258 Report on the Laccadive Islands. [No. 10, icew series. 



66. The Menakoy trade and its profits are both said to have 

 greatly diminished of late years. Formerly they had 10 4i Odies" 

 and a ship burnt : now they have 7 " Odies" and a smaller barque : 

 they once traded to Mauritius, Arabia, the Persian Gulf, Maulmain, 

 and Singapore ; they now seldom go any where but to the Western 

 Coast, Maldives, Galle, ports on the Eastern Coast and Calcutta : 

 the profit of trade they say has fallen, 400 of the Chittagong 

 traders now themselves bring rice to the Maldives and some 

 Parsees having during the last few years set up a shop in those Is- 

 lands the Menakoy people no longer h<ve the almost monopoly 

 which they once enjoyed, Menakoy Coir also by no means main- 

 tains its character in the market,-' 1 and the chief cause the mer- 

 chants say is that the women make it more carelessly than 

 formerly ; old husks are mixed with young and they are not 

 thoroughly cleaned ; they mean now to attempt a revolution in 

 this. 



67. Cowries (the Beebee's monopoly) continually rise in price, 

 and sugar maintains its ground ; Menakoy cocoanuts are known 

 and sought after at Calcutta Maldive and Gal e ones being im- 

 medi'tely detected and refused if an attempt has been made to 

 mix and pass them all off as Menakoy, they are sent for inland to 

 Burdwan and elsewhere. 



68. Vessels should leave Menakoy in Kark * flom v i s it Maldives, 



J ul y 



Galle, Bengal, Eastern Coast and return via Galle or Maldives to 



... . . Meriom. 



Menakoy in — 



69. The season opens earlier at Menakoy than on the Coast, 

 and one vessel cannot make the trip to Goa, &c. and Bengal the 

 same year. 



70. The smaller vessels generally do the Coast trip while the 

 larger ones go to Bengal, &c. 



71. The Menakoy merchants are thoroughly alive to the great 

 loss incurred by them consequent on a rig which prevents their 

 employing less than 17 men in their smallest vessels and 62 in the 

 largest Island " Odies." 



* It has fallen from Rs. 16 per maund to Us. 3, but is now at Rs. 5 

 again. 



