54 J Account of the Pearl Flfljetj in the Gulph of Manor. 



produces a moft beautiful chryftalline appearance s a circumftance which attends the falls of 

 Chenefeco, as well as thofe of Niagara. 



A fingular appearance is obferved at thefe falls, which has never perhaps been noticed 

 by any writer. Immediately below the great pitch a commixture of foam and water is 

 puffed up in fpherical figures, about the fize of a common haycock. They burft at the 

 top, and difcharge a column of fpray to a prodigious height ; they then fubfide, and arc 

 fucceeded by others, which exhibit the fame appearances. Thefe fpherical forms are moft 

 confpicuous about midway between the weft fide of the ftreight, and the ifland which 

 divides the falls, and where the largeft column of water dcfcends. This appearance iS 

 produced by the afcenfion of the air, which is carried down by the column of falling water 

 in great quantities to the bed of the river. 



The river at the falls is about feven hundred and forty three yards wide, and the perpen- 

 dicular pitch is one hundred and fifty feet in height. In the laft half mile immediately 

 above the falls the defcent of the water is fifty-eight feet j but the difficulty which would 

 attend the bufmefs, prevented me from attempting to level the rapids in the chafm below ; 

 though from conje£ture, I concluded that the waters muft defcend at leaft fixty-five feet ; 

 and from thefe refults it appears that the water falls about two hundred and feventy-three 

 feet, in the diftance of about feven miles and an half. 



I am, Sir, with refpe£l. 



Your friend, 



ANDREW ELLICOTT. 



To Rehrt PatterfoH. 



An Account of the Pearl Fifhery in the Gulph ofManar, in March and April ijgj. By 



Hesry J. Le Beck, £fq.* 



F. 



ROM the accounts of the former pearl fifheries at Ceylon, it will be found, that none 

 have ever been fo produ£live as this year's. It was generally fuppofed that the renter 

 would be infallibly ruined, as the fum he paid for the prefent fifhery was thought exorbi- 

 tant when compared with what had been formerly given ; but this conjedlure in the event 

 appeared ill founded, as it proved extremely profitable and lucrative. 



The farmer this time was a Tamul merchant, who for the privilege of fifhing with 

 more than the ufual number of donies or boats, paid between two and three hundred thou- 

 £ind Porto- novo pagodas, a fum nearly double the ufual rent. 



* Afiatic Refearches, IV. 49J. 



Thefe 



