10 



In the present century tlie following fisheries have tak^.n 



place : — 



1822 profit £13,000 



1830 , do. £10,000 



1860-62 do. Es. 379,297 



1889 do. ,, 158,483 



As to the cause of the failure of the pearl oysters to reach 

 maturity on the banks in large numbers, in recent times, 

 except after long intervals, I, for my part, confess my igno- 

 rance. Whether the baneful influence of the mollusca known 

 locally as suran (Mod/'ola, sp.) and killikay {Aricula, sp.), the 

 ravages of rays {Trygon, &c.) and file-fishes (Balistes), 

 poaching, the deepening of the Pdmban Channel, or currents 

 are responsible for the non-production of an abundant crop 

 of adult pearl-producing oysters during more than a 

 quarter of a century, it would be impossible to decide, until 

 our knowledge of the conditions under which the pearl 

 oysters live is much more precise than it is at present. 



The argument that the failure of the pearl fishery is 

 due to poaching is, from time to time, brought forward ; but, 

 as Mr. H. S. Thomas wisely and characteristically remarks ' 

 " the whole system of the fishery has been carefidly 

 arranged, so that everyone in any way connected with it has 

 a personal stake in preventing poaching, and oyster poaching 

 is not a thing that can be done in the night ; it must be 

 carried out in broad daylight ; andj to be worth doing at all, 

 it must be done on a large scale. Ten thousand oysters 

 cannot be put in one's pocket like a rabbit, nor are there 

 express trains and game-shops to take them. Every single 

 oyster has to be manipulated, and it is only the few best 

 that can be felt at once with the fiiiger, and the usual way 

 is to allow the oyster to rot and wash away from the pearl. 

 Oysters could not be consigned fresh in boxes or hampers by 

 rail to distant confederates ; they could not even be landed 

 without its becoming^ known ; and, if known, every one is 

 interested in informing the Government officer and stopping- 

 poaching." I cannot, however, refrain from quoting the 

 following touching description of an ideal poach in a recent 

 pamphlet : — 



" Mutukuruppan and Kallymuttu are two fishermen 

 brothers : they start out after their cold rice, ostentatiously to 



' Vide Report on Pearl Fisheries and Chank Fisheries, 188 1, bv the Hoa. 

 Mr. H. S. Thomas. 



