CEYLON PEARL OYSTER FISHERIES. 197 



I am unable to say ; but it certainly added to the romance of the 

 work, and the public were undoubtedly disposed to regard the 

 advent of a pearl fishery much as we regard the Derby sweep. It, 

 however, always brings a rich harvest to the poor but hardworking 

 inhabitants of the Northern Province. 



In the early part of the last century fisheries appear to have been 

 few and far between, one interval being as long as, I think, thirty- 

 seven years. James Steuart, Master Attendant of Colombo and 

 Inspector of Pearl Banks, and a brother of George Steuart, the 

 founder of the Colombo firm of that name, gives us the first coherent 

 accounts of the pearl banks and fisheries , and published a handbook 

 upon them ; but as in those days they were dependent on the wind 

 entirely, and no steam vessels at first were available, you will readily 

 understand that the annual inspections, if they were annual in those 

 days, were long and arduous, and certainlj^ entailed the loss of many 

 a good bed of oj^sters. 



One of the early British Governors built himself a residence on a 

 convenient site, both to enable him to be present at the fisheries and 

 to act as a beacon. This was called the Doric, after its style of 

 architecture, but it has been long since condemned as unsafe by 

 the Public Works Department and more or less demolished, only 

 enough being left to act as a beacon, and a very good one it makes. 



During the time of my predecessor. Captain Donnan, who was 

 connected with the pearl banks for some forty-three years, there 

 were periodical fisheries at varying intervals, but I can only find 

 record of one pearl of very great value. This was a black pearl, 

 which I beheve was bought by Tiffany of New York for a sum of 

 £5,000, but I am not quite sure of the figure. 



I came out here at the time Professor Herdman had been imported 

 to investigate the whole subject of the Ceylon pearl oyster. During 

 his investigations he discovered many new species of marine life, 

 one of which he did me the honour to name after me. It is a 

 repulsive looking creature , like a cross between a nightmare and a 

 lobster, and in such ways are our names handed down to posterity ! 



During that year's investigations we had the services of a Euro- 

 pean diver from the Colombo Harbour Works, and I seized the 

 opportunity to personally descend in his dress and examine the sea 

 bottom for myself ; in fact, on one occasion I walked for four hours 

 on the bottom with the boat drifting over the surface above mo, and 

 covered four miles in a more or less straight line. 



The sensation in a diving dress is not unpleasant when you get 

 over the feeling of helplessness and nervousness ; whilst up on the 

 pearl banks on a sunny day, where the water is always at that season 

 of the year beautifully clear, the effects on the bottom are very 

 beautiful. The weeds wave with a gentle languorous motion ; every- 

 thing is coloured a soft greenish hue; the fish show little, if any, 

 fear of you, more, in fact, curiosity than fear. 



