S3 



almost all clear profit, as 1 reckon that the costs of 

 sorting and bagging and of freight to Calcutta are 

 covered in large part by the profit made on the thou- 

 sands of undersized shells confiscated from the divers 

 without payment which it has been the custom to 

 give to the buyer at the nominal rate of Rs. 6 per i,ooo. 

 It is probable that the best of these were always sorted 

 out and added to the assortment sold at full prices in the 

 wholesale market at Calcutta. We may certainly take 

 the enhancement of price of Tuticorin shells upon the 

 first wholesale change of hands at not less than 40 per 

 cent. ; it is probable that a similar percentage of profit 

 is made by the first ring of middlemen upon the sale of 

 shells from other localities. 



The second buyers may be firms actually engaged in 

 shell cutting ; more frequently they are a second series 

 of middlemen. If the latter the shells may either be 

 sold to cutters working in a small way, or the middle- 

 men may slice the shells into sections of recognized 

 gauge breadth and dispose of these either through 

 aofents or throuo^h a third series of middlemen to the 

 bangle makers in country villages where the men have 

 not the skill to saw the shell into sections although they 

 are experts in carving, graving and polishing the rough 

 circles supplied to them. This second series of middle- 

 men have been buying Tuticorin shells during tne past 

 few years at about Rs. 14 per 100; they pay Re. i to 

 Re. 1-8-0 per 100 rings for the work of slicing the shell 

 into sections, and the sections so cut are sold to country 

 bracelet makers at rates ranging from Rs. 17 to 22 per 

 100. An estimation of the profits made must necessarily 

 be based upon the average number of sections suitable 

 for bracelet making into which shells are capable of being 

 cut. The workers themselves have assured me that 

 three broad sections suitable for massive da/a bracelets 

 is the average they reckon upon per shell and provided 

 the average size of the shells is good. As this is the 

 case with Tuticorin shells there should be no difficulty 

 in maintaining the average named. Shells of 2| and to 

 2| inch gauge cut into two sections only, but the bulk of 

 Tuticorin shells range from 2|to 3J and these are three 

 ring shells while the number of 4 and 5 ring shells 

 (above 35- inch gauge) is sufficient to balance those 



