8 OKHAMANDAL MARINE ZOOLOGY REPORT 



It was in clefts and under boulders near low-tide level around the margins of 

 these reefs that we found the only pearl oysters {M. vulgaris) obtained during the 



investigation. 



All the above mentioned localities received sufficient attention to permit their 

 economic potentialities to be gauged ; the faunistic results are given in detail in 

 the " Narrative " of the work printed on other pages— we may therefore proceed 

 now to a statement of the facts a,scertained concerning economic questions and the 

 conclusions derived therefrom, and then discuss in detail those which hold out any 

 promise of successful development. We will treat the conclusions under the heads 

 of pearl oysters, window-pane oysters, edible oysters, chanks and chank-fishmg, 

 and, lastly, sea-fishing and fish- curing. 



PEARL OYSTEES. 



That Pearl Oysters {Margaritifera sp.) exist on the coast of Okhamandal was 

 well known prior to this inquiry, and several attempts had been made previously 

 to ascertain if the establishment of a pearl fishery in the neighbourhood of Beyt be 

 practicable. As tlie merchants of Dwarka transact considerable business with the 

 ports of the Persian Gulf and the western shores of the Arabian Sea, the Okha- 

 mandal coast is frequented by Arab traders and by trading craft engaged in the export 

 from Dwarka and Beyt of salt and of earthenware utensils. Many Arab sailors engage 

 in pearl-fishing in the Gulf during the south-west monsoon and on several occasions 

 some of these men have expressed the opinion that the Okhamandal coast is fitted 

 for the establishment of a pearl fishery. What they meant was undoubtedly that 

 the physical features of the shore, the depth of the water, and the general 

 character of such seaweeds and animals that would come under their observation 

 on the littoral and in the shallows are such as they associate in their minds with 

 good pearling grounds in the Persian Gulf. Some Arabs are stated even to have 

 averred that the west coast of Okhamandal " abounds with pearl oysters, especially 

 to the west of the villages of Bhimrana and Mojab."^ Another reason which favoured 

 the presumption that a pearl fishery might be worked on this coast was the fact 

 that further to the eastward along the southern shore of the Gulf of Kutch and 

 within the limits of the State of Nawanagar or Jamnagar, pearl oysters yielding 

 pearls of good quality are fished in considerable numbers. This pearl fishery is 

 carried on under the control of the government of the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar ; 

 it has been known and famous for many years, and Mr. Samarth mentions that of 

 so much account was it in the days of the Emperor Aurangzeb, that Nawanagar 

 was made Khalsa Sarkar under the name of Islampur, the Jam being continued 



^ These facts are derived from a report by Mr. Samarth, the Sar Subha of Baroda, kindly 

 communicated to me. 



