80 
may be estimated to average 22 lakhs per annum divided 
as to origin thus :-— Shells, 
Ceylon 2. ee Rs & =, 1,050,000 
Tuticorin a te “As 250,000 
Rameswaram ... on 4 a ; 250,000 
Other sources ... os ce “op 50,000 
Total _.....%2;200,000 
The actual Ceylon production is larger, amounting 
in normal years to not less than 20 lakhs, but a consider- 
able proportion is not exported being too small in size 
or too inferior in quality to be of use for bracelet 
manufacture. In years when a pearl fishery is held in 
the Gulf of Mannar, the production of chank shells 
usually decreases considerably (from 25 to 33 per cent.) 
while in favourable seasons with no counter attraction of 
a pearl fishery to divert the attention of the diving popu- 
lation, the annual yield may go well beyond the average 
given. In 1902 an exceptionally large export took place, 
as many as 2,410,429 shells being shipped. No pearl 
fishery occurred in this year and it may be that a portion 
of the total was fished in the year preceding. 
The Tuticorin and Ramnad shells although together 
they amount only to 4 to 5 lakhs annually—roughly 
one-fifth to one-quarter of the total Bengal consump- 
tion—have an importance much beyond what we should 
infer from their numerical ratio, They are the elite of their 
kind on account of the purity of their colour and of the 
high vitreous polish they are susceptible of; for these 
reasons they are necessary for all work of the best 
quality—all ornamental bracelets must be made from 
these shells. Jaffna or Ceylon shells on the average 
serve only for second and other yet inferior qualities of 
work. Hence while the cutters will give Rs. 160 per 
1,000 for Tuticorin and Ramnad shells, those from 
Ceylon range between the limits of Rs. 30 and Rs, 100 
per 1,000, the bulk inclining to the lower price rather 
than to the higher. 
The first circle in the distributing wholesale trade for 
many years past has been in the hands ofa ring of 
merchant middlemen who have successfully maintained 
until now a strict monopoly of the Calcutta import trade. 
The principal men in this combine hail. from Dacca, 
