34 



derived from it during the past 25 years appears in the 

 appendix. 



Originally it was a portion of the Ramnad fishery, its 

 present separation dating back to the first quarter of the 

 eighteenth century (about 1730 A.D., vide Nelson's 

 Madura Manual, Part 1 1 1, page 249) when the original 

 Ramnad territory was parcelled out between two rival 

 claimants to the Ramnad gadi, one of whom received the 

 north-western section which became known as Sivaganga, 

 the other retaininor the district whereof Ramnad is the 

 geographical centre, Sivaganga was and is an inland 

 district, without coastline, but that it might have access 

 to the sea, the port of Tondi and a short adjoining strip 

 of coast were made over by Ramnad and this proved to be 

 a matter of some inconvenience to the Madras Govern- 

 ment in the last Poligar war as the Sivaganga rebels sent 

 out from Tondi several small privateers — armed coasters 

 — to prey upon the local shipping.* 



(3) THE CARNATIC COAST FISHERIES. 

 {a) Tanjore District. 



The fishery off the eastern coast of Tanjore is another 

 very ancient royalty of the sovereign power holding 

 Tanjore. Prior to 'the annexation of Tanjore in 1800 

 this fishery had formed one of the heads of revenue 

 enjoyed by the Rajas of Tanjore, being farmed out in 

 the same way as the Tinnevelly and Ramnad fisheries. 



When the district was ceded to the British, the right to 

 the fishery continued to be sold to the highest bidder ; for 

 many years the lease was given in single terms ; from fasli 

 1233 (A.D. 1823-1824) the custom grew up of leasing 

 it for terms of several years, varying from two to five. 



During 26 years following the British acquisition of the 

 district, the fishery continued in a flourishing condition, 

 seldom realizing less than Rs. .^,000 per annum and fre- 

 quently exceeding Rs. 5,000. In one year, fasli 12 16 (A.D. 

 1 806- 1 807) this revenue rose to Rs. 10,198. Theaverage 

 for these 26 prosperous years was Rs. 4,901-10-6 (see 

 appendix No. 6 for details). From fasli 1252 the returns 

 gradually declined till. In 1883, the Collector had difficulty 



* Since the above was written the Madras Government have acquired the lease of 

 the Ramnad fishery and it will in future be worked departmentally. 



