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. I GOVERNMENT CENTRAL MUSEUM, MADRAS. |
733 ——
ON THE
PEARL AND CHANK FISHERIES
AND
| MARINE FAUNA OF THE GULF OF MANAAR,
BY
~ EDGAR THURSTON, c.m.zs., &c.;
SUPERINTENDENT, GOVERNMENT CENTRAL MUSEUM.
MADRAS: _
; . PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, GOVT. PRESS.
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GOVERNMENT CENTRAL MUSEUM, MADRAS.
NO TERS
ON THE
PEARL AND CHANK FISHERIES
AND
MARINE FAUNA OF THE GULF OF MANAAR.
BY
EDGAR THURSTON, c.m.zs., &c.,
SUPERINTENDENT, GOVERNMENT CENTRAL MUSEUM.
C,
MADRAS: |
PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, GOVT. PRESS.
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(/I.—TUTICORIN PEARL FISHERY.
vI1.—PEARLS OF MYTILUS AND PLACUNA.,
-/JIL.—TUTICORIN CHANK FISHERY.
‘IV.—CEYLON PEARL FISHERY.
* V.—RAMESVARAM ISLAND.
‘VI—MARINE FAUNA OF THE GULF OF
MANAAR.
‘VII.—INSPECTION OF CEYLON PEARL BANKS.
‘* Know you, perchance, how that poor formless wretch—
The Oyster—gems his shallow moonlit chalice ?
Where the shell irks him, or the sea-sand frets,
This lovely lustre on his grief.’’
Edwin Arnold. °
I.--THE TUTICORIN PEARL FISHERY.
Tuticorin, the “ scattered town,” situated on the south-
west coast of the Gulf of Manaar, from which the Madras
Government pearl fishery is conducted, is, according to Sir
Edwin Arnold,' “ a sandy maritime little place, which fishes
a few pearls, produces and sells the great pink conch shells,
exports rice and baskets, and is surrounded on the landside
by a wilderness of cocoa and palmyra palms.”
Summed up in these few words, Tuticorin does not
appear the important place which, in spite of its lowly
appearance when viewed from the sea and the apparent
torpor which reveals itself to the casual visitor, it is in
reality, not only as a medium of communication between
Tinnevelly and Ceylon, to and from which hosts of coolies
are transported in the course of every year, but as being an
important mercantile centre for. the shipment of 'l'innevelly
cotton, jaggery, onions, chillies, &e.
With respect to the shipment of jaggery, I was told,
during a recent visit to Tuticorin, that, during the seasons
at which jelly-fish abound in the muddy surface water of the
Tuticorin harbour, so great is the dread of their sting, that
coolies, engaged in carrying loads of palmyra jaggery on
their heads through the shallow water to the cargo boats,
have been known to refuse to enter the water until a track,
free from jelly-fish, was cleared for them by two canoes
dragging a net between them.
Tuticorin is, indeed, ‘‘ an abominable place to land at,”
and it isunfortunate that it is ordained by nature that large
vessels shall not approach nearer to the shore than a distance
of six miles or thereabouts, being compelled, with due regard
for their safety, to lie at anchor outside Hare Island, one of
Bare 1 India Re-visited, 1887,
6
a number of coral-girt islands in the neighbourhood, where
hares and partridges may be shot, and sluggish Holuthurians
captured in abundance at low tide as they lie impassive on
the sandy shore, which is strewed with broken coral frag-
ments, detached by wave-action from the neighbouring
reef, and riddled with the burrows of nimble Ocypods (0.
macrocera and O. ceratophthalma.) The habits of the latter
species of crustacean are well described by Sir J. Emerson
Tennent, who writes! :—
“ The ocypode burrows in the dry soil, making deep excava-
tions, bringing up literally armfuls of sand, which, with a spring
in the air, and employing its other limbs, it jerks far from its
burrows, distributing it in a circle to the distance of several feet.
So inconvenient are the operations of these industrious pests
that men are kept constantly employed at Colombo in filling up
the holes formed by them on the surface of the Galle face. This,
the only equestrian promenade of the capital, is so infested by
these active little creatures that accidents often occur through
horses stumbling in their troublesome excavations.”
Not far from the north end of the town of Tuticorin,
on the sandy shore, are the kilns, in which corals, coarse
mollusc shells (Ostraea, Venus, Cardium, &e.), and melobesian
nodules (calcareous alge) are burned and converted into
chundém,” t.e., prepared lime used for building purposes, and
by natives for chewing with betel. A native informs me
that in the Bombay and Bengal Presidencies and in the
North-Western Provinces pearls are bought by wealthy
natives to be used instead of chundm with the betel. In
India relations and friends put some rice into the mouth of
the dead before cremation, but in China seed pearls are used
for the same purpose.
During my visit to Tuticorin in. 1887, I used to watch,
almost daily, grand, massive blocks of Porites, Astrea and
various species of other stony coral genera, being brought in
canoes from the reefs and thrown into the ground to form
the foundation of the new cotton mills, which, in consequence,
bear the name of the Coral Mills.
Lecturing at the Royal Institution * on the ‘Structure,
Origin, and Distribution of Coral Reefs and Islands,”
1 Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon, 1861.
2 The familiar house frog (Rhacophorus maculatus) of Madras is popularly
known as the ‘‘chunam frog’”’ from its habit of sticking on to the chunam
walls of dwelling houses.
3 Friday, March 16, 1888,
7
Mr. John Murray stated that “if we except Bermuda and
one or two other outlying reefs where the temperature may
occasionally fall to 66° Fahr. or 64° Fahr., it may be said that
reefs are never found where the surface temperature of the
water, at any time of the year, sinks below 70° Fahr., and
where the annual range is greater than 12° Fahr. In typical
coral reef regions, however, the temperature is higher and
the range much less.” No regular series of records of the
temperature of the water in the coral-bearing Gulf of Manaar
has as yet been made. The surface temperature, which I
recorded from time to time during my visit to Ramésvaram
island in the latter half of July 1888, varied from 79° Fahr. to
91° Fahr. between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
The following table shows the temperature range of
Tuticorin during the year 1887, the readings being taken in
the shade at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. :—
Range. Min. Max.
January “i 9° 75° 84°
February ee 6° 78° 84°
March a 9° 80°~. 89°
April : 12° 79° = 91°
May 180"! se Bagge
June a 86° 95°
July 10° = 86°— «6°
August ee it hs 84° 95°
September . 7 85° 94°
October 6° 80° 86°
November .. “K Ae or a 79° 86°
December... . ee 75° 86°
Tuticorin has been celebrated for its pearl fishery from
a remote date, and, as regards comparatively modern times,
Friar Jordanus, a missionary bishop, who visited India about
the year 1330, tells us that as many as 8,000 boats were then
engaged in the pearl fisheries of Tinnevelly and. Ceylon.
In more recent times the fishery has been conducted,
successively, by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the English.
The following excellent description by Martin of the pearl
fishery in the year 1700, during the Dutch occupation of
Tuticorin, shows that the method of fishing adopted at that
time agrees, in its essential characters, with that which is in
vogue at the present day :—
‘In the early part of the year the Dutch sent out ten or
twelve vessels in different directions to test the localities in which
1 Streeter, Pearls and Pearling Life, 1886.
8
it appeared desirable that the fishery of the year should be carried
on; and from each vessel a few divers were let down who brought
up each a few thousand oysters, which were heaped upon the
shore in separate heaps of a thousand each, opened, and exam-~-
ined. If the pearls found in each heap were found by the
appraisers to be worth an écw or more, the beds from which the
oysters were taken were held to be capable of yielding a rich
harvest ; if they were worth no more than thirty sous, the beds
were considered .unlikely to yield a profit over and above the
expense of working them. As soon as the testing was com-
pleted it was publicly announced either that there would or
that there would not be a fishery that year. In the former case
enormous crowds of people assembled on the coast on the day
appointed for the commencement of the fishery; traders came
there with wares of all kinds; the roadstead was crowded
with shipping; drums were beaten, and muskets fired; and
everywhere the greatest excitement prevailed until the Dutch
Commissioners arrived from Colombo with great pomp and
ordered the proceedings to be opened with a salute of cannon.
Immediately afterwards the fishing vessels all weighed anchor
and stood out to sea, preceded by two large Dutch sloops,
which in due time drew off to the right and left and marked
the limits of the fishery, and when each vessel reached its place,
half of its complement of divers plunged into the sea, each
with a heavy stone tied to his feet to make him sink rapidly,
and furnished with a sack into which to put his oysters, and
having a rope tied round his body, the end of which was passed
round a pulley and held by some of the boatmen. Thus
equipped, the diver plunged in, and on reaching the bottom,
filled his sack with oysters until his breath failed, when he
pulled a string with which he was provided, and, the signal
being perceived by the boatmen above, he was forthwith hauled
up by the rope, together with his sack of oysters. No artificial
appliances of any kind were used to enable the men to stay
under water for long periods; they were accustomed to the
work almost from infancy, and consequently did it easily and
well. Some were more skilful and lasting than others, and it
was usual to pay them in proportion to their powers, a practice
which led to much emulation and occasionally to fatal results.
Anxious to outdo all his fellows, a diver would sometimes
persist in collecting until he was too weak to pull the string,
and would be drawn up at last half or quite drowned, and very
often a greedy man would attack and rob a successful neigh-
bour under water; and instances were known in which divers
who had been thus treated took down knives, and murdered
their plunderers at the bottom of the sea. As soon as all the
first set of divers had come up, and their takings had been
examined and thrown into the hold, the second set went down.
After an interval, the first set dived again, and after them the
second ; and so on turn by turn. The work was very exhaust-
9
ing, and the strongest man could not dive oftener than seven
or eight times ina day, so that the day’s diving was finished
always before noon.
‘The diving over, the vessels returned to the coast and
discharged their cargoes ; and the oysters were all thrown into
a kind of park, and left for two or three days, at the end of
which they opened and disclosed their treasures. The pearls,
having been extracted from the shells and carefully washed,
were placed in a metal receptacle containing some five or six
colanders of graduated sizes, which were fitted one into another
so as to leave a space between the bottoms of every two, and
were pierced with holes of varying sizes, that which had
the largest holes being the topmost colander, and that which
had the smallest being the undermost. When dropped into
colander No. 1, all but the very finest pearls fell through into
No. 2, and most of them passed into Nos. 3, 4, and 5; whilst
the smallest of all, the seeds, were strained off into the re-
ceptacle at the bottom. When all had-staid in their proper
colanders, they were classified and valued accordingly. The
largest or those of the first class were the most valuable, and
it 1s expressly stated in the letter from which this information
is extracted that the value of any given pearl was appraised
almost exclusively with reference to its size, and was held to be
affected but little by its shape and lustre. The valuation
over, the Dutch generally bought the finest pearls. They
considered that they had a rigbt of pre-emption. At the
same time they did not compel individuals to sell if unwilling.
All the pearls taken on the first day belonged by express reser-
vation to the King or to the Sétupati according as the place
of their taking lay off the coasts of the one or the other. The
Dutch did not, as was often asserted, claim the pearls taken
on the second day. They had other and more certain modes of
making profit, of which the very best was to bring plenty of
cash into a market where cash was not very plentiful, and so
enable themselves to purchase at very easy prices. The amount
of oysters found in different years varied infinitely. Some years
the divers had only to pick up as fast as they were able and
as long as they could keep under water; in others they could
only find a few here and there. In 1700 the testing was most
encouraging, and an unusually large number of boat-owners
took out licenses to fish ; but the season proved most disastrous.
Only a few thousands were taken on the first day by all the
divers together, and a day or two afterwards not a single oyster
could be found. It was supposed by many that strong under-
currents had suddenly set in owing to some unknown cause.
Whatever the cause, the results of the failure were most ruinous.
