22 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN [VOL. XVI, 



" Besides the people belonging to the boats the children of the 

 '' neighbourhood never fail to assemble at the sea-side, offering 

 " their services, rather however to steal the oysters than to assist 

 " the sailors or merchants. As soon as the boats are unloaded they 

 ' put to sea again, and go about half a league higher up by the sea- 

 " side, where the merchants assemble and hold a splendid fair; 

 " there are magnificent tents and all sorts of merchandise of the 

 " most valuable kind are to be had there, as vendors come from all 

 " parts of the world. Heathens, Jews, Christians and Moors all have 

 'some speculation for profit; some sell by wholesale, others by 

 " retail ; the sailors and children bring the pearls which they have 

 " stolen, and people of every kind have bargains to offer. Persons 

 ' having but a small capital buy small ventures, which they 

 " immediately sell to larger merchants with a middling profit ; not 

 " only pearls are bought and sold, but jewellery of every kind, 

 " bargold, dollars, fine Turkey carpets, and beautiful stuffs from 

 "India. 



"The fishery lasts from the Ilth of March to the 20th of 

 "April,* but the fair itself continues for fifty clays, because for the 

 " last nine days the enclosures are cleansed, as so many flies are 

 " bred by the corrupt matter that the adjacent places and the whole 

 " country might be annoyed by them, if care were not taken to sweep 

 " into the sea the impurities collected during the fishery. 



" On the last day of April, the merchants of the several 

 " partnerships assemble together and share the pearls belonging to 

 " their respective boats. They separate them into nine classes, and 

 " set on each class a price according as the demand has been greater 

 " or less for pearls during the year ; when these prices have been set 

 "on them, they make the allotments and shares. Then the ill— 

 " formed pearls are sold at a sufficiently moderate price ; the small 

 "seed-pearls are left on the sea-side and the country people come 

 " in the spring and sift the sand for them and sell them for a trifle. 



" Hence the pearls and seed are sent to all parts of the world. 

 "This is all I know of this fishery. But 1 must not forget to add 

 "that pieces of ambcri of a considerable size are also found on this 

 " coast. Great branches of coral also drift ashore when the sea is 

 " high ; the black kind is better and more esteemed than the red." 



* Old style ? 



| Ambergris is meant. No amber is found in Ceylon or India. 



