- 
340 An Account of the Pearl Fifhery at Ceylon. . 
the purchafer; while others are drilling or boring them} 
which they perform for a trifle. 
The inftrument thefe people carry about with them for 
this purpofe is of a very fimple conftruétion, but requires 
much fkill and exercife to ufe it; it is made in the following 
manner: The principal part confifts of a piece of foft wood, 
of an obtufe, inverted, conical fhape, about fix inches high 
and four in diameter in its plain furface; this is fupported 
by three wooden feet, each of which is more than @ foot in 
length. Upon the upper flat part of this machine are holes 
or pits for the larger pearls, and the fmaller ones are beat 
in with a wooden hammer. On the right fide of this ftool, 
half a cocoa-nut fhell is fattened, which is filled with water. 
The drilling inftruments are iron fpindles, of various fizes, 
adapted to the different dimensions of the pearls, which are 
turned round in a wooden head by a bow. The pearls being 
placed on the flat furface of the inverted cone, as already 
mentioned, the operator, fitting on a mat, prefles on the 
wooden head of his inftrament with the left hand, while, 
with his right, he moves the bow which turns round the 
moveable part of the drill; at the fame time he moiftens the 
pearl, occationally dipping the little finger of the fame hand 
into the water of the cocoa-nut fhell with a dexterity that 
can only be attained by conftant practice. 
Among the crowd are found vagabonds of every deferip- 
tien, fuch as Pendarams, Andee or Hindu monks, fakirs, 
beggars, and the like, who are impertinently troublefome. 
Two of thefe arretes particularly attraced the attention of 
the mov, though their fuperftitious penance muft have dif- 
guited a man of the leaft reflection: one had a gridiron, of 
one foot and a half long and the fame in breadth, faftened 
round his neck, with which he always walked about, nor 
did he take it off either when eating or fleeping; the other 
had fafiened round that member which decency forbids me 
to mention, a brafs ring, and fixed to it was a chain, of @ 
fathom in length, trailing on the ground; the links of this 
chain were as thick as a man’s finger, and the whole was 
exhibited in a moft. feandalous manner. ‘ 
The peflilential fmell occafioned by the numbers of putre- 
7 fying © 
