The Tearl Fishery. 57 
is over. It corrupts tlie atmosphere for several miles round 
Coiidatchy, and renders the neighbourhood of that country 
extremely unpleasant till the monsoons and violent south-v/est 
winds set in and purify the air. The nauseous smell how- 
ever is not able to overcome the hopes of gain : for months 
after the fishing season, numbers of people are to be seen earn-^ 
estly searching and poring over the sands and places where 
the oysters had been laid to putrefy ; and some are now and 
then fortunate enough to find a pearl that amply compensates 
their trouble in searching after them. In 1797 while Mr. An- 
drews was collector, a Cooly, or common fellow of the low- 
est class, got by accident the most valuable pearl seen that 
season, and sold it to Mr. Andrews for a large sum. 
The pearls found at this fishery are of a whiter colour 
than those got in the gulph of Ormus, on the Arabian coast, 
but in other respects are not accounted so pure, or of such an 
excellent quality ; for though the Avhite pearls are more es- 
teemed in Europe, the natives prefer those of a yellowish or gold- 
en cast. Off Tutocoreen, which lies on the Coromandel coast, 
nearly opposite to Condatchy, there is another fishery ; but the 
pearls found there are much inferior to those tivo species 
I have mentioned, being tainted with a blue or greyish 
tinge. 
In preparing the pearls, particularly in drilling and string- 
ing them, the black people are Avonderfuliy expert. I Avas 
very much struck with the instrument they employ in drill- 
ing, as Avell as the dexterity Avith Avhich they use it. A ma- 
chine made of wood, and of a shape resembling an obtuse in- 
verted cone, about six inches in length, and four in breadth; 
O 
