PEARL-FISHERY. Pearls are hard, white, and shin ing bodies, usually of a roundish form, found in the body and shell of a testaceous fish, of the oyster kind. They have always been held in high estimation as ornamental gems; and the practice of fishing for them appears to have begun at a very remote period. Pliny (lib. ix. cap. 54.) enumerates a variety of places where they were ob tained in his time. At present, pearls are found in differ ent parts of Europe; in Asia, and in America. The si tuations in Asia, where they are got in greatest abund ance, are the following: the Gulf of Manaar, the Persian Gulf, the Sooloo Archipelago; and the coast of Japan. The two first of these have been celebrated since the time of Pliny, for the number and superior quality of the pearls which they have produced. The Ceylon pearl-fishery was neglected by the Dutch from 1768, but it was resum ed in 1796 by the British, on their becoming masters of the sea-coast. The produce has varied in different sea sons; in 1797, it yielded a revenue of 144,0001.; in 1798, no less than 192,0001.; but in the following year only 30,000/., it having been exhausted by the three preceding seasons. The oyster-banks extend thirty miles from anaar, southward of A rippo and Condatchy, and are in general about fifteen miles from the shore. The principal of them is opposite the bay of Condatehy, about twenty miles from the shore, and is ten miles in length and two in breadth. The depth of water over the different banks varies from three to fifteen fathoms; but the best fishing is found in from six to eight fathoms. There arc fourteen banks, of which not more than two or three are fished in a season, in order that the oysters may attain their proper state of maturity, which is supposed to he in seven years. The fishing season commences about the middle of Fe bruary, and continues till the end of March ; though front various interruptions there are not above thirty days of fishing. The divers, and the boats employed in the fish ing, come from Tuticorin, Karical, Negopatam, and other parts of the Coromandel coast. The boats rendez vous in the bay of Condatchy, where they are numbered and contracted for ; they are open vessels, of one ton bur den, about forty-five feet long, seven or eight broad, and three deep. All the boats regularly sail together from the , bay, with the land-breeze, at 10 o'clock, P. M.; they reach the banks at sunrise, when the fishing is commen ced ; and at noon they return with the sea-breeze. The crew of each boat consists of ten divers, with ten man dues, or persons for hauling them up five of the divers descend into the sea at a time, while the other five have thus leisure. to recruit. In order to hasten their descent, a large stone is used, with a rope attached to it, which the diver seizes with the toes of his right foot, while he grasps a bag of net-work with those of his left. He then seizes another rope with his right hand, and keeping his nostrils shut with his left, plunges into the water, and soon reaches the bottom. Then hanging the net round his neck, he speedily collects the oysters, and resuming his former position, he makes a signal to those in the boat, and is immediately hauled up, and the stone which assisted his descent is pulled up afterwards. The time he continues under water seldom exceeds one minute, some times it is one and a half or two, and instances have been known of a diver remaining full six minutes under water. When the oysters are abundant, a diver often brings up 150 in his net, but when they are thinly scattered, he will sometimes collect not more than five ; one boat has been known to land in a day 33,000 oysters, and another only 300. The divers are all Indians, who are accustomed to
this seemingly dangerous occupation from their infancy, and who fearlessly descend to the greatest depths. They will frequently make from forty to fifty plunges in a day; but the exertion is so violent, that on coming up they dis charge water, and sometimes blood from their mouth, ears, and nostrils. Some of them rub their bodies over with oil, and stuff their ears, to prevent the water from entering ; but the greater part use no precautions what ever. They take no food while in the boats, nor till they return on shore, and have bathed themselves in fresh wa ter. The only danger to which they are exposed, is from meeting, while at the bottom, with the ground-shark, which is a common inhabitant of those seas, and of which the divers are under dreadful apprehensions. Some of them, indeed, are so expert as to avoid this enemy, even when they remain under water for a considerable time; but the uncertainty of escaping is so great, that in order to avert the danger, they consult before they begin their priests or conjurors, in whom they place implicit confi dence. Great numbers of this class resort to the island during the fishing season ; and two of them are employed by government, one of whom goes out in the head pilot boat, while the other performs certain ceremonies on shore. After the oysters are brought on shore, they are suffered to remain together in heaps till they have passed through a state of putrefaction, and have become dry, when the pearl is easily extracted without being injured. Though pearls are not peculiar to one kind of oysters, the pearl oysters of Ceylon are all of one species and one shape, being an imperfect oval, about nine inches and a half in circumference. The body of the oyster is white and fleshy, much fatter and more glutinous than the common oyster, and so rank as to be unfit for eating. The outside of the shell is smooth, unless when covered with sea weed; and the inside is brighter and more beautiful than the pearl itself; some of these animals are as red as blood, and the inside of the shell is of the same colour. Tht pearls are sometimes found in the body of the oyster, bu' more commonly in the shell ; the round ones are always got in the body ; and many of those that are of an irregu lar shape are found adhering to the inner part of the shell being flat on that side which is attached to it. One car judge with some probability from the form of the shell , whether it contains any, though the largest shell does no always contain the greatest number, or the largest pearls sometimes between one and two hundred have been fowl( in a shell, and it frequently happens that three or foul hundred shells will be opened without a single pearl being obtained. After being extracted, and perfectly cleaned they are rounded and polished with a powder made of tin pearls themselves. They are next sorted into classes, ac cording to their size, by being passed through brass Sieve full of holes, and are then drilled and strung. The differ ent classes of them are sent to different markets; tin largest meet with a ready sale in various parts of India those of a smaller size are best adapted for the Europeat market. Their colour is usually a beautiful silvery white but they are met with of a variety of hues, transparent semi-transparent, opaque, brown, black.