No. 4 (191 7) INDIAN BECHE-DE-MER I3O 



Each holothurian is first slit open longitudinally and the 

 viscera removed ; the thick fleshy body-wall remaining is 

 washed in sea water and then boiled for about half an hour. As in 

 the Palk Bay curing operations, the time when the material should 

 be removed from the cauldron is judged by the odour given out. 

 After removal from the boiler the pieces are pinned open by 

 the insertion of short wooden skewers in order to prevent curling, 

 and are then exposed for drying to the full glare of the sun upon a 

 cadjan platform raised 2Y2 feet from the ground. When dried 

 thoroughly they are stored till enough be accumulated to send to 

 Mangalore. The price received from the middlemen of the latter 

 port was reported to be from Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 per tolam of 28 lb., 

 equivalent to Rs. 240 to Rs. 400 per ton, far too low a price if the 

 quality of the product approaches that produced by like-circum- 

 stanced coral atolls in the Pacific, asl have little doubt is the case. 



The species of beche-de-mer available in quantity at Kiltan are 

 three : — (a) Vdla kokd, mottled grey and dirty brown, {b) Karrtakoka, 

 black in colour, and (r) Soganna kokd, of reddish-brown hue. The 

 animals are collected by wading in the lagoon and on the reef-flat 

 at low tide and also by spearing from boats. 



At Androth, I noticed abundance of large holothurians in the 

 shallows, but here no curing is carried on, as the elders of this 

 particular island are strongly opposed to any development of such 

 an industry from religious or rather from superstitious reasons. A 

 venerated mullah now deceased had fulminated against any traffic 

 in such scaleless inhabitants of the sea, and had banned with 

 threat of misfortune any who should take it up, a prophecy which, I 

 was told, duly came true in several instances. Hence although the 

 people admit that the trade can be made to give a good return they 

 will have nothing to do with it. This attitude need not hamper 

 any prospective attempt to develop a large trade in the islands, as 

 it is only the inhabitants of Androth who take up this attitude. 



If steps be taken to extend the beche-de-mer trade in the 

 Laccadives, the result should be of considerable benefit to the 

 islanders, for at present the industry is so restricted as to be of no 

 commercial importance — the main sources of supply being untapped 

 — while the prices obtained appear to be inadequate, the islanders 

 being entirely at the mercy of the middlemen, who impose any rate 

 they like to fix, trading as they do upon the islanders' ignorance of 

 the true market value of the product. 



