16 



CEYLON PEARL OYSTER REPORT. 



as their share. The divers now carry off their own oysters and emerge from the 

 kottu on the landward side after running the gauntlet of the searchers. They are at 

 once surrounded by a crowd of natives anxious to buy oysters in small quantities, by 

 the dozen or even singly. The diver usually disposes of his whole stock in this way 

 in a very short time, and then spends the remaining hours of the day in bathing 

 and resting. 



Inside the kottu the clerks are now counting the millions of oysters left as the 

 Government's share ; and about sunset the Government Agent puts them up for sale 

 by auction at the Court House. The prices bid are per thousand, and may vary 

 from 20 to 80 rupees, and the buyer can take one or more thousands at the price he 

 bids. The kottu with its valuable contents is closed and guarded during the night, 

 and in the morning the buyers remove the oysters to their own enclosures, and then 

 the lengthy and unpleasant process of washing the rotting oysters begins. Some of 

 our figures (fig. 3 and fig. 6) show the examination of the " sarraku" or residue for 

 pearls, while fig. 7 shows Tamils, outside the kottu, searching for attached or blister 



Fig. 7. Tamils searching the washed shells. From a photograph by Mr. HOKNELL. 



pearls amongst the piles of shells thrown out after washing. Fig. 8 shows two pearl 

 merchants, who sit all day ready to buy or sell, weighing, discussing and playing 

 with their gems. They have basket-like sieves for grading the pearls, and curious 

 little scales with scarlet seeds for certain weights. These capitalists (many of them 

 Moormen and Bombay merchants) are an important section of the population of 

 " Camp Town." There are also the pearl-cutters and " fakers," who carry on their 



