374 
SHELLS. 
[Chap. XL 
I visited the pearl banks officially in 1848 in com- 
pany with Capt. Steuart, the official inspector. My 
immediate object was to inquire into the causes of the 
suspension of the fisheries, and to ascertain the proba- 
bility of reviving a source of revenue, the gross receipts 
from which had failed for several years to defray the 
cost of conservancy. In fact, between 1837 and 1854, 
the pearl banks were an annual charge, instead of pro- 
ducing an annual income, to the colony. The conjecture, 
hastily adopted, to account for the disappearance of ma- 
ture shells, had reference to mechanical causes; the 
received hypothesis being that the young broods had 
been swept off their accustomed feeding grounds, by the 
establishment of unusual currents, occasioned by deepen- 
ing the narrow passage between Ceylon and India at 
Paumbam. It was also suggested, that a previous Gover- 
nor, in his eagerness to replenish the colonial treasury, 
had so "scraped" and impoverished the beds as to 
exterminate the oysters. To me, neither of these suppo- 
sitions appeared worthy of acceptance; for, in the 
frequent disruptions of Adam's Bridge, there was ample 
evidence that the currents in the (xulf of Manaar had 
been changed at former times without destroying the 
pearl beds : and moreover the oysters had disappeared 
on many former occasions, without any imputation of 
improper management on the part of the conser- 
vators; and returned after much longer intervals of 
absence than that which fell under my own notice, and 
which was then creating serious apprehension in the 
colony. 
A similar interruption had been experienced between 
1820 and 1828 : the Dutch had had no fishing for 
