103 
The Pearl Fishery-. 
indeed, is the awe which the achievements of the , Europeans 
have inspired into the natives of India, that a black man is 
scarcely ever known to meet a white man hand to hand, ei- 
ther in private conflict or in battle. 
There is no scene at Avluch the native Indians can have a 
finer opportunity of turning their dexterity to account, than 
the bay of Condatchy, at the season of the pearl fishery. 
For this reason, rogues flock thither from all parts of India, 
and no precaution is sufficient to prevent their depredations. 
Their practice of picking out the pearls from the oysters and 
secreting them is, in particular, carried to a great height, and 
it has been found impossible to put a stop to it. In this 
general censure of the natives of India, I rlo not include the 
native Ceylonese ; for, although the pearl fishery be carried on 
ill their island, yet few of them attend it, in comparison of 
the numbers who flock from other parts of India. Nor are 
they at ail so much addicted to roguery, nor equal in slight 
of hand, to the Indians of the continent, who seem to have 
these accomplishments by inheritance, and are very proud of 
them, it being a common proverb with them, “ The greater 
“ rogue the greater man.” I speak of this disposition among 
them from my own experience, as I and my brother officers 
were repeatedly sufferers * by it. Indeed there are few who 
visit India, who will not soon have an opportunity of ac- 
quiring personal knowledge of it. 
At Condatchy their depredations are reduced to a system, 
and no precautions can entirely guard against them. The’ 
boat-owners and merchants dealing in the oysters are obliged 
to hire people to collect the pearls out of them ; and, to 
prevent embezzling, confidential persons are appointed who con- 
