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VALUES AND COMMERCE OF PEARLS
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ascertained,
each in its class as before noted, the value is determined by
multiplying that weight by the current market price per unit of such
pearls, at so many rupees per kalanchü.
The
star pagoda is used in calculating the values. This small gold coin was
current in south India in the early part of the last century. In the
computations it is considered to be worth three and a half rupees,
although its intrinsic value as a gold coin is about six rupees.
It is considered probable that the London syndicate,1
which has lately leased the Ceylon pearl fisheries for a period of
twenty years, will do away with the complicated calculations employed
for so many generations, surviving all changes of administration,
Portuguese, Dutch, and British. This is only one of the many instances
showing the tendency of the British Government to abolish time-honored
usages in India, without regard to the wishes of its population; and,
unimportant as many of these changes may seem to us, they all serve to
foster a spirit of discontent that may lead to serious trouble. This
conduct on the part of Great Britain is all the stranger in view of the
stubborn opposition of that country to the adoption of the scientific
and logical metric system.
In Bombay, the weight of pearls in tanks is made the basis of their valuation; the tank equals 24 ratti or about 72 grains
troy. The square of the number of tanks is multiplied by 330 and the
quotient divided by the number of pearls ; this gives the number of chewüs, or chows, as they are sometimes called, and the market price of the chewti for
a given class of pearls shows their value. If, for instance, we have 56
pearls of a certain quality, weighing 5 tanks, and the chewü of these pearls is worth 14 rupees, the sum would be as follows:
In this case, as in the other system of weighing which we have mentioned, the chevvü is only a nominal weight ; but there is in India a real weight unit which bears this name.2
The
high esteem in which the pearl was held by the Hindus is well
illustrated by the following statement from an old treatise on gems: "A
pearl weighing two kalafijas (about 180 grains) should not be worn even
by kings. It is for the gods, it is without equal."3
An
interesting account of a great savant's experience, in the early part
of the sixteenth century, regarding the value of pearls, is given
1 See pp. 124-127.
3 From "Navaratnapariska," in Finot, "Les
* See "Modern Metrology," Lowis d'A. Lapidaires Indiens," p. 158. Jackson, London, 1882, p. 369.
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