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Mukkuvas, Kollakkars, Pattanees, and Mappillas. Mukkuvas ai'e 

 Hindus, Kollakkars are Catholic converts whose ancestors were 

 fishermen, Pattanees are a Tamil colony of Catholics who originally 

 belonged to the Tinnevelly coast but settled down here many years 

 ago, and the Mappillas are the ordinary Muhammadans of the coast 

 and not Pudu Islams (or new converts). All these belong to fishing 

 communities with the exception of Mappillas who have taken to 

 fishing only recently though they have been engaged in buying 

 and selling as well as transporting fish for many decades past. 

 Boats and nets are usually owned by members of the fishing com- 

 munity, mostly as joint family property, and are worked by the male 

 members of the family and any additional hands whose services 

 are secured by means of a permanent advance made to them by the 

 owners of boats and nets. The amounts thus advanced to a single 

 individual may reach Rs. 200 and though they carry no interest the 

 person receiving an advance cannot engage himself to any other 

 party till he has paid back the amount, and in case of death his 

 male heirs are held liable to repay the amount or to render their 

 personal services. Half the sale proceeds of the catches on each 

 day goes to the owner of the boats and nets, and the other half is 

 divided among the crew, including the owner himself if he also 

 went out fishing; the Taleiyali (headman) or boatswain gets I^ 

 shares, youths half to three-quarter shares, and each grown-up man 

 one full share. In addition to this the owner of the boat and nets 

 gives out of his half share, to each of the crew a small sum as a 

 present, to encourage and make them more careful about the boats 

 and nets which they have to mend and repair without wages. Each 

 of the crew as well as the owner is also entitled to take sufficient 

 fish for his domestic consumption before the catches are sold. When 

 the catches are small and fetch only a few rupees, the sale proceeds 

 are divided among the crew and the owner takes nothing. 



A couple of boats with a full complement of various kinds of 

 nets and the advances made to the crew, cost Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 3,000. 

 An owner after investing so much may, owing to failure of a season, 

 have to borrow money from capitalists and others. For every 

 Rs. 200 thus borrowed, they give to the lender a sum equal to the 

 earnings of one of the crew and such earnings may vary from 2 annas 

 to Rs. 25 per day. In other words Rs. 200 produces every day as 

 much as an able-bodied man earns by his toil. Though no interest 

 is charged, Rs. 200 doubles itself in a couple of years if the 

 season is fairly good. Fish merchants also pay advances to the 

 owners of boats and nets, in which case they are entitled to buy 

 the catches landed by those boats nominally at the market rate but 

 practically at less than that. A very large number of boats are thus 

 under the control of some of the merchants who buy the fish and get 

 them cured by the Mukkuva women curers at the fish-curing yard- 

 When large catches of cat-fish, mackerel, and other fish suitable for 

 the Colombo market are cured, the merchants finally settle accounts 

 with the fishermen only after such fish is disposed of in Colombo 

 and should there be any loss they will cut down the price of the 

 fish from that originally fixed. The sale of such fish takes several 

 weeks and the fishermen who are hard up and have been in the 

 meantime receiving only small sums in advance, are only too thank- 

 ful to receive what the merchant is pleased to pay them in settle- 

 ment of their accounts. The women curers who buy and cure fish 