Several merchants had advanced large sums of money to the
boat-owners on speculation, which were, of course, lost. The
boat-owners had in like manner advanced money to the divers
and others, and they also lost their money.”
B
10
In the present century the following fisheries have taken
place :—
1629) 8 ee ca te - PEO £13,000
1830 se i ar Le Ty £10,000
1860-62 ae oe os . do. Rs. 379,297
1889 ee ee ee 5) EMO fey, wo ees
As to the cause of the failure of the pearl oysters to reach
maturity on the banks in large numbers, in recent times,
except after long intervals, I, for my part, confess my igno-
rance. Whether the baneful influence of the mollusea known
- locally as stran (Modiola, sp.) and killikay (Avicula, sp.), the
ravages of rays (Trygon, &c.) and file-fishes (Balistes),
poaching, the deepening of the Pamban Channel, or currents
are responsible for the non-production of an abundant crop
of adult pearl-producing oysters during more than a
quarter of a century, it would be impossible to decide, until
our knowledge of the conditions under which the pearl
oysters live is much more precise than it is at present.
The argument that the failure of the pearl fishery is
due to poaching is, from time to time, brought forward; but,
as Mr. H. 8S. Thomas wisely and characteristically remarks !
“* the whole system of the fishery has been carefully
arranged, so that everyone in any way connected with it has
a personal stake in preventing poaching, and oyster poaching
is not a thing that can be done in the night; it must be
carried out in broad daylight ; and, to be worth doing at all,
it must be done on a large scale. Ten thousand oysters
cannot be put in one’s pocket like a rabbit, nor are there
express trains and game-shops to take them. Every single
oyster has to be manipulated, and it is only the few best
that can be felt at once with the finger, and the usual way
is to allow the oyster to rot and wash away from the pearl.
Oysters could not be consigned fresh in boxes or hampers by
rail to distant confederates; they could not even be landed
without its becoming known ; and, if known, every one is
interested in informing the Government officer and stopping
poaching.” I cannot, however, refrain from quoting the
following touching description of an ideal poach in a recent
pamphlet :—
‘“Mutukuruppan and Kallymuttu are two fishermen
brothers: they start out after their cold rice, ostentatiously to
_ 1 Vide Report on Pearl Fisheries and Chank Fisheries, 1884, by the Hon.
‘Mr. H. S. Thomas,
il
get their lines ready in their canoe, and paddle away to their
fishing ground ; there they drop their stone anchor: presently
one observes that it is warm and he would like a bathe; over
the side he goes down by his mooring rope to see what the
bottom is like. He brings up a handful of oysters and gives
them to Thamby; then Thamby thinks he would like a bathe,
and he goes down also, and bring’s up a fist full. When they are
tired they get back inte the canoe and open their spoils, taking
out what pearls they can find, and pitching the shells back into
the sea. This sort of thing goes on day after day and year
aiter year up and down the coast, and this will partially account
for the dead shells so often found on the banks. Is it to be
wondered at that oysters take alarm at this constant invasion of
their domain and naturally seek some other place of rest ?”’
Far more prejudicial to the welfare of the oysters than an
occasional raid upon them by a stray Mutukurupam or
Kallymuttu is, in all probability, the little molluse, stan,
which clusters in dense masses over large areas of the sea
bottom, spreading over the surface of coral blocks, smother-
ing and crowding out the recently deposited and delicate
young of the oyster. Time after time there is, in the care-
fully kept records of the Superintendent of the Pearl Banks,
in one year a note of the presence of young oysters, either
pure or mixed with séran and mud or weed, while, at the
next time of examination, generally in the following year,
the oysters had disappeared, and the széran remained. A
few examples will suffice to make this point clear :—
Devi Par'—6% to 74 fathoms.
May 1881. Young oysters mixed with sooram’ and mud.
», 1882. Sooram.
Permandu Par—6 to 6} fathoms.
May 1880. A few oysters of one year age.
», 1881. Young oysters mixed with sooram and mud.
», 1882. Sooram.
Athombadu Par—7? to 9 fathoms.
May 1880. Covered with sooram.
», 1881. Large number of oysters of one year age, with
sooram in some places and covered with weeds.
», 1882. No oysters ; sooram in some places.
The bank, which was fished during the recent fishery, is
situated about 10 miles east of Tuticorin, and known as the
1 Par or paar = bank. * Sooram = suran,
12
Tholayiram Par, the condition of which, as regards oyster
supply, since the year 1860, is shown by the following
extract from the records :—
April 1860. Plenty of oysters 33 years old.
Nov. 1861. Oysters scarce ; nearly all gone.
April 1863. Sooram and killikay with some young oysters.
Noy. 1865.
April 1866.
,, 1867. > Blank.
Noy. -.,;
April 1869. j
Mar. 1871. Five oysters with a quantity of sooram.
Feb. 1872. Five oysters of 3 years age found.
May 1873. Three oysters found.
Jan. 1875. Three oysters of 2 years age found.
Mar. 1876. North part blank.
April 1877. South part blank.
», 1878. Thickly stocked with oysters of 1 year age.
*{ Blank.
», 1881. Some oysters of 1 year mixed with killikay.
,, 1882. No living oysters; dead shells and sooram.
April 1883. Three oysters found. -
Mar 1884. Plenty of oysters of one year age; clean and
healthy.
From 1884 the bank was carefully watched, and the
growth of the oysters continued steadily, unchecked by
adverse conditions, as the following figures show :—
(March 1884 weighed 1 oz.
33
October 9 ” ray
March 1885 -c., 63 ,,
October Pos - Yas
10 shells lifted.< April 1886 __,, 72 5,
November ,, * a
March 1887). 55 102°,,
October i ‘5 L324;
November 1888 __,, 15 ,,
In November 1888 15,000 oysters were lifted and their
product valued by expert pearl merchants at Rs, 206-13-9,
t.e., Rs. 18-12-8 per thousand! as shown by the following
copy of the statement of valuation :—
1 The product of 12,000 oysters lifted from the Ceylon pearl bank,
the fishing of which took place synchronously with that of the Tuticorin
bank, in November 1888 was valued at Rs. 122. A further sample of
12,650 oysters, lifted in February 1889, was valued at Rs. 142,
13
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14
It may not be out of place to elucidate the meaning of
some of the terms used in the above statement, and I cannot
do better than quote from the excellent article on the Pearl
Fisheries of Ceylon by Mr. G. Vane, C.M.G., who writes as
follows! :—
‘‘ Sorting and sizing the pearls into ten different sizes, from
the largest to the smallest, is done by passing them through ten
brass sieves of 20, 30, 50, 80, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1,000
holes:....°. ; each of the ten sizes may include some of every class _
of pearls; the 20 to 80 and 100 may each have the éni, anatari,
and kallipt kiads, and this necessitates the operation of classing,
which requires great judgment on the part of the valuers.
‘Perfection in pearls consists in shape and lustre, viz.,
sphericity and a silvery brightness, free from any discolouration ;
and, according as the pearls possess these essentials, the valuers
assign their appropriate class, namely,—
«© Ani a .. Perfect in sphericity and lustre.
“ Anatari .. e» Followers or companions, but failing
somewhat in point of sphericity or
lustre.
‘ Masanka .. .. Imperfect, failing in both points, especi-
ally in brilliancy of colour.
“Kallipai .. .. Failing still more in both points.
of el ce het .. A double pearl, sometimes Ani.
‘“« Pisal a .. Misshapen, clustered, more than two to
each other.
‘* Madanku .. Folded or bent pearls.
“ Vadivu ..; .. Beauty of several sizes and classes.
“ Tal oe .. Small pearls of 800 to 1,000 size.
‘The pearls having been thus sized and classed, each class
is weighed and recorded in kalafchu (kalungy) and maachddi
(manjaday).
“ The halanchu is a brass weight equal, it is said, to 67 grains
Troy. The manchddi is a small red berry*; each berry, when
full sized, is of nearly, or exactly the same weight; they are
reckoned at twenty to the kalafichu.
‘‘The weights being ascertained, the valuation is then fixed to
each pearl class or set of pearls according to the respective sizes
and classes : the inferior qualities solely according to weight in
kalaichu and maiichadi; the superior éf7, anatari, and vadivu are
not valued only by weight, but at so much per chevo of their
weight, this chevo being the native or pearl valuer’s mode of
1 Journal, Ceylon Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, 1887, vol. X, No. 34.
Paper read at the Conference Meeting of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition,
October 6, 1886.
2 The seed of Abrus precatorius.
15
assigning the proper value by weight to a valuable article of
small weight, form and colour also considered.”
The pearls of commerce are, of course, for the most part
those which are formed within the soft tissues of the animal,
and not the irregular pearly excrescences (oddumutta) which
are found as outgrowths of the nacreous layer of the shell,
frequently at the point of insertion of the adductor muscle.
The nacreous layer of the Gulf of Manaar pearl oyster shell
is very thin and of hardly any commercial value, the shells,
after the extraction of the pearls by the process of decom-
position, being used mainly in the manufacture of chun4m.
As regards the cause of the formation of pearls, concern-
ing which many theories have been hazarded, the most
prevalent idea being that. they are a “ morbid secretion ”
produced as the result of disease, I may quote from the
excellent ‘“ Guide to the Shell and Starfish Galleries in the
British Museum (Natural History,)”! which tells us that
some small foreign body, which has accidentally penetrated
under the mantle and irritates the animal, is covered with
successive concentric layers of nacre, thus attaining some-
times, but rarely, the size of a small filbert. The nacre is
‘generally of the well-known pearly-white colour, very rarely
dark, and occasionally almost black.? The effort of the
animal to get rid of the irritation caused by a foreign sub-
stance between its valves, by covering it over with nacre, and
thus converting it into a pearl, is strikingly illustrated by
two specimens in which, in the one case, an entire fish, and,
in the other, a small crab has been so enclosed. According
to Streeter (op. cit.) the nucleus of the pearl may be either
a grain of sand, the frustule of a diatom, a minute parasite,
or one of the ova of the oysters, thin layers of carbonate of
lime being deposited around the object concentrically, like
the successive skins of an onion, until it is encysted.
Writing in 18593 as to what may be termed the worm
theory of pearl formation, Dr. Kelaart stated that “ as this
report may fall into the hands of scientific men, I shall
merely mention here that Monsieur Humbert, a Swiss
Zoologist, has, by his own observations at the last pearl
1 Printed by order of the Trustees, 1888.
2 Among the pearls from the samples lifted at Tuticorin in November
1888 there is one dumb-bell shaped specimen of which one half is white,
the other dark brown.
3 Report on the Natural History of the Pearl Oyster of Ceylon, 1858-59.
16
fishery, corroborated all I have stated about the ovaria or
genital glands and their contents, and that he has discovered,
in addition to the filaria and cercaria, three other parasitical
worms infesting the viscera and other parts of the pearl
oyster. We both agree that these worms play an important
part in the formation of pearls, and it may yet be found
possible to infect pearls in other beds with these worms, and
thus increase the quantity of these gems. The nucleus of
an American pearl drawn by Mobius is nearly of the same
form as the cercaria found in the pearl oysters of Ceylon.”
The “ cercaria ” referred to were, probably, Cestode worms
(Anthocephalus, &c.), which are found in the internal organs
of various fishes caught off the coast of Southern India, and
gave rise to a scare in the European fish-loving community
afew years ago. During the recent fishery in only a few
out of many hundreds of oysters which I examined did I
find small nemertine worms living on the mantle or gills of
the oyster, so that their presence cannot be regarded as a
common or essential occurrence.
