In those days the sovereign received a tenth, and the divers a twentieth of the proceeds of the fishery. The great number of pearls from these Tinnevelly banks excited the wonder of all the bold wanderers who completed the perilous voyage to India in early times. Friar Jordanus, a quaint old missionary bishop, who was in India about 1330, says that 8000 boats were then engaged in this fishery and that of Ceylon, and that the quantity of pearls was astounding, and almost incredible. The head-quarters of the fishery was then, and indeed from the days of Ptolemy to the seventeenth century continued to be, at Chayl or Coil, literally "the temple," on the sandy promontory of Ramnad, which sends off a reef of rocks towards Ceylon, known as Adam's Bridge. Old Ludovico di Varthema mentions having seen the pearls fished for in the sea near the city of Chayl, in about 1500 A.D., and Barbosa, who travelled about the same time, says that the people of Chayl are expert jewellers who trade in pearls. This place is, as Dr. Vincent has clearly shown, the Kôru of Ptolemy, the Kolkhi of the author of the Periplus, the Koil or Chayl of the travellers of the middle ages, the Ramana-Koil (temple of Rama) of the natives, the same as the sacred promontory of Ramnad and isle of Rameswaram, the head-quarters of the Indian pearl fishery from time immemorial.

But Tuticorin, the present head-quarters of the fishery, has supplanted the ancient Coil for the last two centuries; and, since the middle of the seventeenth century, the powers which have successively presided over the fishery, whether native, Portuguese, Dutch, or English, have uniformly taken their station at this little port, which is about ninety miles northeast of Cape Comorin, on the Tinnevelly coast. When the Portuguese were all powerful on the coast, the Jesuits were allowed the proceeds of one day's fishing, and the owners of the boats had one draught every fishing day. The Naik of Madura, the sovereign whose family succeeded the ancient Pandyon dynasty, also had the proceeds of one day as Lord of the coast. These Naiks were the builders of all the magnificent edifices which now beautify the city of Madura, and their dues from the fishery were probably used as offerings to Minakshi, the fish-eyed goddess of the vast Madura pagoda, who now possesses, amongst her jewellery, a numerous collection of exquisitely beautiful pearl ornaments. In the days of the Naiks and Portuguese there were 400 or 500 vessels at the annual fishery, carrying sixty to ninety men each, a third of whom were divers; and at the subsequent fair held at Tuticorin there was an assembly of from 50,000 to 60,000 persons. The divers, at that time, were chiefly Christians from Malabar. Captain Hamilton, who was travelling in the East from 1688 to 1723,

described Tuticorin when the Dutch were all powerful at that port, as well as in Ceylon. He says that a Dutch colony at Tuticorin superintended a pearl fishery a little to the northward of the port, which brought the Dutch company £20,000 yearly tribute.

The Dutch appear to have fished too recklessly and too often; and, when the English succeeded them at Tuticorin, the banks were very far from yielding £20,000 a year. Our predecessors had well nigh killed the goose with the golden egg; and for many years we followed in the same track. It is the old story: a valuable product is discovered to be a source of considerable wealth, and forthwith a system of reckless destruction for the sake of immediate gain is inaugurated. Then the supply begins to fail-a panic ensues; and, when science and forethought are called in, it is discovered that ordinary prudence and a judicious system of conservancy would have ensured an annual unfailing yield from the first. Such has been the history of Chinchona bark in South America, of the teak and other timber of the Indian forests, and such also is the story of the Tinnevelly pearl banks since the Dutch times.

In 1822 the Tuticorin pearl fishery contributed about £13,000 to the Indian revenue, and in 1830 about £10,000; but after the latter date there was no yield at all for many years. Between 1830 and 1856 there were thirteen examinations of the banks, and on each occasion it was found that there was not a sufficient number of grown oysters to yield a profitable fishery, and none was therefore attempted. The unsatisfactory condition of the banks was attributed to several causes. Captain Robertson, the Master Attendant at Tuticorin, thought that the widening of the Paumben channel, which caused a stronger flow of current over the banks on the coast, prevented the molluscs from adhering; and that the fishers for large conch shells called chanks (which are used as horns in the worship of idols, and cut into segments of circles as ornaments for women's wrists), anchoring their boats on the banks, killed the oysters. The dead oysters would, of course, have a fatal effect on their neighbours. The native divers attributed the state of the banks to the pernicious influence of two other shell-fish, called soorum (a kind of Modiola) and kullikoz (an Avicula), which are mingled with the pearl oysters on the banks, and, as the natives believe, destroy them.

In 1856, however, an examination was made by Captain Robertson, and it was found that at least four of the banks off Tuticorin, called Cooroochan Paur, Navary Paur, Oodooroovie Paur, and Clothie Paur were well covered with young pearl oysters, which would be old enough to be fished in 1860-61. The Madras government, therefore, determined that every pre

caution should be taken, in order that the banks might receive no injury during the interval. The chank fishery off Tuticorin was ordered to be entirely put a stop to at the termination of the contract, and vessels were provided to protect the pearl banks from poachers, on board one of which Captain Robertson was unfortunately lost in March, 1859.

Captain Robertson was succeeded as Master Attendant of Tuticorin and Superintendent of the Tinnevelly Pearl Banks by Captain Phipps, to whose zeal and intelligence the fishery owes its present hopeful condition, and under whose auspices the fishery of March, 1860, the first that had been attempted since 1830, was opened.

