pearl fisheries of India. These are also fished for the pearls, the
shells of these waters being smaller than those of the Persian Gulf and
valueless for mother-of-pearl. The pearls however average whiter than
those of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Although equally fine pearls
are found in other waters the Ceylon, or Madras pearls as they are
called, have long been esteemed the best because of their good average
color and quality. These banks are situated in the Gulf of Manaar
between the southern point of India and the island of Ceylon.
On the Madras (India) side the banks are off Tinnevalli and Madura
at Tuticorin. The Indian revenue realized a profit of £13,000 from a
fishing here in 1822, and £10,000 from another in 1830. Examinations
showed that there were not sufficient oysters for profitable fishing
after that until 1860, when the government netted £20,000, and a
fishing the following year, 1861, was equally successful. The banks
failed in 1862 and there was no fishery until 1874. Pollution of the
water from the Indian shores has been detrimental to these banks and
they are now of little importance.
On the Ceylon side, the banks lie six to eight miles off the west
shore and a little south of the island of Manaar. Fishing has been an
industry from early times before history began. There are records of
these fisheries under the kings of Kandy and later by the Portuguese
after they took possession of Ceylon about 1505, to 1655 when the
island passed into the hands of the Dutch. In old times they were
called the fisheries of Aripo after a fort on the coast. Not until the
English gained control were the fisheries so managed that definite
knowledge of the results could be obtained.
After the Dutch gave way to the English, until 1903, these fisheries
had yielded a net income to the government of over £1,000,000. This
covered a period of over one hundred years, as the British occupied
Ceylon in 1796. In the early years of this period and prior to that,
the fishings, or rights to fish, were sold to the highest bidders,
usually Hindu merchants. In 1796 the fishing brought £60,000. The year
after the British took possession, 1797, it realized £110,000 that
amount having been paid by Candappa Chetty, a native of Jaffna for the
fishery right, and for that of 1798, the same renter paid £140,000.
These fishings, which were prolonged, so exhausted the banks that the
fishery of 1799 yielded but £30,000. From 1799 to 1802 the yearly
product ranged from £12,000 to £55,000. In 1804 they were leased for
£120,000 but from that time on declined so that in 1828 they brought
only £30,612. There were no fishings from 1820 to 1827, nor in 1834
and after 1837, until 1855. The supply failed in 1864 and for several
succeeding years, and again for a decade, after five successful
fishings from 1887 to 1891. The average yearly profit up to 1891 was
about £34,000.
The Ceylon and Madras fisheries are now in charge of a government
officer, who spends a part of each year inspecting the various banks
so as to be informed as to the whereabouts of mature oysters, and the
location and progress of the young and immature. They keep a record of
their condition at different periods, and regulate the fisheries by
permitting fishing only when they consider the banks to be ripe for it.
The oysters mature in from four to six years so that ordinarily a
bank may be fished once in that period, but it sometimes happens
that the young oysters are swept away by violent storms or crowded
out by natural enemies. In 1901 the Ceylon banks were found to be in
a bad way, there were plenty of young oysters but none full-grown.
The government officers could not account for the condition, and in
response to a report of the facts the government sent Prof. W. A.
Herdman to Ceylon in 1902. He examined the whole of the bottom of the
Gulf of Manaar and discovered banks on which were full-grown oysters,
so that a fishing was fixed for the 23rd of February 1903. Weather
prevented commencement until the second of March, when fishing began
and lasted forty-two working days until April the fourteenth. The
fishings take place in March and April because the sea is usually calm
at that period.
The banks lie in five to ten fathoms over a shallow area nearly fifty
miles long by twenty miles broad, opposite Aripo. A steep declivity on
the western edge gives the sea a depth of one hundred fathoms in a few
miles. In the centre of the southern part of the Gulf of Manaar, west
of the Chilaw pearl-banks, the sea is one to two thousand fathoms deep.
