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continuous but given distinctive names according to 
their position relative to one another and to the depth of 
water over them. These divisions are— 
(.) Karai Piral, the inshore section lying in 84 to 
9 fathoms to the eastward of the inshore or karai group 
ef pearl banks comprised in the Nagara, Utti, Uduruvi, 
and Kilathi and Attuvai Arupagam pars. 
(2) The great Vattaikal Piral co-terminous along 
its west side with the Karai Piral but lying in 9 to 9! 
fathoms. This again is sub-divided into northern, middle 
and southern sections (Vadai Piral, Nadu Piral and 
Cholava Piral). The southern end. comes as far to the 
south as the Pulipundu Par. 
(3) Velangu Pirai, the eastern section of this great 
sand stretch. It is bounded on the east by a chain of 
pars called Ennu Par stretching from the Athompathu 
Par in the north to Saithompathu Par in the south. 
Usually the pirals yield large catches of shells, as the 
chanks appear to congregate there to feed upon the tube- 
worms which give the piral sands the name of puchchi 
manal (insect or wormsand). But as already mentioned 
chanks are often to be found in quantity on the eravels 
and coarse sands margining any large extent of rocky 
ground. None ofthese chank grounds have distinctive 
names and the men specify their fishing ground by such 
lengthy descriptive phrases as ‘the chank place a little 
on the distant side of the Utti Par” (Utti par velangu 
arugu chanku nilam),. 
(2) THE RAMNAD FISHERY. 
This chank fishery appears never to have been 
worked by either the Portuguese or the Dutch. From 
time immemorial it has been the monopoly of the 
Sethupathi Rajas of Ramnad, who held it as feudatories, 
first of the Pandiyan kings, and later of the Naiks of 
Madura, and the Nawabs of the Carnatic. They also 
seem to have enjoyed pearl-fishery rights but when they 
ceased to occupy the status of feudatories and the dis- 
trict was formed into a zamindari, the right to the pearl- 
fishery passed to the sovereign power as represented by 
the East India Company as the successors of the Nawab. 
For some obscure reason the chank fishery was left to 
the zamindari and constituted one of the eight heads of 
