Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Lx. (1916), No. 12. 19 



Notwithstanding their great fame, the pearl fisheries 

 of India are of small extent. The only resources are the 

 pearl reefs situated on the Madras coast in the vicinity of 

 Tuticorin, on the northern shore of the Gulf of Manaar; 

 reefs of local importance at Kananur on the Malabar 

 coast and on the Ratnagiri coast below Bombay ; and the 

 more important reefs off the coast of Nawanagar, on the 

 south side of the Gulf of Cutch. The fisheries of the 

 Madras coast were well known in the time of Ptolemy, 

 and pearls from this source are alluded to by several 

 early writers. 48 



According to Hornell, 49 the ancient Tamil classics fur- 

 nish evidence of the existence of important pearl fisheries, 

 together with those of chank shells, on the Indian shore 

 of the Gulf of Manaar. One reference contained in the 

 " Maduraikkanchi," a Tamil poem, " incidently describes 

 the ancient city of Korkai, once the sub-capital of the 

 Pandyan Kingdom and the great emporium familiar to 

 Greek and Egyptian sailors and traders and described by 

 the geographers of the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. under 

 the name of Kolkhoi." 



"In one passage," Hornell informs us, "the Parawas 

 are described as men who dived for pearl oysters and for 

 chank shells and knew charms to keep sharks away from 

 that part of the sea where diving was being carried on. 

 Another passage depicts the city of Korkai, then a seaport 

 at the mouth of the Tambraparni, as the chief town of 

 the Parawas and the seat of the pearl fishery, with a popu- 

 lation consisting chiefly of pearl-divers and chank-cutters." 



It is of some interest to note that the Parawas to-day 

 continue as from time immemorial to provide the con- 



43 Kunz and Stevenson, op, ciL, pp. 128-9. 



49 James Hornell, "The Sacred Chank of India," Madras, 1914, pp. 

 42-3 {Madras Fisheries Btdletin, No. 7). 