The Gulf of Manaar pearl oyster (Avicula fueata, Gould)
is represented in plate 1, as it appears after removal of one
valve of its shell, the “ ovarium,” mantle, gills, adductor
muscle, and byssus being exposed. The presence of a small
pearl imbedded within the substance and projecting from
the surface of the “ ovarium ” is indicated at A. The byssus
(B), of which the function has given rise to much discussion
and speculation, is made up of a bundle of tough, green-
coloured fibres, secreted by a gland in the foot, and is
capable of being protruded beyond, or retracted within the
shell. By its means the animal is enabled to anchor itself
on the sea-bottom to a neighbouring oyster or other molluse
shell, coral-block, melobesian nodule, or other convenient
object ; and it is said that the animal can, even in the adult
stage, voluntarily shift its position and migrate to a con-
siderable distance. That the young oyster can, during its
phase of existence as a minute, free-swimming organism
wander about and eventually settle down on some congenial
spot no one will dispute; but the evidence that the adult
oyster can, under natural conditions, migrate to any con-
siderable distance is wholly insufficient, even though it has
been demonstrated by experiments that a young pearl oyster
under unnatural conditions in a soda-water tumbler full of
sea-water can, though weighted with two other oysters of
nearly its own size, climb up a smooth perpendicular surface
Plate I
Avicuta Fucata
Peart Oyster
ae ‘adler i
ce ae bh 1h nam AES '
. ps es ; ath Gian)!
| bw inannas A
* it y F
5 ¥)
a
, x .
ae Ae NE i
i
y, 13 }
“ i Ao 4,
eps
Leis oh Arend Bis
rr a i
‘4, | q oD ‘ My
y i At p r
‘ Po he pe is At Ste
ae Hy
yr ey reas
y i VA ‘7
s c ¥ ; r
A Py an ry ‘ ‘ a i
; d is ' ; : Zs ‘ ae
| Pay ay F pe Rays 8d ‘tly Ay de
ia nN hit Te Al \
f hey os] ih, Bhs Ny nt ay coeur: Sill
e
ver) MOOR LE aieee tM Saad i 1S
Wy ip Wey 1 "9
m
17
at the rate of an inch in two minutes. The mysterious
disappearance of the oysters from the Ceylon pearl bank
prior to a recent fishery must, I think, be attributed to the
action of a strong under-current, and not to voluntary
migration of the headless mollusc.
The recent Tuticorin pearl fishery was carried on from a
temporary improvised village, erected on the barren sandy
shore at Salapatturai, 2 miles north of the town, and built
out of palmyra and bamboo, the inflammability of which
was demonstrated on more than one occasion. The village
consisted of the divers’ and merchants’ quarters and bazars,
where, as the fishing progressed, the product of the oysters
was exposed for sale; bungalows for the officials connected
with the fishery; a tent used by myself as a zoological
laboratory ; dispensary; kottus (or koddus),: 7.e., enclosed
spaces in which the counting, decomposition, and washing of
the oysters are carried on; a Roman Catholic chapel ; and
the inevitable isolated cholera quarters.
The fishery commenced on the 25th of February under
a combination of adverse conditions which seriously affected
the revenue, viz., the presence of the pearl bank at a
distance of 10 miles from the shore and in 10 fathoms of
water, and the co-existence of a fishery on the Ceylon coast,
where the oysters were to be obtained at a distance of about
5 miles from shore and at a depth of 5 to 7 fathoms. The
natural result was that the natives, keenly alive to their own
interests, went off with their boats from the Madras seaport
towns of P&émban and Kilakarai to the Ceylon fishery,
where they could earn their money more easily and with
less discomfort than at Tuticorin, leaving the Tuticorin bank
to be fished by a meagre fleet of about 40 boats.
An excellent account of the method of conducting the
pearl dishery at Tuticorin has been published in the ‘“‘ Hand-
Book of Directions to the Ports in the Presidency of Madras.
and Ceylon,” 1878, from which the following varies only in
points of detail.
The landwind, under favourable conditions, commences
to blow soon after midnight, and a signal gun is fired by the
beach master as a warning that the fleet of native boats,
each with its complement of native divers, can start out to
sea, their departure being accompanied by a good deal of
noise and excitement. The bank should be reached by day-
©
18
light, and the day’s work commences on a signal being given
from a schooner, which is moored on the bank throughout
the fishery. An attempt is made to keep the boats together
within an area marked out by buoys, so as to prevent the
bank from being fished over in an irregular manner, and the
temper of the European officer in charge of the schooner is
sorely tried by the refusal of the boatmen to comply with
the conditions. All being ready on board, a diving stone,
weighing about 30 lbs., to which a rope is attached, and a
basket or net fastened in a similar manner are placed over
the ship’s side. The ropes are grasped by the diver in his
left hand, and, placing a foot on the stone, he draws a deep
breath, and closes his nostrils with his right hand, or with a
metal nose clip which he wears suspended round his neck by
a string. Ata given signal, the ropes are let go, and the
diver soon reaches the bottom, his arrival there being indi-
cated by the slackening of the rope. He then gets off the
diving stone, which is drawn up to the surface, and, after
filling the basket or net with oysters, if he is on a fertile
spot, gives the rope a jerk, and comes up to the surface to
regain his breath.
The contents of the basket or net are emptied into the
boat, and the live oysters separated from the dead shells,
débris, &c. The divers work in pairs, two to each stone,
and the oysters which they bring up are kept separate from
those of the other divers. A good diver will remain below
the surface about 50 seconds, and, exceptionally, 60, 70 or
even 90 seconds.
The largest number of oysters collected as the result of
a single day’s fishing by 41 boats during my visit to the
fishery was 241,000, giving an average of 5,878 oysters per
boat, a very small quantity when compared with the results
of the Ceylon fishery in 1857, when the daily yield varied
from one to one and a half million oysters, some boats
bringing loads of thirty to forty thousand.
From experiments made with divers equipped with diving
helmets, gathering stones instead of oysters, by the late
Superintendent of the Madras Harbour Works, it was calcu-
culated! that a pair of helmeted divers could together send
1Vide Madras Board of Revenue Resolution, No. 677, dated 3rd August
88.
19
up 12,000 shells an hour in shallow water, or, allowing for
delay in hauling up in 12 fathoms of water, say, 9,000 shells
an hour; and as, allowing for shifts, each diver should work
four hours a day, the quantity sent up by a pair of divers
in a day would be respectively 4 x 12,000 = 48,000, or
4 x 9,000 = 36,000 shells a day, which is equivalent to
the work of 24 or 18 naked native divers sending up 2,000
a day.
The results of the work done by the two helmeted divers :
who were employed as an experiment at the Tuticorin fishery
fell far short of this calculation, and compared unfavourably
with the work done by the skilled native divers without
helmets.
The diving operations cease for the day some time after
noon, and the boats, if aided by a favourable sea breeze,
reach the shore by 4 p.m., their arrival being awaited by
large crowds of natives, some of whom come from curiosity,
others to speculate on a small scale. On reaching the shore
the boats are quickly made fast in the sand, and the oysters
carried on the heads of the divers into the kottu, where they
are divided into separate heaps, each set of divers dividing
their day’s produce into three equal portions. One of these,
selected by the Superintendent of the Fishery or some other
official, becomes the property of the divers, who quickly
remove their share from the kottu, and, squatting on the
sand, put their oysters up for sale at prices varying from
about 15 to 40 for a rupee. On the first day of the fishery
the oysters, for a short and to the divers lucrative time,
were sold for four annas a piece. The two heaps which are
left by the divers in the kottu become the property of
Government, and are counted by coolies engaged for the
purpose. Usually about 6 p.m. the Government oysters are
sold by public auction, duly announced by tom-tom, being put
up in lots of 1,000; and the purchaser can, subject to the
consent of the auctioneer, take a certain number of thousands
at the same rate as his winning bid. Occasionally a combi-
nation is organised among the merchants who are buying on
a large scale, and come to the auction determined not to bid
more than a very small fixed sum per 1,000. A struggle
then takes place between the auctioneer and merchants, the
former refusing to sell, the latter refusing to raise their
price ; and the struggle invariably ends in the collapse of the
merchants when they find that their supply of oysters is cut
20
off. No credit is allowed, and the buyers, as soon as they
have paid their money into the treasury, remove their oysters
to the washing kottus, or send them away up-country by
railway.
Buyers of oysters on a very small scale open them at
once with a knife, and extract the pearls by searching about
in the flesh of the animal ; but, by this method, a number of
the very small pearls are missed, and it would be impossible
to carry it out when dealing with oysters in large numbers.
Boiling the oysters in water and subsequent extraction of
the pearls from the dried residue might be, with advantage,
resorted to as a more wholesome and less unsavoury process
than the one which is commonly resorted to of leaving the
oysters to putrify in the sun, and subsequently extracting
the pearls from the residue after it has been submitted to
repeated washings to free it from the prevailing maggots,
pulpy animal matter, sand, &c. The process of putrefaction
1s greatly aided by flies—big red-eyed blue-bottles. At the
Ceylon pearl fishery, which I was sent to inspect on the
termination of my work at Tuticorin, the merchants com-
plained at first of the scarcity of flies; but, later on, there was
no cause for complaint, for they were present not only in the
kottus, but in other parts of the camp, in such enormous
numbers as to form a veritable plague, covering our clothes
with a thick black mass, and rendering the taking of food
and drink a difficult and unpleasant process until the even-
ing, when they went to rest after twelve hours of unceasing
activity.
For months after the conclusion of a pearl fishery poor
natives may be seen hunting in the sand on the site of the
pearl camp for pearls, and it is reported that in 1797 a
common fellow, of the lowest class, thus got by accident the
most valuable pearl seen that season, and sold it for a large
sum.
Towards the latter end of 1888 it was suggested that an
electric light apparatus should be acquired in connection
with the pearl fishery, by means of which one would be able
to examine the condition of the bank from the deck of a
ship, and which, it was thought, would help to solve the
enigmas that still hang about the migrations of the pearl
oyster. The notice of Government was drawn to the fact
21
that a boat had been fitted up with a brush-dynamo and
electric globe for the pearl fishery in South Australia by a
Glasgow firm. During a recent visit to Europe, I made a
series of inquiries as to the possibility of obtaining a light,
such as was required; but, though there was abundant
evidence as to the use of the electric light for surface work,
salvage operations, and scientific dredging,' the general
opinion of those best qualified to judge was that it would,
for the proposed purpose, be a failure. It has been sug-
gested by Mr. G. W. Phipps, who was for many years
Superintendent of the Tuticorin pearl banks, that, if a sheet
of thick glass could be let into the lower plates of a vessel
and there protected both outside and inside in some way
from accident, a study of the sea-bottom in clear water,
either by day with the sun’s rays or by night by the use of
a powerful electric light, might be made. In a letter to
Government Mr. C. E. Fryer, Inspector of Fisheries, makes
the sound suggestion “ that the observations which the Gov-
ernment of Madras desire to make upon the habits of the
pearl oysters would be greatly facilitated by the employment
of a diver equipped with an ordinary diving dress. By this
means a prolonged stay could be made by an observer on
the sea-bottom, who could not only make an accurate survey
of the bed, but could periodically examine the same ground,
select specimens, and make minute observations, which would
be impossible to a native diver, whose stay at the bottom is
limited to a minute or so.” To these remarks I may add
my own experience at the Tuticorin fishery, where, by
examination of the shells of the oysters brought up by the
divers, by expending small sums of money which tempted
the native divers to bring me such marine animals as they
met with at the sea-bottom, by conversation with the
European diver, who was, further, able to bring up large
coral blocks (Porites, Madrepora, Hydnophora, Pocillopora,
Turbinaria, &c.) for examination, and by dredging, I was
able toe form some idea as to the conditions under which the
pearl oysters were living. On clear days it was possible to
distinguish the sandy from the rocky patches by the effect
of light and shade, and from hauls of the dredge over the
former not only many mollusca, &c., but also specimens
1 Vide Herdman’s 2nd Annual Report on the Puffin Island Biological
Station.
