25 



II. 



NOTE ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OP THE BANKS. 



The charted pearl banks along the Indian Coast of the Gulf of Mannar represent 

 all those patches of rocky ground lying within the 10-fathom Hue known to the 

 fishermen of that coast. Taken as a whole they deserve the name of pearl banks 

 only so far as being so potentially. The number of these banks which have been 

 known to bear mature oysters during the past century is limited to 23 at most, and 

 except in the case of nine, none of them has been fished more than once in this long 

 period. These potential pearl banks extend from Cape Comorin to Eameswaram 

 Island at the extreme head of the Gulf, a distance of over 100 miles. They consist of 

 whatever rocky outcrops there are upon the surface of the wide sub-marine plateau 

 which fringes the whole extent of this coast. This pearl bank plateau is widest in 

 the south, in the neighbourhood of Cape Comorin, gradually narrowing as we proceed 

 northwards. In the south it shelves to the 100-fathom line at an easy gradient, and 

 everywhere the width of the plateau is considerably greater than anywhere in the 

 pearl bank region on the Ceylon side. 



The pars, as these banks are termed locally, may be arranged in three divisions : 

 — the Northern or Kilakarai, extending from Adam's bridge to Vaipar ; the Central or 

 Tuticorin, from Yaipar to the latitude of Manapad ; and the Southern or Comorin 

 from thence southwards to Cape Comorin. 



The Central division is by far the most important ; indeed so far as recent 

 historical evidence goes the banks of this division are the only productive ones. 



Many are extremely small ; some have been described as having an area little 

 greater than that of an ordinary sized room, and as they owe their separate entities 

 to the detailed local knowledge of fishermen engaged not in pearling but in ordinary 

 fishing it will conduce greatly to simplify the pearl bank management if, in future, 

 the majority of these separate banks instead of being listed individually, be linked 

 together into groups, the members of each group occupying adjacent positions and 

 having similar physical and biological characteristics ; some have characters rendering 

 them entirely unsuited to the maturing of oysters and these may be deleted eventually 

 once and for all. 



The names of these banks arranged in order from north to south and classified 

 into groups consonant with their relative geographical position and with their 

 identity of physical and biological characteristics are as follows : — 



A. — Northern or Kilakarai Division. 



I. Paniban Group 

 II. Masai Tivu Group 



III. Kilakarai Group 



IY. Tanni Tivu Group 

 Y. Vembar Group 



VI. Outer Yaipar Group 

 YII. Inner Yaipar Group 



B. — Centra 



U 



Composed of. 

 P&mban Karai Par. 

 P&mban Velangu Par. 

 I" 3. Musal Tivu Par. 

 *' \ 4. Solaka Karai Par. 



5. Kilakarai Vellai Malai Velangu Par. 

 .. < 6. Vellai Malai Karai Par. 

 [_ 7. Anna Par. 

 T 8. Nalla Tanui Tivu Par. 

 \ 9. Uppu Tanni Tivu Par. 



10. Kunxulam Par. 



11. Vembar Periya Par. 



-{! 



or Tuticorin Division. 



,. 12. Vaipar Periya Par. 



fl3. Karai Par. 



| 14. Devi Par. 



, .«{ 15. Pernandu Par. 



| 16. Padutta Marikan Par. 



1^17. Padutta Marikan Tun du Par. 



