IQ22] MADRAS PEARL FISHERIES III 



13. Chodi Par. 



A bank four miles west of Trichendur in %V\ to 9 fathoms of 

 water. I had no opportunity to examine it. 



According to the inspection records it bore oysters of one, two 

 and three years of age in 1869 and is described as being covered 

 with shells and coarse sand about six inches to a foot deep in 1891 

 and 1894. It is marked as "useless" in the summary of 1899, a 

 conclusion I do not think is justifiable in view of (a) the oysters 

 met with here in 1869 and {b) its proximity (one mile north) to the 

 Tundu Par which yielded oysters at the fishery of 1900. It is note- 

 worthy in this connexion to observe that these Tundu Par oysters 

 were not known to the Inspector prior to the fishery in question, 

 being discovered accidentally by the divers on their way to the 

 fishery ground on the Teradi Puli PidiUa Par. Once again I feel 

 driven to the conclusion that inspection work has too frequently 

 been performed in perfunctory manner, with want of method and 

 over too limited an area. Only ten times since i860 has any atten- 

 tion been paid to this bank and in view of the imperfect method of 

 inspection employed I am far from being convinced that the 

 examination was efficiently carried out and that the results shown 

 are reliable. In most years no note is supplied of the number of 

 dives made, and in the absence of this we have no guide to the 

 thoroughness of the work done. I shall return to a consideration of 

 this vitally important subject when dealing with general conclu- 

 sions. 



14. Tundu Par. 



A bank lying one mile south of Chodi Par at the same distance 

 from land, depth from 9 to 9% fathoms. 



It appears to have been fourteen times examined in the course 

 of the last 44 years. In 1897 it was not examined ; in 189S oysters 

 were " plentiful, 35 to a dive, two inches in size and healthy in 

 appearance"; the succeeding year states "Nothing of value," 

 while in 1900 the fishing fleet stumbled by chance on a fine bed of 

 oysters, fully four years old on this very bank, a telling impeach- 

 ment of the accuracy of the general results of the examination 

 carried out in the preceding year ! The oysters plentiful in 1898, 

 and missed at the regular inspection of 1899, would assuredly have 

 matured and died unknown had the accidental rediscovery of the 

 bed not been made by the divers on their way to the "official" 

 fishing ground. 



