Chap. XL] 



PEAKL FISHERIES. 



375 



twenty-seven years, from 1768 till 1796 1 ; and they had 

 been equally unsuccessful from 1732 till 1746. The 

 Arabs were well acquainted with similar vicissitudes, 

 and Albyrouni (a contemporary of Avicenna), who served 

 under Mahmoud of Grhuznee, and wrote in the eleventh 

 century, says that the pearl fishery, which formerly 

 existed in the Grulf of Serendib, had become exhausted 

 in his time, simultaneously with the appearance of a 

 fishery at Sofala, in the country of the Zends, where 

 pearls were unknown before ; and hence, he says, arose 

 the conjecture that the pearl oyster of Serendib had 

 migrated to Sofala. 2 



It appeared to me that the explanation of the pheno- 

 menon was to be sought, not merely in external causes, 

 but also in the instincts and faculties of the animals 

 themselves, and, on my return to Colombo, I ventured 

 to renew a recommendation, which had been made 

 years before, that a scientific inspector should be ap- 

 pointed to study the habits and the natural history of the 

 pearl-oyster, and that his investigations should be facili- 

 tated by the means at the disposal of the Government. 



Dr. Kelaart was appointed to this office, by Sir H. Gr. 

 Ward, in 1857, and his researches speedily developed 

 results of great interest. In opposition to the received 

 opinion that the pearl-oyster is incapable of voluntary 



1 This suspension was in some temps. D'un autre cote il s'est 

 degree attributable to disputes with, forme une pecherie a Sofala dans le 

 the Nabob of Arcot and other pays des Zends, la ou il n'en exis- 

 chiefs,andtheproprietors of temples fait pas auparavant — on dit que 

 on the opposite coast of India, who c'est la pecherie de Serendyb qui 

 claimed a right to participate in s'est transportee a Sofala." — 

 the fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar. Albyrouni, in Keinaud's Frag- 



2 "II y avait autrefois dans le mens Arabes, tfc, p. 125; see also 

 G-olfe de Serendyb, une pecherie de Keinaud's Memoir e sur VInde, p. 

 perles qui s'est epuisee de notre 228. 



B B 4 