Of all the paars, or oyster-beds (paar means rock or hard bottom) the
Periya paar is the largest. It is about eleven nautical miles long and
from one to two miles broad. Situated in about five to ten fathoms
close to the top of the western slope of the shallows, and running
north and south about twenty miles from land, it is exposed to the
southwest monsoon which runs up toward the Bay of Bengal for about six
months of the year. The natives call this the mother-paar, believing
that the young oysters are carried from it to the other paars, which
are thus stocked at its expense.
Between 1880 and 1902 twenty-one examinations showed that the Periya
paar had been naturally stocked eleven times with enormous quantities
of young oysters, which as regularly disappeared before they were
old enough to yield a fishing. The most reliable paars are in the
Cheval district and it is probable that the government, acting on the
suggestion of Prof. Herdman, will hereafter dredge the breeding Periya
paar of its young oysters and plant them where they will be able to
mature. It is estimated that many millions of millions of oysters have
been lost from this paar during the last twenty-five years.
A fishing is not only a matter of commercial importance, but of
wide-spread interest among the natives of Ceylon and India. The romance
of the situation, the hope of gain, the great gathering of people
from many and far-off countries, the opportunities for barter, the
possibilities of securing priceless gems for little, and for making
money quickly, all appeal to the oriental mind.
For this they will endure the discomforts of long and painful journeys
and the dangers of crowded camp life with a recklessness that
contrasts curiously with the wild panics into which they are sometimes
thrown, as for instance in 1889, when the Ceylon fishing collapsed on
account of cholera. In a few hours a fleet of 200 boats disappeared,
the camp was burned, and the multitude gone.
Great precautions are taken by the government officials in every
direction. When they have decided that there are banks in condition
to be fished, notice of a fishing is advertised. The following
notification of the fishery for 1904 is an illustration.
"Government Notification.
Pearl fishery of 1904.
Notice is hereby given that a pearl fishery will take place at
Marichchikaddi, in the Island of Ceylon, on or about March 14, 1904.
1. The bank to be fished is the southwest Cheval Paar which is
estimated to contain 13,000,000 oysters.
2. It is notified that the first day's fishing will take place on the
first favorable day after March 13.
3. Marichchikaddi is on the main land, eight miles by sea south of
Sillavaturai and supplies of good water and provisions can be obtained
there.
4. The fishery will be conducted on account of the Government, and the
oysters put up for sale in such lots as may be deemed expedient.
5. The arrangements of the fishery will be the same as have been usual
on similar occasions. Persons attending the fishery camp from India
will be permitted to travel to Ceylon by either of the following
routes: (1) Tuticorin to Colombo or (2) Paumben to Marichchikaddi
and by no other. Arrangements will be made as at the last fishery,
for travellers to proceed from Paumben direct to the camp. The only
restriction imposed on travellers by the Paumben route will be
inspection by the medical officers at Paumben.
6. All payments to be made in ready money in Ceylon currency.
7. Drafts on the banks in Colombo or bills on the agents of this
Government in India, at ten days sight, will be taken on letters of
credit produced to warrant the drawing of such drafts or bills.
8. For the convenience of purchasers, the treasurer at Colombo and the
different Government agents of provinces will be authorized to receive
cash deposits from parties intending to become purchasers, and receipts
of these officers will be taken in payment of any sums due on account
of the fishery.
9. No deposit will be received for a less sum than Rs. 250.
By His Excellency's command.
Everard Im Thurm, Colonial Secretary. Colonial Secretary's Office,
Colombo, Feb. 27, 1904."
The sanitary precautions are of the utmost importance, for a plague
stricken Hindu, if he were dying, would still endeavor to go where he
might "get rich quickly."
As the time draws near, thousands of speculators and sightseers
from farther and nearer India arrive. Berbers, Arabs, Persians, and
Burmese, mingle with the Singhalese and Tamil divers. A town of huts
to accommodate perhaps 50,000 springs into existence. Steamer service
to Colombo is started, post and telegraph service is established and
sanitary measures put in force. Conjurors employed by the divers go
through incantations to preserve them from the sharks which abound in
these waters.