22
of Branchiostoma, sp.! (Lancelet) were obtained, of which
the largest measured two inches in length. Mollusca were
also obtained in great variety by passing the débris, which
was swept from the floor of the kottoo every day after the
oysters had been cleared away, through sieves. ‘The big
Murex: anguliferus (Elephant Chank) was brought in from
the banks by the divers nearly every day, and the animal
served up for their hard-earned evening meal. The oysters
shells were largely encrusted with bright-coloured sponges,
of which the most conspicuous was Clathria indica (n. sp.)
an erect-growing bright red species, recorded by Mr. Dendy
in his report on my second collection of sponges from the
Gulf of Manaar.2 Very abundant, too, was the large cup-
shaped Petrosia testudinaria, of which a specimen in the
Madras Museum measures 1°5 feet in height. Enveloping
the oyster shells were tangled masses of marine Algae,’ and
floating in dense masses on the surface was the Sargasso
weed, Sargassum vulgare. The various minute living organ-
isms entangled in the meshes of the Alga must serve as an
efficient food-supply for the oysters. The outer surface of
the living oyster shells was frequently covered with delicate
Polyzoa, which also flourished on the internal surface of the
dead shells in the form of flat or arborescent colonies. In no
single instance did I see an oyster shell from the Tuticorin
bank encrusted with coral; whereas at the Ceylon fishery,
on the sole occasion on which I had an opportunity of
examining the oysters brought in from the pearl bank, I
found the surface of a large number of the shells, both dead
and living, covered, and frequently entirely hidden from
view by delicate branching Madrepora or Pocillopora, or the
more massive Astrea, Celoria, Hydnophora, Galavea, &. A
specimen of G'alavea encrusting a single valve of an oyster
shell, which I picked up on the shore and is now in the
Madras Museum, weighed as much as 5 oz. 15 dwts.
Several species of Hehinoderm, which have not hitherto
been recorded from the coast of the Madras Presidency,*
1 Specimens of Amphiorus belcheri, Gray, were obtained by Mr. Giles,
when dredging from the Marine Survey SS. ‘‘ Investigator” off Seven Pagodas
(Mah4balipuram) 30 miles south of Madras during the season 1887-88.
2 Ann. Mag., Nat. Hist., Feb. 1889.
8 The collection of Algwe made at Tuticorin has been sent to the British
Museum (Nat. History) for identification.
4 Vide Proc., Zool. Soc., Lond., June 19, 1888,
23
were brought up by the divers, and have been sent to my
friend Protessor Jeffrey Bell for identification. Of recorded
species those which were brought on shore most frequently
were the crimson-lake coloured Oreaster lincki, and the long-
armed, usually salmon-coloured Linckia levigata, and, not
unfrequently, dense clusters of Antedon palmata were found
in crevices hollowed out in coral blocks, from which also,
when broken open, specimens of Ophiuroids (commonly met
with their arms turned round the branches of a Gorgonia,
or in the canal system of sponges), Annelids, Crustaceans,
and stone-boring Mollusca (Lithodomus, Parapholas, Vene-
rupis, &c.) were obtained.
bl
-
‘aa
-
Il.—NOTE ON PEARLS FROM
MYTILUS AND PLACUNA.
J -
4 ¥
"*
— y
‘ 4
4 ¥
. . 4
ad .
ts
°
A
' :
- -
A
=
ae -
a; a
7 ‘ r
‘
. “an
' .
. 7
. . . i 4
. ‘ ’
i > wp. te meetin te oe veeteniterp lien al kag ie ld mene Se
II.—NOTE ON PEARLS FROM
MYTILUS AND PLACUNA.
In addition to the pearl oyster of the Gulf of Mannar, two
other pearl-producing mollusca (Mytilus smaragdinus and
Placuna placenta) are to be found in the Madras Presidency :
the former in the Sonnapore river in the Ganjam district,
where they are, or were till recently, the source of a local
industry ; the latter on salt mud flats and in canals in
various parts of the presidency, e.g., Pulicat Lake, the
Buckingham Canal, Tuticorin, &c.
As regards the former (If. smaragdinus), samples of the
pearls were sent to Government by Mr. R. Davison, when
Acting Collector of Ganjam in 1875, and examined by pearl
merchants, who reported that they were of very inferior
quality and of the description termed “ rejected pearls ” by
the trade, and valued a big discoloured pearl at Rs. 1-8-0
and the whole sample at Rs. 7. The following extract is
taken from a letter to Government by Mr. Davison, who, as
the result of a visit to the mussel beds, which was resented
by the natives who were interested in keeping the habitat
of the mussels secret, suggested that, if taken in hand and
properly treated, the pearls might eventually become a fruit-
ful source of revenue :—
‘‘Sonnapore is a small fishing village situated near the
mouth of a river to which it gives its name, and which is about
12 miles south of Gopaulpore. For some miles up the river
there are large beds of the ordinary edible oysters, which find a
ready market at Berhampore and elsewhere. Mixed up with
the ordinary oysters, and adhering most tenaciously to their
beds, are the bright green mussels, from which the pearls are
produced.
‘‘T had five canoes, with four divers in each, at work, and the
place where we were most successful is situated about two
miles from the mouth of the river and about half a mile beyond
the custom house. Each diver brought with him a long bam-
boo pole, which he drove with all his might into the oyster
bed at a depth of from ten to twelve feet of water according to
tho state of the tide. He then dived to the bottom, and holding
°
DMA
28
on to, or keeping near the bamboo, broke off as large a mass of
oysters as he could conveniently bring to the surface in one
hand, and with the other he helped himself up the bamboo.
Any mussels that were found adhering to the block of oysters
were secured, and the oysters were returned to the water, as
thousands of them have already, from time to time, been ex-
amined in vain. I was amazed at the dexterity and rapidity
with which the divers opened the mussels with knives made for
the purpose ; and the expert manner in which they ran their
thumbs over the molluscs, detecting in an instant without fail
the most minute seed pearl not larger than a pin’s head, leaves
no room for doubting that long practice has made them perfect
in this particular branch of what has hitherto been to them a
highly lucrative employment.”’
The flat, transparent shells of Placuna placenta (window
shell) are used in China and at the Indo-Portuguese Settle-
ment Goa as a substitute for window glass; and the small
pearls which the animal produces are exported to India to
be calcined into chuném, which rich natives chew with their
well-beloved betel, and are said to be burned in the mouths
of the dead.!. So far as I am aware the pearls which might
be obtained from the masses of Placuna which live in the
mud flats of Southern India have not been utilised as an
article of commerce. But an extensive Placuna pearl fishery
has been carried on at Tamblegam lake in Ceylon; and some
idea of the abundance of the mollusc may be gathered from
the fact that the quantity of shells taken in the three years
prior to 1858 could not have been less than eighteen millions.
1 Vide Tennent’s Ceylon, II, 492.
II].—THE TUTICORIN CHANK
FISHERY.
oe
‘
a d
y
1
i! “1 I
,
P f
; f :
fi
\ iy
hl j
" Z
ve vie
f
‘
by eae
.
{
a . ; i , nae aes 54 gay ase
? ' : oe Ih ok ee th ae a Martie ink oo . ee
a fi 4h) et a Jans ty Mn Meprocy tee sash eames) aye Roa 1 as apt nye
7 . '
i. : iy y
» i
oy
7 {
te Do aah H A
} p 7
;
*
- t
as
id
Wie i
YH ie
is ry ; >
SSS SSN
Plate It
TURBINELLA RAPA
THE CHANK
III.—THE TUTICORIN CHANK
FISHERY.
Tue sacred chank or sankh is the shell of the gastropod
molluse Turbinella rapa, of which a full-grown specimen is
represented on plate II, and is, like the pearl oyster and the
edible trepang (Holothuria marmorata) a commercial product
of the Gulf of Manaar.
The chank which one sees suspended on the forehead
and round the necks of bullocks in Madras is not only used
by Hindus for offering libations and as a musical instru-
ment in temples, but is also cut into armlets, bracelets, and
other ornaments, and writing in the sixteenth century
Garcia says ! :—
‘*« And this chanco is a ware for the Bengal trade, and formerly
produced more profit than now...... and there was formerly
a custom in Bengal that no virgin in honour and esteem could
be corrupted unless it were by placing bracelets of chanco on
her arms; but since the Patans came in, this usage has more or
less ceased, and so the chanco is rated lower now.”
The chank appears as a symbol on some of the coins of
the Chalukyan and Pdéndyan empires, and on the modern
coins of the Rajas of Travancore.
The chank fishery is conducted from Tuticorin, and the
shells are found in the vicinity of the pearl banks, in about
7 to 10 fathoms,” either buried in the sand, lying on the sea
bottom, or in sandy crevices between blocks of coral rock.
The fishery goes on during the north-east monsoon from
October to May, and is worked by native divers, who, put-
ting their foot on a stone to which a long rope is attached,
are let down to the bottom, carrying a net round the waist,
in which they place the chanks as they collect them. The
shells of the chank are scattered about, and not aggregated
together in clusters like those of the pearl oyster, so that the
1 Vide Yule and Burnell Hodson Jobson, 1886.
?For a discussion of the chank as an enemy of the pearl oyster, vide
Mr. H. S. Thomas’ Report on Pearl Fisheries and Chank Fisheries, 1884.
cet
32
divers have to move about on the bottom from place to place
in search of them. The divers usually stay beneath the
surface from 40 to 50 seconds. The longest dive which I
have myself witnessed was 54 seconds, and on that occasion
the diver, on his return to the surface, innocently inquired
how many minutes he had been under water.
oF
field-glass. The raised reef shows strongly also along the
western side of the flat northwards of Ariangundu. The south
side of the reef is, along the north coast, completely covered up
by the great spreads of blown sands which occupy the greater
part of the surface of the island. On the east side of the island
the reef does not extend close up to the great temple, but stops
short abruptly about 300 yards to the north-east, and does not
ré-appear on the coast of the bay south of the temple. South of
Pamban town also there were no signs of any upraised coral,
nor could I see any indication eastward along the south coast,
as far as the eye could reach from Coondacaul Moondel Point,
while the great south-east spit terminating at the point called
Thunnuscody is covered by a double ridge of great blown saud-
hills. An important series of trial sinkings made by the Port
officer at Pamban right across the island, from north to south,
about 2 miles east of the town, in order to test the feasibility of
the proposed ship canal, did not reveal any southerly extension
of the raised reef. The probability is that it furms a mere
narrow strip along the beach from Pamban to Ariangundu, but
widens out thence to the north-eastward to form the northern
lobe of the island.
‘Parts of the reef lying between collections (colonies as it
were) of the great globular or cup-shaped coral masses form a
coarse sandstone made up of broken coral, shells, and sand
(mostly silicious) a typical coral sandstone.
‘At the Pamban end of the raised reef it shows a slight
northerly dip, and masses of dead coral, apparently i sztu,
protrude through the sand below high-water mark. Reefs of
living coral fringe the present coast, but these I was unable to
examine, so cannot say wiether the corals now growing there
are specifically allied to those which formed the reef now
upraised, but all the mollusca and crustacea I found occurring
fossil in the latter belong to species now living in the surround-
ing sea.”
Mr. Bruce Foote writes further :—
‘““Tt is quite evident from the occurrence of the old coral
reef on Ramésvaram Island that the latter must have been
upraised several feet within a comparatively recent period, but
unfortunately there are no data by which to calculate the exact
amount of the upheaval. The upheaval which affected Ramés-
varam Island doubtless affected the adjoining mainland, and,
by upraising the coast, exposed the sandstones, which have been
described above as forming a low wall-like cliff bordering the
beach as if by a built quay.”
H
58
A good example of a sandstone quay wall is to be seen
on the mainland between the great dam and Muntapum.'
