PEARLS 695 



depths, in some cases, with no artificial appliances to aid them in their difficult and 

 dangerous calling. The provision of the best and newest divers' apparatus makes their 

 descent into not too great depths comparatively easy and safe, and renders a longer stay 

 under water possible. Pearl-fishing is not a profitable industry in every place where the 

 pearl-oyster is to be found, and, moreover, the individuals from which numbers of pearls 

 are obtained do not always supply in addition mother-of-pearl of good quality. The best 

 mother-of-pearl known, which is worth from ^£"80 to £150 per metric ton ( = 1000 kilograms), 

 is obtained from the pearl-oysters found in the sea surrounding the Sulu Islands, between 

 the Philippines and the north point of Borneo ; comparatively few pearls are yielded by 

 the pearl-oysters found in this region. On the other hand, the pearl-oysters inhabiting the 

 Gulf of Manar, ofi' the island of Ceylon, which yield a very large number of the finest 

 pearls in the world, have shells so thin that they are useless in the mother-of-pearl 

 industry. 



These pearl fisheries in the Gulf of Manar, on the north-west coast of Ceylon, also 

 known as the fisheries of Aripo, after an old fort, are more important than any other The 

 fishery is not confined entirely to this gulf, a small number of pearls being obtained also 

 from the Coromandel Coast, lying opposite on the mainland of India. The sea in this 

 district is well sheltered by the islands and by sand-banks lying to the north, so that the 

 pearl-oysters are undisturbed by buffeting waves. The most important banks lie between 

 8° 30' and 9° north latitude, at a distance of three miles from the coast ; the largest are two 

 miles long and two-fifths of a mile wide. The banks extend for a length of ninety miles along 

 the coast, and the furthest out are about twelve miles from the shore. The best shells lie at a 

 depths of from 18 to 40 feet beneath the surface of the water. Pearl-oysters have been brought 

 up by divers from this spot for time immemorial, and much the same methods as were adopted 

 in the time of the Romans, and even earlier, are still employed. Since the earliest times these 

 pearl-fisheries have been under Government control, first native, then Portuguese, then 

 Dutch, and finally English. The head-quarters of the divers in these districts is Kondachchi, 

 and during the fishing-season, six weeks in March and April, when the sea is quietest, the 

 place is inhabited by from 15,000 to 20,000 people. These, drawn from all parts of India, 

 include divers, fishers, shark-charmers, merchants, and so on, who help to people this strip 

 of shore, which at other seasons of the year is entirely unoccupied. 



As many as 300 boats, each carrying ten divers, row about the fishing-ground, the 

 boundaries of which are accurately marked out under the superintendence of the auth orities 

 Each boat can collect in one day on an average 20,000 oysters, and a yield of two or three 

 shillings' worth of pearls per thousand oysters is sufficient to make the thing pay, while a 

 haul which yields half as much again is considered good. The oysters are seldom opened 

 directly they are landed, but are safely secured and allowed to rot, the atmosphere being 

 pervaded during the process with an indescribably evil smell. The pearls are collected as 

 they fall out of the decaying masses, and are there and then sorted according to size by 

 means of sieves provided with meshes of various sizes. Many are bored and sold on the 

 spot. The number of pearls suitable for ornaments is but a small proportion of the total 

 yield. Those which are not adapted for ornaments are used in India and elsewhere in the 

 East for medicinal purposes, serving, for example, as a costly substitute for the ordinary 

 shell-lime used in the preparation of betel, a luxury which only the richest can afford. The 

 pearl-oyster of Ceylon is small, no larger than the palm of the hand, and the shell 

 itself is so thin that although the inner surface is extraordinarily lustrous and beautiful 

 it has no value as a source of mother-of-pearl. 



Pearl-fishing is not restricted in this district to the Gulf of Manar, but is carried on 



