The Pearl Fishery of Southern India. 211
successively conducted by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the English, have been at Tuticorin.
In
1822, after the English occupation of Tuticorin, there was a fishery
which yielded a profit of £13,000 to the Indian revenue; and another in
1830 yielded ,610,000. The Tinnevelly banks afterwards passed into an
unsatisfactory condition, and were not profitably worked for many
years. But Capt. Robertson, and his successor Capt. Phipps, who
officially examined the fishing grounds between 1856 and 1859, reported
favourably on their condition, and in March, i860, a fishery was
commenced—the first which had been attempted since 1830.
The
Pearl-banks off Tuticorin and Trichendoor, lie at a distance of about
six or eight miles from the shore, and at a depth of from
five-and-a-half to eight-and-a-half fathoms. From time immemorial this
fishing has been conducted by "a caste called Parawas, who are met with
along the Tinnevelly coast, from Cape Cormorin to the Paumben Channel.
They were all converted and baptized wholesale by St. Francis Xavier,
and are now Roman Catholics, the ancient church at Tuticorin being the
freehold of the caste." The divers are described as an honest set of
men, but readily yielding to intemperate habits. "They cross themselves
before plunging into the
