Tinncvelly. On the spot where I humbly apprehend the 

 truth can be best deduced, far different sentiments prevail. 

 The chank was certainly fished by the Dutch, but whether 

 by the consent or inattention of the Nabob, I cannot 

 pretend to decide ; but it is well known the pearl fishery 

 was entirely stopped by the just demand made by His 

 Highness on the fisheries. But I conceive these points to 

 be totally foreign to the question. Though the generos- 

 ity or weakness of the Nabob made him forego his 

 right to the valuable fisheries on his coast, those rights 

 are original and valid and it remains for the company to 

 determine whether the same attention shall be paid to 

 this branch of revenue as to every other included in the 

 assignment." 



In 1785, Tuticorin was restored to the Dutch and in 

 the following year a provisional treaty was drawn out 

 and executed by Mr. J. Dott on the part of the Nawab 

 and by Mr. Van der Graaf on the part of the Dutch. In 

 this agreement it was stipulated that half the proceeds 

 of the pearl fishery at Tuticorin should belong to the 

 Nawab, but no mention was made of the Ceylon 

 (Mannar) pearl fishery and the entire proceeds of the 

 Tuticorin chank fishery were ceded as an exclusive right 

 to the Dutch. The fisheries were to be let by public 

 sale to the highest bidder. This treaty appears never to 

 have been ratified by the Nawab to whom it probably 

 proved unsatisfactory as it deprived him of all participa- 

 tion both in the Ceylon pearl fishery and in the Tuticorin 

 chank fishery. 



Pressed by the Madras Government who wished to 

 see an end to the friction between the Nawab and the 

 Dutch, the Nawab in 1788 made another treaty with the 

 Dutch whereby it was stipulated in article i, that "the 

 pearl and chank fisheries of Tuticorin shall be equally 

 divided between the high contracting parties. The 

 chank fishery shall, as usual, be let to the highest bidder 

 and the net produce equally divided." 



By another article the Nawab confirmed the Dutch 

 in their trading monopoly in Madura cloth — the most 

 lucrative source of revenue to the Dutch Company in 

 their settlement on the Tinnevelly coast. The Madras 

 Government learning of this, vetoed the treaty but its 

 terms were allowed to govern the pearl fishery held oft 