Ina letter to me Dr. Johannes Walther, of the University
of Jena, who made a short visit to Ramésvaram Island early
in 1889, writes concerning the fossil reef :—
‘Das fossile riff beginnt direct unter dem bungalow, und
lisst sich um die ganze nordkiiste bis nach Ramesvaram verfol-
gen. Es ist wundervoll. Porites 4 m. dick, und viele andere
formen. Bei Ramesvaram ist ein sehr schénes fossiles Litho-
thamnium lager, und interessante metamorphosen des subfos-
silen riffes.”’
Possessing only very scanty geological knowledge, I am
unable to deal satisfactorily with the fossil reef, which will,
I trust, receive full justice from Dr. Walther.2. Commenc-
ing, as already stated, near the zemiudar’s bungalow it
forms a wall exposed to a height of 3 or 4 feet above the
sandy shore in which it is imbedded, and extending, almost
without interruption, for a distance of a quarter of a mile,
after which it becomes covered over with loose sand, and is
exposed only at intervals. The main mass of this wall, as
also of the big detached coral blocks which intervene between
it and the sea, and are washed by high tides, is built up of
enormous blocks of Porites, one of which, isolated from
neighbouring blocks, has a diameter of 12 feet. That these
blocks are imbedded as they grew is shown not only by
their reef-like appearance, but also by their upright position,
the vertical columns of many of the blocks bearing testimony
to the fact that they have not been cast up by the waves at
random, like the big coral fragments which are exposed
at low tide, and lie irregularly in all possible unnatural
positions. The calices on the surface of the fossil corals are
1 North of Kilakarai, a town on the coast southwest of Ramésvaram
Island, a very perfect wall of sandstone extends for some distance along the
shore, in the loose sand covering which many copper coins—Roman, Chola,
Pandyan, Dutch, Indo-French, &c.—have been recently found; and a
theory has been started that this spot is the site of an old Pandyan city.
The area which intervenes between the fringing coral reef and the sloping
shore at Kilakarai, and is uncovered by water at low tide, is covered by an
extensive green carpet formed by a dense growth of Zoanthi agglutinated
together by damp sand, among which small isolated Madrepores live, though
periodically exposed to the heat of the sun. Opposite the town of Kilakarai
there is a wide gap in the reef, through which small sailing boats can pass
igo the shallow harbour within the reef, on which the force of the waves is
roken.
* Vide a Report by Dr. Walther in the Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft fir
Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1889, No. 7.
59
either perfectly distinct over large areas, so as to render
their identity certain, or, especially in the case of the blocks
which are still exposed to wave action, worn away, or con-
cealed by a crystalline incrustation. Imbedded in cavities
in the Porites, once bored and occupied by the living molluse
animal, are immense numbers of the shells of the lithodomous
Venerupis macrophylla, which abounds on the living reef at
the present day. The Porites are frequently capped by
Astreans, which are also found firmly fixed to their lateral
aspect. Less commonly they are incrusted with Meandrinas
(Creloria), which, like the Astreans, also form solid isolated
blocks, but of far smaller size than the Porites. The blocks
are, for the most part, covered on their upper surface by a
erust of thick compact laminated sand-rock, imbedded within
which are the shells of mollusea—Cardium, Arca, Turbo,
Cerithium, Sponcylus, &c. I have also found several cara-
paces of fossil crustacea, whose species I am unable to
identify. At the commencement of the reef, ¢.c., at the end
nearest to the bungalow, the sand-rock is arranged in a
succession of layers with a dip seawards, and forms an
incrusting layer about 8 inches thick. A little further on
the reef has a terraced appearance, an upper terrace being
formed by sand-rock horizontally stratified, exposed to a
height of 18 inches, and supported by underlying Porites,
Astra, Celoria, and Turbinaria ; and a lower terrace formed
by a flat-topped mass of Porites, about 9 yards in length,
covered with loose sand. Not the least interesting feature
of the coral wall is the presence of a bank of Madrepores,
extending over a length of 8 yards at a higher level than
the Porites, and evidently still placed as they originally
grew, their radiating branches spreading outwards from the
base, and forming a broad flat surface, which affords support
to a thick superjacent layer of consolidated sand-rock. The
maximum height of the Madrepores above the loose shore
sand is 18 inches, and they clearly form a portion of a bank,
such as may be seen spreading over considerable areas on
the living reef on a calm day.
As one looks out to sea from the P4émban beach at low
water on a breezy day, three distinct zones can be clearly
distinguished, viz. :—(1) commencing about three-quarters
of a mile from the shore, and extending to the horizon, clear
blue water separated by a sharp line of demarcation from
(2) a zone discoloured by sediment in suspension carried by
the current through the Pamban Pass. ‘This zone, in which
60
the living corals flourish in spite of the current, sometimes
running at the rate of 7 to 8 knots per hour, to which they are
exposed, terminates at the sharply defined land face of the
reef,! the corals of which, constantly bathed by water and
never exposed above the surface, act as a natural breakwater
which breaks the force of the waves, so that, at high tide, the
shallow water between the reef and the shore is smooth.
The land face of the reef is made up almost entirely of
Madrepores, amid a perfect forest of arboreseent sea weeds
and fleshy Alcyonians which, as one rows over the reef on a
bright still morning, can be easily recognised as large snow-
white patches. Other genera—Porites, Celoria, Turbinaria,
&e., oceur in deeper water. (3) There is a zone, about 40
yards in breadth, between the reef and the shore, which is
covered by water at high tide, but completely exposed at low
tide, and made up of dead coral blocks, fragments, and débris,
among which branches of worn IMadrepores are most conspi- .
cuous, broken off or rolled along from the reef, and covered
with low-growing clumps of brown and green sea weeds, and
enclosing shallow pools in which “coral fishes”? of brilliant
hue may be seen, and colonies of Cerithia leaving in their
wake a characteristic track. Many of the larger coral blocks
are extensively worn by the process of solution, or eroded by
boring mollusca and other animals. Among the crevices
of the eroded corals various crustacea (Gonoductylus, Pilum-
nus, &e.), find a home; and crawling on their surface, which
is frequently covered by erect or sessile encrusting sponges,
or hidden beneath them, Annelids (Amphinome, Nereis, &c.),
and bright-colored Planarians may be found.
From the Pamban beach the sea bottom slopes very
gradually to a depth of 20 to 26 feet at a distance of three-
quarters of a mile from the shore. Between the Kathoo
Vallimooni Reef, marked on the survey chart as being “ par-
tially dry at low water spring tides,’ and the spit of
mainland which terminates at Point Ramen a boat passage
has been carved out by natural processes. North of Ramés-
varam Island the living coral reef fc. rmation is stated by the
1 In the recently issued third edition of Darwin’s Structure and Distri-
bution of Coral Recfs, the reefs of the Madras Coast, of the Gulf of Manaar
and the northern part of Ceylon are not indicated on the map showing
the distribution of coral reefs because as Professor Bonny says (p. 247) :—
‘“The sea off the northern part of Ceylon is exceedingly shallow, and,
therefore, I have not coloured the reefs which partially fringe portions of
the shores anl the adjoining islets, as well as the Indian promontory of
Madura.”
61
local fishermen, in answer to independent inquiries by Mr.
Bruce Foote and myself, to extend only as far as Pillay
Mudum, 7 miles south-east of the Vigai river, which, though
easily crossed on foot in the dry season, is .in high flood
during the monsoon, and, for about a fortnight in the year,
impassable even on a raft.
Piled up over a limited area at the base of the fossil
reef were masses and fragments of pumice! encrusted with
Polyzoa, Chame, tubes of tubicolous worms, Balan’, young
pearl oysters, &c., and dislodged in the first instance, in all
probability, from the voleano of Krakatoa during the great
eruption of 1883, a curious result of which has been that, in
the district of Charingin, which was depopulated by the tidal
wave during the outburst, tigers have increased so enor-
mously in number that the Government reward for killing
them has been fixed at 200 guilders each.
Washed on shore by the waves, protecting the upper
surface of the dead corals, or brougnt up for me from the
sea bottom by my divers, were nodular calcareous Alga,
which, from microscopical examination, I find to be identical
with those which were dredged off the town of Negombo
in Ceylon by Captain Cawne Warren, and reported on by
Mr. H. J. Carter.2 “The specimens,” says that authority,
“consist of calcareous nodules of different sizes, which may
be said to originate, in the first instance, in the agglutination
of a little sea bottom by some organism into a transportable
mass which, increasing after the same manner as it is cur-
rented about, may finally attain almost unlimited dimen-
sions. They are, therefore, compounded of all sorts of
invertebrate animals, whose embryoes, swimming about in
every direction, find them, although still free and detached,
of sufficient weight and solidity to offer a convenient position
for development, and hence the number of species in and
about them . . . . Perhaps no family of organisms
has entered into their composition or increased their solidity
more than calcareous Algze (Me/olesiw) which, in successively
laminated or nulliporoid growths, have rendered these
1 «The fragments of pumice thrown up into the ocean during far dis-
tant sub-marine eruptions, or washed down from volcanic lands, are at all
times to be found floating about the surface of the sea, and there being cast
upon the newly formed islet produce by their disintegration the clayey
materials for the formation of a soil, the red earth of coral islands.’’
Murray, Royal Institution, March 16, 1888,
2 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., June 1880.
62
nodules almost solid throughout, or covered with short, thick,
nulliporiform processes Lot ee Next to the part
which the Melohesie have taken in their formation may be
mentioned the sessile Foraminifera, and these have, in turn,
been overgrown, in many instances, by Polysoa.”
Specimens have been picked up on shore both by Mr.
Bruce Foote and myself of a curious body, the nature of
which has given rise to some discussion, and is still sub
judice. One of them was exhibited at the Linnean Nociety,
and Dr. Anderson and Mr. Dendy were inclined to regard it
as, possibly, the consolidated roe of a fish ; whereas Professor
Charles Stewart was of opinion that it was a vegetable
structure, his opinion being based on the examination of
microscopical preparations which he demonstrated to me
when I was recently in Europe.
Among other specimens collected on the Pamban beach
I may mention the complex tubular skeletons of the Che-
topod Filograna, and large blocks of drift wood bored by the
mollusea Teredo and Parapholas, of which the latter has
recently destroyed the bottom of the local port gig.
The Indian fin-whale (Balenoptera indica) has been
known to accompany vessels in the Gulf of Manaar, and I
have seen one close to a.steamer in which I was rounding
Cape Comorin. It is related that, some years ago, the
schooner Abdul Raman, which was at anchor close to
Pamban, was suddenly released from her moorings, and
towed out to sea to a distance of several miles by some invi-
sible agent. A few days afterwards the carcase of a whale
was cast on shore, and the theory was that this whale was
the cause of the involuntary cruise, it having been tempted
out of curiosity to examine the ship, in whose grapnel it is
supposed to have been caught, and to have taken the steamer
in tow until it liberated itself.
The phytophagous Sirenian Halicore dugong (the dugong),
which is said ' to be found in the salt water inlets of South
Malabar, feeding on the vegetable matter about the rocks and
basking and sleeping in the morning sun, is according to
Emerson Tennent? attracted in numbers to the inlet from the
Bay of Calpentyn on the west coast of Ceylon to Adam’s
Bridge by the still water and the abundance of marine alge
in this part of the Gulf of Manaar. It is of an extremely ©
1 Jerdon, Mammals of India. 2 Ceylon, vol. II, 1860.
63
shy disposition, and I have never seen it myself, though I
have heard of dead carcases being thrown up on the Pamban
beach, or living specimens being caught in the fishing nets.
