THE PEARL FISHERIES OF INDIA
There
are two moments in a diver's life : One, when a beggar, he prepares to
plunge ; Then, when a prince, he rises with his prize. '
Robert Browning.
Notwithstanding the
great fame of the pearl fisheries of India, those prosecuted within the
limits of British India proper are of small extent. The only pearl
resources within the empire are the rarely productive reefs on the
Madras coast in the vicinity of Tuticorin, the relatively modern
fisheries of Mergui Archipelago, and some small reefs of only local
importance on the Malabar coast and in the Bombay presidency.
The
celebrity of India in connection with the pearl fisheries has never
rested on the extent of those within the territorial limits or under
the control of this government. It originated in the fact that it is
largely Indian capital which finances the fisheries of Ceylon and of
the Persian Gulf; nearly all of the divers and others employed in
Ceylon are from the coast of this empire, and most of the pearls are
purchased by merchants of Bombay, Madura, Trichinopoli, and other
large towns. Thus, from an economic and industrial point of view, the
pearl fisheries of Ceylon, and to a less extent those of the Persian
Gulf, have contributed to the fame and to the wealth of the Empire of
India.
The
pearl fisheries off Tuticorin in the Madras presidency have been
referred to incidentally in the account of the fisheries of Ceylon.
They are separated by only a few miles of water, and are prosecuted by
the same fishermen and in precisely the same manner. Consequently, it
is difficult to discuss them separately, especially in their early
history and during the time that this part of the world was under the
rule of the Portuguese and later of the Dutch.
