12 



44. As will be seen from the sketch plan (Fig. 1) given above, the back- 

 water in outline is almost an isosceles triangle, the axis directed almost east and 

 west ; the apex terminates blindly and is the point furthest removed from the 

 seaward entrance east of Mauora Point. The apex is also at the opposite 

 extremity of the backwater from the embouchure of the Laiari River. It is in 

 this quiet apical cul-de-sac that the only oyster beds are found ; they lie south- 

 ward of the Mauripur Salt-works and are generally referred to as the Nawa Nar 

 or Nai Nar beds. 



45. On our way there, we landed on the beach of Shams Pir Island 

 immediately in front of the Fish-curing Yard. The tide was falling rapidly, 

 exposing a long stretch of gently shelving muddy foreshore. In the lower part 

 the mud is deep and soft, but at the higher levels a considerable amount of 

 shingle and water-worn pebbles is intermixed. In the March preceding our 

 visit one of the Karachi oyster dealers used this beach as a laying ground for 

 a cargo of Kutch oysters. Part had been sold and a large number had died, I 

 was informed ; a fair quantity still remaind alive and upon their valves as well 

 as upon the dead shells scattered around, was a fair show of brood oysters, 

 varying in approximate age (the rate judged by my experience of the growth 

 of oysters near Madras) from 1 week to 1 month, suggesting thereby that the 

 spatting season at Karachi is identical with that of oysters in the Madras 

 Presidency September and October. 



46. The general size of these Kutch oysters was relatively enormous ; 

 some were over 8 inches long and proportionate in thickness. They had the 

 appearance of being very old and I judged that the beds they came from had not 

 been worked for any length of time virgin beds such as the Sind ones were 

 when first fishing began there. For table use these oysters are much too large 

 and coarse ; for canning and cooking they would serve admirably, while the empty 

 shells would make excellent cultch for the purpose of spat collection owing to 

 their great size, irregular shape and the deep concavity of the inner surface. 

 To judge from the general form of the valves and the apparent habit of growth 

 they appear to be closely related to the Portuguese oyster (Ostrea angulata), 

 differing conspicuously in one particular only the colour of the adductor muscle 

 scar. In the Portuguese and also in 0. cucullata^, the Madras species, this 

 scar is of an extremely deep purple tint ; in the Kutch oysters seen at Shams 

 Pir Island and all Sind oysters subsequently examined, the scar is colourless as 

 in the English native, 0. edulis. 



47. Shams Pir Fish-curing Yard has a reputation for the excellence of its 

 products, I was told. I noticed that the surface of the drying ground con- 

 sists of water-worn pebbles ; this I have no doubt accounts largely for the 

 excellent dried fish sent out of the yard, as it is the experience of Scots 

 curers of dried cod that a boulder-covered beach is the most suitable drying 

 ground for ensuring the best results. Scicena spp., locally known as sua, is cured 

 here in large quantities. On arrival it is salted and left in heaps till the follow- 

 ing day when it is spread to dry, being turned as needful. 



48. From this yard we crossed to the western side, and in passing I may 

 notice that the core of the island, as shown by several excavations made in 

 search of fresh water, consists entirely of water-worn gravel, pebbles, and 

 boulders such as a swiftly flowing river would accumulate along its course 

 through rocky country. Shams Pir represents very probably a remnant of the 

 gravel beds deposited by the Laiari river before Karachi backwater began to 

 form. 



49. From the northern side of Shams Pir we took a canoe up Vad creek 

 to the place where Mr. Judd has thrice laid down quantities of cultch and live 

 oysters. The creek is a short and narrow feeder of the main channel. The 

 flats on either side are densely clothed with well-grown mangrove bushes ; the 

 banks and bed consist of soft mud. The place where the culture experiments 

 htive been made is just above low tide level. Here as elsewhere the mud is 

 very soft and it was at once obvious that much of the material deposited had 

 been engulfed. An odd oyster of mature size was seen to be alive here and 

 there, but the bulk of those that survived at the end of a few weeks after deposit 

 were stolen, according to Mr. Judd, and of the remainder almost all died oft' 



W The species common to Ceylon and Madras is identified in Prof. Herman's Report on the 

 Ceylon Pearl Fisheries, but I believe farther scrutiny will show it to bq distinct therefrom. 