This shark-charming power is believed to be hereditary and not
dependent on the religion of the conjuror and he can, if ill or absent,
convey the power to a substitute so that it will be respected by the
sharks. To make matters doubly sure the divers arm themselves with
a short, pointed piece of ironwood. This however is not their main
reliance for a "wise woman" was able to avert a panic which was well
under way, after one of the divers was bitten at the Tuticorin fishing
of 1890. Excepting the loss of a limb occasionally not much damage is
done by the sharks, a fact which sustains the implicit faith of the
natives in their shark-charmers.
When the day set by the Government officials arrives, the fleet puts
to sea after numerous ceremonies. The boats, which range from ten
to fifteen tons, are grouped in fleets of sixty to seventy. Beside
the divers they are manned by ten or more sailors, a steersman, and
if possible by a shark-charmer (pillal karras). The boats leave at
midnight in order to be ready on the banks at sunrise. At the firing
of a signal gun diving commences. A stone of granite, shaped like a
pyramid and weighing about thirty to forty pounds, is attached through
a hole at the smaller end to the cord by which the diver is lowered.
Some divers prefer a half-moon stone fastened to the waist. Above the
stone when attached to the line is a loop for the diver's foot. The
divers work in pairs, one going down and the other remaining in the
boat to attend to the line, and in some cases exchanging positions as
the diver becomes exhausted. Naked divers stay below fifty to eighty
seconds on an average, though some can remain under water longer.
Each man makes forty to fifty descents a day and brings up fifteen to
thirty oysters each time. As a rule the maximum depth in these waters
is about forty-two feet though fishing at twelve and thirteen fathoms
is reported. The divers work from sunrise to noon, which allowing for
shifts gives each man four hours diving for a day's work. A gun is
fired as a signal for the day's fishing to cease and the fleet starts
at once for shore. Upon arriving there the oysters are immediately
landed by coolies who carry them in baskets, on their backs, to the
"Kottu," or government stockade. There they are counted and each
boat-load is divided into three equal parts; Two of these are chosen
by officials for the government and the remaining heap is the boats'
share. Formerly the catch was divided into four parts of which the
government took three. Of the boats' share the divers get in some cases
two thirds. As soon as the division is made, those belonging to the
boat are quickly traded or sold to the numerous small speculators which
abound in the camp. Six evenings in the week the government auctions
off the catch in lots of one thousand.
While each day's catch is being counted the average run is carefully
watched by experts who judge by the size, weight and general appearance
of the oysters as to the probable yield of pearls. Opinions so formed
are usually quite correct and bidding at the auctions are based on
them to a great extent. The principal buyers are from Madras, Bombay,
and other cities on the Coromandel and Malabar coasts of India, though
local speculators buy many. The catch runs about one million per day.
In 1903 forty-four million oysters were taken, but they realized much
less than the catch of 1904, when the number was not quite twenty-six
and three-quarter millions, though it netted the government $350,000;
1905, however, will be the record year as it is claimed the profits
will reach the large sum of $830,000. These figures represent the
government's share only.
The price realized at these sales varies not only with the season
but from day-to-day. Ten to fourteen dollars per thousand is a fair
average, though there are days when as much as twenty-four dollars is
realized. Prices have ranged from $7.50 to $40.00 per thousand in one
season. The net proceeds go to the revenue of Ceylon.
This has been the system under which the Ceylon fisheries were managed
until lately. For some reason unknown to the public, the government,
after a season of unequalled profit in 1905, leased the fisheries to
a company, the Pearl Fishers of Ceylon (Limited), for a period of
twenty years from January 1, 1906. The company is to pay the government
$103,333 per annum and is to expend annually upon the improvement
of the fishery not less than $16,666, or more than $50,000, at
the discretion of the government. The expenses of supervision and
protection by the government must also be borne by the company.
As a result of the first fishery (1906), the company after setting
aside $49,628 for depreciations and reserve and carrying forward
$77,382, show a profit of $256,960 which affords dividends of 36 cents
on ordinary shares and 18 cents on deferred shares, a remarkably good
beginning. The government revenue from the fishery of 1905 was $801,882
after the expenses, $73,510 were deducted; over $111,000 more than the
profit of 1904 which was the most successful up to that time.
