Ceylon Pearl Fisheries. 189
some
of them laden with riches ; the anxious expecting countenances of the
boat-owners while the boats are approaching the shore ; the eagerness
and avidity with which they run to them when arrived, in hopes of a
rich cargo ; the vast numbers of jewellers, brokers, merchants of all
colours and all descriptions, both natives and foreigner^, who are
occupied in some way or other with the Pearls, some separating and
assorting them, others weighing and ascertaining their number and
value, while others are hawking them about, or drilling or boring them
for future use,—all these circumstances tend to impress the mind with
the value and importance of that object which can of itself create the
same."
The
mode of fishing is described as follows :— A fleet of boats, sometimes
as many as 150, put out, but not before they have gone through
numberless ceremonies, which the natives will on no account forego.
Under the command of the " ada-napar" or head pilot, each boat is manned with twenty men and a steersman, ten being rowers and ten divers, besides a "pillai barras" or
shark charmer. The government keep the charmers in regular pay, as no
diver would descend without their presence. Other conjurors remain on
the shore, mumbling incantations until the boat returns. The men go
