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PEARL FISHERIES
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''
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
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