amounted
to £2,098,830. If to this be added the fishermen's share and the
merchants' compensation, wé have a total of about £4,200,000 or
$21,000,000 as the local value of the pearls produced in Ceylon during
the period of British occupation. The value of these in the markets of
Asia and Europe was undoubtedly very much greater.
In
many respects the Ceylon pearl fisheries are the most interesting in
the world. Owing to their ready accessibility and thorough
organization, they are far better known than any others. Reliable data
exist as to the number of oysters taken during each season since 1854,
and it is possible to estimate roughly the pearls obtained therefrom.
Throughout the 112 years of British occupation, and previously to some
extent under the successive rule of the Cingalese kings, of the
Portuguese, and of the Dutch, for centuries, the reefs were annually
examined by official inspectors, and fishing was permitted only in
those years when they appeared in satisfactory condition.
A
noticeable feature of these fisheries is their uncertainty, a
prosperous season being followed by an absence of fishing sometimes
extending over ten years or more. This is not of recent development.
Over eight hundred years ago a total cessation of yield for a
considerable period was recorded1 by Albyrouni, who served
under Mahmud of Ghazni. He stated that, in the eleventh century, the
oysters which formerly existed in the Gulf of Serendib (Ceylon)
disappeared simultaneously with the appearance of a fishery at Sofala
in the country of the Zends, where previously the existence of pearls
had been unknown; hence it was conjectured that the pearl-oysters of
Serendib had migrated to Sofala.
In
the 249 years since Ceylon passed from the dominion of the Portuguese
in 1658, there have been only sixty-nine years in which the pearl
fisheries were prosecuted. During the last century there were only
thirty-six regularly authorized fisheries. Enormous quantities of
oysters have appeared on the reefs, giving rise to hopes of great
results, only to end in disappointment, owing to their complete
disappearance. In the fall of 1887, for instance, examination of one
of the reefs revealed an enormous quantity of oysters, covering an area
five miles in length by one and a half miles in width, with "600 to 700
oysters to the square yard" in places. It was estimated by the
inspection officials that there were 164,000,000 oysters, which
exceeded the total number taken in the preceding sixty years, and which
should have yielded several million dollars' worth of pearls in the
following season, according to the usual returns. But some months later
not an oyster was to be found on this large reef, the great host
presumably having been destroyed by action of the sea. Numerous reasons
are
1 See Reinaud's "Fragments Arabes," Paris, 1845, p. 125.
