18 



from 1 to 1 inch across was very "abundant, as also a small species of Sabella 

 inhabiting mud-coated tubes. Area was present together with a number of 

 Saxicava boring into the thick walls of the old shells, while the boring sponge 

 Clione had caused a considerable amount of damage by " worming " the shells, 

 The Balani present were small and moderately abundant. 



69. These oyster patches cannot be of any further value without a two- 

 years' rest when the brood present shall have grown to marketable dimensions. 

 Examination of the pile of live oysters collected by the oyster-men from this 

 place was made on our return journey ; it showed them to be of the same age 

 and size as the adult oysters we saw growing in the Mall side-creek. A little 

 later we met a Karachi fishing boat, B 155, which had been hired by a licensed 

 oyster-collector to carry what oysters might be obtained by his employes in these 

 creeks during the low-tides then prevailing. The owner received Rs. 30 for the 

 trip and for this had also agreed to feed five of the collectors' men. The boat 

 was three-parts full already and had yet to take in the oysters collected from 

 the two creeks we had visited. The boatmen told us they were the first to 

 avail themselves of the re-opening of these creaks to oyster fishing ; this was the 

 second day they had been at work and in this short time they had cleared out 

 all the available oysters from the two side-creeks we examined and from several 

 others as well. The men admitted that by the time their boat was full the whole 

 of the oysters in all the Mall and Dumbri creek system would be exhausted ! 

 These men indicated several other side-creeks which they had worked out ; 

 these were of the same general character as those visited and above describ ed. 



70. In the evening we returned to Sappatari village, where we saw large 

 numbers of camels coming back for water from the mangrove scrub. Fine soles 

 of large size are abundant in Pitiani raouth judging from the quantity the fisher- 

 men brought us. 



71. The next morning, 29th October, while waiting for the tide to rise 

 sufficiently to proceed, I dissected some of the oysters from Dumbri and Mall 

 creeks. Except for a young one, -| inch diameter and apparently not more than 

 2 months old, in which the gonads, though very tiny, contained a little fully 

 formed ova, these oysters appeared quite spent. Two of the largest had cer- 

 tainly a trifling amount of reproductive products in the parts of the gonad 

 remote from the genital aperture, but the evidence was clear to me that what 

 was present was an undischarged remnant. Although spent the oysters were 

 in good condition for eating. It is probable that as general growth is much more 

 rapid in India than in England and France, recovery after spawning is also more 

 speedy owing to the very favourable conditions prevailing in these warm 

 latitudes. 



72. On the approach of high water, we weighed anchor and left Sappatari 

 for Dubba creek where a large bed of oysters was reported by one of the local 

 fishermen. The channel connecting Pitiani and Dubba proved very narrow and 

 shallow in parts and we just managed to scrape through at high-tide. Along 

 the flats on the seaward side we saw considerable stretches of low mangrove 

 scrub ; herds of camels come here to graze and here and there we observed low 

 mud-bunded pools wherein boat-borne sweet water is stored for their use. Few 

 mangroves are present on the landward bank but in one place we saw some 

 tamarisk bushes, evidence I should say of the occasional presence of fresh water 

 in this creek, and confirmation of the statement made by Mr. Judd that in 

 some years the influence of the Indus floods is felt as far as Dubba and its 

 branches ; 1909 was such a year, the water in Dubba creek being drinkable at 

 low-tide during the Indus inundation. 



73. Considerable difficulty was experienced in locating the Dubba oysters. 

 They were reported to be in the bed of one of the side creeks and there we 

 searched a long time before finding them. At last when the stream had dimi- 

 nished to a gutter some 7 feet wide, one of our men stumbled upon the patch in 

 the very centre of the runnel. The area occupied by the oysters was extremely 

 restricted ; four men engaged in gathering them and standing one at each corner 

 touched elbows when they stooped. The patch was apparently a virgin one 

 never before fished, as a large proportion of the living oysters were of huge 

 size, 8" to 9^" long, and some few were even of greater size. These large indi- 

 viduals were distinctly slipper-shaped. They formed the lowermost layer of 

 the living oysters; smaller ones grew attached to the projecting ventral 

 margins of the larger shells and also upon the flat of the valves. For its size 



