THE INDIAN OCEAX. 36f 



points an inspection of the state of the banks, and 

 those selected as fit for fishing are advertised ac- 

 cordingly, the fishery for the ensuing season being 

 offered for sale. In January, the boats begin to 

 assemble, and the adventurers from all parts, of 

 India congregate on a narrow spot of barren sand 

 which is deserted for the greatest portion of the 

 year, but now presents the life and gaiety of a fair. 

 "There is, perhaps, no spectacle," says Captain 

 Percival, " which the Island of Cevlon affords, more 

 striking to an European than the bay of Condatchy 

 during the season of the pearl-fishery. This desert 

 and barren spot is at that time converted into a 

 scene which exceeds in novelty and variety almost 

 any thinsr I ever witnessed: several thousands of 

 people of different colours, countries, castes, and 

 occupations, continually passing and repassing in a 

 busy crowd ; the vast numbers of small tents and 

 huts erected on the shore, with the bazaar or mar- 

 ket-place before each; the multitude of boats re- 

 turning in the afternoon from the pearl banks, some 

 of them laden with riches; the anxious expecting 

 countenances of the boat-owners, while the boats 

 are approaching the shore, and the eagerness and 

 avidity with which they run to them when arrived, 

 in hopes of a rich cargo ; the vast numbers of jewel- 

 lers, brokers, merchants, of all colours, and all de- 

 scriptions, both natives and foreigners, who are 

 occupied in some way or other with the pearls, some 

 separating and assorting them, others weighing and 

 ascertaining their number and value, while others 

 are hawking them about, or drilling and boring them 

 for future use : — all these circumstances tend to im- 



