458 Captain Srevarr on the Pearl Fisheries of the Island of Ceylon. 
banks are examined in November, between the close of the south-west mon- 
soon and commencement of the north-east, by the collector of Mandr, who 
is the supervisor, attended by the inspector and the interpreter. The vessels 
employed on these examinations are a government guard vessel, two sailing- 
boats from the master-attendant’s department at Colombo, and about eight 
native fishing-boats (as before described) from Mandr and Jaffna ; on these 
occasions the boats are furnished with one diving-stone and two divers. 
Five or six native head-men, called adapandrs, also attend, and go in the 
boats to see that the divers perform their duty, and to take notes of the 
reports given from time to time by the divers for the information of the 
supervisor. Samples of the oysters are taken up and forwarded to Colombo, 
with a report on the state of the banks, by the supervisor. On these sam- 
ples depends the decision of government as to a fishery in the following 
March. 
So many years had passed since the fishery of 1814 without one of any 
consequence having taken place, that it gave rise to various conjectures as 
to the cause of the failure. Some were of opinion that violent winds and 
currents buried the oysters in the sand, or drove them entirely away; some 
supposed the adapandrs and divers employed at examinations, gave false 
reports, and that the banks were plundered by boats from the opposite coast. 
It was also said that former fisheries had been so extensive as to have 
injured the oyster-beds; the natives attributed it to various devouring fish, 
and also to a failure of seasonable rain, which they deem absolutely neces- 
sary to bring the oysters to perfection. 
To prevent plunder, a government vessel has been kept stationed on the 
banks during the season of the year that boats can visit them; and to 
insure correct reports, diving-bells have been used to enable Europeans 
to go down at examinations. 
Without venturing to contradict a pretty general opinion, that the failure 
of the pearl fisheries for so many years has been owing to the effect of strong 
winds and currents, I am not at the same time prepared to admit that this 
has been the cause. Too much confidence in the knowledge of the adapandrs 
may have led to error, and consequent failure ; they are not like the expe- 
rienced fishermen of Europe ; indeed they are not fishermen at all, they do 
not even know how to manage their boats. 
How often for weeks, during winter gales, cod-smacks cruise about the 
North Sea, without a glimpse of land, the master unable to write his name, 
