Captain Srrvarr on the Pearl Fisheries of the Island of Ceylon. 457 
This worthy man is paid by the government, and is also allowed a per- 
quisite of ten oysters from every boat daily during the fishery, 
On my first visit to the pearl banks, the shark-charmer informed me that 
he obtained the charm from his father 3 that the only real power of securing 
the mouths of the sharks was possessed by his family, and that it would be 
exceedingly dangerous to trust it to any other person; he also gave me to 
understand that if he were to explain the charm to me, it would lose its 
virtue in my possession. I requested him to charm a shark to appear 
alongside the vessel; he said he could do it, but it would not be right, his 
business being to send them away. At several subsequent visits I renewed 
my request without effect. 
During the few days we were employed marking off the ground to be 
fished, a shark was seen and reported to me; I instantly sent for the shark- 
charmer to be brought before me, and desired him to account for permitting 
a shark to appear at a time when alarm might have a serious influence on 
the success of the fishery. He replied that I had frequently requested him 
to summon a shark to appear, and he had therefore allowed this one the 
liberty to please me. 
When on board the “ Cumberland” south-seaman, I remember seeing a man 
bitten bya shark ; the crew were employed cutting the blubber from a dead 
whale alongside the ship, and on these occasions it is necessary for a man 
to go on the whale to hook on the blubber to be hoisted into the ship: the 
man has a belt of canvas round his waist fastened to a cord, held by a man 
on deck. At these times innumerable birds and hungry fish assemble round 
the ship. The unfortunate man had one foot pressed into the flesh of the 
whale, and the other stretched in the sea, when the second mate observing a 
shark in the act of seizing the man’s leg, with great presence of mind and 
admirable precision, darted his spade (the instrument he was using to cut 
the blubber) at the neck of the monster, and nearly severed the head from 
the body, at the moment that the animal had seized the man’s leg ; the 
teeth of one jaw made a serious wound, but the teeth of the other jaw only 
made a number of small holes in the skin 3 in six weeks the man was able to 
resume his duty. It is only when pressed by hunger that sharks are so bold; 
they are naturally timid, and would rarely venture near a body of divers. 
The noise made by the boatmen when at work is the great protection. 
The pearl fisheries off Arippo take place in March, when the north-east 
monsoon has abated, and before the south-west has commenced. The pearl 
