AVICULID^E. SEA-WING. 99 



another some of the banks are for years deserted by 

 them. The following description, from the same source, 

 of the working of the fishery may be interesting. The 

 inspector having sent in his report to the effect that 

 there are sufficient pearl-oysters of mature age on the 

 banks, the government advertises a date for its com- 

 mencement. A large number of boat-owners, both 

 Cingalese and from the opposite coast of India, apply 

 to enrol their boats, and these probably number 150 

 to 180; they are divided into two fleets, sailing under 

 red and blue flags. They proceed to the banks, which 

 are some six miles from shore, on alternate days. 

 Each boat provides its own crew and divers, and has 

 on board a guard whose duty it is to see that the 

 oysters fished are not surreptitiously disposed of. 

 Each diver stands on a flat stone attached to the diving- 

 rope, and, after taking a long inspiration, closes the 

 nostrils with one hand, and descends on the stone to 

 the bottom, where he hastily collects as many oysters 

 in his basket as the time he is able to remain under 



water admits of At a given signal all the 



boats sail for the shore, where they are unloaded under 

 inspection, and the oysters placed in the government 

 Jcottoos (palisaded enclosures with cement floors). 

 Here the oysters are counted, and the proportion due 

 to the boat-owners for their services, is made over to 

 them. The remainder, which is the property of 

 government, is put up to auction and sold to the 

 highest bidder. The purchasers remove their lots to 

 private kottoos, where the oysters are left to de- 

 compose, to enable the pearls to be washed out. 



In Ceylon, the fourth part of the pearls brought up 

 is the diver's share. In each boat there are ten divers, 



h 2 



