1922] MADRAS PEARL FISHERIES 159 



(d) Beacons to be charted and improved- — An improved scheme of 

 landmarks should be provided and the positions of the several 

 beacons accurately fixed on the chart. It is almost incredible that 

 none is marked on the charts in use ; the Inspector has to roughly 

 guess their relative position to the headlands and indentations of 

 the coast indicated on the chart. Even the Admiralty Chart, which 

 is wonderfully accurate in other respects, shows the position of but 

 a very few with precision — the others either being omitted or not 

 defined with exactitude. In taking bearings from the sea, it is of 

 little value to see upon the chart a number of marks at a certain 

 spot indicating the presence of a conglomeration of buildings; we 

 require the position of the most conspicuous one to be placed with 

 precision. 



The beacon on Vantivu should be increased in height and an 

 additional one erected on one of the islands to the northward. 



(c) Improvements in recording the details of inspection results. — The 

 officer in charge of the Inspection of the Pearl Banks should be 

 directed by the Government to insert in the records kept in his 

 office as well as in the report furnished by him to Government at 

 the termination of each inspection, the following details concern- 

 ing the condition and abundance of the pearl oysters and associated 

 organisms met with on each of the inspection sections, namely : — 



(i) The number of individual dives made upon each group 

 of pars, and the number of those where oysters were found, 

 together with the average number of oysters per dive over the 

 whole of the productive ground. Not less than 300 dives should 

 be made upon each section, if a reliable conception of the character 

 and condition of the area under examination is to be arrived at. 

 The number of dives made upon the banks in the past, even upon 

 the important Tolayiram Par, have been totally insufficient. The 

 Tolayiram Par is of such large extent that four inspection 

 circles are needed to cover it adequately, equivalent therefore to a 

 total of 1,200 dives. From the office records I notice that in 1890 

 ninety dives were made; in 1892, 158 dives; in 1896, 220 dives — 

 far too few to give a reliable conception of the condition of the 

 bank as a whole. 



Otherjbanks fared even worse. Taking some figures at random 

 I find that 12 dives were made to suffice for the Alluva Par in 1886 

 and 32 in the following year. On the Tundu Par 35 dives were 



