34 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN [VOL. XVI, 



The financial account of this fishery which has fortunately 

 survived the vicissitudes of time is dated 24th May 1708 and is as 

 follows : — 



"TUTICORIN, 24th May 1708. 



In this fishery the whole number 



of stones employed was ... ... 4,321% 



P'DS. 

 Namely, 2,380 Xtian at 7 pardaws 



each of 10 fanams ... ... 16,660 



1)551% Moorish at 12 pardaws 

 each of 10 fanams ••• ... 18,618 



390 Heathen at 9% pardaws each 

 of 10 fanams ... 3,705 



Pards. ... 38,983 



Deduct 398 free stones at above 

 value ••• ... 3,591 398 



Pards. ... 35,392 Sts. 3,923^ 



About ... fi. 106,176 



= £9,000" 



From this statement we learn that the total of stones employed 

 reached the astonishingly large number of 4,321%, considerably 

 more than the number of divers who attended the Ceylon Fisher)^ 

 of 1903,* a fishery which gave the prodigious total of 41,169,637 

 fished oysters and a Government gross revenue of Rs. 8,30,000. 



Are we to infer that this Tuticorin Fishery of 1708 although 

 yielding but £9,000 (Rs. 1,35,000 at the present exchange) to the 

 Government was not so productive of oysters as the Ceylon one 

 instanced ? In the absence of other particulars we have no means 

 of judging with certainty but as the average price per stone is 

 some 9 pardaos, each equal to about four guineas, and as this sum 

 represents the license to fish accorded to a diver for the whole 

 period of the fishery we may infer with some degree of probability 

 from the large number of men engaged that the total catch may 

 have been equally large. Under the conditions that rule at the 

 present day, Government obtains a greater profit upon the 



* The total of divers who attended the Ceylon Pearl Fishery of 1903, was 3,922. 



