1022] MADRAS PEARL FISHERIES 91 



allusions of classical writers to the wealth of the pearl fisheries 

 of Kolkoi. which town we have seen was situated on the river 

 Tambraparni, in the statement of Friar Jordanus that as many as 

 8,000 boats were engaged about the year 1330 in the Indian and 

 Ceylon fisheries and in the fact that KayalorCail near Pinnakayal 

 is spoken of by Marco Polo, Ludovico de Vathema, Barbosa and 

 other mediaeval travellers as the headquarters of the pearl fishery 

 —a "great and noble city inhabited by jewellers who trade in 

 pearls." 



Dealing with the conditions as they are at present, we find that 

 so far as our available modern records permit us to judge, all the 

 known oyster-productive banks are comprised in the division 

 which I have termed the central, lying between Vaippar and 

 Manappad point, a distance roughly of 40 miles. 



A list of these banks and of the groups into which I propose to 

 classify them has been given above on pages 51 to 53. 



It now remains to describe the varying characteristics of each 

 group and to institute comparisons as detailed as the material at 

 our command will allow. 



i. Tolayiram Group. 



This group possesses the distinction of being the most produc- 

 tive and remunerative collection of pars along the Tinnevelly 

 coast. Two banks only are comprised under the group title — the 

 large Tolayiram Par and the small Kutadiar Par. The former is 

 by far the largest of the productive pars ; the latter, which lies 

 to the south-west extremity of its huge neighbour, being on the 

 contrary one of the smallest, an oval-outlined rocky patch one mile 

 long by half that in breadth. 



The Tolayiram Par lies 8 to II miles off the coast and opposite 

 Hare Island and Tuticorin Bay, the northern extremity clue east 

 from the town of Tuticorin. In shape the bank is roughly crescen- 

 tic, the concave side turned shorewards. Its long axis lies roughly 

 north-east by south-west measuring over six miles in this direction. 

 The width varies from one to two miles, broadening as we approach 

 the upper extremity. The depth of water over it ranges from 8 to 

 II fathoms. 



Nine fisheries have taken place upon this locality during the 

 past 120 years, namely, in 1784, 1787, 1807, 1810, 1822, 1830, 1889, 

 1890 and 1908. 



