August i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AtJRICtJLTU Rl ST. 
123 
relieved. Go where you will, you will find a police 
constable on duty. The head-quarters are clo.se to the 
large water tank. Those on duty in the town can 
signal to head-quarters at night by lamps." 
The Superintendent of the Fishery, Capt. Donnan, 
&c , had, as I have mentioned, their quarters on the 
"Serendib," and various subordinate officers connected 
with the kutcheri and kottu lived on two native vessels 
the "Sultan Iskander " and ' Antelope" which were 
moved close to the " Serendib." 
A small guard steamer was employed in cruising 
about the bay, so as to prevent the divers on their re- 
turn from the bank from dropping bags of oysters in 
the shallow water, which could afterwards be picked 
up. This form of fraud — and the frauds perpetrated by 
pearl-divers are many— was scarcely possible at Tuti- 
corin, where the boats arrived on shore opposite the 
kottu straight from the open sea. 
Good fresh water was obtained from shallow wells 
dug in the sandy shore, and there was abundance of 
water, condensed by the " Serendib," in a large tank 
indicated on the plan, but the condensed water did not 
seem to be appreciated by the natives. 
I had, unfortunately, no opportunity of watching the 
counting of the oysters in the kottu, or the manage- 
ment of an auction on a large scale ; but, so far as I 
could gather from the counting and sale of the oysters 
brought in by the nine boats already referred to, the 
system was the same as that adopted at Tuticorin. 
Turning now to a comparison of the Dutch Bay and 
Tuticorin fisheries, the former had the advantages of — 
I. A large fleet of boats (193) and divers. 
II. The presence of an efficient steam tug through- 
out the fishery, by means of which boih time and 
labor were saved. 
III. The existence of the oysters in comparatively 
shallow water and near to land. 
IV. The possession in Mr. Twynam and Captain 
Donnan of two officers with wide experience of the 
details and possible contingencies of a pearl-fishery. 
The Tuticorin fishery labored on the other hand 
under the disadvantages of — 
I. A very small fleet (44) of boats and divers. 
II. The absence of a tug for a long time after the 
commencement of the fishery. i 
III. The existence of the oysters in deep water and 
at a long distance from land, and there was, if the 
health of the camp is left out of the question, no 
compensatory advantage at Tuticorin. 
The total quantity of the Government share of 
oysters was, therefore, 25,184,015, and the total sum 
realised as the result of 22 days' fishing, R4,81,887 - 52, 
Comparing these results with those of the Tuticorin 
fishery, the total quaotity of the Government share 
of oysters was 2,398,400 and the total sum realised 
during the time under notice R55, 871-6-5. 
A comparison of these two tables is very instruc- 
tive and brings out very clearly the fact that, whereas 
at Dutch Bay the fishery was carried on without in- 
terruption (no fishery took place either at Dutch Bay 
or Tuticorin on Sunday the 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th,) 
and, after the first few days, during which time all the 
boats had not arrived, or were not ready for work, a 
large and uniform number of boats were at work daily 
and regularly bringing in good loads of oysters; at 
Tuticorin on the other hand, not only was there no 
fishery at all on three days (exclusive of Sundays 
but on different occasions, out of the entire fleet of 41 
boats as few as 2, 3, audl2b^ats were at work, with 
the result that, during 6 out of the 22 working days 
under review, only 63,400 oysters, yielding Rl.781-6-5) 
fell to the Government share, i.e., the total yield of 
six days was less than that which was, with one ex- 
ception, the 19th, obtained as the result of a single 
day's work. 
Lastly— As regaris the work done by the " helmeted 
divers," I was informed, in answer to inquiries, that 
they had been tried at former Ceylon fisheries and 
abolished, and the results of the helmeted divers' re- 
cent work at Tuticoriu cannot be looked on as either 
satisfactory or conclusive. 
The Ceylon Government will be asked to permit 
Mr. Thurston to accompany Captain Donnan to the 
Ceylon banks next Qotober,— Mmrm Times, June 29th. 
PADDY (RICE) CULTIVATION IN NORTH 
CEYLON: JAFNNA THE GREATEST CON- 
TRIBUTOR TO GRAIN REVENUE. 
If the amount of grain tax derived by Government 
is a sure index, as we hold it to be, of the quan- 
tity of grain grown in a giveu district, Jaffna has 
an indisputable claim to be regarded as the chief 
rice-growing district of the island. On reference to the 
statement published by order of the Legislative 
Council, showing the revenue received as grain tax 
in the 21 revenue districts of the island for the 
four years from 1884 to 1887, we see that Jaffna has 
contributed the moat revenue to Government. Ten 
times the amount of the grain tax represents the 
money value of the grain that is grown. The follow- 
ing shows what Jaffna and the next best district have 
each contributed for the four years referred to : — 
,Q R4 f Jaffna R117.83P60 
1004 tUva 117,805-44 
Jaffna 
Matara 
I Jaffna 
1885 
1886 < , 
( Kurunegala 
1887 \ If™ 
I Matara 
126,875-33 
84,273-78 
141,708-96 
109,370.50 
128,744-82 
84,326-62 
The contribution of Uva in 1884 was exceptional 
for each of the three following years it was under 
R85,000. Jaffna grows more grain than any other 
district of the island, cot because its area is large, 
or its soil is rich, not because it has the advantage 
running water or of irrigation works, but because of 
that high tillage which seems to be necessary out- 
come of a comparatively very large number of hands 
being engaged upon a limited extent of land. There 
is a general impression that tbe Jaffna cultivator 
has a practically sound knowledge of agriculture, and 
it is perhaps because Mr. Green shares this impression 
that he has not thought it necessary to make Jaffna 
one of the centres of the diffusion of agricultural 
knowledge, in which he takes such lively interest. 
But it strikes us that the improved methods of cul- 
tivation recommended by Mr. Green are more easily 
followed in a place which suffers from congestion, 
than in one which complaints of, sparseness of popula- 
tion. The general experience is that the narrower the 
extent, the higher the tillage. The story is told of a 
Jaffna farmer who, of the 50 lachems of paddy field 
he originally owned, finally retained only 10 lachems, 
having given away 40 lachems in equal shares to his 
four daughters, but who by expending on his small 
residue ail the labour he had originally bestowed on 
the whole land, was able to raise the same amount 
of crop. But there is one great, iusuperjble difficulty in 
carrying out costly improved methods of cultivation in 
Jaffna where rain is all the irrigation known in the case 
of paddy. If it is impracticable to utilize tht> Puttoor 
well and to bore artisian wells, it would be useless 
to introduce costly methods of cultivation. There is 
however no satisfactory proof given that the two 
schemes suggested for the irrigation of Jaffna are no 
easible. — "Ceylon Patriot." 
GEMMING IN CEYLON : 
ANOTHER VALUABLE STONE FOUND IN SABABAGAMU WA. 
(From a Correspondent.) 
2nd July 1889. 
Five Sinhalese villagers were fortunate enough 
last week to come across a valuable catseye about 
the size of an arecanut at Newellepitta, about 
10 miles from Rakwana. It is valued at R8.000, 
but if without flaw it ought to fetch much more. 
The Moormen are off in numbers to try to buy it. 
A large ruby was found at Dewalagama, a few 
days ago, but owing to some flaws the highest offer 
is only R250. Rather than sell it at that figure 
it is to be cut up and then sold. Get the com- 
pany floated : no fears as to the result. 
