Distribution of Pearls and Peart-shell. 89 
tingent of divers employed for the pearl and chank 
fisheries of the gulf of Manaar. 
In the first century A.D. Argalus, in the neighbour- 
hood of Korkai, appears to have been a station where 
the Gulf of Manaar pearls were perforated. Here also 
were to be purchased fine muslins sprinkled with pearls.” 
According to Kunz and Stevenson (of. ct, p. 131), 
two other species of pearl-producing mollusks are collected 
in the Madras Presidency. One of these is a species of 
mussel, bright green in colour, known as J/y7elus sniarag- 
ainus, collected from the estuary of the Sonnapore River, 
near Berhampore. Small pearls of inferior quality are 
found therein, and are sold chiefly for chunam” and for 
placing in the mouths of deceased Hindus. The other 
species is the Placuna placenta—the so-called “ window- 
glass” shell—which is abundant from Karachi, near the 
Baluchistan border, to the Kanara district south of Bom- 
bay. It is found also in Pulicat Lake, and in the vicinity 
of Tuticorin. Where it occurs in any abundance it is 
collected for the sake of the small pearls found therein. 
These pearls are highly valued by the Hindus, in calcined 
or powdered form, for medicinal purposes, and especially 
for mixing with the betel-nut ; they are also in consider- 
able demand for placing in the mouths of deceased Hindus 
of the middle class, instead of the sea pearls which are 
used by the wealthy, or the rice employed in a similar 
manner by persons of poorer rank. The practice of 
placing pearls in the mouth of the dead is an old one 
in India and was noted by Marco Polo more than 600 
years ago.” As we shall see later on in this chapter, 
5° Vincent, ‘‘ The Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the 
Indian Ocean,” London, 1807, vol. ii., p. 519. 
®t Chunam: lime prepared from burnt shells, etc., used for building 
purposes, and by natives for mixing with betel for chewing. 
> 
52 Kunz and Stevenson, of. c7/., p. 310. 