A Government pearl fishery is a most legitimate source of revenue, and forms an exception to all other monopolies; which, as a rule, have in modern times been justly condemned. But pearls are simply articles of luxury in the strictest meaning of the word; the seas in which they grow cannot well become private property; and, if a profit can be derived from their sale, it is certainly a branch of revenue which can give just cause of complaint to no man, while it benefits the community at large. In India, too, the Government are possessed of advantages which enable them to get the work of superintendence and management done with far greater economy and efficiency than could be secured by any private individual or company. So high an authority as Mr. McCulloch has taken an opposite view, and says that the Government monopoly ought to be abolished, because the expense of guarding and managing the banks exceeds the sum for which the fishery is let, and that any one who likes should be allowed to fish on paying a moderate license duty. The last edition of the Commercial Dictionary was published in 1860, and during the two following years the Tinnevelly pearl fishery yielded a large nett revenue to the Government, which is a sufficient answer to Mr. McCulloch's argument. It is true that there has since been disappointment; but the way to secure regular annual returns is by adopting a carefully considered scientific system of conservancy, and not by throwing the banks open to the depredations of all comers.

The fishery of 1861 commenced on March 7th, and the sale of the Government share of oysters was conducted by public auction, which began at Rs. 15, and gradually rose to Rs. 40 per 1000. As many as 15,874,500 shells were sold, realizing upwards of £20,000, as the nett result to Government, exclusive of all expenses, and of the shares allowed to the divers. The annual expense of the guard boats for protecting the banks is only £500.

In 1862 the results of the fishery were also satisfactory;

VOL. IV.-NO. VI.

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but in 1863 the banks were found to be in a most unpromising state, and no fishery was attempted. Out of seventy-two banks that were examined, only four contained oysters free from soorum, eleven had young oysters mixed with soorum, and fifty-seven were blank. It is this unexpected failure of properly-grown shells which has given rise to Captain Phipps' experimental culture now in course of trial, and to a very careful consideration of the conditions most likely to secure a good annual fishery, which shall not be liable to this periodical sterility.

The pearl banks are about nine miles from the shore, and 8 to 10 fathoms from the surface, being scattered over an area 70 miles in length. They are exposed to ocean currents, which, by washing sand into the interstices of the rocks, often destroy the young oysters over a considerable area; the dead fish, when not removed, soon contaminate their neighbours; and, in addition to these sources of evil, the soorum shells, a species of Modiola, like a mussel with a swollen face, which often grow amongst the pearl oysters, exercise a pernicious influence, either by dying and spreading death around them, or by accumulating sand. It is obviously quite impossible to watch these banks efficiently, and to eradicate the evils caused by sand accumulations and dead molluscs, owing to their great depth and exposed situation in the open sea at a distance from land. Unless some plan is adopted for rearing the young fish on banks which shall be constantly accessible, and free from the above drawbacks, the fishery will always be liable to failures, sometimes of long duration. The perfection to which science and intelligent care have brought the fisheries of edible oysters on the English, and especially on the French coasts, leaves no doubt that equally satisfactory results might be obtained from similar measures on the Tinnevelly pearl

banks.

A few remarks on the habits of the pearl oyster will make this part of the subject more clear.

It is, perhaps, unnecessary to observe that the pearl oyster (Meleagrina margaritifera, Lam.) is not in reality an oyster at all, but is more allied to a mussel; having, like the latter animal, a byssus, or cable, by which it secures itself to the rocks-one of the most important points in its organization. The animal's foot is composed of muscular fibres, and is 2 inches long, when distended. On the lower side there is a groove lined by a secreting membrane, which is an exact mould for the formation of the byssus. When the animal desires to attach itself to the rock, its foot is protruded, and, after secking out a suitable spot with the tip for some minutes, is again retracted into the shell. A strong fibre, of the form

of the groove in the foot, is thus left, attached to the base of the foot at one end, and to the rock at the other. The process is again and again repeated until a strong cable is formed; and it was one of the most important results of the careful investigations of Dr. Kelaart in Ceylon, that the power of the animal to cast off its byssus at pleasure was ascertained. It leaves it behind to make another in a more convenient place, like a ship slipping her cable and going to sea. From this ability to shift its berth it follows that the pearl oyster might safely be taken from its native beds, and made to colonize other parts of the sea; and also that it would move of its own accord if the surrounding water should become impure or sandy, or when there is an influx of fresh water. The animal can re-form the byssus at pleasure, if in good health and condition.

The formation of pearls is another point which has received much attention, but which has not as yet been definitively settled. Pliny and Dioscorides believed that pearls were productions of dew, but that observant old Elizabethan navigator, Sir Richard Hawkins, shrewdly remarked that "this must be some old philosopher's conceit, for it cannot be made probable how the dew should come into the oyster." Modern investigation has suggested various causes for the intrusion of the nucleus round which the pearl is formed. The free border of mantle lining each valve of the shell dips downwards to meet a similar edge on the opposite side, thus forming a double fringed veil. The tentacles of this fringe consist of long and short flat filaments, which are exceedingly sensitive, so that even the approach of a foreign substance makes them draw forwards and shut out the intruder. They doubtless prevent the pearls from dropping out of the shell, and preserve the fish from the host of carnivorous creatures which infest its place of abode; and if it be true that particles of sand form the nuclei of pearls, they must run the gauntlet of these ever-watchful sentinels before they can intrude themselves amongst the interstices of the mantle. The food of pearl oysters consists of foraminifera, minute algæ, and diatoms; and Dr. Kelaart has suggested that the siliceous internal skeletons of these microscopic diatoms may possibly permeate the coats of the mantle, and become nuclei of pearls.

Lastly, the ova which escape through the distended coat of an overgrown ovarium may, perhaps, become embedded in the interstices of the mantle, and become the nuclei of pearls, especially as pearls are usually found embedded in the mantle near the hinge, where the ovarium is most liable to rupture. Large pearls often work their way out of the mantle, and lie loose between it and the shell, or become attached to the surface of the latter. They have even been found outside