206                                Pearls.
	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,