118 THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
pear
from some authorities that this is a general practice. One official
—and probably the one in the best position to know—reported in 1905
that more than 15,000,000 oysters, or nearly one fifth of the enormous
catch during that season, were illicitly opened.1 However, this statement is strongly disputed by the superintendent of the fishery, who states :
As
a matter of fact the opening of oysters that goes on in the boats is of
a much more casual description than this. The divers occasionally pick
out some of the best looking oysters that happen to be conspicuous, or
some that open, and look inside them. It is quite possible that a
valuable pearl might be found in this way, but the chances are
against it. It is hardly likely that the divers would throw into the
sea an enormous quantity of perfunctorily examined oysters in which
they have a share and which contain pearls, while they were aware that
immediately on landing they could get good prices for their shares.2
The
government officials have endeavored to put a stop to whatever looting
may exist, searching boats and occupants at the shore, revoking the
license of any boat showing evidence of oysters having been opened or
carrying knives or other appliances for that purpose. The fishermen
are alleged to resort to all sorts of devices to secrete their illicit
find of pearls, concealing them in the nose, ears, eyes, and other
parts of the body, and even hiding them in parcels in the furled sails
or attached to the embedded anchor. In some seasons—as in 1904 and
1905—the government employed a guard for each boat. But serious
criticism has been made of the integrity of these guards, who, with
compensation of only one rupee per diem, could scarcely be expected to
resist the action of thirty or forty fishermen and report their doings,
when by silence they would have much to gain, and "the guards simply
add to the number of thieves on board " was reported by one
superintendent.
Doubtless
the most interesting sight in the Ceylon fishery is afforded by the
return, about mid-afternoon, of the hundreds of novel, sail-spreading
boats running before the wind and crowded with tur-baned fishermen
dressed in their few brilliant rags, and each anxious to be the first
at the wave-washed beach, where they are welcomed by an equal if not
greater number of officials, merchants, laborers, and camp followers,
gathered on the shore to learn the result of the fishery. The fantastic
appearance of the boats, the diversified costumes of the people, the
general scene of animation, afford a view which for novelty is rarely
equaled even in the picturesque Orient.
The average number of oysters brought in daily by each boat is
1 " Reports on the Pearl Fisheries of 1905," p. 40. 2 Ibid., p. 24.
