THE PEARL OYSTER OF CEYLON. 171 



When we examine the old method pursued in pearl fisheries, we must 

 acknowledge it to be sadly defective, as too much is left to the divers and 

 the interests of native headmen. Sixty or more boats, manned by ten 

 divers each, are sent on a bank to dive for oysters. The divers go on, from 

 day to day, fishing up oysters from one end of the bank to the other, and, 

 after the whole bank is gone through, a large number of boats are employed 

 for two or more days to go over the bank again ; and it is only when the 

 boats do not bring up a remunerative quantity that the fishery is closed. 

 By this method the quantity of oysters left cannot be regulated. It all 

 depends on the diver's exertion. In some fisheries, a large number may in 

 the aggregate be left in small patches, or single ones widely scattered. But 

 it will happen, sometimes, that very few are left. The quantity cannot be 

 well regulated by the inspector or his assistants, for all the information is 

 got from the divers, who are interested in giving a false impression. 

 Whereas, by buoying out a portion of the bank at the commencement of 

 the fishery, the inspector can calculate, almost to a nicety, the quantity he 

 reserves for reproductive purposes. Surely it is not too much to claim for 

 this wise purpose l-40th portion of the bank. 



For the sake of meeting the objection of some to my plan, on the score 

 that I cannot be sure of the spawn proceeding from one bank being- 

 deposited on the banks of Arripo, I would ask them where did the spawn 

 which formed the oyster banks of Arripo come from ? The answer given 

 is, I believe, that they came from a distance — from banks unknown. Sup- 

 posing this to be really the case, are we not to reciprocate the benefit ? 

 How are other banks from whence Ceylon derived the spawn to be kept 

 re-forming, if we do not preserve our banks on reciprocal principles. My 

 opinion is, that while some of the spawn is carried to some distance, other 

 portions find prepared beds in the neighbourhood of the old banks. To no 

 other conclusion can we come, if even we only consult Capt. Steuart's maps, 

 on which are inserted the dates of fishing, and the distance of one fished 

 bank from another. 



Arripo, March, 1858. 



The oysters fished this year (1859) at the ChevalPaar Bank, and the oysters 

 fished on other parts of the Cheval in the years 1857 and 1858, appear to 

 me to have been the product of the same brood of oysters, though deposited 

 in various seasons of the same year ; i.e., that they were derived from the 

 spawn of the same year, and that the general difference of size in the 

 oysters is no more than what may be expected in oysters developed in 

 various periods of the year, or within one twelve months. The 

 oysters formed from the spawn deposited in the months of January or 

 February, will, cceteris paribus, be of larger dimensions than the oysters 

 developed from spawn deposited in the months of Nov. or Dec. following. 

 This is very evident in the great difference observed in the various large 

 masses of young oysters found this year in the Cheval Paar Bank, and 

 which doubtless have been deposited since the fishery of 1858, when, if 



