122 
THF TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [August x, 1889. 
benefit to the colony by leading to an improve- 
ment in the style of horses imported, and by 
promoting greater care by owners of their animals, 
in anticipation of periodical competitions. But 
whether this prove to be the case or not, we are 
clear that the Show itself ought to be the occasion 
of an interesting, innocent and instructive gather • 
ing, and we hope it will be all the success both 
in exhibits and attendance, that its most enthusi- 
astic supporters can desire. 
THE CEYLON PEARL FISHERY. 
Dr. 0. Thurston, Superintendent of the Government 
Museum, Madras, who was recently on special duty in 
connection with the Pearl Fisheries, has submitted the 
following report to Government, which is dated 23rd 
April 1889 :— 
I have the honor to report that, in accordance with 
instructions from Government, I left Tuticorin for 
Colombo on 22nd March, and, on my arrival there, at 
once placed myself in communication with the Acting 
Principal Assistant Colonial Secretary, Mr. H. W. 
Green, from whom I received all possible assistance. 
It was originally intended that I should travel up to 
Dutch Bay, from whicb spot the pearl-fishery was 
being conducted, by S. S. " Active," on the 26th ; 
but, as she was Uden with stores for the pearl 
camp, there was no available space, and I had to wait 
for a passage on the small coasting steamer "Prince 
Alfred," which left Colombo on the evening of the 
28th. As we neared Dutch Bay on the following morn- 
ing the odour of decomposing oysters in the kottu 
(or koddu) was perceptible some distance out at sea, 
and we saw nine boats at work on the pearl bank. Ar- 
rived at Dutch Bay, I found Mr. Twynam, c.m.g., 
Captain Donnan, and other administrative officers liv- 
ing on board S. S. Serendib " (marked Dib in the ac- 
companying plan), which was moored close to the shore, 
communication with which was maintained by means 
of a gangway. Several deaths from cholera occurred on 
board, including the death of the captain, who had 
acted as kottu superintendent during the return jour- 
ney of the " Serendib " to Colombo. The fact that only 
nine out of the whole fleet of nearly two hundred boats 
were at work was attributed to the divers being tired 
and taking a day's rest, and I was not prepared for the 
sequence of events on the following day. The nine 
boats were towed into the bay by the " Active " reach- 
ing the snore opposite the kottus before 4 p. m. I 
gathered that the steamer had been of very great service 
as a tug during the fishery, for, with her assistance, 
not only were the boats enabled to get to and from 
the bank in spite of contrary winds, but the diver's 
work, which is very severe, was considerably lightened 
by the simple fact that the steamer could bring them 
back at an early hour on days when, without her assis- 
tance, they would have been out at sea until possibly 
late in the evening and not ready to start off for the 
bank early on the following morning. 
Fortunately, I examined the oysters which were 
brought in by the nine boats, for, as it turned out, it 
was the only chaDCe which I had of making an exami- 
nation. I was at once struck with the fact that the 
shells of the oyster presented an entirely different ap- 
pearance to those of the Tholayiram Par (Tuticorin). 
For, whereas the latter were enveloped in dense masses 
of algw (sea weeds) and the surface of the shells co- 
vered by variouBlj, colored branching and sessile en- 
crusting sponges (notably (Jlaihria Indica), the surface 
of the (vhelleof the former which was uppermost dur- 
ing life was, in very many cases, covered over and 
often entirely concealed by delicate stony corals, 
torming euher encrusting masses or branching tufts 
(Qalazea Modreporn, he), technical details of which it 
would In; out of place to enter into in a non-scien- 
tific report «uch as the present one. Specimens 
nl the shells, with their accompanying corals, many 
of which were to be seen lying strewn along the 
sandy shores of the bay, have been brought to 
Madras ior deposit in the Museum. Further exami- 
nation of these coral-bearing shells would be of in- 
terest, for, as the age of the oysters can be ap- 
proximately fixed, a very good idea could be obtained 
by weighing and by observation of the size of the 
corals on oysters of different ages, as to the rate at 
which the corals grow — a point on which detailed re- 
cords of observation are required. Chemical analyses 
of the sea-water over the Oeylon and Tuticorin pearl- 
banks, especially with reference to the percentage of 
lime salts, should also be carried out. Captain Donnan 
has suggested — and the suggestion is one which is 
worthy of consideration — that, as my investigation of 
the Ceylon pearl-banks came to an abrupt termination 
in the present instance, I should accompany him on his 
tour of inspection of the banks next October, when he 
will be accompanied by divers. The midday heat at 
Dutch Bay was very oppressive, and blue-bottle flies 
abounded in such enormous numbers as to be a 
veritable plague, from early morn till sundown. 
I was told that, in the early days of fishery, the 
merchants complained of the scarcity of flies, the 
presence of which is necessary for the production of the 
rapid decomposition and removal of the animal sub- 
stance of the oyster, prior to the carrying out of the 
washing process ; but, at the time of my visit, there 
was no ground tor complaint. No such host of flies 
had infested the camp at Tuticorin up to the date of 
my final departure from that place (April 5th). The 
plague of flies at the Ceylon fisheries has occurred on 
former occasions, for Mr. G. Vane, who conducted the 
Fisheries from 1855-60, writes as follows: — 
" Then come flies, innumerable, of the largest kind ; 
indeed flies are constant plagues, but are worse with 
a southerly wind, everything being covered with a black 
mass; a glass of wine or water must be drunk as 
poured out, or it is tilled with flies, but southerly winds 
do not last long, and it seems as though providentially 
arranged that the prevailing winds should aid the 
purposes and needs of a pearl-fishery." 
It is much to be regretted that some process cannot 
be employed, by which the necessity for extracting the 
pearls by means of the process of decomposition is 
eliminated. Boiling the oysters, and subsequent search 
for the pearls in the residues, can be resorted to with 
advantage by those who purchase on a moderate scale, 
but would be difficult of application by those who have 
to deal with large numbers. At Dutch Bay tar was 
kept burning at different parts of camp, so as to modify 
the prevailing odour of putridity, and the same might 
be done with advantage at Tuticorin. 
Early on the morning of the day following my arrival 
at Dutch Bay my suspicion that something was wrong 
was confirmed by the receipt of information that deaths 
from cholera had occurred in camp, and that there 
was a panic among the divers, who, in consequence, 
had struck work. By 10 a.m. it was decided to aban- 
don the fishery and permission was given for the 
boats to leave. The divers' quarters and divers' sale 
kottus were, as a matter of precaution, burned down, 
and the Government kottu was burned down uninten- 
tionally. 
By 4 p.m. most of the boats were out at sea, many 
making for the Madras coast. The fishery being thus 
finally closed, the object of my visit to tne fishery 
could not be carried out, and I returned to Colombo 
on the "Prince Alfred" in company with nearly a 
hundred natives, so as to inform the Superintendent 
of the Tuticorin Fishery by telegram that many of the 
boatB had started for Pamban and Kilakarai. 
The general arrangement of the Dutch Bay camp is 
shown in the accompanying plan (.the liLiiance from 
the kottus to the divers' quarters being about tnree 
quarters of a mile), and it corresponded, in all essential 
particulars, with the arrangement of the Tuticorin 
camp. The latter is, in fact, based on what I may 
term the Ceylon type. As stated by the newspaper 
correspondent, the camp looked " very much like a 
military station, for there is a full company of armed 
police, sentries here and there, flagB hoisted, and 
bugles sounded at the proper time, and guards being 
