mentioned,
containing several thousand of originally sealed sacks from
Silavatorrai, had been shipped by the W. W. Co. to the harbour for
putting on board the steamer in order to be forwarded for examination
to the author in London ; but owing to a few days' delay, decomposition
proceeded so rapidly, that a foul gas was generated, which burst open
the tin-lined cases, and polluted the atmosphere for miles round. The
inhabitants of the Fort district of Colombo naturally complained to the
authorities, who thereupon seized the cases, and threatened
confiscation if they were not immediately removed. But the difficulty
was to dispose of them, as no place could be found in which the
authorities would permit them to be buried. Ultimately they were taken
in bullock-carts to the bungalow of the agent, who had been sent for in
haste from the scene of the washing operations, and he at once had pits
dug to receive them. In support of the view that decaying matter does
not injure the Pearl, the fact may be stated that two months afterwards
the pits were opened, and Pearls were found equal in quality to those
which the earlier and less polluted oyster had yielded.
In
all the more recent fisheries, great competition has existed between
local Ceylon native dealers, chetties, and others' who come over from
India,
