as well on the Ceylon as on 

 the Indian side, until the date when European control began. 



(a) The pearl banks prior to the arrival of 

 the Portuguese. 



Anterior to the Portuguese seizure of the fisheries in 1524!, the 

 glimpses we catch are hazy and unsatisfactory — glimpses recorded 

 on their return home by sailors and travelling merchants belong- 

 ing to other countries. Greeks, Egyptians, Barbary Moors, Arabs, 

 Venetians and Genoese have all referred incidentally to these 

 fisheries as among the notable sights seen during their journeyings, 

 whereas Tamil and Sinhalese writers had no thoughts save for 

 the glory and exploits of their kings and the advancement and 

 excellence of their religious systems. The latter refer to pearls 

 solely to utilize the idea of their beauty and the mystery of their 

 origin for the purposes of their exuberant and florid imagery and 

 in the exaggerated descriptions of the riches of their kings and 

 temples. 



When the pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar were first 

 exploited we have no hint; even two thousand years ago they were 

 celebrated throughout the known world from China to the Mediter- 

 ranean. In Rome, in the days of Pliny, pearls from the Gulf of 

 Mannar were valued at a high price and Pliny refers to this 

 fishery as the most productive of pearls of all parts of the world, 

 while more than six centuries before (550 — 54° B.C.), Vijaya, the 

 Aryan Conqueror of Ceylon, is said to have included rich offerings 

 of pearls among the presents to his father-in-law, the Pandyan 

 King of Madura. J 



The earliest definite reference to a particular locality in the 

 Gulf of Mannar where a fishery was carried on, occurs in the 



* The term " Madura Coast" is employed in these pages, unless it be specified other- 

 wise, in its wider and more ancient sense ; it signifies here the seaboard of the ancient 

 Kingdom of Madura and therefore includes the shore of the modern district of Tinnevelly 

 as well as that of the Ramnad district. 



f Gaspar Correa, " Lendas da India," volume II. 



X Vide the " Mahawansa." 



