THE PEARL EI8HER1ES OE CEYLON." 



Bv ri-of. W. A. Hkrdman, I>. Sc, F. R. S. 



The celebrated pearl " oysters " of Ceylon are found mainly in 

 certain i)arts of the wide, shallow plateau A\hi('h occupies the upper 

 end of the Culf of Manaar, oti' the northwest coast of the island 

 and south of Adams Bridge. 



The animal {Margdiitifcra vvJgarii^, vSchum. = AvievJa fucata, 

 Gould) is not a true oyster, but belongs to the family Aviculida?, 

 and is therefore more nearly related to the mussels {Myf'thix) than 

 to the o^ysters {O.strcva) of our seas. 



The fisheries are of yery great antiquity. They are referred to by 

 yarious classical authors, and Pliny s})eaks of the pearls from 

 Taprobane (Ceylon) as ''' b}' far the best in the world." Cleopatra 

 is said to haye obtained i)earls from Aripu, a small yillage on the 

 Gidf of Manaar, which is still the center of the pearl industry. 

 Coming to more recent times, but still some centuries back, we haye 

 records of fisheries under the Cingalese kings of Kandy, and sub- 

 sequently undei- the successive Eui'oi)ean rulers — the Portuguese 

 lieing in jjossession from about 1505 to al)out 1(>55, the Dutch from 

 that time to about 171)5, and the English from the end of the eight- 

 eenth centui-y onward. A notable feature of these fislieries inider 

 all administrations has been their uncertainty. 



The Dutch records show that there were no fisheries betAveen 1T;V2 

 and 1T4(>, and again l)etween 1T()8 and 170G. During our own time 

 the supply failed in 18-20 to 1828, in 1837 to 1854, in 18(;4 and seyeral 

 succeeding years, and, finally, after fiye successful fisheries in 1887, 

 1888, 1889, 1890, and 1891, there has been no return for the last decade. 

 Many reasons, some fanciful, others with more or less basis of truth, 

 haye been given from time to time for these recurring failures of 

 the fishery, and several investigations, such as that of Doctor Kelaart 



a Address before the Roynl liistitntion of Great Britain, Friday, ^March 27, 

 1903. Here r(>printed from autlior's revised copy. The official report upon tliis 

 investigation is now being pul)lislu'd for tlie Ceylon government l)y tiic I'oyal 

 Society of Loudon. 



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