78 PEARLS [CH. 



through this unique city by the sea. It is a place 

 that comes and goes like the tide's ebbing and flow- 

 ing. A sand-drifted waste lying between the jungle 

 of the hinterland and the ocean is transformed by 

 the "open Sesame" of a fishery proclamation into 

 a seething mass of working humanity in a few 

 weeks. Sheltering roofs are erected, and a struggle 

 for gain is prosecuted with an earnestness that would 

 have borne golden fruit in any city in the Western 

 World. Public buildings, almost pretentious in size 

 and design, rise from the earth in a few days — a 

 residence for the Governor of Ceylon; one for the 

 Government agent of the province ; and another for 

 the delegate of the Colonial Office. Amongst other 

 buildings are to be found a court-house, treasury, 

 hospital, prison, telegraph-office and post-office and 

 a fair example of that blessing of the East, known 

 as a rest-house. 



Sites on the principal streets are leased for the 

 period of the fishery, and for ten or twelve weeks 

 Marichchikkaddi is one of Asia's busiest marts. One 

 would hardly think that these Easterners, squatting 

 on mats in open-front stalls, could judge the merits 

 of a pearl, yet they can estimate the worth of a gem 

 with a wonderful precision. Usually they have learned 

 by long experience every "point" that a pearl can 

 possess, knows whether it be precisely spherical, 

 and has a good "skin" and a lustre appealing to 



