Pearls and the Pearl Fisheries. 415 



The net revenue derived from the Ceylon fishery for 

 the nine years prior to 1834 was ;^i45,ooo ; in 1835 it pro- 

 duced £^0,000. In 1837 there was a small fishery which 

 realized only £\o,6},\. There was no fishery again until 

 1855, when about the same amount was obtained. In i860 

 the fishery was resumed, and brought in over ;^ 36,000. 



In 1877, after two years' rest, the pearl oyster beds 

 were again thrown open to the divers. The result of the 

 limited period of fishing was looked forward to with con- 

 siderable interest, as upon its success depend the hopes of 

 the restoration of this decaying industry, and the nature of 

 the treatment to which the beds will in future be subjected. 

 Pearl oysters — or rather mussels, for the bivalve that yields 

 the precious gems is not a real oyster, but a variety of the 

 mussel— produce the largest pearls when they have attained 

 a growth of about four years, and it is consequently the aim 

 of the divers to secure only those which have reached that 

 age. It has consequently been the policy of the authorities 

 in Ceylon to permit the fishing of different beds only once 

 every four years, leaving a comparatively small number of 

 molluscs to replenish the stock. But the objections to that 

 system are that, owing to the numerous enemies by which 

 the shell-fish are surrounded, and other circumstances con- 

 nected with their development, banks of oysters have been 

 known almost totally to disappear within a single year, 

 when left unfished for more than three or four years ; so 

 that, though the temptation to leave the beds untouched 

 for that period, in the hope of securing a supply of large 

 pearls, is very great, the danger that the whole produce 

 may be lost more than counterbalances it. The object, 

 therefore, which the Government has in view in the present 

 operations is to see what is the proper length of time which 

 ought to elapse between different fishings in the same beds. 