One was, in fact, caught, together with a young one, the day
before my arrival at Pamban in 1889, and promptly sold for ~
food, as it is considered a great delicacy. There is a tradi-
tion among the natives that a box of money was found in the
stomach of a dugong which was cut up in the Pamban bazar
some years ago; and an official 1s now always invited to be
present at the examination of the stomach contents, so that
the possessors of the carcase may not be punished under the
Treasure Trove Act for concealing treasure. But the stomach
contents invariably prove to be green sea-weed. ‘The fat of
the dugong is believed to be efficacious in the treatment of
dysentery, and is administered in the form of sweetmeats,
or used instead of ghee in the preparation of food. The
skeleton of a female dugong in the Madras Museum shows,
encased in the upper jaw, the functionless teeth, the blunt
points of which are, during life, covered by a fleshy lip form-
ing asnout. The female is described by Tennent (op. cit.)
when suckling her young, as holding it to her breast with one
flipper, while swimming with the other, holding the heads
of both above water, and, when disturbed, suddenly diving
and displaying her fish-like tail.
The edible turtle (Chelone mydas) which I have seen
carrying the cirrhiped Chelonobia testudinaria' and the pearl
oyster attached by its byssus to the carapace, is very abun-
dant in the shallow water near the sandy shores of the islands
in the vicinity of Ramésvaram, on which the female lays her
eggs.
Pd
FAMILY GYMNODONTES.
Tetrodon hispidus. Pamban.
ak margaritatus. Pamban.
‘5 immaculatus. Pamban.
Diodon hystrix. Pamban.
», maculatus. Pamban. See Day’s Suppt., p. 809.
95
Leptocephalus, sp. (Pl. iv.)
As regards the curious pellucid Leptocephali, of which I
have obtained a few specimens in the Gulf of Manaar, and
a large number from the meshes of the fishermen’s nets at
Gopalpur, where they are known as sea-leeches, Dr. Giin-
ther says :!
‘‘We must come to the conclusion that these leptocepha-
tids are the offsprings of various kinds of marine fishes, repre-
senting, not a normal stage of development (larve), but an
arrest of development at a very early period of their life ; they
continue to grow to a certain size without corresponding
development of their internal organs, and perish without having
obtained the characters of the perfect animal.”
1 Introduction to Study of Fishes, 1880, pp. 179-182.
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VIL—INSPECTION OF CEYLON
PEARL BANKS.
VII.—INSPECTION OF CEYLON
PEARL BANKS.
Havine received permission from His Excellency Sir Arthur
Gordon, k.c.M.c., to accompany Captain Donnan, the In-
spector of the Veylon Pearl Banks, on his annual inspection
cruise, I left Madras for Colombo by 8.8. Aewa on the
ord October 1889, taking with me some young plants of
Victoria regia, reared in the nursery of the Madras Agri-
Horticultural Society, for planting in the new Fort Gardens
at Colombo. Some seeds of the Victoria, which had been
sent from Madras earlier in the year, had germinated a
short time before my arrival, and the young plants looked
thoroughly healthy, so that it is to be hoped that the intro-
duction of the water-lily will be successful.
While in Colombo I took the opportunity of examining
the excellently preserved specimen of Rhinodon typicus in the
Ceylon Government Museum for the suke of comparison with
the specimen, more than 20 feet in length from the end of
the snout to the extremity of the tail, which was cast on shore
at Madras in February 1889, when I was unfortunately far
away from head-quarters, so that the chance was missed
of examining its stomach contents and internal anatomy.
As the following extract shows, but few specimens of this
monster Hlasmobranch have been recorded ! :—
‘‘ For many years the sole evidence of its existence rested
upon a stray specimen, 15 feet in length, which was brought
ashore in Table Bay during the month of April 1828, and for-
tunately fell into the hands of the late Sir Andrew Smith, then
resident in Capetown, who named, described, and figured it.
The specimen itself was preserved by a French taxidermist, who
sold it to the Paris Museum, where it still remains in a much
deteriorated condition. Forty years later, in 1868, Dr. Percival
Wright, whilst staying at Mahé with Mr. Swinburne Ward, then
Civil Commissiouer of the Seychelles, met with this shark, and
1 In his “‘ Account of the Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon’? Captain Steuart records
having seen on one occasion ‘‘a spotted shark of a most fearful size ; it was
accompanied by seyeral common sized sharks, and they appeared like pilot
fish by its side.”
S ,
100
obtained the first authentic information about it. It does not
seen to be rare in this Archipelago, but is very seldom obtained
on acount of its large size and the difficulties attending its
capture. Dr. Wright saw specimens which exceeded 50 feet
in length, and one that was actually measured by Mr. Ward
proved to be more than 45 feet long. Nothing more was heard
of the creature until January 1878, in which year the capture
of another specimen was reported from the Peruvian coast
near Callao; finally, in the present century, Mr. Haly, the
accomplished Director of the Colombo Museum, discovered it on
the West Coast of Ceylon, and succeeded in obtaining two or
three specimens. One of these was presented by that institu-
tion to the Trustees of the British Museum, and, having been
mounted by Mr. Gerrard, it is now exhibited in the Fish Gallery,
where it forms one of the most striking objects, although it
must be considered a young example, measuring only 17 feet
from the end of the snout to the extremity of the tail.
“A true shark in every respect, Rhinodon is distinguished
from the other members of the tribe by the peculiar shape of
the head, which is of large size and great breadth, the mouth
being quite in front of the snout, and not at the lower side,
as in other sharks. Each jaw is armed with a band of teeth
arranged in regular transverse rows, and so minute that, in the
present specimen, their number has been calculated to be about
6.000. The gill openings are very wide ; and three raised folds
of the skin run along each side of the body. Also in its varie-
gated coloration this fish differs from the majority of sharks,
being prettily ornamented all over with spots and stripes of a
buff tint.”’
After waiting for several days on the chance of a moder-
ation of the prevailing south-west wind, I left Colombo with
Captain Donnan on the barque Sw/tdn Iskander, which towed
after her the diving boats, each with its crew composed of
coxswain, rowers, divers, and munducks who attend to the
divers, letting them down by ropes, pulling them up, &e.
The steam-tug Active followed us on the following day. As
an inspection of the reported pearl bank off Negombo was
out of the question owing to the heavy swell, we sailed
straight on to Dutch Bay, where we anchored, after a some-
what boisterous journey, on the following morning, inside
the long and rapidly extending spit of sand, which forms the
western boundary of the bay, on which the sale bungalow,
kottus, &e., were standing during my last visit in March at
the time of the collapse of the pearl fishery. The Bay now
presented a very deserted appearance, a few fishermen, living
in huts and earning a modest living by curing sharks and
bony fishes, and a number of natives, from near and dis-
101
tant parts of the island, engaged in searching for stray
pearls in the sand formerly oceupied by the washing kottus,
the site of which was indicated by the remains of the
fences and heaped up piles of oyster shells, and gaining as
the reward of their labour from one to two rupees a day,
being the sole human occupants of the sandy shore, on which
hosts of wading birds were congregated. It was reported
that one woman had found five pearls, each of the size of an
ordinary pepper seed, for which she had been offered and
refused 150 rupees.
The seaward face of the sand-spit was strewed with coral
fragments rolled in by the waves from the reef, which inter-
venes between the shore and the pearl bank, and is partially
laid bare at low tide; and the sand was riddled with the
burrows of a very large Ocypod (O. platytarsis). If one of
these crabs is killed and left on the shore, its fellow creatures
carry it away into a burrow, and, doubtless, devour it.
On the day after our arrival at Dutch Bay we sailed in
one of the diving boats to Karaitivu and Ipantivu islands
and the mainland in search of a possible spot adapted for the
requiremeats of a pearl camp at the next fishery. In the
shallow water near the shore of Karaitivu island fishes—
Mugil and Hemiramphus—-some of which leaped into the
boat and were eventually cooked, fell easy victims to fishing
eagles and gulls. Two hauls of the dredge in the sand and
mud brought up Amphiorus, Lituaria phalloides, the Trepang
Holothuria marmorata, Astropecten hemprichit, Philyra scabri-
uscula, Chloeia flava, and many molluses ; the majority of
the species of mollusc, both here and in Dutch Bay, being
common to the Indian and Ceylon Coasts of the Gulf of
Manaar. On the mainland forming the eastern boundary
of Dutch Bay, into which the river Kala Oya discharges
its water by several mouths, dense jungle and swampy
ground teeming with the molluse Pyrazus palustris reach right
down to the water’s edge; and, as we walked along the
shore, we came across solid evidence of the recent presence
of elephants. We were told by a native that bears and wild
pigs are so thick in the jungle that one trips over them as
one walks along !
In 1868 large numbers of young pearl-oysters are re-
ported to have been spread over a considerable extent of the
muddy bottom of Dutch Bay in from one to two fathoms
102
of water, but the situation was, evidently, not favourable for
their healthy growth.!
The weather being unfavourable for the work of inspect-
ing, we had to remain unwillingly in Dutch Bay, the days
being spent in cruising about, and dredging in the shallow
water. But on the 2¥th, as the wind had changed and the
sea abated, we made a start for the neighbouring pearl
bank—Muttuwartu Par—to which we were towed by the
Active. As soon as we had anchored on the south end of
the bank a diver was sent down from the ship’s side in 6¢
fathoms, and brought up his rope basket containing plenty of
healthy, living oysters, which, he reported, came away easily
from the “ rock” to which they were attached by their
byssi.2 At the fishery in March the divers complained of the
difficulty in detaching the oysters; and the ease with which
they can be gathered is considered a sign whether they are
ripe for fishing or not, the byssus being said to begin to
break away from the substance to which it adheres tightly
in the early existence of the oyster after the 5th year.
The excellent system which is employed in the inspection
of the Ceylon banks, and by which a thorough knowledge
of the condition of the banks is obtained, is as follows. The
inspection barque is ancltored in a position fixed on the
chart by bearings from the shore. The steam tug, towing
a boat with buoys bearing flags on board, first lays out
buoys in the north, south, east, and west at distances of }, 3,
and $ of a mile from the barque. Buoys are then laid out
at a distance of ? of a mile from the bargue in the north-
east, north-west, south-east, and south-west. Four diving
boats, each with a coxswain in charge, 5 rowers, 3 divers,
and 2 munducks, are arranged in line between the north 4+
mile buoy and the barque, the distance being equally divided
between the boats. The rowers work round in a circle, and
the divers make frequent dives in search of oysters until
the starting point is reached. The boats are then again
arranged in position, and the circle between the } and $ mile
buoys is explored. Lastly, the third circle, between the $
and $ mile buoys, is, in like manner, explored; so that, when
1K. W. H. Holdsworth. Report on the Conditions and Prospects of the
Pearl-Oyster Banks, 1868.
2 «© The term rock is applied to pieces of coral, living or dead, averaging
about a foot in diameter, which are scattered more or less thickly over certain
parts of the banks.’’ Holdsworth, /.c.
AD irene eal amine ao
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DIAGRAM. A
Lithographed in Central Survey Office, Madras
1890
DIAGRAM. B
‘Lithographed in Central Survey Office, Madrag
1886 K
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103
this circle is completed, each boat has described three circles
with the inspection barque as a centre. And, in this way,
twelve circles in all are described by the four boats, ‘The
oysters are then brought to the ship, counted, and put in
sacks daily, until a sufficient number (15,000) to form a
sample for washing and valuation by experts has been col-
lected! The coxswain of each boat records on a diagram,
provided by the Inspector, the approximate position of each
dive which is made, the nature of the bottom (a triangle =
rock, a circle = sand, and a cross oysters), and the number
of oysters lifted. Diagram A represents the day’s work
done by one boat over ground which, with the exception of
a sandy patch between the vorth and east # mile buoys, was
rocky, and on which oysters were plentiful except over a
portion of the outer circle. Diagram B, made up from the
four coxswains’ reports, represents a single day’s work done
by all the boats, and shows the distribution of the oysters
over the area inspected, and the limits of the bank. As
soon as the buoys have been taken up by the tug the inspec-
tion barque is moved to a new position ]4 mile distant from
its former one, and the buoys are again laid out in circles, to
act as guides to the boats in the next day’s work. Without
the assistance of the buoys the boats would not be able to
describe separate circles, but would work in an irregular
manner, and two or more boats would, very probably, go
over the same ground. But, with the assistance of the
buoys, the whole bank can be systematically surveyed.
