1922] MADRAS PEARL FISHERIES 37 



"the fishery is at an end; duties are also paid on what is called the 

 " exchange, and on cloths which are brought to the bazaar, but the 

 " Company does not in fact obtain any pearls, nor is there even a chance 

 " for the Company to purchase any pearls there, although the highest 

 " authorities have so often endeavoured to do so, for at the fishery pearls 

 " are sold at so high a price that the Moors are cunning enough to rub up 

 '' even old pearls and to bring them there for sale, with a certainty of 

 " taking in the unwary, and deriving more profit from it. 



" But it is not so much a matter of concern whether the fishery is to 

 " be called a source of revenue or of produce, as whether it can in reality 

 " be looked upon as a source of advantage and profit derived from Ceylon, 

 " or whether it is more glitter than gold, as many things are which belong 

 " to the Company, which shine uncommonly, but have no real substance. 

 " This question is neither a novel nor unfounded one, and to properly 

 "answer it, we must weigh against the advantages which we have just 

 " detailed, the inconveniences, discomforts^ noise, expenses, the risks of 

 " the Commissioners, the employment of the Militia, the consumption of 

 " provisions, the dangers of ships, etc. ; we must also mention the hazards 

 " run by a few hundred men sent to keep immense crowds in order, and 

 " their exposure to sickness and death as well after the fishery as during 

 " its continuance from the stench of the oysters ; the price of provisions is 

 " also enormously increased; the Company's trade in cloth is discontinued 

 " for a long time from the prevalence of smuggling which is occasioned by 

 " the immense numbers of persons resorting to those parts of the island; we 

 " may also add that pepper is smuggled away, as well as arecanuts, although 

 " it would be thought that a multitude of more than 100,000 persons who 

 ''consume these nuts for the space of two or three months should give 

 " some profit, yet the Company draws nothing from it. If therefore all 

 " these matters be weighed, one against the other, it must be decided, as I 

 " for my part, maintain, that unless the fishery be indeed a full and opulent 

 " one, all others must be prejudicial to the Company's interests ; and it 

 " were really desirable that no such fisheries should take place, but that 

 " there should be an annual rent for the diving of the banks, as now takes 

 " place with regard to the chanks, with a limited number of persons and 

 '' of boats ; or in some other convenient way that a mode should be devised 

 " to acquire for the Company the profit which they should derive from the 

 " fisheries, both here and on the opposite coast, as Lords of the country, 

 " without the holding of any public fishery. The bad condition of the 

 " pearl-banks on both sides the coast has lasted for some years, and there 

 " is now no prospect of an early fishery ; yet this cannot be attributed to 



