Chap. VII.] THE PEARL FISHERY. 565 



hereditary ; nor is it supposed that the vahie of his incan- 

 tations is at all dependent upon the rehgious faith pro- 

 fessed by the operator, for the present head of the family 

 happens to be a Roman Cathohc. At the time of our 

 visit this mysterious functionary was ill and unable to 

 attend ; but lie sent an accredited substitute, who assured 

 me that although he himself was ignorant of the grand 

 and mystic secret, the fact of his presence, as a represen- 

 tative of the higher authority, would be recognised and 

 respected by the sharks. 



Strange to say, though the Gulf of Manaar abounds 

 with these hideous creatures, not more than one well 

 authenticated accident' is known to have occiuTcd from 

 this som^e during any pearl fisheiy since tlie Britisli 

 have had possession of Ceylon. In all probabihty the 

 reason is that the sharks are alarmed by the unusual 

 number of boats, the multitude of divers, the noise of 

 the crews, the incessant phmging of the sinking stones, 

 and the descent and ascent of the baskets fiUed with 

 shells. The dark colour of tlie divers themselves may 

 also be a protection, whiter skins might not experience 

 an equal impunity ; and Massoudi relates that the divers 

 of the Persian Gulf were so conscious of this advantage of 

 colour, that they were accustomed to blacken tlieir hmbs, 

 in order to baffle the sea monsters.- 



The result of our examination of the pearl banks, on 

 this occasion, was such as to discourage the hope of an 

 early fisheiy. The oysters in point of number were 

 abundant, but in size they were little more than " spat," 

 the largest being barely a fourth of an ineli in diameter. 

 As at least seven years are required to furnish the growth 

 at which pearls may be souglit with advantage, tlie inspec- 



^ Cohdiner's Cetjlon, vol. ii. p. 52. 



* " lis s'enduisaient les pieds et 

 les jainbes d'uue substance noiratro, 

 afin de faire peiir aux monstr(\s ina- 



rins, que, sans cela, soraiont tontos 

 dt- If-s devorer. " — MoroKdj-al- 1 )z('hcb ; 

 Kkinaud, Mem. siir I Itidr. p. 22H. 



