14 
Mr. Cocq, intense rivalry eventuated and the divers 
scored heavily. Eachattempted to go one better than his 
rival; the divers had a present of Rs. 10 each given them 
at the beginning of the season, Rs. 5 at the new year and 
8 annas at the feast of our Lady of the Snows on 5th 
August besides a sheep to each canoe at Christmas. 
Two casks of rum were always on tap in Mr. Barter’s 
compound, and each diver on reaching shore was allowed 
to fill a small chatty from one of the casks. This spirit 
is said to have been more powerful than arrack and prob- 
ably one of its effects was to render the divers more 
tolerant during the gauging of the shells than they are 
now-a-days. When a marriage or a funeral took place, 
the renter could always be squeezed for a considerable 
sum, which he took his chance of recovering, in part at 
least, when catches were good, ‘The two rival farmers 
had each his own particular set of divers and when Mr. 
Cocq had the farm, the men under his competitor were 
given by the latter some regular employment such as 
collection of coral blocks from the reefs for building 
purposes. When fishing took place on the far away 
beds, and the men camped at some island convenient to 
their work, they were given woollen cloths to protect 
against dews and chill winds. “The Cocq men are said to 
have been distinguished by having red cloths, while the 
Barterites were clad in sombre black. The story runs 
that in one year the Government farmed the fishery by 
taking a large fee as licence for each canoe allowed to 
fish and so for this season Barterites and Cocquettes 
both joined in the fishery. But, for this occasion only, 
Mr. Barter paid his men ‘Rs. 40 per 1,000 while Mr Coeq 
paid only Rs. 30 with the result that the latter’s men 
would transfer = sea some of their catch to their friends 
working for the rival who gave a higher price and adjust 
the matter ashore to mutual satisfaction over a convivial 
glass of arrack or more lengthy draught of toddy. 
Certain difficulty with the renters and the belief that 
direct Government management of the fishery would 
result both in increased profit to Government and improve- 
ment in the conditions under which the divers worked, 
led the authorities to abandon the renting system in 
1876. Accordingly, during the season 1876-77 the 
chery was worked departmentally, the Port Officer of 
