THE PEARL FISHERIES OF CEYLON
Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow ;
He who would search for pearls must dive below.
Dryden, All for Love, Prologue.
Second in
extent to those of Persia only, are the intermittent and uncertain
pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar. This is an arm of the Indian
Ocean, from 65 to 150 miles in width, separating the island of Ceylon
from the southernmost part of India. The pearl-oyster banks —known
locally as paars—are situated off the northwest coast of Ceylon and
also in the vicinity of Tuticorin on the Madras coast of the mainland.
The Ceylon fisheries are under the control of the colonial government
of the British Empire, and those of the mainland are monopolized by the
Madras government. Notwithstanding the fact that they are outside of
the three-mile limit established as the bound of national jurisdiction,
exclusive privileges are exercised over these fisheries by the
respective governments,1 and poaching vessels are liable to seizure and punishment.
Though
possibly not so ancient as those of Persia, the Ceylon pearl fisheries
are of great antiquity. References to them occur in Cingalese
1 See infra., p. 125.
