32 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. X. 



If you see all this with the mind as well as the eye, you will 

 be mentally improved, and I hope acquire the feelings that 

 bring Ceylonites together in their regard and admiration 

 for their lovely Island— The Pearl, indeed, of England's 

 Colonial Diadem. 



APPENDIX. 



VALUATION OF PEARLS IN CEYLON. 



Pearl Valuation is a subject that has been somewhat elaborated 

 by the refinements or the policy of pearl merchants ; but stripped of 

 the obscure and roundabout methods usually employed, it will be seen 

 to be, at bottom, a comparatively simple process ; and the groundwork 

 being once understood, the nature of all native adjuncts may be then 

 readily comprehended. 



The following account does not profess to be a complete one, or to 

 give all that might be said on the subject. It has been gleaned chiefly 

 from conversations with native merchants, from analyses of published 

 statements of valuation, and from entries in old Diaries of the Pearl 

 Fishery, till lately filed in the Jaffna Kachcheri. 



In the process of valuing a given quantity of pearls there may be 

 particularised four distinct steps, or operations, each in itself sufficiently 

 simple, viz. : — 



i. — Sizing, or arranging all the given pearls into ten different sizes, 



from the largest to the smallest, 

 ii. — Classing, or sub-dividing according to shape and lustre each of 



these ten different sizes, 

 hi. — Weighing the pearls in each of all these classes separately, 

 iv. — Assigning the money value to such pearls, each in its class, by 

 weight, and the market price per weight at the time of the 

 valuation. 



If the distinctiveness of these four operations be borne well in mind, 

 it will be easy to realise the actual manner in which each operation is 

 conducted by native valuers. 



