1922] MADRAS PEARL FISHERIES 77 



be treated with indifference. A mean has to be steered between 

 the extremes of credulous faith and scornful contempt, and if the 

 sifting be judicious the stories and opinions of fishermen and 

 divers may often furnish useful hints of considerable importance 

 in drawing deductions and in furnishing the necessary clue to 

 elucidate some difficulty or apparent contradiction. 



A study of the significance and origin of place names may also 

 furnish considerable assistance, and the Jathi Talaivaimore, whose 

 title is frequently rendered as Jathi Talaivan, was fortunately able 

 and willing to facilitate my task. 



Under Captain Carlyon's kind guidance I was enabled also to 

 examine the godown in which the chanks collected by divers 

 on Government account are stored pending the periodical auction 

 sale. 



This store is situated about a mile north of the town at a spot 

 conveniently near the shore, on land that once was a salt marsh. 



The great majority of the shells were of medium size ; quite a 

 large number bore a cluster of young oysters, two to six months 

 old, upon the upper whorls of the shell. In one case 14 young 

 oysters had been so carried - a fact bespeaking both the abundance 

 of oyster spat during the last six months and the poverty of resting 

 places for the attachment of the spat at the end of the free-swim- 

 ming stage. 



Chanks of a size too small to be paid for, formed a heap of 

 quite respectable dimensions. 



The " Margarita " left Tuticorin on her second cruise at 7 a.m. 

 on May loth. The weather showed signs of impending change 

 and on that account I was extremely anxious to ascertain at once 

 the condition of the northern pars in order to compare with that of 

 the southern groups with which I had now obtained a fairly satis- 

 factory acquaintance. I decided therefore to devote this cruise to 

 an examination of the banks between Kilakarai and Tuticorin. 



CRUXIAN GROUP. — Of these banks the three southernmost, the 

 Vantivu Arupagam Par, the Cruxian Par and the Cruxian Tundu 

 Par, may conveniently be grouped together as the Cruxian group. 



They have long been classed among the banks from which a 

 fishery may from time to time be expected* and accordingly, 

 although they cover a comparatively small area, I made a specially 



*The Cruxian group gave satisfactory results at the fishery of 1861. 



