" Know you, perchance, how that poor formless wretch— 

 The Oyster — gems his shallow moonlit chalice ? 



Where the shell irks him, or the sea-sand frets, 

 This lovely lustre on his grief." 



Edwin Arnold. 



I.-THE TUTICOEIN PEAEL FISHEEY. 



TuTicoRiN, the " scattered town," situated on the south- 

 west coast of the Gulf of Manaar, from which the Madras 

 Government pearl fishery is conducted, is, according to Sir 

 Edwin Arnold,^ " a sandy maritime little place, which fishes 

 a few pearls, produces and sells the great pink conch shells, 

 exports rice and baskets, and is surrounded on the landside 

 by a wilderness of cocoa and palmyra palms." 



Summed up in these few words, Tuticorin does not 

 appear the important place which, in spite of its lowly 

 appearance when viewed from the sea and the apparent 

 torpor which reveals itself to the casual visitor, it is in 

 reality, not only as a medium of communication between 

 Tinnevelly and Ceylon, to and from which hosts of coolies 

 are transported in the course of every year, but as being an 

 important mercantile centre for* the shipment of Tinnevelly 

 cotton, jaggery, onions, chillies, &c. 



With respect to the shipment of jaggery, I was told, 

 during a recent visit to Tuticorin, that, during the seasons 

 at which jelly-fish abound in the muddy surface water of the 

 Tuticorin harbour, so great is the dread of their sting, that 

 coolies, engaged in carrying loads of palmyra jaggery on 

 their heads through the shallow water to the cargo boats, 

 have been known to refuse to enter the water until a track, 

 free from jftlly-fish, was cleared for them by two canoes 

 dragging a net between them. 



Tuticorin is, indeed, *' an abominable place to land at," 

 and it is unfortunate that it is ordained by nature that large 

 vessels shall not approach nearer to the shore than a distance 

 of six miles or thereabouts, being compelled, with due regard 

 for their safety, to lie at anchor outside Hare Island, one of 



^ India Re-visited, 1887. 



