72 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
coast, nearly opposite to Condatchy, there is another fishery ; 
but the pearls found there are much inferior to those two 
species I have mentioned, being tainted with a blue or grey- 
ish tinge. 
In preparing the pearls, particularly in drilling and string- 
ing them, the black people are wonderfully expert. I was 
very much struck with the instrument they employ in dril- 
ling, as well as the dexterity with which they use it. A 
machine made of wood, and of a shape resembling an obtuse 
inverted cone, about six inches in length, and four in breadth,, 
is supported upon three feet, each twelve inches long. In the 
upper flat surface of this machine, holes or pits are formed 
to receive the larger pearls, the smaller ones being beat in 
with a little wooden hammer. The drilling instruments are 
spindles of various sizes according to that of the pearls ; they 
are turned round in a wooden head by means of a bow 
handle to which they are attached. The pearls being placed 
in the pits which we have already mentioned, and the point 
of the spindle adjusted to them, the workman presses on 
the wooden head of the machine with his left hand, while his 
right is employed in turning round the bow handle. During 
the process of drilling, he occasionally moistens the pearl 
by dipping the little finger of his right hand in a cocoa- 
nut filled with water which is placed by him for that pur- 
pose ; this he does with a dexterity and quickness which 
scarcely impedes the operation, and can only be acquired by 
much practice, 
