TEARL-FISHERY OF CEYLON. 53 



The banks,* which extend several miles along the coast, 

 are fourteen in number, and are divided into three or 

 four portions, each fished in succession ; a repose of three or 

 four years being thus given to the oysters to grow and pro- 

 pagate. Previously to their being let or farmed (for our 

 government sell by auction the privilege of fishing on them), 

 the banks are carefully surveyed and the condition of the 

 oysters ascertained ; and if a sale is agreed upon, the mer- 

 chant is permitted to fish them for only six or eight weeks, 

 the actual number of fishing-days being reduced to about 

 thirty, from the interruptions occasioned by the holidays 

 observed by the divers of different sects and nations, and by 

 the unlucky days foretold by their conjurors, a certain num- 

 ber of whom the divers keep in their pay to foretel seasons 

 and to frighten away sharks. 



The fishery always begins in the month of April, because 

 in those latitudes the sea is then at its calmest state, and 

 it is generally continued until the middle or end of May. 

 During its continuance, there is no spectacle which Ceylon 

 affords more striking to a European than the Bay of Con- 

 deatchy. " This desert and barren spot is at that time," 

 says an eye-witness, " converted into a scene which exceeds 

 in novelty and variety almost any thing I ever witnessed. 

 Several thousands of people, of different colours, countries, 

 casts, and occupations, continually passing and repassing in 

 a busy crowd; the vast numbers of small tents and huts 

 erected on the shore, with the bazaar or market-place be- 

 fore each ; the multitude of boats returning in the afternoon 

 from the pearl banks, some of them laden with riches ; the 

 anxious expecting countenances of the boat-owners, while 

 the boats are approaching the shore, and the eagerness and 

 avidity with which they run to them when arrived, in hopes 

 of a rich cargo ; the vast numbers of jewellers, brokers, mer- 

 chants, of all colours and all descriptions, both natives and 

 foreigners, who are occupied in some way or other with the 

 pearls, some separating and assorting them, others weighing 

 and ascertaining their number and value, while others are 

 hawking them about, or drilling and boring them for future 

 use : all these circumstances tend to impress the mind with 

 the value and importance of that object which can of itself 

 create this scene." From another intelligent observer we 

 learn that, " It not only attracts a multitude of Cingalese, 



151 The term "bank" means no more than the spot on which the oysters 

 grow, which may not be nearer the surface than the surrounding parts, ex- 

 cepting by the diminution of depth caused by the quantity of oysters. Their 

 average depth is twelve fathoms. 



