Captain Srrvarr on the Pearl Fisheries of the Island of Ceylon. 459 
and yet so skilful is he, that without the use of figures, when he has obtained 
his cargo of fish, he shapes his course for a market, making Cromer or 
Lowestoff with a precision that would do credit to a circumnavigator, 
Ever anxious for the success of his voyage, if the wind be contrary, the 
master will not trust the helm to other hands, but night and day continues 
at the helm until favoured by the wind, or until worn out by fatigue he 
can stand no longer. Energy like this is no where to be found within the 
tropics, and cannot be expected of the Adapandrs: but I certainly did 
expect to find them leading men in their profession, excelling the common 
fishermen of the country. They appear to read the compass, and to have 
the same fixed courses, as steered by their ancestors, from Arippo to their 
variously named pearl banks ; but they are useful men, only as a medium of 
communication between the divers and the officers of the fishery. Little, 
indeed, appears to have been the improvement of the fishermen, or their 
means of fishing, since the days when the pearls of Creoparra’s ear-rings 
were landed at Condatchy. 
The pearl banks off Arippo and Condatchy lie at a considerable distance 
from the low land, with few remarkable objects in view ; the banks are exten- 
sive, the masses or beds of oysters are of various ages, according to the 
season in which they may have settled. Very many of these masses or beds 
are by no means so extensive as has been imagined, and nothing is more easy 
than to mistake one bed for another, particularly by the Adapanars, who 
are guided chiefly by the course they steer from the dorric at Arippo ; 
and that which they call the north-east Chival, to-day, may be called the 
south-east to-morrow. 
I have heard that samples of oysters have frequently been taken up by 
order, from banks inspected the previous year, and found nowise improved, 
and sometimes the samples have been younger. This, I venture to say, 
shews that although there has been no difficulty in finding plenty of oysters 
on the banks, there has been great difficulty in finding the same spot a 
second time ; and it proves that the greatest care and skill are necessary to 
mark the particular spots, beds, or masses on the bank from whence the 
samples are taken, and that this cannot be expected by mere compass bear- 
ings and soundings, or even by astronomical observations. It requires 
an union of talent and professional tact, with alacrity in the pursuit ; and 
should it ever happen that the person possessing these requisite acquirements, 
be placed at the head of the establishment for a sufficient length of time, 
Vor. III, 30 
