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Ch. 11: Ceylon Pearl Fisheries

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192                                 Pearls.
sometimes they are left to putrefy in pits or closed vessels, and when these are opened the decomposing oysters are put into troughs, and the Pearls are washed with sea-water. On other occasions however, the shells are opened immediately, and the Pearls forthwith extracted. The oysters, however, are generally sold unopened, and as their contents are alike unknown to both buyer and seller the tran­saction takes more the form of a lottery than a commercial exchange, — in fact the trade has in it much of the spirit of gambling : many oysters may be opened without yielding a single Pearl, whilst on the other hand, one pair of shells may contain a Pearl worth ^20 or £10, but very seldom of higher value.
The government has derived a large income from this fishery, and it is protected by the strictest regulations. Those places to be fished are marked out with buoys carefully before the boats leave the land, and are examined from time to time by experienced divers.
Vincent, in his "Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients," (1807), speaks of Manaar, which was the island of Epidorus, as the centre of the Pearl fishery. According to the " Periplus of the Erythrean Sea," the Pearl-oysters are found only at this
Ch. 11: Ceylon Pearl Fisheries Page of 341 Ch. 11: Ceylon Pearl Fisheries
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