30 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN [VOL. XVI, 



on various contingencies which may ruin the banks or spoil the 

 oysters. If no particular accident happen, it may take place for 

 years successfully . . . but if the oysters happen to be 



washed off the banks or to be disturbed by storms, the banks may 

 be totally ruined in a very short time . . . The examination 

 . . . is superintended by Commissioners specially appointed 

 and is conducted in . . . dhonies by Fattangattyns and 

 other native headmen, who understand the business." * 



The next glimpse we get of a fishery off the Tuticorin coast is 

 in the graphic description by Father Martin, a Jesuit missionary, 

 of a disastrous three days' fishery held in 1700. The description 

 in spite of errors in detail is so vivid and instructive that it may 

 well be reproduced here for comparison with that left on record by 

 Ribeyro of the methods pursued in Portuguese days and also with 

 those employed at the present time : — 



"In the early part of the year the Dutch sent out ten or twelve 

 " vessels in different directions to test the localities in which it 

 " appeared desirable that the fishery of the year should be carried 

 " on ; and from each vessel a few divers were let down who 

 " brought up each a few thousand oysters, which were heaped 

 " upon the shore in separate heaps of a thousand each, opened and 

 " examined. If the pearls found in each heap were found by the 

 " appraisers to be worth an ecu or more, the beds from which the 

 " oysters were taken were held to be capable of yielding a rich 

 " harvest ; if they were worth no more than thirty sous, the beds 

 "were considered unlikely to yield a profit over and above the 

 " expense of working them. As soon as the testing was completed, 

 "it was publicly announced either that there would, or that there 

 " would not, be a fishery that year. In the former case enormous 

 " crowds of people assembled on the coast on the day appointed 

 " for the commencement of the fishery ; traders came there with 

 "wares of all kinds ; the roadstead was crowded with shipping, 

 " drums were beaten, and muskets fired ; and everywhere the great- 

 " est excitement prevailed, until the Dutch Commissioners arrived 

 " from Colombo with great pomp, and ordered the proceedings to 

 " be opened with a salute of cannon. Immediately afterwards the 

 "fishing vessels all weighed anchor and stood out to sea, preceded 

 "by two large Dutch sloops, which in due time drew off to the 

 "right and left and marked the limits of the fishery, and when 



* Lee's translation of Ribeyro's " History of Ceylon," page 247. 



