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"As the fishery proceeded and the advantage of having them had become 

 K apparent, I was prepared to take more. They gave very little trouble, and were 

 "very useful both for the starting of the fishing and for keeping it going towards the 

 " end. They were always most keen on going out, no matter what the weather was, and 

 " they rather roughly handled a Jaffna tindal who started for the fishing one morning 

 " but turned back because his sail split. They offered to mend it for him, but he said 

 "he had no materials. Their indignation was great, and they were loud in their 

 " complaints. They are as used to handling boats as they are to diving, and had 

 " great contempt for tindals who were deterred from proceeding to the banks owing 

 K to small accidents to their boat or gear." 



Further evidence of the good work and reasonable disposition of these Arab 

 divers when treated justly, is afforded in Captain James' report on the 1900 Tinnevelly 

 fishery, * his words being — '' At first there must have been quite 1,500 divers, of 

 " which about 200 were Arabs. These latter I consider quite the best men to have 

 " at a fishery, quiet, good-tempered and hardworking, and quite amenable to all 

 " discipline, much more so than the Paravas who are a constant source of trouble, both 

 " on the banks and in the Kottoo, where they were constantly being caught concealing 

 " oysters, which of course were always confiscated . Only one Arab was caught 

 " doing this, and his companions abused him for disgracing them. The Malayali 

 " divers left the banks after the first few days as the water was too deep." 



Fortified with such favourable opinions from men who had to meet and control 

 these divers ashore, where trouble is more likely to occur than at sea, I have no 

 hesitation in saying that I have the highest possible opinion of these men and of the 

 quiet, methodical, and energetic manner in which they conduct their work. I watched 

 them at work daily throughout the last two fisheries, and they were ship -companions 

 with me when toward the end of the 1901 fishery they agreed to fish from the 

 Government steamers. 



Such daily contact afforded me opportunity to obtain insight into their characters 

 and as a result I found them more willing to obey my orders and follow suggestions 

 than either the Parawas or the Kilakarai Moormen — a result due naturally to their 

 higher intelligence. Quick tempered they are and restive under even the suspicion of 

 injustice, but withal reasonable and eminently amenable to fair treatment. Personally 

 I should not hesitate to run a fishery entirely with Arabs, and if ordinary precautions 

 were taken to exclude the scum of Bombay, I am satisfied that perfect order would 

 prevail. 



During the north-east monsoon, numbers of these men visit the ports of Canara and 

 Malabar, whence they might readily be obtained. f 



Banes op Greatest Value. 



Descending to matters of detail, the present investigation shows that certain of 

 the Pars or rather certain groups of Pars are more worthy of particular attention than 

 others. The same conclusion has been drawn with regard to the Ceylon Pars ; some 

 are clearly to be classed as favourable to the maturing of oysters, while others — the 

 majority — are wholly unreliable in this respect. 



Of the banks off the Indian coast, historical, physical, and biological evidence 

 combine to show that the Tolayiram Par and the Kudamuttu and Karuwal groups of 

 Pars are the highest in relative importance, bearing the more frequent spat falls and 

 yielding the major number of the fisheries that we are able to localize. 



The Northern or Kilakarai division is of little economic importance ; prolonged 

 inspection is not requisite in this region and the time formerly devoted to this purpose 

 can be employed to better advantage in making more detailed examination of the Pars 

 of the Central division and in carefully prospecting in the region lying between the 

 Karuwal group and Cape Comorin. 



* '• Proceedings, Board of Kevenue," Madras, No. 208, 1900. 



t Since the above was written, I have had experience of another large pearl fishery, at which a largely increased 

 contingent of Arabs, sorn9 2.000 in number, was employed. Their conduct was again eminently satisfactory. They gave 

 no trouble whatsoever. 



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