NO. 51.-— 1900.] PEARL FISHERIES. 177 



There appears to have always been a considerable amount 

 of uncertainty in respect of the amount of revenue derivable 

 from this industry. Writing in 1697, for the instruction of 

 the Political Council of Jaffnapatam, the then Commandant 

 of that town justly remarked that " the pearl fishery is an 

 extraordinary source of revenue on which no reliance can 

 be placed, as it depends on various contingencies which may 

 ruin the banks or spoil the oysters." This statement holds 

 good after a lapse of more than two centuries — indeed, the 

 periodical disappearance of oysters from certain of the 

 banks, sometimes for many years at a time, may be said to 

 form one of the peculiar characteristics of the Ceylon 

 fishery. 



Nevertheless, since the British occupation of the Island a 

 sum equal to more than one million sterling has been 

 derived from the fishery ; and the matter is therefore one of 

 immense importance to the Government of the Colony. 



Conservation of Pearl Oysters. 

 The question as to whether any means can be adopted to 

 conserve the oysters upon the beds, and thus to place the 

 industry upon a more stable and permanent footing, must in 

 the first instance depend upon a knowledge of the physical 

 and biological conditions ruling upon the different banks. 

 There are reasons for supposing that these conditions undergo 

 frequent change ; but the cause, or causes, thereof have yet 

 to be definitely ascertained. It is well known that the 

 northern and western coasts of Ceylon are being gradually 

 uplifted from the sea. # On this account it is possible that 

 an increasing amount of sand — which is very injurious to all 

 bivalve molluscs — is finding its way from the northern 

 rivers into the waters of the gulf.f It may also be that 



* Mr. Boake, in his Monograph of Mannar (1888), tells us that a pearl 

 bank at one time existed on the north of that island ; and, according to 

 ancient Sinhalese records, there were formerly pearl banks in the vicinity 

 of Mount Lavinia. It is significant that of the 85 pearl banks in the G-ulf 

 of Mannar, viz., 19 on the Ceylon coast and 66 on the Indian, only two, 

 the Cheval and Modragam banks, are now profitable. 



t " Man-aar " is Tamil for " sandy river." 



