64 Onthe Economical Uses of some species of Testacea. 
a cord to pull him up again when he grew tired. ‘Thus equipped, 
he leaped overboard, and collected as many shells as he could while 
he remained under water. We are told they sometimes remained 
below fifteen to twenty minutes, but this seems a very gross exag- 
geration, from two to seven minutes being the general period in 
the present day ; they repeated this while they stayed as often as 
they could. In the evening the boats returned with the sea breeze, 
which then blows on land. On the beach the fishers dug pits four 
or five feet square, and throwing in the oysters, raised heaps of sand 
over them to the height of a man, so that at a distance they looked 
like an army ranged in order of battle. When the animal was de- 
cayed, these were opened, and the sand passed through sieves, to 
collect the shells. These again were passed through nine sieves, to 
assort the qualities, and the smallest sold as seed pearls. 
The manner of catching them in the West Indies differs very 
little from this mode. The employment is considered very un- 
healthy, and the divers are continually in danger from sharks. 
g the Colchi, during the first century of the Christian era, 
so dangerous was this business considered, that condemned criminals 
were entirely and solely employed in it. 
Since the British have held possession of the island of Ceylon, the 
pearl fishery has been a monopoly in the hands of government. It is 
now a more important business, and carried on with greater skill and 
tact. About twelve miles from Manaar, and in the gulf so called, lies 
the bay of Condotchy, on which is a small town of the same name. 
Off here the fishing banks lie, and extend several miles along the coast 
from Manaar Sound to Arippo. The principal one is about twenty 
miles out tosea. At this town, scarcely inhabited except during the 
fishing time, all the boats collect in the beginning of the season; few 
of them belong to the island, and most of them are brought annually 
from the coast of Coromandel and Malabar. The fishing is confined 
to one season, and begins generally about the second week in Feb- 
ruary. ‘The first thing that is then done is to sell by auction to the 
highest bidder the right of fishing for the season, and he either 
catches all himself, hiring the boats, or lets out the privilege to oth- 
ers. The fishing seldom continues above thirty entire’ days, for 
tity of blood on the right side, the same as is fownd to be the case with those persons 
employed in diving for pearls.”—Dr. Riley, at the meeting of the British Associa- 
tion at Bristol, 1836, reported in the Enerery Gazette, September 
* McPherson, I. 1” 
