19^2] MADRAS PEARL FISHKRIES 35 



fisheries, receiving two-thirds of the entire catch ; hence the 

 receipts from the sale of the right to fish probably made the 

 fishery much more profitable to the subject in the early days of 

 Dutch rule and acknowledged receipts of fl. 106,176 (Rs. 1,35,000) 

 would represent a fishery on a scale of magnitude comparing most 

 favourably with the fisheries held during the last half of the 19th 

 century. 



The proportions of divers supplied from the three religions then 

 prevalent is also shown by this account, namely — 



4,760 Christians (Paravas). 



3,103 Moormen. 

 780 "Heathen ", i.e., Hindus. 



These 780 Hindu divers did not represent a remnant of Paravas 

 remaining unconverted to Roman Catholicism, but belonged 

 probably to the Kadeiyar caste of lime gatherers and burners 

 from which caste the ranks of the divers are in part recruited at 

 the present day.* 



So far I can ascertain scarcely any divers practising the Hindu 

 religion have attended any pearl fisheries during the last half 

 century, while the relative proportionate strength of Christians and 

 Muhammadans has gradually tended to the preponderance of the 

 latter, so that at recent fisheries the Muhammadans outnumber the 

 Christians, an increase due partly to larger families reared by 

 the former and to the more regular and abstemious lives they 

 lead. 



In my report on the Ceylon fishery of 1904 I noted the marked 

 superiority of Muhammadan over Christian divers in the number 

 of seconds they remain under water and in the greater number of 

 oysters collected per dive — a superiority that makes the work of 

 the former more productive and valuable. This appears to have 

 been recognized in a very practical manner in the old fisheries we 

 are now considering, as we see from the account given above that 

 the Moorish stones sold for 5 pardaos more than those of the 

 Christians, the rate of market valuation being as 12 to 7. Strangely 

 enough the Hindu stones occupied an intermediate value, being 

 9^2 pardaos per stone.t 



* Many of this caste are now converted to Roman Catholicism, and it is from this 

 division of the caste that the present supply of Kadeiyar divers is drawn. 



f Probably the differences were discriminatory, penalizing the Muhammadan and 

 the Hindu for their religious beliefs. 