The inspector of pearl-banks anticipated a good fishery in 1906 but was
of the opinion that after a small fishery in 1907 and probably 1908 the
banks would fail for some years as they have done in the past.
After the pearls are taken from the dead oysters they are first sorted
for size. This is done by passing them through a series of ten small
brass sieves known as baskets, containing from twenty to one thousand
holes. The sieves have twenty, thirty, fifty, eighty, one hundred, two
hundred, four hundred, six hundred, eight hundred and one thousand
holes respectively. The pearls are then sorted for color and quality,
weighed and valued. As with all things, really fine pieces are rare,
the great mass being ordinary or poor. Herein lies the attraction and
excitement of the business for some will find great gems. One may
imagine the keen interest of the swarthy buyer who has parted with
his hoards, hoping to find a "pearl of great price" when he washes
the lustrous spheres from the putrid mass of decaying fish: the eager
search; the joy when his eye lights upon a big, white, shining sphere
rising up among the heap of little ones; the growing exultation as he
picks it out and with feverish interest rolls it about between his
fingers to find it without flaw or blemish, or the keen disappointment
should his inspection show, as it most frequently does, that it is full
of imperfections.
Hovering about are the buyers for the great Hindu merchants, agents of
far-off princes and Europeans, all watching sharply for great finds
and ready to enter into the combat of wits which marks an oriental
trading.
If one remembers that there are probably twenty-five thousand traders
congregated on the hot sands of this far-off shore, the fair dame,
whose neck is clasped by a string of these precious globules, may
conjure from their lustrous skins, scenes as wild and weird as any
fairy tale that set her youth to dreaming.
The pearls are sorted into a number of grades. Those perfect in
sphericity and luster are called "ani." Anitari meaning "followers"
or "companions," are of the same general character, but poorer in
those important qualities. Masanku are somewhat irregular in shape and
faulty, especially in luster and color. The poorest of this class,
lacking the essential qualities, are separated into another grade and
called "kallipu." Next come "kural," double or twinned, and "pisal,"
are misshapen or clustered. Folded or bent pearls are "madanku," and
what we would call "rejection," a mixed lot of all sorts and sizes
too poor to include in any of the regular classifications, are termed
"vadivu." Seed-pearls, the very small pearls of which there are great
quantities, are known as "tul." Many of these are ground to "chunam" or
shell-lime, and used as an ingredient in a favorite masticatory.
The assortments being made, they are weighed and recorded in kalanchu
(kalungy) and manchadi (manjaday). The kalanchu is a brass weight equal
to 67 grains troy, and the manchadi is a small red berry that is of
very even weight when full sized, and is reckoned twenty to a kalanchu.
In the valuation of ani, anitari and vadivu, the individual size, form,
and color is considered, but the others are simply valued by weight.
The modus operandi of these fisheries like all others managed by
Orientals continues much the same from fishing to fishing. Experiments
have been made at the Tuticorin fishery with helmeted divers but their
catch compared unfavorably with that of the naked natives, who will
sometimes under favorable circumstances bring up two thousand in a
day. It is said that the X-ray is being used to some extent in the
examination of shells and that those found to be without pearls are
thrown back into the sea, but it is doubtful if the general use would
be practical or advantageous while oysters remain abundant; so far, the
use of it has been experimental only.
Fine pearls are found in Dutch India among the Molucca Islands. Fishing
is done by the natives, and as they seldom go deeper than ten or twelve
feet the probability is that they do not get the finest shells or
pearls, for it seems to be quite well established that the shells taken
from deep water are larger and more likely to contain large pearls.
Whether this arises from deep water being more favorable to growth, or
an unmolested opportunity to grow, has not been determined.
Hitherto the Netherlands Indian government has opposed encroachment
upon the rights of the natives and colonists, and has patrolled the
waters with small gunboats to prevent any attempt by Europeans to fish.
But lately concessions have been made to British firms so that shell
is being shipped direct to London, and it is now thought that these
fisheries will soon rival the Australian. The pearls were formerly
bought from natives, principally of the Island of Aroe, by Chinese and
Arabs who took them to Macassar. From there they were sent first to
Singapore and then to London, Paris, and Amsterdam. Most of the pearls
brought to Macassar are baroques, though fine specimens of more regular
shape arrive there occasionally. The mother-of-pearl from these shells
is of good quality.
