The Pearl Fishery of SoutJiern India. 209 



to be obtained in Colombo. Several orders were 

 received by the agent from persons who were unable 

 to buy oysters, or who had been unsuccessful in 

 finding Pearls. As these orders could not be 

 executed there, the Pearls were procured from the 

 London market. Some of the wealthy natives, resident 

 in Ceylon, succeeded in collecting a few Pearls of 

 fair size and value, but only a very limited number ; 

 indeed, as a depot for Pearls, Ceylon was as inferior 

 in supply a month after the fishery, as any small 

 provincial town in England could have been. It 

 may be confidently asserted that if the Pearls which 

 had been sent to London had been kept in Ceylon, 

 and sold when the excitement and demand were 

 at their height, far higher prices would have been 

 realized. 



TJie Pearl Fishery of SoutJiern India. 



While the waters which wash the island of 

 Ceylon are studded in certain localities with banks 

 of Pearl-oyster, as described in the preceding pages, 

 it is only natural that the opposite coast of Southern 

 India should in like manner possess its beds of 

 Pearl-producing molluscs. From times beyond the 

 reach of our western records. Pearls have been 

 obtained by the natives of the southern extremity 



