Chap. II.] 



THE FISII-TiiX. 



131 



the native in favour of liis ancestral custom having 

 been found insurmountable, the experiment, attempted ^ 

 in three instances, was in each unsuccessful ; and the 

 fish-tax with all its inquisitorial and vexatious incidents, 

 was restored amidst the acclamations of the fishermen. 



Notwithstanding these repeated disappointments, the 

 tax was eventually reduced from a fourth to a siMh 

 in 1834, from a sixth to a tenth in 1837, and finaUy 

 abohshed in 1840. But it is a singular fact, illustrative 

 of the unclianging liabits of an Eastern people, that 

 every diminution of the duty, instead of leading to 

 an increase of the trade, or adding to the Colonial Ex- 

 chequer, had in each successive instance the dkectly 

 contrary effect ; — the fishermen having no longer then' 

 accustomed stimulus to exertion, the number of fishing- 

 boats became annually reduced, the quantity of fish 

 taken diminished, and the price rose to more than 

 double what it had been dming the existence of the 

 fish-tax.^ But though abandoned by the government, 

 the tax was not allowed to be altogether abohshed ; 

 those of the fishers who were Eoman Cathohcs ^ trans- 



' In 1812, 1820, and 1827. 



^ A note in elucidation of a result 

 80 contraiy to the principles of poli- 

 tical economy, will be found, Note A, 

 in the appendix to this chapter. 



^ I have elsewhere alluded to the 

 singular fact, that the fisher caste 

 have been in every country in India 

 the earliest converts to the Iioman 

 Catholic Church ; — so much so as to 

 render it worthy of inquiry whether 

 it be only a coincidence or the result 

 of some permanent and predisposing 

 cause. The Para was of Cape Corao- 

 rin were the earliest converts of St. 

 Francis Xavier. It was by the 

 ^' fisher caste " of Manaar that he 

 was invited to Ceylon in 1544 a.d. ; 

 and notwithstanding the martyrdom 

 inflicted on his converts by the Haja 

 of Jalliia, and the continued persecu- 



tion of the Dutch, that district is to 

 the present day one of the .strong- 

 holds of the Eoman Catholic Cluirch 

 in Ceylon, and the tishennen alojig 

 the whole of the south-western 

 coast as far south as liarberpi, .are 

 in the proportion of one half Roman 

 Catholics. Is it that there is an 

 habitual tendency to veneration of 

 the Supreme Being amongst those 

 " who go down to the sea in ships, and 

 see his power in the great deep ? " Is 

 it that being a low caste themselves, 

 the fishers of India and Ceylon 

 acquire a higher status by espousing 

 Christianity ? or hfive they some 

 sympathy -with a religion whose first 

 apostles and teacliers were the fisher- 

 men of (ialilee ?" — Sir J. Emeksox 

 Tknxknt's Ilistonj of CJiristiaiiifi/ in 

 Ceylon, ch. i. p. 20. 



