1922] MADRAS PEARL FISHERIES 43 



This hereditary chief or Jathi Talaivan * of the Paravas, like 

 many of the descendants of natives of Ceylon who gave assistance 

 to the Portuguese, bears the honorific prefix of " Don," while the 

 name of the late holder of the Chieftainship — Gabriel de Cruz 

 Lazarus Motha Vaz — further indicates the intimacy of his family's 

 connexion with Portuguese rule. 



His duties consist in accompanying the Inspector on his 

 periodical visits to the banks — a duty formerly performed directly 

 by the headmen themselves, — in furnishing guards to the banks 

 to be fished, in supplying Government with information of any 

 accidental finds of oysters by fishermen and in acting as inter- 

 mediary between the Government and his caste with a view, by the 

 exercise of his influence, to ensure the attendance at a fishery of 

 an adequate supply of boats and divers. 



In 1889, the Madras Government recorded their appreciation of 

 the assistance rendered by the Jathi Talaivan and " directed that 

 his privilege of being allowed the take of two boats be continued. "t 

 Each boat is understood to carry ten divers. 



Subsequently, in 1891, the Madras Government, while confirming 

 the general principle of privilege remuneration to the headman 

 named, adopted the more satisfactory regulation of placing the 

 extent of the remuneration upon the basis of a sliding scale, 

 allowing him but one boat when the Government boats numbered 

 30 or less, two for 31 to 60 boats, three for 61 to 90 boats employed 

 and so on in this ratio. 



The value of the Jathi Talaivan's two privilege boats in the 1890 

 fishery was Rs. 1,424, in that of 1900 only Rs. 872. 



During the 100 years ending 1922 there appear to have been the 

 following fourteen fisheries, viz. — 



* Literally " Head of the Ca^te." His fall title is Jathi Talaivaimore — the suffix 

 "more" being, I believe, an honorific addition made by the Portuguese. The 

 Tamil form in simply Jathi Talaivan. Caldwell (loc. cit., p. 147) notes that in 1783, 

 Tuticorin being temporarily in possession of the English, the Receiver of the revenues of 

 the Tinnevelly country was instructed by the authorities " to present an honorary dress 

 to the head of the Paravas (the Jati Talaivar) in the name of the Madras Government." 



f Proceedings of the Board of Revenue, Madras, No. 702, 1889. The amount which 

 this privilege realized to this headman at the 1889 fishery was Rs. 7,620. 



