176 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
rowed in concentric circles about the 
central vessel, and at intervals the divers 
are sent down with instructions to bring 
up every mature oyster they can collect 
in each dive. This work continues until 
12 circles — the outer i^^ miles in diame- 
ter — have been run about the anchored 
boat and about 325 sample lots of oysters 
brought up. 
The area covered by oysters being 
computed in square yards, the approxi- 
mate number of oysters thereon is esti- 
mated by taking the average number of 
oysters per dive in conjunction with the 
average amount of bottom a diver is 
adjudged to clear at one descent (2^ 
to 3 square yards). The government 
estimates based on this method are some- 
times remarkably close. Thus, in 1904, 
the prospective yield of the fishery was 
announced as 35 million oysters, and as 
a matter of fact '^J million were gathered. 
In conjunction with the determination 
of the approximate number of fishable 
oysters on the beds, 25,000 to 30,000 oys- 
ters from various grounds are opened 
and their pearls extracted, sorted, and 
appraised under government auspices, 
the valuation being entrusted to disinter- 
ested pearl merchants. A rough basis is 
thus afforded for estimating the average 
worth of the pearl oysters per 1,000, and 
this information is published broadcast 
by the government in the circular an- 
nouncing the fishery. 
The pearl content of the oysters varies 
from year to year and on different parts 
of the same ground, owing to several 
factors ; and the advance estimate of the 
government has the praiseworthy object, 
if it does not have the effect, of keeping 
the speculative fever within reasonable 
limits. It has sometimes happened that 
notwithstanding the formal assurance of 
the government that the grounds to be 
opened for fishing will probably yield 
pearls of the value of, say, 20 rupees per 
1,000 oysters, the pearl merchants have 
run the prices up to 40, 60, 80, or more 
rupees. 
MARICHCHUKADDI, THK PEARIv TOWN 
News that a fishery is to be held travels 
as by wireless telegraphy throughout 
Ceylon, India, and other parts of the 
East, and at the prescribed time 30,000 
to 50,000 people gather in a few days on 
a strip of desert sand, with the Persian 
Gulf on one side and the jungle on the 
other, at a point convenient to the pearl- 
oyster grounds. A town covering a 
square mile springs up like a boom town 
in the West, with regular streets, private 
houses, shops, markets, banks, a ceme- 
tery, and government buildings, such as 
a court-house, post and telegraph offices, 
prison, and hospital. In the outskirts 
of the town large water-tanks are con- 
structed to supply water for washing 
clothes and for bathing; there are also 
wells or cisterns throughout the town. 
As there is no harbor, the fishing boats 
draw up in a long line on the beach. 
A more heterogeneous aggregation of 
humanity could hardly be found else- 
where. Besides the British officials, with 
their assistants and servants and the 
force of 200 native police, there are 
the multitudes of fishermen, merchants, 
mechanics, pawnbrokers, money-lenders, 
priests, coolies, and pearl buyers and 
speculators, of every conceivable color, 
speaking a score of tongues, and repre- 
senting half a dozen religions. To amuse, 
divert, and prey on those who have 
legitimate business in the pearl town, 
there are fakirs, jugglers, dancers, beg- 
gars, gamblers, and loose characters of 
both sexes, providing every allurement 
that will appeal to the sons of Buddha, 
Brahma, and Mohammed. 
The chief of police wrote of the pearl 
town in 1905 : "There were 40,000 to 
50,000 persons, of whom it may be said 
that not less than a tenth were gamblers, 
vagrants, and rogues, who, without occu- 
pation in their own country, made their 
way to Marichchukaddi with the hope of 
making money to gamble in oysters." 
Here we may study under very favor- 
able conditions the distinctive personal 
habits and customs of nearly every lit- 
toral race from the Yellow Sea to the 
Mediterranean. Here are thousands of 
the most attractive members of the Cey- 
lon population- — the Sinhalese or Cey- 
lonese proper — varying in color from 
light to dark bronze, with their slender, 
graceful forms and finely cut features ; 
here are the black Tamils, most unat- 