~The Muttuwartu Par, which was fished in the spring
of 1889, is situated about 5 miles from the seaward shore
of Dutch Bay, and covers an approximate area of 3 x 13
miles, the depth of water over the bank ranging from 5
to 10 fathoms with an average of about 7 fathoms. The
temperature of the water at the bottom, registered with a
Negretti and Zambra’s deep-sea thermometer, varied from
80° to 82° between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. The specific gravity
of the surface water, tested with a Twaddell’s hydrometer
regulated for a temperature of 84°, was, approximately,
1:025. Between the bank and the shore is a coral reef, the
presence of which was indicated by the waves breaking over
its outer face amid a prevailing calm, and by gulls resting
on the coral blocks. The most conspicuous Madreporaria
_ | If a young bank is being inspected, samples are brought up by the
divers, but they are not washed for valuation.
104
on this reef, which is surrounded by 4} to 5 fathoms of
water, belong to the genera Madrepora and Pocillopora, while
Galaxea and Leptoria are present in less abundance. The
bright white patches of sand, which cover large spaces
between the coral growths, teem with Protozoa and a
calcareous A/ga, and are more rich in delicate molluses than
any other deposit which I have examined in the Gulf of
Manaar. Sheltered among the coral tufts were sluggish
Holothurians and hosts of small Crustaceans; and, clinging
to the branches of a Madrepore, I found a single specimen of
the quaint Thenus orientalis.
Outside the seaward face of the pearl banks on the Indian
coast of the Gulf of Manaar the depth of the sea increases
very gradually, so that, for example, outside the Tholayiram
Par, a depth of only 15 to 20 fathoms is reached at a
distance of 3 miles. Outside the Muttuwartu Par, how-
ever, the area of shallow water ceases very abruptly, and the
depth increases rapidly to 150 fathoms at a distance of three-
quarters of a mile from the seaward face of the bank, where
the following temperatures were recorded :—
Surface ti Re 60 fathoms .. 68°
10 fathoms an Bl? 100 nee cjein, Hoa
Dy ee Oe oar esa =
cy aioe Ae ie i
Several hauls of the dredge brought up Polytrema
cylindricum, Gorgonie, Heteropsammia cochlea, Cirrhipathes
spiralis, Spongodes sp., Fibularia orulum, &c., but no pearl-
oysters.
The divers received instructions to keep apart for me
everything, other than oysters, which they came across
during their day’s work, under the general heading of corals,
shells, poochees, and weeds; and, by examination of the
specimens which they reserved and going rapidly over the
oysters, I was enabled not only to make a rich collection
which awaits future investigation, but also to. ascertain
roughly in what respects the fauna of this portion of the
West Coast of Ceylon differs from that of the Indian Coast
of the Gulf of Manaar. The first day’s inspection of the
Muttuwartu Par showed not only that the oysters were very
abundant, in spite of the disturbance to which they were
subjected during the fishery in the spring, 4,580 living
specimens being brought up in 291 dives; but, further, that
the coral-incrusted shells, to which I have already referred
105
(p. 38), as being a distinguishing characteristic of this bank
as compared with the Tholayiram Par, are very abundant,
and belong to the genera Madrepora, Montipora, Hydnophora,
Porites, Pocillopora, Galaxea, Cyphastrea, Celoria, Favia, and
Goniastrea ; the living corals growing on the shells of living
oysters, which, did they migrate, would have, sometimes,
to carry about with them a weight of nearly 8 ounces.
The coral-incrusted shells had, prior to the fishery of the
Muttuwartu Par this year, only been seen by Captain
Donnan on the North-west Chéval Par; and, when the
oysters disappeared from the latter in 1888, the drift-oysters,
which were eventually found, were recognised by the
coral-growths upon them. Arborescent sea-weeds, forming
tangled masses, such as abound on the Tholayiram Par, were
conspicuously absent; but the oyster shells were largely
encrusted with incrusting sponges, and the orange-coloured
Axinella donnani, which receives its specific name after the
present Inspector of Pearl Banks, was very common. In
addition to the shell-incrusting corals massive corals, mainly
belonging to the genus Madrepora, flourish on the bank,
forming a convenient habitat and hiding place for Annelids,
Crustaceans, Molluscs, &c., which can live there safe from the
attacks of predaceous enemies. The sea bottom is, so far as
I could gather from repeated examination, on different parts
of the bank, of the residue left after shaking up the oysters
in a bucket of water, and of the contents of the digestive tract
of a Holothurian (H. atra) which abounds on the bank,
mainly composed of a white deposit, such as I have only seen
on the Indian Coast of the Gulf of Manaar, which is composed
of a calcareous Alga and Foraminifera, among which Rotalia
_calear, Heterosteyina depressa, and A:mphistegina lessonii are
the most conspicuous. It was long ago pointed out by
Captain Steuart that the places, on which pearl fisheries
have been successfully held in Ceylon, appear to be beds of
Madrepore of irregular heights, having the spaces between the
ridges nearly filled up with sand. ‘The transparent clearness
of the water over the banks, and the clean state of the sea
bottom, which is free from sediment carried down by currents,
must, I think, be regarded as important conditions favouring
the healthy growth of the oysters thereon.
Swimming about on the surface of the water over the
bank were many black and yellow striped sea-snakes, which
are believed by the divers to feed on the oysters. Indeed,
in 1862, the European diver reported that he had seen the
(0)
106
snakes eating the oysters, darting into the shells when opened.
But this report must be viewed with grave suspicion. Apart
from snakes, the reputed enemies of the pearl-oyster on.the
Ceylon banks are molluscs, fishes, and currents. Among
molluscs are mentioned the Chank (Turbinella rapa) and a —
big Murex (M. anguliferus), known as the Elephant chank.
But, as Mr. Holdsworth observes, ‘‘ they may be looked on
as part of the vermin of the banks, but I have no reason to
think they cause more destruction on the oyster beds than
the hawk and the polecat do among the game of an ordinary
preserve.” It is noticeable that the little Modiola known
as suran, which assumes such a prominent position in the
reports of the Inspector of Pearl Banks at Tuticorin, does
not, though present, occur, so far as 1 am aware, in any
great quantities on the Ceylon banks. Among fishes the
trigger fishes (Balistes), commonly known as “Old Wives”,
are abundant on rocky parts of the banks, and I saw many
specimens caught by the boatmen fishing from the side of
the ship as we lay at anchor. Concerning these fishes
Captain Steuart reports that ‘“‘the sea over the pearl banks
is well stocked with various fishes, some of which feed on
the oysters, and, when caught by the seamen on board the
guard vessel, pearls and crushed shells are often found in
their stomachs, particularly in the fish called by the Mala-
bars, the Clartee ; by the Singhalese, the Pottooberre ; and by
seamen, the Old Women. ‘This fish is of an oval-shape,
about 12 inches in length and 6 inches in depth from the
top of the back to the under part of the belly, and is
covered with a thick skin. We saw ten pearls taken from
the stomach of one of these fish on board the Wellington.”
The contents of the stomach and intestines of Balistes,
which I examined while we were inspecting the Chéval Par,
consisted entirely of young oysters crushed by their sharp
cutting teeth. In addition to the trigger fishes, Rays are
said to be always more or less numerous on the banks, and 7
Mr. Holdsworth states that “when the fishery of 1863 i
commenced on the south-east part of the Chéval Par, the
divers reported the ground so covered with skates as to
interfere with their picking up the oysters. After a day
or two the continual disturbance by the divers had the effect
of driving the skates away from that part of the bank, and
these fish, many of them of very large-size, were seen going
in the direction of the Modrigam, which was then covered
with oysters, whose age was estimated by the Superin-
tendent at 24—3 years, by the Inspector at 34—4, and
107
by the native headman at 4 years. The skates were in
shoals, and their total number was estimated at from 10
to 15 thousand. Further, in his report on the inspection
of banks in March 1885, Captain Donnan notes the fact that
“on the way from the north Motaragam, and just about
the south side of the bed of oysters, we passed through a
large patch of thick discoloured water, caused by a shoal
of Rays plundering about on the bottom, and stirring up
the sand. Some of them could, at times, be seen near the
surface, and I have no doubt they were feeding on the
oysters.”” Some years ago the Sea Customs Officer at Dutch
Bay counted as many as 300 Rays in a single haul of a
fishing net. The native belief is that the Rays break up
the oyster shell with their teeth, and suck out the soft
animal matter. The stomach of a big Ray (Atobatis
narinart), 5 feet in breadth and with a tail 84 feet in length,
which was caught by fishermen from a canoe off Silavaturai
- when we were at anchor there, consisted of sea weed. The
same fishermen caught for me off the Sildvaturai reef a
male Dugong, 9 feet in length, whose stomach contents
consisted of sea weed and large numbers of a Nematoid
worm.
It was roughly estimated as the result of the inspection
of the Muttuwartu Par, which lasted over three days, an
average of 589 yards and 16 oysters to a dive being
allowed, that it contained 30 million oysters spread over an
area of 93 million square yards, which should produce a
revenue of 5 lakhs of rupees.
On November 2nd we left the Muttuwartu Par, and
anchored in 8 fathoms, about 2 miles further north, so as
to hunt for a possible bed of oysters. The divers, making
the usual preliminary dives, brought up blocks of dead coral-
rock with living Turbinarice and Porites growing on them,
and containing, imbedded in the crevices, a large number
of Foraminifera. The sample of 15,000 oysters from the
Muttuwartu Par, which were beginning to be unpleasant ~
fellow-passengers, was sent up to Silévaturai to be washed.
It is stated by Cap‘ain Steuart that the offensive effuvium of
decomposing oysters “is not considered to have an unhealthy
tendency on the persons engaged in the kottus, and it is
astonishing how soon the most sensitive nose becomes accus-
tomed to the smell. Indeed some Europeans have fancied
their appetites sharpened by visiting the kottus, and being
108
surrounded by immense heaps consisting of millions of
oysters in all stages of decomposition.”
The surface of the water, always rich in organisms, was
exceptionally so on the following morning, the tow-net,
dropped from the stern of the barque and kept distended by
the gentle current which ‘was running, becoming speedily
filled with a gelatinous mass composed mainly of Sagittie
mingled with a host of Ctenophora, glassy molluscs, and
hungry fishes preying on Crustacean and other larve. Only
a few young oysters being found, we again proceeded north- ~
ward, and anchored in 83 fathoms, the preliminary dives
bringing up Madrepores with Antedons entwined round their
branches, and large Melobesian nodules. Again only a few
scattered oysters were obtained as the result of a day’s work,
but the divers brought me many specimens of Alcyonians,
and the bright-red sponge Aainella tubulata, living attached
by a broad base to dead coral-rock, and associated with its
commensal worm.! The following temperature observations |
were made half a mile west of the ship, where no bottom
was reached with the sounding line at 140 fathoms :—
Surface 3 eno” 50. fathoms... Wao
20 fathoms .. 76°5° 100 e o'se4n eae
ee ee 140 (ties 1. 55°
On the afternoon of the 4th, we moved on, still north-
ward, to the Karaitivu Par,? which was estimated, at the
inspection in November 1887, to contain 1,605,465 oysters.
The divers, going down from the ship, alighted on a bank
of Fungie, and brought up some living 5-year old oysters
and Melobesiun nodules. Attached to one of the nodules was
an extensive creeping colony of the delicate crimson-coloured
organism named Tubipora reptans from the single small
specimen which has hitherto been recorded by Mr. H. J.
