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
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