Some pearls are found at the Bazaruto Islands, Portuguese East Africa,
a few miles from the coast, midway between Inhambane and Beira. A
concession was granted to a company about 1892, but bad management,
lack of funds and political difficulties, killed the enterprise.
General reports indicate that it is very difficult for any enterprise
subject to the officials of this district to succeed. The Bazaruto
Kaffirs still fish, but without system or intelligence. They are
wasteful and damage many of the pearls by cooking the oyster. The few
found are shipped by Indian traders to Bombay and Zanzibar.
Pearl fishing has been attempted on the coast of German East Africa
at Zanzibar Island and south, between the Island of Mafia and the main
coast. Mother-of-pearl is abundant but few pearls have been found and
there has been no sustained effort. There are large coral banks about
the islands of the coast favorable for the growth of mother-of-pearl
and there is shallow water over large areas.
Good white pearls have been taken from a red mussel found there. South
of the Island of Mafia are beds of large pinna shells which yield
black seed-pearls. There are pearl-shell fisheries in the Merguian
Archipelago and in the government of Burmah and some pearls are found.
The banks, scattered over an area of eleven thousand square miles, are
rented from the government and rights to fish are sublet on royalty.
The fishing is nearly all done by helmeted divers.
Avicula and meleagrina margaritifera are taken off the west coast of
New Caledonia. From the former large numbers of pearls are taken, and
from the latter, very beautiful white pearls. Fine colored pearls pink,
yellow, gray and black are often found in this district. A variety
of oyster commonly called shoulder of mutton, and another shell-fish
called jamboneau (pinna) of which the pearl is very fine, are also
found in these waters.
A syndicate was formed in Paris to exploit these beds and obtained
concessions covering one hundred and thirty miles. Owing to the
difficulty of getting divers, the waters had not been exploited to any
great depth up to 1898, the regular fishings being confined to the
shallows of six to seven feet, though larger shells were known to be in
deeper water. More systematic work with modern appliances and in deeper
waters has since been done with good success, but late reports show an
accumulation of shell and indications that the industry has not been
profitable.
In 1904 the price of shell (black-edge mother-of-pearl) fell to $250,
U. S. gold per ton of 2240 pounds, from $700, the former price, with
six hundred tons stored in London, Paris, Berlin, New York and San
Francisco, making a prospective loss of $270,000 for 1904. There was
an attempt to limit the production by a return to native diving.
With dress the output would be about 500 tons for the year, with
naked-diving 200 tons less. This would operate against the local
government, as it not only levies $38.60 U.S. gold per metric ton as an
export duty, but makes a large profit on the diving machines by way of
license. The pearl fisheries of French Oceanica therefore face a grave
situation.
Pearls are found occasionally on the western coast of Nicaragua at
San Juan del Norte. The Panama coast still yields great quantities
of pearls as it has done for many years. When Spain controlled the
northwestern section of South America with the Isthmus to the borders
of Guatemala, under the name of Colombia, immense quantities of pearls
were sent home by the colonists.
It is recorded that 697 pounds of pearls were imported into Seville
from Colombia in 1587. A large proportion of these undoubtedly came
from the coasts of what is now Venezuela. The Panama or bullock shell
as it is called, is not of the finest quality and the pearls are apt
to be dark and inferior to the Indian pearls in luster as well as in
color; nevertheless fine pearls are found there and the fisheries yield
a greater average of black pearls than any other. Beautiful iridescent
pearls are also found there.
The Pearl islands are on the east side of the Bay of Panama about forty
miles from the city. The banks there may only be fished by divers but
between Chiriqui and Veragua dredging is allowed. Since the United
States government has become interested in this section there is a
tendency here to exploit the Panama coasts and companies have been
formed in the States for that purpose. The pearl fisheries formerly
carried on along the coast of Ecuador about two hundred miles north of
Guayaquil, are no longer operated.