Carter.2 The present specimens were in a more advanced
stage of growth than the one described by Mr. Carter, which
I examined in the Liverpool Museum last year, and the
calycles were proportionately higher. By about four hours’
work next morning a sample of 8,000 oysters was collected
1 Vide Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Feb. 1889, p. 89.
2 The Karaitivu Par was fished in December 1889; but the fishery
came to an abrupt termination owing to a diver being killed by a shark.
Apparently three men went down into the water, and two came up almost
directly, saying that the third had been carried off by a shark. The rest of
the divers could not be prevailed on to resume work, and left the bank.
3 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., June 1880, p. 442.
109
for valuation, and the abundance of oysters may be judged
from the fact that, on more than one occasion, as many as
100 oysters were brought up at a single dive. My own
share of the morning’s work consisted of a Fungia (F.
repanda) and three living specimens of the pearl-oyster
Avicula (Meleagrina) margaritifera, attached by its byssus to
coral-rock. Captain Donnan informs me that he has only
seen about a dozen specimens of this molluse during his 28
years’ experience as Inspector of the banks, so that it cannot
be present in any abundance. Shell-incrusting corals,
though present on the bank, were far less common than on
the Muttuwartu Par. :
On the afternoon of the 5th we sailed about 20 miles
north, and anchored in 2 fathoms, 3 miles south of the
village off Aripu, off Sila4vaturai, which is made the head-
quarters at times when the Chéval and Motaragam (Mud-
rigam) banks are fished. Rising from the sandy shore
between Aripu and Sild4vaturai is a miniature sand-cliff,
reaching a maximum height of about 12 feet, and extend-
ing over a distance of about half a mile, which contains a
thick bed composed almost entirely of pearl-oyster shells—
evidence of the enormous number cf oysters which have been
taken from the neighbouring banks at fisheries in the past.
Similar beds of oyster shells were exposed in sections nearly
a mile inland. ‘The Chéval and Motaragam banks are
situated from 9 to 12 miles out at sea in water varying in
‘depth from 6 to 10 fathoms. Between the shore and the
banks the water gradually reaches a depth of 6 fathoms; but,
as in the case of the Muttuwartu and Karaitivu Pars, the
depth increases rapidly to 150 fathoms outside the banks.
The sea bottom hetween the shore and the banks is made up
mainly of sand with many worn shells, a luxuriant growth of
sea-weeds, and scattered coral patches. Among mollusca
Dodiola tulipa in an advanced stage of growth, and the chank
( Turbinella rapa) were very abundant. No fishing for chanks
is permitted south of the Island of Manaar, lest, at the same
time, raids should be made on the pearl banks. The fishery
is, however, actively carried on north of the island on a dif-
ferent system to that which is in force at Tuticorin (p. 33),
the boat-owners paying a small sum of money annually to
Government, and making what profit they can from the sale
of the shells.
Writing of the banks off Aripu, which have been, for
many years, the sheet-anchor of the Ceylon fishery, Captain.
P
110
Steuart observes that “ the number of successful fisheries
obtained on the banks lying off the Aripu coast, more than
on any other banks in the Gulf of Manaar, and the high
estimation in which the pearls from these fisheries are
deservedly held, would seem to indicate some peculiar
quality in the bottom of the sea in these parts, which is
favourable to the existence of pearl-oysters, and for bringing
them to the greatest perfection. We know there is some-
thing in the nature of the bottom of certain parts of the sea,
which is favourable to the subsistence and growth of par-
ticular fishes, and which improves the flavour for the food
of mankind: for instance, the sole and the plaice caught
in Hythe bay on the Kentish coast are esteemed better than
those caught off Rye on the western side of Dungeness; and
we also know that cod, turbot, oysters, and, indeed, most
edible fishes are prized in proportion to tke estimation in
which the banks are held, from whence they have been
taken.” .
In 1885 Captain Donnan attempted to cultivate the pearl-
oyster on a coral reef, three miles from the shore, which was
considered to be sufficiently far removed from the baneful
influence of the Aripu river during the freshes. A tank for
the reception of the oysters was dug in the centre of the reef,
and surrounded by blocks of coral to form a barrier round its
edge, heaped up high enough to be just awash at the highest
tide. But the experiment failed, as, out of 12,000 oysters
which were placed in the tank, only 27 remained alive at
the end of seven months. ‘ Some of the oysters,” Captain
Donnan writes, “ may have been washed out of the tank
by the south-west monsoon sea, as it was not completely
sheltered from the wash of the waves, but the bulk of them
have, I believe, died off and been destroyed by some fish
preying upon them. About 100 dead shells were found in
the bottom of the tank, many of which bore evidence of
having been bored and nibbled away. It is just possible
that some fish may have got into the tank, and preyed upon
the oysters, either by getting over the coral barrier around
it, which would be slightly under water at high-water, or
through the interstices of the coral underneath. The experi-
ment so far has been a failure, and may be attributable to
four causes :—
*« (1) overcrowding the oysters in the tank ;
(2) deficienoy of nourishment in water so near the
surface ;
111
“ (8) destruction by fish, which had got into the tank,
and preyed upon them ;
“(4) by excessive agitation of the water in the tank
during the south-west monsoon sea; or, pro-
bably, to all these causes combined.”
In March 1886 another experimental tank was made on
a more sheltered part of the reef, and 5,000 oysters were
placed in it. But, in the following year, all the oysters
were found to be dead. The artificial cultivation of the
pearl-oyster was attempted some years ago in a nursery
made in the shallow muddy water of the Tuticorin harbour
without success; and, in his final report to the Ceylon
Government, Mr. Holdsworth expresses his opinion that
there is no ground for thinking that artificial cultivation of
the pearl-oyster can be profitably carried out on the Ceylon
coast, as the conditions necessary for the healthy growth
of the oysters are not to be found in the very few places,
where they could be at all protected or watched.
On the way to Captain Donnan’s tank, which we visited,
we rowed over extensive banks of Alcydnians, of the luxu-
riant growth and size of which only a very feeble idea is
obtained from specimens as seen in museums. On the sandy
bottom a large number of Echinoderms, solitary or clustered
together, were clearly visible ; and, with the assistance of the
divers and the dredge, the following species were procured :—
Temnopleurus toreumaticus, a violet-spined Temnopleuroid,
Oreaster thurstoni, Salmacis bicolor, Laganum depressum, Fibul-
aria volva, Echinolampas oviformis, Holothuria atra, and Colo-
chirus quadrangularis, These species, as also Oreaster lincki
and Linckia levigata, which abound on the Muttuwartu Par,
are all found on the opposite coast of the Gulf of Manaar.
A single young specimen of Hippocampus was also brought
up in the dredge. The tank, washed by the gentle swell,
showed no signs of pearl-oysters, which had, doubtless, been
smothered and disappeared below the surface of the bottom.
But growing from the inner side of the barrier of dead
coral which formed the wall of the tank was a fringe of
living corals—WMontipora, Pocillopora, Madrepora, &ce. As
these corals had grown in their present position since the
construction of the tank, which was built up entirely of dead
blocks of solid coral brought from the shore, the living corals
on the reef being found to be too brittle to form a suitable
wall, it was obvious that, as the tank was built in March
1886, the age of the corals did not exceed three years and
112
nine months. Accordingly I had the largest specimen of
Montipora carefully detached from the dead coral-rock on
which it was growing, and found that it measured 40 inches
in length, 9 inches in height, and 16 inches in breadth, and
weighed 17 pounds.
After remaining at anchor for some days off Silavaturai,
we started on the morning of the 10th for the western side
of the great Chéval Par, which is known by the divers as
kodai (umbrella) Par from the prevalence en it of a shallow
cup-shaped sponge, Spongionella holdsworthi, which is sup-
posed, by their imaginative brains, to resemble an umbrella.
In a letter to Mr. Bowerbank, by whom this sponge was
described,! Mr. Holdsworth stated that “‘ is only found on
the 9 fathom line of the large pearl bank. It is attached to
pieces of dead coral or stones. When alive it is of a dark
brown; and when taken out of water it looks exactly like
dirty wet leather.... ‘This sponge is so strictly confined
to the locality above mentioned that its discovery by the
divers is considered the strongest evidence that the outer
part of the bank has been reached.” Another conspicuous
sponge on this bank was the large, pale pink-coloured
Petrosia testudinaria, which also lives on the Tholayiram
Par.
It was from the Chéval Par that, in 1888, about 150
millions of oysters, ripe for fishing, disappeared in the space
of two months, between November and February. ‘This
disappearance en masse was attributed by the natives to a
vast shoal of rays, called Sankoody tyrica or Koopu tyrica,
which is said to eat up oyster shells. But the more prac-
tical mind of the Inspector of the pearl banks attributed the
disaster—for such it was from a financial point of view—to
the influence of a strong southerly current, which was running
for some days in December—a current so strong that the
Engineer of the Active had to let go a second anchor to
prevent the ship from dragging.
The divers, going down from the ship as soon as we
were at anchor over the bank in 61 fathoms, reported abund-
ance of young oysters, whose average breadth at the hinge
was *75 inch, said by some to be three months, by others six
months’ old, and brought up samples, from the rocky bottom
interspersed with patches of fine sand, attached to dead coral,
1 Proc. Zool. Soc., 1873, p. 25, pl. v.
113
Melobesiz, sponges, and any other rough surface suitable
for the attachment of the byssus. That the pearl-oyster
prefers a rough to a smooth surface as an anchorage is shown
not ouly by its usual habitat, but also by the observation
that young oysters have been found clinging to the coir
rope moorings of a bamboo, but not to the bamboo itself or
the chain moorings. The number of young oysters on a
small nodule brought up by the divers was counted, and
found to be 180, scattered among which were 20 specimens
of the little Suran.
The prevailing stony corals on the west Chéval Par,
brought up by the divers with dense clusters of young
oysters adhering to them, belonged to the genera Porites,
Astrea, and Cyphastrea, growing from a base of conglom-
erated sand-rock, which is known by the divers as “ flat rock.”’
These corals, when broken up, proved a rich hunting ground
for small crustaceans, tubicolous worms, and lithodomous
mollusea. Very abundant on the bank were the bright-red
Juncella ;uncea and the corklike Suberogorgia suberosa, on
the axes and branches of which clusters of oysters were
collected.
At the time of his last inspection of the west Chéval Par
in 1888, Captain Donnan found a large portion of it stocked
with oysters one year old, which had, in the interval between
the inspections, died from natural causes or been killed off,
and replaced by another brood. The life of the pearl-oyster
must be a struggle ,not only during the time at which it
leads a wandering existence on the surface,! and is at the
mercy of pelagic organisms, but even after it has settled down
on the bottom, where it is liable to be eaten up by fishes,
Holothurians, molluscs, &c., or washed away from its moor-
ings by currents ; and comparatively few out of a large fall of
“spat? on a bank can reach maturity even under the most
favourable conditions. ‘ Much,” Captain Steuart writes,
“appears to depend on the depth of water over the ground,
and the nature and quality of the soil upon which brood-
oysters settle, whether any portion of them eventually reaches
the age of maturity. If the deposit be of small extent, or
be thinly scattered, the young oysters are often devoured by
fishes, before the shells are hard enough to protect them.
But, when the deposits settle in dense heaps upon places
1 Young pearl-oysters have been found attached to floating timber and
buoys, and to the bottoms of boats.
114
favourable for their nourishment and growth, many of them
survive to become the source of considerable revenue.” How
great is the struggle of the pearl-oyster for existence is very
clearly shown by the records of the Tuticorin inspections, in
which, time after time, a bank is noted in one year as being
thickly covered with young oysters, and in the next year as
being blank. Not, in fact, till a bank is thickly covered with
oysters two years’ old can any hope be held out that it will
eventually yield a fishery.
Outside the west Chéval Par a sand flat extends for some
distance north and south, from which the dredge brought
up masses of coarse, broken shells, and, among other speci-
mens, large numbers of Amphiorus and Clypeaster humilis,
aud single specimens of Ophiothrix aspidota and