18 



light, anel the day's work commences on a signal being given 

 from a schooner, which is moored on the bank throughout 

 the fishery. An attempt is made to keep the boats together 

 within an area marked out by buoys, so as to prevent the 

 bank from being fished over in an irregular manner, and the 

 temper of the European officer in charge of the schooner is 

 sorely tried by the refusal of the boatmen to comply with 

 the conditions. All being ready on board, a diving stone, 

 weighing about 30 lbs., to which a rope is attached, and a 

 basket or net fastened in a similar manner are placed over 

 the ship's side. The ropes are grasped by the diver in his 

 left hand, and, placing a foot on the stone, he draws a deep 

 breath, and closes his nostrils with his right hand, or with a 

 metal nose clip which he wears suspended round his neck by 

 a string. At a given signal, the ropes are let go, and the 

 diver soon reaches the bottom, his arrival there being indi- 

 cated by the slackening of the rope. He then gets off the 

 diving stone, which is drawn up to the surface, and, after 

 filling the basket or net with oysters, if he is on a fertile 

 spot, gives the rope a jerk, and comes up to the surface to 

 regain his breath. 



The contents of the basket or net are emptied into the 

 boat, and the live oysters separated from the dead shells, 

 debris, &c. The divers work in pairs, two to each stone, 

 and the oysters which they bring up are kept separate from 

 those of the other divers. A good diver will remain below 

 the surface about 50 seconds, and, exceptionally, 60, 70 or 

 even 90 seconds. 



The largest number of oysters collected as the result of 

 a single day's fishing by 41 boats during my visit to the 

 fishery was 241,000, giving an average of 5,878 oysters per 

 boat, a very small quantity when compared with the results 

 of the Ceylon fishery in 1857, when the daily yield varied 

 from one to one and a half million oysters, some* boats 

 bringing loads of thirty to forty thousand. 



From experiments made with divers equipped with diving 

 helmets, gathering stones instead of oysters, by the late 

 Superintendent of the Madras Harbour Works, it was calcu- 

 culated ^ that a pair of helmeted divers could together send 



* Vide Madras Board of Revenue Resolution, No. 677, dated 3rd August 

 1888. 



